6x01 “time’s arrow, part 2”
kinda just more of the same from the previous episode, assuming you’ve read my review of season 5.
this could’ve used a bit more fish out of water-type stuff for the rest of the crew that joined data in 19th century san francisco. i almost wonder if they had that in mind when they sent so many characters back in time at the end of the season finale but just didn’t end up capitalizing on it when they wrote part 2. it just seems silly that most of the show’s major characters went back to the past and didn’t really end up having much to do there? but oh well.
like i said in my review of part 1, this isn’t a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a bit underwhelming as a season finale/season premiere wraparound two-parter. b-rank
6x02 “realm of fear”
this is probably the best barclay episode?1 it’s a little weird that data wasn’t more heavily involved in this one given that the entire episode was basically an investigation of a scientific/engineering problem and that’s super up his alley, but that’s okay.
i really appreciate the way the crew handles barclay’s transporter phobia in this. the dude has a full on panic attack, and everyone’s like “that’s okay.” he’s worried his starfleet career will be in jeopardy because of it, and deanna is like “uh no? you’re not the only one with transporter phobia, it’s actually pretty common. and even if it wasn’t, so what?”
overall, this is a pretty good episode. i appreciate that it’s basically an episode-length investigation of a scientific and engineering problem, and also further explores how one of the most essential star trek technologies works. the pov shots of barclay being transported were awesome. b-rank
6x03 “man of the people”
this is one of the two worst episodes of tng. to put that in perspective, this is worse than all of season 1 save for one episode. it’s almost certainly one of the top ten worst episodes of any star trek series. just wanted to get all that out there for the sake of perspective.
this is just… genuinely unpleasant to watch. and i just don’t know why deanna always gets saddled with these kinds of episodes.2 she’s such a great character when they just let her be a normal character, but no, they have to give her all the most embarrassing, demeaning plots. i’m just so tired of it.
it honestly kind of amazes me that the show still has something this bad in it this late into its run. what a fucking embarrassment. d-rank
6x04 “relics”
this might not be “unification,” but it’s still always nice to have tos characters on tng. i also appreciate that scotty and geordi actually had some difficulties with their relationship early on! it would’ve been so easy to just have them immediately bond by nerding out over their shared love of starship engines. taking their differing approaches into account, and having them overcome them to learn to respect each other, was a seriously awesome direction to take this in.
the ending felt a bit unearned, as most of the characters wishing scotty warm farewells actually didn’t even interact with him onscreen a single time in the episode? and sending him off in a shuttlecraft also just feels like a weird choice when we had an episode towards the end of last season where an entire starship crew from the 23rd century had to be repatriated. why not end this by saying he’s going off to join them on their new ship or in training or whatever? it seems like a ready-made solution, and they’d be in even more of a position to appreciate his status as a living legend than anyone from this century.
i’m picking nits, though. this is a terrific episode that told a good story. a-rank
6x05 “schisms”
the scene where all of the alien abduction victims are putting everything together on the holodeck is one of the best investigation scenes in all of tng. i really wish we got this sort of thing more often. it happens like maybe three times throughout the entire series, and whenever they do it it’s excellent.
the rest of the episode was pretty good, i obviously enjoyed riker being a focus character of the episode because i always enjoy that, but the holodeck scene is definitely what makes this a super memorable episode. a-rank
6x06 “true q”
i have actually nothing much to say about this episode? it's a perfectly adequate q episode. it’s proof that by season 6 they have even q episodes integrated into the well-oiled machine the show has become. it just doesn't leave much of a lasting impression on me. b-rank
6x07 “rascals”
this is one of those episodes that probably would’ve been just awful in earlier seasons, but by now they knew how to capitalize on the concept and the episode they wrung out of it was just delightful.
