Star Trek: The Next Generation 3.10

The Defector

While traveling near the Neutral Zone the Enterprise is hailed by a Romulan warship. Aboard the ship is a single Romulan. He claims to be a low level logistics officer with information about a Romulan base that is under construction within the Neutral Zone. He has no evidence. He sets his ship to self-destruct before he is taken aboard the Enterprise. It seems that he must be lying. He must be a spy.

Eventually the defector reveals himself to be Admiral Jarok. He claims he is doing this because he wants peace between the Romulan Empire and the Federation for the sake of his children. Picard is moved enough to enter the Neural Zone and investigate the planet where the base is being constructed. They get there only to discover that there is no base. Jarok truly believed that there was a base but he was being tested by his superiors.

The Enterprise just barely escapes a potentially fatal encounter with a couple of Romulan warships thanks to some help from the Klingons. The Romulan ships were led by Admiral Tomalak who previously appeared in 3.07 (The Enemy) and would make two more appearances on the Next Generation. His only other appearances would be in Star Trek books and comic books.

The crux of this episode is the veracity of Admiral Jarok. Up until the final scenes in the episode the question seems to be is he leading the Enterprise into a trap or is he telling the truth. Other possibilities including the one that turns out to be the case might be true but the way the episode is presented makes it seem as if there are just two possibilities. Jarok is beyond emotional hurt when he discovers that he was fooled and commits suicide.

I found the performance by the actor playing Jarok to be very compelling.

Also worth mentioning is that the episode opens with Data practicing the part of King Henry V from the Shakespearean play of the same name, under the tutelage of Captain Picard. The play is mentioned more than once in subsequent scenes. If I was more familiar with the play then the quotes probably would have carried a little more weight than they did.

Overall this is a better than average episode and well worth watching. It reminded me in part of the a cold war movie. Not so much of any one film in particular but of the genre.