Preemptive Strike

DVD, TNG S7 (Preemtive Strike)

Quite a low-key and unresolved storyline to be the second to last episode of the series. It's a shame we never found out Ro Laren's eventual fate as she never popped up again in Trek. Picard's disappointment and anger towards her would have made a fascinating story, as he has so much going on in his face in that last scene. A heavy-handed way to finish the final 'proper' episode before the finale, and it has to be said, a controversial decision to rest most of the episode on the shoulders of a recurring character, no matter how popular she was.

For myself, I never warmed to Ro, and I can't remember her backstory of previous episodes, so it took me out a little bit from the TNG familiarity. What it did do well was further the Maquis plotline which was woven into the three 24th Century series', as a device to set up Voyager. It was easy to justify the unknown Maquis characters because of the various cell groups, they didn't need to be people we'd seen before. A shame most of them were pretty much ciphers, apart from the old guy (who I was sure I recognised from another episode), who precipitated the best scene of the episode as Ro's priorities change. Not having great sympathy for Ro, I didn't feel for her plight and she seems even more of a type to change with the wind, and loses some respect, despite choosing to do the right thing in her eyes.

Always good to increase continuity and bind the various Trek's together, with reappearances by Gul Evek and Admiral Nechayev, the 'Maquis stoyline regular cast' as it were (especially in this post-2009 age of 'Star Trek XI' and it's subsequent steamrollering of all that's good and true in Trek history!). I'm surprised they never did a miniseries of novels based on the organisation, but I suppose a lot of the time they felt barely fleshed out as people, one of the great Trek plotlines that never really progressed (apart from in DS9 of course, which tended to get most things right).

The mention of war with Cardassia was prophetic, and direction by Patrick Stewart was functional if not a directorial swansong. Fun to see Riker as a Bajoran (those noses really make the men's eyes seem to bulge out, I've noticed), but as I say, a surprise that most of the cast have walk-on roles. Maybe they were glad to have less to do? I've noticed in most of the spin-offs (not DS9), they tend to have a poor couple of episodes right before the finale. Just an interesting note, and makes me wonder why, when you'd think they would put all their energy into getting up momentum for the always brilliant last episode. Perhaps they simply become sapped, and these last few get a little lost as attention is focused on going out with a bang one last time.

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