| Review : |
OK, I really enjoyed this one. Cold War spy thriller meets submarine film in space. The beginning really confused me. I didn't recognize Marina Sirtis under all that make-up until one of the other characters pointed out who she was. It seems like a very strange way to go about recruiting someone, but it seemed to work by some miracle. It also seems rather strange to recruit a half-Human-half-Betazoid when there must be plenty of Vulcans who would pass for Romulans much better. Well, maybe N'Vek was in a hurry and had to grab someone quickly, or someone who knew Picard. Still, it's a bit odd. Commander Toreth came off as a very good character as well. A captain full of contradictions, very Russian in some ways. She *really* did not like having a spy/political officer on board, and held a grudge. Then she got into a state about the transport, but was fully-prepared to take on the Enterprise with 56 times the number of people aboard. Maybe the fact that she didn't like having her authority usurped by a chekist was more important than anything else. There was a nice double-bluff in the middle when N'Vek asked Troi for the access codes, which sounded like a set-up. The submarine elements came later, "run silent, run deep" to escape the enemy ship (although what they really should have done is stayed put and turned up the passive sensors), Troi and N'Vek deliberately giving away their position, Toreth's "Crazy Ivan"-style manoeuvre to check whether she had been detected, good stuff. I've also got to mention the slightly wierd de Seve character. His Romulanesque hair, and the fact that it sounded as though he hadn't spoken English for a while made some sense. Still, it does seem a bit of an odd way to do things. Best of all, Marina Sirtis got to do something other than point things out for slower viewers. She fell into the role very well, and I hope that she gets more chances to stretch her wings in the future. |
| Review : |
I have to agree with Indefatigable above. This REALLY is a good episode. This seems to be based on The Hunt for Red October, as I can see MANY similarities to that. Think about it, an enemy ship tries to sneak into Federation space, but is stopped by a ship from home (In Red October it was the Dallas, in this case it is the Enterprise). Enemy personnel try to defect to the good guys. There's a little bit of conflict in between. Very good stuff. I especially like how Marina Sirtis finally got to be Queen Bitch in this. It's not often that, as to coin the phrase, she gets to finally show some teeth. 4 out of 5. |