… for the most part. the odd one out here is clearly keiko, who i think it’s pretty obvious was only included because the writers wanted to include a married couple struggling with how to cope with the whole thing. and mercifully there was only a single scene of this, because i just thoroughly did not enjoy this part of the episode.
but for the most part, this was awesome. i loved all the little touches like jean luc trying to keep being the captain while everyone looks around visibly uncomfortable with the whole situation, and him later pretending riker was his father to trick the ferengi into letting them talk alone. their performance here was amazing, jonathan frakes especially seemed like he was having the most fun ever.
my favorite part of the episode though was probably ro trying to sulk about the whole thing and guinan just absolutely refusing to let her. it has echoes of how they became friends in the first place, and just feels really true to both characters. and ro being reluctant to turn back into an adult at the end was so cute!! i bet guinan is gonna wholesomely mommy domme her all the time offscreen now. a-rank
6x08 "a fistful of datas"
i’m sorry but this episode is freaking adorable and if you disagree you’re just kinda wrong? i could’ve kept watching the silly western stuff for hours. a-rank
6x09 “the quality of life”
my only real complaint is that it feels like they’ve done this specific moral dilemma like 20 times by this point. well, that and they have riker carry the stupid/unethical ball and as a riker stan i obviously hate this but also it just didn’t really feel believable in the context of the story.
this is nevertheless a pretty good episode full of patented tng problem-solving, and the exocomps themselves are freaking adorable, so i can’t really complain too much. not one of the best episodes of the series or anything, but still pretty good. b-rank
6x10 “chain of command, part 1”
the way they handled the transfer of command to jellico is easily one of the best jobs they’ve ever done of implementing a temporary status quo change. like, it’s not “best of both worlds, part 1” levels of believability that picard’s status on the show might be in jeopardy, if only because at this point we’re nearly halfway through the show’s penultimate season. but we get a lot of time with the enterprise’s temporary captain and see quite a bit of the crew having a bit of trouble adjusting to his presence. he also makes significant changes to the way the ship runs, and even demands “and get that fish out of the ready room” about captain picard’s iconic lionfish.
although part 2 is where a lot more of this happens, this is also kind of a turning point for the cardassians as major antagonists on the show. they were already positioned as such in their few previous appearances, but this really is the moment where they gain a ton of credibility as a big bad which will carry over to ds9, which probably not coincidentally began airing after this two-parter. s-rank
6x11 “chain of command, part 2”
i don’t want to be nitpicky, but it’s kind of weird that picard’s borg trauma is (rightly) something we keep going back to over & over, but his cardassian trauma basically never comes up again once the credits roll on this one?
the reason i don’t want to be nitpicky is that this episode is fantastic. the entire episode is designed to put patrick stewart’s performance front & center, and yeah obviously that works out fantastically in the show’s favor? and david warner is just a fantastic opponent for him here. their contest of wills just absolutely sizzles.
AND YEAH OKAY i guess i should acknowledge really quick that even though i don’t find either of these characters attractive, i did find a lot of the stuff that happened in this episode uncomfortably hot. i’m sorry i’m like this. (no i’m not.)
back on the enterprise side of things, things really break down between riker & jellico to the point that jellico relieves riker of duty and installs data as first officer. data is even jarringly required to don a red command division uniform, something he didn’t do as acting captain during the blockade of the klingon/romulan border in “redemption, part 2.”
this serves to make it extra satisfying when jellico is forced to go to riker hat in hand to ask him to go on a critical mission that basically everyone falls over themselves to say he’s uniquely qualified for.
it’s funny that this would’ve been a drastically better wrap-around season finale/premiere two-parter than “time’s arrow,” but they wanted a big cardassian episode to give them extra credibility leading into the premiere of deep space nine, which totally makes sense.
i wouldn’t want every episode to be like this, and there are some tiny nitpicks i could make if i were interested in going in that direction, but there’s a reason this is considered one of the best episodes of the series. i do think i would be more inclined to agree if this had more lasting consequences for picard’s character, but again that’s not really the episode’s fault.
