Commander Riker is injured while on an undercover mission on Malcor. He is taken to a hospital. The doctors don't know what to make of him. He claims to be from a distant city and that his physical abnormalities are just abnormalities but word starts to spread in the hospital about him.
Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Troi beam to the surface of Malcor and approach Mirasta Yale, the scientist in charge of Malcor's warp drive project. They take her to the Enterprise to prove to her that they are who they say they are.
They explain their mission and tell her about the disappearance of Commander Riker. They ask Yale for her help in finding him and her advice on how to go about it. She takes Captain Picard to see the Chancellor. Picard take the Chancellor up to the Enterprise to discuss why they are there.
Commander Riker is approached by Lanel, who offers to help him if he will have sex with her. She tries to point the way out, after he presumably agrees to her terms, but he gets caught and beat up. The head doctor doesn't want word of his existence to get out but it does.
The Chancellor finds out from his Security Minister about Riker's existence. He then finds out that Mirasta Yale also knew of his existence and told Picard not to tell him about it. It puts the Chancellor in a bit of a spot.
The security minister goes to the hospital. He has the director of the hospital relieved of his position when he refuses to revive Riker. The security minister wants to interrogate Riker. The director's replacement does as ordered. The security minister attempts to martyr himself in such a way that his death will be blamed on Riker.
Dr. Crusher beams in and saves Riker. The security minister survives. The Chancellor tells Picard that he has changed his mind. His people are not ready for contact with people from other worlds. He cancels the warp drive program and decides to refocus the funds on educating his people.
Mirasta Yale is disappointed. She asks to stay aboard the Enterprise. Picard is hesitant but agrees to her request.
Thoughts
I enjoyed this episode until they got to the end. I thought the ending was a little too convenient. The security minister's plan was laughably bad. I was also surprised by Picard's willingness to take Mirasta Yale into space. He didn't even ask if she would be leaving anyone behind.
Carolyn Seymour plays Mirasta Yale. Her character never shows up in this show again but this is one of three appearances that the actress made on this series. Each time she played a different character. She had previously appeared in a Season 2 episode and would later appear in a Season 4 episode. She also appeared in a couple episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.
Lanel is played by Bebe Neuwirth who is best known to me for playing Lilith on Cheers and Frasier. This is her only work on a Star Trek television show or movie.
I'm not sure how well certain aspects of this show have aged in my opinion. Listening to Picard describe the prime directive and Starfleet made the organization seem downright saintly. I'm sure that I was much more optimistic when this show first aired but today it seems unrealistically idealistic.
Overall I thought this episode was decent but not great. I found it on a list of the top 15 episodes of this series. It has its moments but I'm not sure I would rate it as one of the 15 best episodes of this show.
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