The Drumhead

DVD, TNG S4 (The Drumhead)

Sabotage on the Enterprise, a Klingon spy working for the Romulans, a possible traitor aboard and a bit of a rummage in the ship and crew's past three or four years. So why does it have to be so dull? It's almost sacrilege to say such a thing about an episode directed by Jonathan Frakes, but even the direction is lacklustre, for the most part. I sense that may be more to do with the writing than the choice of camera moves, and I say for the most part because this turns into something completely different in the last ten minutes. If the entirety had been as good as the scenes at the end it would be up there with the best of the season. As it is, I can't help feeling it resides more on the lesser side of the season's tally.

I think the blame must fall heavily on the writing because there's very little beyond dialogue to carry the story - no especially attractive visuals, interesting concepts or depth of character, aside from the slurs on Worf's Father, so it becomes one slightly drab scene after another. The opening suggested different, with a view of a courtroom-like chamber on the Enterprise that we've not seen before. Then there's the whole continuity-led charge into the story with a Klingon under suspicion of working for the Romulans, and Worf's current low status in the Empire referenced by this traitor. Then we get a retired Admiral on board who was apparently involved in uncovering the conspiracy of three years ago. Surely that can only mean the events of 'Conspiracy' in Season 1, one of the best episodes of the series and one that was ripe for a sequel. Needless to say none of these plot threads lead anywhere interesting for the majority of the episode.

Not until we get to Picard's standing up to Admiral Satie is there any spark, his careful and considered defence of himself and his crew even while Satie and her Betazoid assistant (played by Bruce French, later to appear as an Ocampan and a Vulcan) try to show him up as an untrustworthy man, not recovered from his Borg experiences and someone who'll break the Prime Directive whenever he feels like it. Who dares to question Captain Picard's loyalty to Starfleet? Only a crazy old woman it turns out, as Satie loses control, embarrassing herself in front of the special security Admiral viewing the 'trial'. It's a sad demonstration of what fear can do and leads to the strong message of the episode: that unreasoning suspicion against anyone even remotely connected with our enemies is wrong, and as soon as individual freedom begins to be eroded it is a terrible thing for all of us. A message for our own time, even stronger than when this episode was first broadcast in 1991!

One of the mistakes of the episode is in its concentration on the guests of the week. If you have recurring characters, as 'DS9' did, such attentions are edifying for a series, adding colour to the main character's lives, but if they are simply one-episode wonders, I don't think it's such a good idea to whittle your cast's appearance down to a few unimportant scenes. The time constraint works against the story too, because there's so much time introducing the various characters and trying to build up a mystery and a bit of suspense (as would more successfully be achieved in such later episodes as 'Suspicions' or 'Eye of The Beholder'), that the interesting stuff when Picard's basically on trial, is pushed right to the end. It could have been so much better if the 'pleasantries' of the story convention could have been dispensed with in exchange for a much more in-depth discussion on the moral sides of the issue. Instead Satie is quietly discredited and Picard has a little conversation to Worf for the audience's benefit to highlight the point of the episode.

The Klingon belief that their culture has weakened since the alliance with the Federation is something that has been touched on before, but would not become a potent force in the ongoing storytelling until 'DS9' Season 4 in which they became enemies, albeit until the greater evil of the Dominion forced them back into the alliance. A similar thing would happen to the Romulans, as happened to the Klingons (when the moon Praxis blew up instigating the Empire's alliance with the Feds), since Romulus blew up in 'Star Trek XI', though we don't know what happened beyond that. It just shows that enemies today can be useful allies of the future...

At one point I thought Wesley was back on board - Dr. Crusher exits the room after giving her testimony and from a distance we see her being friendly with a young man in uniform before he comes in at which point we find out it's Simon Tarses, the quarter-Romulan used as a scapegoat by Satie. The scene with Picard being questioned is when Frakes' directorial skill shows itself, the camera slowly panning the room as he makes his case, then afterwards, when everyone leaves and the camera pulls back away from Satie, alone and disregarded by those that walk by. Slow motion would have worked there! Any positives about the end can't save this, I'm afraid. It's no 'Court Martial', 'Dax' or 'Inquisition', and we never did get that sequel to 'Conspiracy'. Shame.

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