i think this episode falls just outside my personal top 10 tng episodes (whereas part 1 is actually comfortably within my top 10), but i get why it’s a lot higher on a lot of other people’s lists. s-rank
6x12 “ship in a bottle”
apparently the creative team loved the sherlock holmes setting but wasn’t able to return to it for quite a while thanks to a protracted legal dispute with the doyle estate, but once that was settled we saw them pick back up the thread of the sentient professor moriarty! they even made the long gap between the two episodes into a story beat with moriarty being pissed that picard & co appeared to have forgotten about him for all that time.
but undoubtedly the most memorable thing about this episode is the “we’re actually still on the holodeck!” twist. that’s just an iconic tng moment.
this isn’t a complaint exactly, but i think it’s pretty hysterical that when captain picard & co are faced with the seeming impossibility of a holodeck character literally walking off of the holodeck and existing in the real world, captain picard takes the time to lecture him about how crimes are still not allowed in the 24th century??? like, he literally sits him down and is sternly like “DON’T DO ANY CRIMES!!!” and it’s like, i really don’t think this is our biggest concern right now my dude? it just makes me laugh inappropriately every time.
but yeah, i have only two actually more substantial complaints about this episode? the first is that given her character’s rapport with moriarty in “elementary, dear data” i’d be pretty miffed if diana muldaur wasn’t offered a guest starring role in this. (and i haven’t seen any mention that she was.) that’s just a huge missed opportunity if they didn’t even try. but even if muldaur the actress was approached & declined, i think pulaski the character at least deserved a name drop here.
the other is that they play this ending like it’s a happily ever after sort of thing, but they’ve trapped a sentient being in a fictional world and lied to him about it? that’s… actually kinda dire, guys! you’re kinda literally doing the same thing as the bad guys in the matrix! like i do think they did their best, but idk, i’d like their tone to be less “we did good!” and more “we did our best but it kinda sucks and we’ll have folks working on this because it really sucks for him.”
okay actually one more thing, but this isn’t actually a problem with this episode? it’s more of a meta problem. i really wish we had had an episode between “chain of command” and this? maybe one where picard is taking some time off and riker is in command?
like, we don’t have to super dwell on what picard is going through or make it the focus of the episode, i get that tng likes to keep things light and i actually kinda love that because it makes stuff like “chain of command” stand out all the more? you can totally just have it be a riker episode or whatever, we don’t need to have him wrestle his older brother in the vineyard mud again.
just, having picard be so actively involved in this episode and making literally zero mention of what he’s just been through doesn’t really sit well with me? and the fact that it literally never comes up again for the rest of the series, all the tng movies, and two seasons of picard but his trauma from being assimilated comes up multiple times is just a rather glaring omission in my opinion.
but yeah, nitpicks aside, this is a seriously great episode. definitely one of the ones i’m always looking forward to. s-rank
6x13 “aquiel”
i love tng episodes that focus on investigations, but wow could we have picked literally anyone but geordi to comb through the personal logs of a suspected murder victim turned suspected murderer? like i get that he’s the one who sets up access to the logs, but actually reviewing them seems like more of a data or deanna-shaped thing?
okay, yeah, if we did that the plot of this episode wouldn’t have been able to happen. and geordi actually doesn’t come off super creepy in this episode, though there are still a few moments when he’s reviewing the logs that make me wince. so i guess you can headcanon that the idea here is to show how much he’s grown. (it isn’t, but it’s a nice thought.) but yeah. idk. still not the best look, imo. b-rank
6x14 “face of the enemy”
this is both a great romulan episode and a great deanna episode. it’s got plenty of political intrigue, near combat between the enterprise and a romulan warbird, spy shit… just a lot to like about this episode!
also the commander of the romulan ship actually totally kicks ass? she cares about her crew and openly hates the tal shiar for executing her father for speaking out against state repression on romulus. despite her willingness to die (or kill) in the line of duty, she’s a genuinely admirable character, and i just love when star trek shores up its worldbuilding with shades of gray like this. a-rank
6x15 “tapestry”
i don’t super agree with some of the minutiae of how it gets to this message, but on the whole this episode largely serves to dramatize something that’s been meaningful to me for a long time, which is that regardless of whatever regrets i might have about my past, the sum total of that past is why i am where i am today, and by & large i like where i am today.
