IDENTITY CRISIS Well hey, another good one! There was a lot to like about this episode: - The atmosphere. Lots of dark, moody shots of the planet, especially in the holodeck. Some excellent bits of direction, especially when Suzanna fell down in engineering and when Data "snuck up" behind Geordi (with the warp engine glow occasionally blocking the screen; and interesting effect, ut not necessarily a bad one). - Geordi. For once, we see a LaForge who's not portrayed as a social incompetent, but as someone who can and has had friendships with other people without romantic overtones being brought in. Burton did a good job of showing us Geordi's caring side, without some of the bluster he sometimes displays. - A deftly handled puzzle episode. They took what was in my opinion the correct path in not putting the burden of solving the puzzle on the shoulders of one person. We focused mostly on Geordi's work, but in the end, it was Dr. Crusher's that made the difference. In fact, when Geordi did learn what he wanted to learn, things just got worse. - A fine guest character in the person of Suzanna Leijten (well, that's how Tim Lynch spelled it :-) Not perhaps the flashiest character to grace the series, but for what she had to do, she was fine. She certainly seemed a heck of a lot more REAL than 90% of TNG's guest stars. And, of course, we could actually FEEL for her, and since she's NOT a regular, the very real possibility of her transformation (and, effectively, her death) is enhanced. The episode moved right along, had good, solid dialogue, and good acting. (Did anyone else suddenly think of Alien when Suzanna fell down was shuddering in Engineering just before she collapsed? Brr.) The music was blah, but that's par for the course. I find it interesting that Geordi's change was triggered "visually" by the sight of the form of the creature. Or maybe it was just coincidence. At any rate, it was a good effect. The whole holodeck scene was nicely handled, especially with no background sounds but the quiet thrum of the ship. One aspect of the show that I felt was powerful, and appropriate, was that actual casualties were suffered. Space is a dangerous place, and the bleakness of this situation, the fact that some dangers CANNOT be fully overcome, was driven home through the loss of three members of the old landing party. It wouldn't have worked any other way. Picard orders warning signs to be put up, but there's still the sense of loss of those three people, and the possibility that something similar could happen to someone else (maybe the Enterprise crew) somewhere else. There were a few points that stuck out in my mind as flaws: - That the Enterprise didn't try to warp up to the shuttle and tractor it before it burned up in the atmosphere. We know it's possible to be in warp very close to a planet: They did it in Star Trek V. - They didn't check the awayteam over to make sure they hadn't picked up any more parasites. Perhaps we should assume that they did anyway, but I'd rather have them tell us. Makes for a better sense of closure. - The alien costumes were rather cheesy. The darkness in which they were filmed helped this a little, but even so, they looked like rubber with day-glo strips attached. But the biggest flaw is intrinsic to the story itself: This is an old tale. We've seen it in Alien and its sequel, we read about it in The Puppet Masters (sort of), comics fans saw it in the X-Men brood storyline of eight years ago. It's all over the place. This story didn't really have anything new to add to it, but what it DID have was good execution. There were enough good bits in it that it was certainly enjoyable to watch, and could make you forget that you'd seen it all before. For a while. By the way, two things I would NOT consider to be flaws: - Suzanna and Geordi being able to "understand" the aliens' thought processes and life cycle after having become mostly alien for a time. No, it doesn't make sense, but then, neither does telepathy, or this sort of metamorphosis, for that matter. I have no problem taking this on faith, especially since there weren't any really complex thoughts to be gleaned from the aliens. - Geordi noticing the first signs of his transformation before entering the holodeck and not calling anyone. Obviously, a certain degree of irrationality is caused by the parasite. Geordi was busy with other things and didn't think of doing the right thing. (He was already doing what he thought was the right thing.) Overall, I'm even more convinced than I was last week that TNG should spend more time tackling the terrors and horrors that exist in its fictional universe. As "Remember Me", "Night Terrors" and "Identity Crisis" demonstrated, to me anyway, TNG is a fine medium for telling horror stories. I think they should tell more of them. I could deal with a steady diet of this stuff. I'd rather see them tackle more original material than this, though. Yeah, I think "the terrors of space" would be a nice theme for TNG. It certainly couldn't be much worse than the damned optimism of the first two seasons... Grade: B+ SEASON FOUR TO DATE: The Best Of Both Worlds Part Two: C- Family: A- Brothers: B Suddenly Human: C Remember Me: A+ Legacy: D+ Reunion: B Future Imperfect: D- Final Mission: B The Loss: D- Data's Day: B- The Wounded: C- Devil's Due: C- Clues: B First Contact: C+ Galaxy's Child: F Night Terrors: B Identity Crisis: B+ --- Total Points: 41 Season Average: 2.278 = C+ (Rise of 0.062 from previous episode) (Note the revision of the "Night Terrors" grade.) NEXT WEEK: Gee, is that Barclay I saw? Is he doing his Six Million Dollar Man imitation or something? And, shades of "Brothers", it's time to take over the Enterprise again! Well, we shall see...