Star Trek: The Next Generation 5.01

Redemption - Part Two

The Enterprise goes to Starbase 234. Captain Picard talks Starfleet into putting him in charge of a task force that will keep the Romulans from interfering in the Klingon Civil War. Commander Riker is temporarily reassigned as captain of one of the ships in the fleet. Lieutenant Commander Data is put in charge of the Sutherland, another ship.

Data takes commend of the Sutherland. Lieutenant Commander Hobson, the Sutherland's executive officer, doesn't like Data. Hobson tries to get himself reassigned but Data declines to let him do that.

Worf serves on Kurn's ship, he quickly clashes with his brother. He is eventually captured by Lursa and B'Etor. They suggest that he should join forces with them, marry B'Etor, and help to teach Toral, the son of Duras. 

Captain Picard employs a scheme devised by Lieutenant Commander La Forge. They use the taskforce of Starfleet vessels to create a barrier between Klingon and Romulan space. The Romulans object and give the Enterprise and the rest of the Starfleet taskforce less than 24 hours to leave.

Picard comes face to face with Sela, the leader of the Romulan forces. She looks very much like Tasha Yar and claims to be her daughter. Picard is puzzled but eventually discovers the truth that she is Tasha's daughter, but it is the Tasha who went back in time aboard the Enterprise C.

The Romulans come up with a scheme to run the blockade. It almost works but Commander Data and the Sutherland expose the Romulans when they try to slip through unobserved. Duras' family falls when it becomes clear that they were allied with the Romulans. Lursa and B'Etor escape but they leave Toral, their nephew, behind. Gowron gives Worf the opportunity to kill Toral but he declines the offer and returns to duty aboard the Enterprise.

Thoughts

I liked this installment better than the previous one. The two episodes would probably work better watched together even though they were originally broadcast months apart.

I have my doubts about how well things would have gone for Worf if he had decided to accept B'Etor's offer. My guess is that Toral would not have accepted Worf as a mentor.

There is a lot packed into this two-part story. There's the Klingon Civil War, Worf and Kurn, Data taking command of a starship for the first time, and the reveal that Sela is Tasha's daughter. Two of those things would have been more than enough. 

This story didn't quite live up to my hopes for it. I thought that Sela would play a bigger part than she did. This was the last episode that she is in that I had not seen before. The next and final episode in which she appears is 5.08 (Unification II). Sela made subsequent appearances in novels, comic books, and video games but not in television episodes.

This is a decent story but not as great as I had hoped. It has a few too many things going on. The work they did to explain Sela's origin felt a bit forced.