Star Trek: TNG 3.10 - The Defector

Review 141 - Episode 137 (1st Jan 1990)

The One with the defecting Romulan. Or is he?

Quite entertaining, but a simple concept at it's heart.

This is one of those episodes where a guest star comes on and we see how the crew react to him. In this case, a Romulan defector who tries to convince the Federation that the Romulans are preparing for war on a planet in the neutral zone. But is he telling the truth?

Picard has many good scenes this episode. From the unusual opener with Data enacting Henry V, through to his one on ones with "Setal" (who is in fact Admiral Jarok. A bit stupid to hide your identity when you're trying to convince your worst enemies to trust you). It's your usual Patrick Stewart performance, but it's still impressive.

Data has some cute scenes and his attempt to try and find his "guts" is normal Data fare, but still enjoyable. The holodeck sequence is a nice touch with Jarok (though if Romulous is so secret, how have they got google earth topography of it?) I also liked him being the witness to these events if it led to war.

Worf was doing his usual growling routine, more so with a Romulan involved, but the final twist with the Klingons couldn't have happened without him, so he gets points for that.

Riker didn't really have lots to do, bar being in most scenes and making that Riker face where his eyes narrow. His interrogation scene was ok, but I felt it could have had more.

Geordi was given the usual technobabble role, but had a nice conversation with Data, Troi was absent apart from the interrogation scene and Crusher healed Jarok and not much else.

So, very watchable, but once you know the basic story and twist, then there's not much else left on rewatching, bu the final act is still strong. Also, nice to see G'kar as Tomalak.

4/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 409/700

Alternate Review: Tim Lynch - http://www.tcs.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/~hwloidl/TL/tng3/defector.html

Troi/Crusher Appreciation Society