Enterprise has another encounter with the crystalline entity from the previous episode 'Datalore'.
This a fairly good episode with some decent character moments but for me it's not written well enough for certain scenes to work.
The plot has a great central theme with the guilt and revenge obsession of someone who has lost a child driving many scenes of great emotional drama. However, the resolution falls short on plausibility and lacks any real explanation about the nature of the crystalline entity.
The writers clearly lacked the screen time to tackle both Dr Marr's Ahab-like obsession and give enough background information to the entity that might allow the audience to empathise with Captain Picard's stance and Lieutenant Data's final observation. The result for me like some other viewers, particularly as a parent, I find myself siding with Marr, viewing Picard as a bit sanctimonious, and resenting Data for kicking a grieving mother with mental health issues when she's down.
Marr has a lot of screen time and Ellen Greer gives a fantastic performance. Her character is not the only parent to suffer after choosing to focus on a career over parenthood. This is a theme addressed before with Riker's father, but in less tragic circumstances. Her character is written and performed so well I sympathised with her situation.
Data makes a strong contribution to the drama, particularly in his scenes with Marr. His lack of emotion is a perfect foil for Marr's character and, as ever, Brent Spiner does a great job.
Picard's character is written to be consistent with the Federation values he often upholds, but I do not think it works in this episode for the reasons stated above. If there was time to properly define the entity as something other than a mass murdering threat to life like the classic 'The Devil in the Dark' it would have worked better. Ironically, Picard gets his own Ahab moment in the movie 'First Contact' and has to be talked round from some vengeful behaviour .
Other characters such as Riker and Troi are not written well either. Troi in particular could have solved a few of the plot holes that hamper the final resolution, but she is conveniently quiet on certain aspects of Marr's frame of mind. Riker is the only major character supportive of Marr and it is implied (intentionally or not) that he too might be out for revenge after the entity prevented his latest conquest.
Visually it is very strong in the scenes involving the entity and on the planet surface.
This a fairly good episode with some decent character moments but for me it's not written well enough for certain scenes to work.
The plot has a great central theme with the guilt and revenge obsession of someone who has lost a child driving many scenes of great emotional drama. However, the resolution falls short on plausibility and lacks any real explanation about the nature of the crystalline entity.
The writers clearly lacked the screen time to tackle both Dr Marr's Ahab-like obsession and give enough background information to the entity that might allow the audience to empathise with Captain Picard's stance and Lieutenant Data's final observation. The result for me like some other viewers, particularly as a parent, I find myself siding with Marr, viewing Picard as a bit sanctimonious, and resenting Data for kicking a grieving mother with mental health issues when she's down.
Marr has a lot of screen time and Ellen Greer gives a fantastic performance. Her character is not the only parent to suffer after choosing to focus on a career over parenthood. This is a theme addressed before with Riker's father, but in less tragic circumstances. Her character is written and performed so well I sympathised with her situation.
Data makes a strong contribution to the drama, particularly in his scenes with Marr. His lack of emotion is a perfect foil for Marr's character and, as ever, Brent Spiner does a great job.
Picard's character is written to be consistent with the Federation values he often upholds, but I do not think it works in this episode for the reasons stated above. If there was time to properly define the entity as something other than a mass murdering threat to life like the classic 'The Devil in the Dark' it would have worked better. Ironically, Picard gets his own Ahab moment in the movie 'First Contact' and has to be talked round from some vengeful behaviour .
Other characters such as Riker and Troi are not written well either. Troi in particular could have solved a few of the plot holes that hamper the final resolution, but she is conveniently quiet on certain aspects of Marr's frame of mind. Riker is the only major character supportive of Marr and it is implied (intentionally or not) that he too might be out for revenge after the entity prevented his latest conquest.
Visually it is very strong in the scenes involving the entity and on the planet surface.