it was undeniably crowd-pleasing to see flashbacks to captain picard’s days in the academy (though, much like in last season’s “the first duty” they spared plenty of expense in depicting the academy’s interiors). but i kind of don’t buy the conclusion of the episode, is the problem?
like, just not being the captain doesn’t feel like the Bad End this episode wants you to buy it as? and picard didn’t stay in his altered future’s skin long enough for me to really buy that being a fairly anonymous blueshirt is as depressing as he’s selling it as?
like, i’m sorry, i know one’s vocation is an extremely important part of their life (especially in a future like star trek’s where people are more free to do as they please with their basic needs largely met), but there’s just more to life than that! did this alternate picard not have friends? hobbies? connections?
i get that in one very important aspect of his life this would be a major step down for him, one that would absolutely alter the overall trajectory of his entire life, but i still don’t feel like i really saw enough of the life he would’ve led here to buy him begging q to put him out of his misery?
but like… no matter how much i disagree with a lot of the meat of this story, it’s a pretty damn fun episode. i pretty much always enjoy jarringly seeing someone in a different uniform color, so there’s that aspect. and i really think this is pretty easily one of the best q episodes? so like, it has a lot going for it. it also makes me think a lot, clearly, and that’s always welcome. a-rank
6x16 “birthright, part 1”
it’s always nice to get a ds9/tng crossover. i get that they didn’t want to overdo it, but it really feels like this sort of thing could’ve happened more often if you ask me.
i liked a lot of the data subplot. there’s some great geordi/data friendship moments with geordi making sure data is making an informed decision about taking a risk to delve deeper into this aspect of his self-discovery, expressing discomfort where it’s warranted but ultimately abiding by data’s decision but also also making it very clear where the limits of his participation are. it’s just fucking great consent and a great example of how to responsibly be a supportive friend.
i also liked how data’s subplot crossed over into worf’s. worf being so deep in his head that he’s snapping at people & adding to the worf boot-shaped carpet grooves under his brooding window in ten forward but just immediately dropping his own shit to be fully present with his friend was one of those moments that makes worf one of my absolute favorite characters in the entire franchise.
this is ostensibly worf’s two-parter, and that’s certainly much more the case in part 2, but i gotta admit his part in the episode feels a bit underwhelming in part 1? ultimately, though, i think pairing these two plots together in part 1 was a wise choice. they complement each other quite well, and again the moment where the two plots meet is just one of my favorite tng moments. b-rank
6x17 “birthright, part 2”
look i knew going in that this one was gonna be kind of rough, and i know it’s not the first time it’s been touched on, but wow this episode casts worf as just the biggest fucking racist. as a fan of the character, it’s so disheartening.
like, look, i’m not saying you can’t have characters overcoming prejudice as part of their story. and it’s important that we leave the door open for people to feel like it’s something they can come back from. i just don’t think this episode does a good job of it.
the last time this was a major plot point was in “the enemy” when worf was asked to donate blood for a romulan and he struggled with it for the entire episode. despite that being three whole seasons ago, if we were to take this as gospel rather than consider it kinda bad writing, it would feel like worf has actually badly regressed in the space racism department. and that just doesn’t feel right for his character. he isn’t one to make the same mistake without examining what went wrong, nor is he one to shrink from a challenge. i really think he would have made more progress by now.
the only real “growth” worf experiences in this area is that he’s begrudgingly still attracted to ba’el despite her pointed ears, and just… i’m sorry? that is the fucking worst? like “oh, i can still find you sexually useful to me” is not the cure to racism that you fucking think it is, guys.
