8 – Ex Post Facto

Grade: C-

Summary

Tom Paris has been found guilty of killing a scientist. His sentence is to re-live the murder in his mind every 14 hours. Paris insists this isn’t how it happened. Tuvok volunteers to help Paris clear his name and solve the mystery.

Commentary

OK, right off the bat, this episode is almost exactly like “A Matter of Perspective”, a mediocre episode from the Next Generation. Tom Paris is playing the role of Will Riker, Harry Kim is Geordi LaForge, and Tuvok is Captain Picard. Take a closer look at the prosecutors in both episodes – they look so much alike that they could almost be from the same species. Pretty much everything else is the same here, except that the resolution to Ex Post Facto is just silly and ham-fisted.

Anyway, this is the worst episode of the series so far. It is so much like that mediocre episode of the Next Generation that I’m wondering if it wasn’t written by the same person. Well, it wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean the writers couldn’t have used that episode as their “inspiration” for this one. It’s only too bad that they didn’t improve upon it before they filmed it.

The idea that a doctor can implant a victim’s memories into the guilty party’s mind is an intriguing one. It’s a different twist on the death penalty. But it’s not enough to give this a decent grade. If you never see this episode, you won’t be missing anything.

Of Note

The matte painting of the city is exactly the same one that was used in the Next Generation episode “Angel One.” That’s where Riker and friends beam down to a planet where the women run things. Actually, it’s the same city landscape that is used in many other episodes as well. It’s easy to notice details like that when you’re binge-watching a TV series, but I sure wish they would have changed something up.