53 – The Bonding

Grade: C

Summary

While investigating an ancient planet, one of the officers in Worf’s party is accidentally killed by an explosion. The officer who was killed has a son on board the Enterprise.

Commentary

The first half of this episode is very good, and some of the best work of this season. But by the time an alien impersonating his mother shows up on the ship, it becomes a random alien invasion episode. The last 10 minutes or so are kinda cheesy. I don’t like the ones where one character explains everything and then they have some kind of group therapy. I thought it was a really unsatisfying ending. So needless to say, this one isn’t one of my favorites.

Of Note

This is one of the very few episodes when there’s a landing party without Riker or Picard.