59 – The Hunted

Grade: B-

Summary

The people of Angosha 3 want to join the Federation, so Captain Picard takes the Enterprise there to investigate. Suddenly, Prime Minister Naydor asks the Captain to help capture a prisoner who has just escaped from a maximum security prison.

Commentary

I’m not a big fan of this episode, even though there are some fairly weighty issues raised in the storyline. I thought some of the scenes were pretty thought-provoking, but the rest of the episode was rather bland. I sometimes forget this isn’t a 2nd season episode, since it has more in common (production style, camera angles, script, acting, etc.) with the early stories in this series.

The acting was OK, but certainly not great. The writing was fine in most places, but also not great. And really, it isn’t all that memorable. This story has been done many times before, and there’s nothing too remarkable about this one. And the ending was very cliché and unsatisfying.

I’ve rated it higher than some of the others in this season because it really was a good effort and a nice try. But it really could have been a lot better.

Of Note

James Cromwell plays the Prime Minister in this episode. He also appears in several other Star Trek productions, including Deep Space Nine, First Contact, and Enterprise.