worf’s desire to bring klingon culture to these isolated children does lead to a few great moments of worf being his best self, though. i love his smirky reverse psychology goading people into wanting to hear his lessons. it’s just so him. and i’ve just always loved the way he uses his authority when teaching to encourage rather than discourage. his critiques are always in the form of “no, [immediately explains what you should do instead],” like he doesn’t even give you time to process the “no” before he’s helping you fix it, and he’s just as swift with praise as he is with correction. it’s so warm & so great.
so yeah, there are definitely things to appreciate about this episode, and there are a few vintage worf character moments, but i just don’t think it’s enough to make up for the damage it does to worf’s character. c-rank
6x18 “starship mine”
it’s die hard on the enterprise-d.
it’s die hard starring jean-luc picard.
it’s die hard on the enterprise-d starring jean luc picard.
seriously. the whole rest of the crew is at a party and then get taken hostage. someone gets killed off for shock value. picard steals a communicator and uses it to listen in on the bad guys. everyone is shocked & disappointed that the “terrorists” want nothing but money. picard improvises weapons and uses geography to his advantage. people impersonate innocent bystanders. picard pulling the pin on the dangerous explosives which causes the bad guy’s ship to blow up right outside the window is about as close as you can come to hans gruber falling off of a fucking skyscraper.
this is just die hard. they just wanted to make a star trek die hard, and they were like, “you know what? fuck it. we’re six seasons into this bitch, we can get away with this.” like when you add everything else up, you almost have to be impressed by their restraint in not having picard end up walking barefoot over glass.
is this the greatest bottle episode of all time? i think this might be the greatest bottle episode of all time. s-rank
6x19 “lessons”
i have been sleeping on season 6 of tng. there are so many stone cold classics this season. i mean, this episode believably has captain picard falling head-over-heels for someone and very carefully scaling back some of his boundaries in the process to see if he can maintain this kind of relationship. he also does just absolutely everything right in the process, being fully transparent with the members of his command crew and his new beloved.
ultimately it isn’t any unavoidable conflict of interest that leads to them being unable to maintain this relationship, nor do they just fridge her which a lot of worse shows would absolutely do in this situation. instead, when her life is in jeopardy and she bravely does her duty, picard finds himself absolutely shutting down at the thought of losing her.
this is such a mature take on this kind of situation, and i’m just floored by all the things this episode does right that a lot of other shows, hell this show would do wrong given a different combination of circumstances.
this is truly great television. s-rank
6x20 “the chase”
and then this one is just silly & fun.
captain picard gets to play archeologist, the enterprise gets to unravel a mystery that’s older than the human race, and we finally find out why all of the aliens in the galaxy look roughly the same.
yeah, it’s pretty silly, but i enjoyed it a heck of a lot. a-rank
6x21 “frame of mind”
this is a difficult episode, but it’s quite good. and on top of that, riker is one of my favorite characters, so obviously i always enjoy riker episodes.
i kind of don’t have a lot to say about this one, to be honest? the writing is great, the performances & direction are tight… it’s just a damn good episode. but since it’s about one of our favorite characters being locked in an unethical institution and gaslit over & over, it’s just damn hard to sit through. definitely not one of the cozier episodes of tng. a-rank
6x22 “suspicions”
i always love a good tng murder mystery. i especially love that the framing device is guinan just showing up to dr. crusher’s quarters like “hey my ‘stop someone from sulking’ alarm was going off, so here’s a flimsy excuse for me to barge in and force you to talk through what’s going on with you.” she’s just the fucking best character.
it is a bit weird that dr. crusher is running point on this science conference thingy she threw together considering it’s not remotely medical-adjacent, like it’s not even a life sciences thing, but i guess that’s what you get for not having a non-medical blueshirt in your main cast.
