Samaritan Snare

While Wesley Crusher accompanies Captain Picard to Starbase 515, Riker leads the Enterprise on an apparent mission of mercy when they receive a distress call from a crippled Pakled vessel. When Geordi beams over to conduct some repairs, however, their true intentions quickly reveal themselves.

A theme I've noticed with season two is the number of episodes that feel like two disconnected stories running simultaneously, often to the detriment of each other. So it is here - the Pakled are a comically inept bunch of baddies who possess as much a sense of threat as a child's teddy. The second story, involving Picard bonding with Wesley on board an inexplicably slow shuttlecraft, isn't given the time it needs and feels rushed and a little clichéd as well. Together, they make for a pretty average episode at best.

Not a BAD episode, but I kept wincing at the stilted dialog and direction. Painfully awkward. Not a horrible plot, but very contrived in its development, and for me the whole episode is just plain awkward, from the dialog and direction to the plot and ending. TNG by the numbers, very little imagination or logic, and it seemed to end just because it was time. This is SO not one of the crisp, intelligent episodes that I make a point of catching. I just wish they'd give me a chance to rewrite the dialog, and give the characters more chance to actually express some intelligence, and not move through the scenes like robots. It's TNG, of course, and I'll continue to watch it. Unless there's something better to do.

The part with Wes and Picard is worth watching, but the half with the Pakleds is just about as stupid as the Pakleds. How Tweedledee and Tweedledum got their Hands on a spaceship is something I will never waste time thinking about.

Two plots. One, the near death experience of Jean-Luc Picard as he has a malfunctioning device replaced that causes his heart to beat properly. In the process, he bonds (as much as is possible) with Wesley Crusher who joins him on a long shuttlecraft ride. Picard has been hiding his condition from the crew because his ego can't handle needing others to look after him. The other, occurring during this time as a pack of strange aliens who seem mentally deficient, make a grab for weaponry on the Enterprise. Number One must confront these characters since the Captain is incapacitated. These guys are portrayed as such idiots it's hard to imagine how they could tie their shoes, let alone build and pilot a space ship. They are formidable, nevertheless, but reactive. This is what is used against them. When Picard takes a turn for the worse, Pulaski is pulled in. There are numerous lessons learned by various crew members, Picard included. The fear of vulnerability is something that has to be accepted because not everything requires unilateral thinking. So one half of the episode is intriguing; the other is suspect.

The two storylines in this episode aren't related, but they're both amusing. The Pakleds shows us that the crew of the Enterprise (sans Worf) are the real dummies. In the Picard/Wesley story we learn that Jean-Luc used to be very different as a young adult. We also see that in the future surgeons wear red burqas. Just a fun episode that expands both the characters and the world they live in.