Shortly after this episode opens the Enterprise encounters a small alien ship; it doesn't appear to pose any treat so Picard doesn't worry when it starts to scan the Enterprise. Then suddenly the entire crew, including Data, find their memories wiped. They still have their skills but have no idea who they are or why they are there. The computer records are also unavailable at first so they will have to work out who is who. For the most part they guess their roles but there are some exceptions; Worf assumes himself to be the captain and amusingly Data is assumed to be the barman! There is also a new crewman; Commander MacDuff who seems to be one of the senior bridge officers. When they eventually access the computer they discover who everybody is, including MacDuff who is apparently second in command. They also find their orders
the Federation has been in a long war with the Lysian's and now the Enterprise is to destroy their command centre. As they head into Lysian space they start to feel something is very wrong; the Lysians are poorly armed and clearly no match for the federation; will they act on these concerns or follow the orders they found in the computer.
This was a really good episode with a great mix of drama and humour. The idea of the Enterprise being hijacked in such a way that the crew didn't realise it was interesting. The fact that there are often 'one episode' characters on the bridge means it isn't too obvious that MacDuff is the cuckoo on the nest until we are told he is second in command and there are logical reasons for why certain crew members don't know their true function on the ship; Worf's sash sets him apart from the others and Data was making a drink for Troi when the memory wipe occurred. More amusement comes from the usually argumentative Ensign Ro who thinks she may have been involved with Riker so let's herself into his room for a night of passion! This leads to a priceless scene at the end once they have their memories back. The cast do a great job making the strange situation believable; each character acting almost as they would normally but not quite due to their memory loss; seeing Michelle Forbes as Ensign Ro makes me wish her character makes me wish she was in more episodes. Overall a really good episode with some great ideas; there are some plot holes of course but these aren't too hard to ignore.
This was a really good episode with a great mix of drama and humour. The idea of the Enterprise being hijacked in such a way that the crew didn't realise it was interesting. The fact that there are often 'one episode' characters on the bridge means it isn't too obvious that MacDuff is the cuckoo on the nest until we are told he is second in command and there are logical reasons for why certain crew members don't know their true function on the ship; Worf's sash sets him apart from the others and Data was making a drink for Troi when the memory wipe occurred. More amusement comes from the usually argumentative Ensign Ro who thinks she may have been involved with Riker so let's herself into his room for a night of passion! This leads to a priceless scene at the end once they have their memories back. The cast do a great job making the strange situation believable; each character acting almost as they would normally but not quite due to their memory loss; seeing Michelle Forbes as Ensign Ro makes me wish her character makes me wish she was in more episodes. Overall a really good episode with some great ideas; there are some plot holes of course but these aren't too hard to ignore.