LogFAQs > #972660091

Episode 14: Face of the Enemy

The Enterprise Incident, Part II.

Picard has an understanding view of traitors. Angry at the apparent deception, but reasonable enough to listen. Intelligent enough to not blow Troi's cover immediately.

Riker's a bit more angry towards them, but hes still able to be decent to them.

La Forge makes an appearance.

Worf's opinion on traitors is to be expected, but he delivers more calmly and lucidly than i would expect. Doesn't trust Deseve's intel. Doing his hair nicely.

Crusher's in a forgiving mood.

Troi's acting like she's the Oh God of hangovers. Also, she's a Romulan and doesn't like the look of that. Disoriented and irritable, as expected, but picks things up quickly. Doesn't enjoy being talked down to. Nervous and near silent when she meets Toreth, but soon begins to project a tremendous level of authority. Unnerved by people fearing her, but goes along with the role. Manages to disguise her ignorance of Romulan affairs through simple guile and the assumptions of others. Its brilliant how Sirtis disguises Troi's very real personal contempt of Toreth behind her disguise's expected contempt of anyone who questions her. Takes the loss of the freighter hard, but still fulfills her role. Calling Toreth a coward is fantastic, especially as you can hear a little exaggeration in the line to show that Troi is acting more aggressive than she normally would be. Starts to adopt some of her act's personality when she bellows, barks and threatens N'Vak to listen to her. Even calls him subcommander to emphasise that she's a little lost in character. Best part happens when she fully relishes the role to get command of the ship, betraying every instinct as an empath by threatening their families. Then, when she transports back, the sweetest smile to indicate that she's still Troi. Turns out when you bother to give Sirtis material, she sings.

Data does his job.

N'Vak is as patient as this scenario let's him be. Nervous as fuck any time Troi is spoken to. Casually kills someone just so Troi has a disguise. Remorselessly throws her under the bus when the freighter plan falls through. Stands by his principles in the end.

Toreth is a stern captain and doesnt appreciate being kept in the dark. Her rant about the Tal Shiar keeps her mounting in anger and steals the scene. Spits the coordinates out with venom and contempt. Initially deals with Troi through smarm and smugness, but once under her skin we see someone nursing one hell of an angry wound due to the crimes of her government. Keeps treating Troi like an idiot barely worth notice, clearly trying to bait an excuse to kill her. Its almost a shame shes more or less humiliated in the end, since finally seeing through the bullshit is a great moment.

Fun to keep Troi in darkness for a bit. The uniform makes it obvious, though. Get a few reaction shots of N'Vak, which might be him sending emotional hints to Troi. The dinner scene is perfect, from acting to script, but especially in the way it lingers on Troi as she navigates Romulan customs, inviting her to make a fuck up that she keeps avoiding. Transitioning from Picard and company leaving the ready room to Troi pacing was cool. Some brilliant tension as the two ships follow each other and we keep cutting from one bridge to the other. Wrong in all the best ways to have Troi appear antagonistically on the view screen.

Troi has had some fantastic moments before, but fucking hell this was spectacular. It really bothers me that Crusher and Troi are so heavily underutilised, so, I was probably going to be somewhat sympathetic to this on principle. But it isn't just a phenomenal showcase for Sirtis and a tense thriller besides, it's a redemption story for the Romulans. TOS Romulans were always played as being morally equivalent, in some cases better, than the Federation, but TNG, although they made some efforts with Unification and a few others, has mainly kept them in moustache twirler mode. Here, though, we have "good" Romulans who have defected, but still have complex moralities, a human who was able to see genuine value in their culture for a time and, of course, Toreth. Aside from making every scene between her and Troi a mesmerising experience, her backstory makes her an incredibly rich character for how short a time she spends here. Loyal to her government, but in disagreement with some of their darker policies, she isn't too far removed from Picard himself and, like The Enterprise Incident, I left the story feeling quite bad that she was returning home a laughing stock. I actually care about this species again, the way I used to.

Stands proud alongside the best Romulan tales of TOS. Truly brilliant.

Onto the next bit of the Tapestry.