this wasn’t tng’s best murder mystery or anything, and i don’t feel like i learned as much about dr. crusher’s character as i would a lot of the better-written characters on the show if they were put in an equivalent situation. like, it was definitely great to see her persevere & grit this one out, but this is a little stronger character writing away from being a much better episode in my opinion. b-rank
6x23 “rightful heir”
i love worf, he’s easily one of my favorite star trek characters, but i really wish the writers would stop doing shit like *shuffles through notes* … being tentatively onboard with the establishment of a theocracy in the klingon empire? just… bruh…
in all seriousness while this is not my favorite worf episode i do actually like it quite a lot. kahless 2: revenge of kahless might be a clone, and the stories he “remembers” are just implanted memories from klingon holy texts, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. and i liked a lot of what he said about the place of battle & honor in klingon culture not being driven by bloodlust bur rather by joyous fighting spirit.
yeah, there are definitely directions that can go that are not great. yeah, the parts where he had everyone chanting “we are klingons!” were kinda corny and hard to take seriously. but i appreciate that he brought something worthwhile to the table.
although i think we can all agree that the best thing about the episode was worf being late to work, not answering his phone, and riker immediately deciding, “something’s wrong” and taking a whole fucking security team to check on him. dude has some unbeatable overprotective boyfriend game. b-rank
6x24 “second chances”
pop quiz, hotshot. what’s the only thing that's better than will riker? that’s right: two will rikers!
the real danger here is that you’re teasing me with the idea that there’s really no reason that every crewmember can’t be will riker, and i think that idea is just too seductive to safely even hint at.
okay in all seriousness it’s actually pretty wild just how well this episode works? this really seems like the kind of thing that should just be unbelievably silly, but this show is so fucking good that it actually manages to mine it for genuine character conflict & growth.
seriously, i don’t think this is a good episode on most shows. but on this one it’s fucking fantastic. i love how they even teased taking the narrative path of least resistance by imperiling riker 2.0 towards the end of the episode, which is absolutely the kind of status quo-preserving move a lot of shows would’ve opted for. but no, there’s just another will riker (or thomas riker, by the very end of the episode) running around starfleet now.
i think the only thing i would’ve liked to be handled differently about this episode is i would’ve appreciated quite a bit more worf, but that’s just a personal quibble not a real criticism. a-rank
6x25 “timescape”
they liked “the next phase” so much they basically made it again, and honestly? fair!
i love a good romulan episode and i love a good “weird time shit is happening” episode and this is both, and it kicks ass. it even has a signature, box art moment when a delirious picard draws a smiley face with his finger in the coolant plume of a warp core breach. and it turns out he has– and i’m not making this up–“the time bends.”
this is one of the most prototypically star trekky episodes ever. like, i’d put it on a short list with like the aforementioned “the next phase” and “cause and effect” as some of the best episodes to show someone to give them a representative idea of what star trek is about. a-rank
6x26 “descent, part 1”
i think this two-parter was the only tng vhs i had besides “the best of both worlds,” so there’s a bit of a theme there obviously. though descent just isn’t remotely in best of both worlds’ league.
this is one of those two-parters where i very strongly prefer the first part to the second. which isn’t to say the first part is amazing or anything, but idk, the enterprise investigating strange new developments with the borg leading up to a season-ending cliffhanger is a lot more interesting to me than lore doing lore things. though this is for sure one of the better lore stories imo. i just don’t think that character ever really worked as well as they thought he did, unfortunately.
also, one thing that never really jumped out at me in all my previous viewings is that it’s frankly super disappointing that captain picard experiences uncertainty & guilt about his decision in “i, borg” to, y’know, not do a genocide. i’d really rather picard stick to his guns on that sort of thing when he already got it right. b-rank
s-rank: 5
a-rank: 10
b-rank: 9
c-rank: 1
d-rank: 1
average: 3.65 (b-rank)
notes
1. “ship in a bottle” is definitely the best episode that barclay is directly involved in, but he isn’t the focus character in that one so i wouldn’t call it a barclay episode. does that make sense? cool.
2. okay, yeah, i know exactly why. but given that the answer is “for many of the writers beverly is the mom, deanna is the pretty sex object, and that’s the only persponality they’re allowed to have whatsoever,” that just makes it even more deeply frustrating.
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