More of TNG Season 5:
- There are "Violations" in the next episode. A group of Ullians are on the ship--they are "telepathic historians" that can probe memories of others. They wear bizarre cut up robes as costumes. Troi talks to one of them (Ben Lemon) before they go to their separate quarters, then she has weird memories and feelings--first about Riker, and suddenly about the Ullian. It's like something out of Cinemax After Dark--it puts her in a coma. The same thing then happens to Riker and Crusher--he has to make a life and death decision, and she has memories of her husband dying and Picard (with hair) taking her to see his body. Data and Geordi check out the planets the Ullians visited, and find more cases of coma. Troi wakes up with no memories of what happened, so the Ullians suggest they probe her memories. The younger Ullian frames the older one, but he overplays his hand with Troi. A rather creepy episode.
- It's another planet in peril (this time by a technobablle fragment) in "The Masterpiece Society". This "society" was genetically engineered--they don't want to be evacuated. Troi develops a romantic relationship with their leader played by John Snyder (seems pretty quick after the last episode). Their engineer (Dey Young) works with Geordi--they come up with a plan to save the planet. After a liaison, Troi breaks off the relationship. Engineering teams come to the colony to help set up defenses, and the fragment is deflected just enough enough to save them. The engineer from the colony mocks up a "breach" on the colony because she wants to leave--others want to as well. In the end, having the Enterprise "save" the colony did more harm than good.
- It's quite the "Conundrum"--the Enterprise attempts a first contact with an alien ship, and suddenly no one remembers who they are. They have a basic understanding of their jobs, but that's it. Who's in charge? Worf decides he is, since he has a sash. Data was behind the bar at Ten Forward when all this happened, so he thinks he's the bartender. There's also a new officer on the ship (Erich Anderson). Digging into more ship info, they learn they are at war (?) with an alien race--and have orders to take out their HQ. Everybody gets to play against type--for example, Ro gives Riker a booty call, and he in turn plays with Troi. The new officer pushes Picard to destroy a small ship, and gets Worf on his side. In the end, Picard refuses to attack a helpless vessel, the new officer is actually working for another race, and Crusher presumably figures out how to fix their heads.
- An away team (Riker, Data, and Troi) crash their shuttle on a planet with electromagnetic storms, forcing O"Brien to beam down with a doohickey to save them. Energy-based entities inhabit their bodies (except for Riker, since he had a broken arm) before they beam up, and they quickly take hostages in Ten-Forward. It's a "Power Play". Picard agrees to take the injured hostage's place, and finds out the entities are from a 200 year old Federation ship--they just want to escape the planet. There's plenty of technobabble, a botched rescue mission, and a hostage walk to a cargo bay. It turns out the entities have nothing to do with the older ship--they are condemned prisoners. Picard forces their hand, and the entities skeedaddle. Mindy and I agree this was a 'meh" episode.
- Worf's back is broken in an accident, and Crusher can't fix it. A specialist is brought on board who has "Ethics" issues. She wants to replace his spine with a replicated one--Crusher won't approve such an untested procedure. Worf asks Riker to help him perform ritual suicide--he refuses--and Picard tells him not to be so terran-centric (?). Troi steps in to take care of Cousin Oliver--er, Alexander. This is the start of the relationship between Troi and Worf. Speaking of the Klingon, he refuses a 60% solution, so the specialist brings up the untested procedure--Crusher is pissed, but Worf wants to try it. Riker tells Worf that Alexander must help with the suicide--that stops him. Now Picard steps in, and convinces Crusher to do the untested procedure. Worf asks Troi to step in as Alexander's mom if things go badly. Of course, after some dramatic moments, the untested procedure works. This is like a Marcus Welby episode--in SPAAACE!
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix--more to come!