You realize something's amiss, (besides the memory loss), when Keiran MacDuff (Erich Anderson) is introduced as the first officer of the Enterprise, with Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) moved down a notch to second place. I had a little trouble with this episode, in as much as no one on the bridge crew was able to determine their actual identity but all were still in full faculty of their operational duties. That didn't quite make sense to me. For example, Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) used a sensor device on an injured crew member, and didn't know why, but knew it would work. I think the plot got stretched a little too thin here. What I did enjoy was the altering of personalities for a short time, like Commander Riker getting chummy with Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), when ordinarily, they would be at each other's throat. In fact, Ensign Ro did go for Riker's throat, but in a totally different context. Then you had Worf (Michael Dorn), with his warrior nature, assuming he was in charge of the Enterprise, handing out orders to the bridge crew, including Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart)! What it boiled down to was an ingenious plot by an alien Satarran disguised as MacDuff using his incredible manipulative powers to gain a decisive war victory against long time enemies, the Lysians. Fortunately, the crew regained their wits soundly enough for Riker and Worf to disable the pretender, with the Captain voicing his regrets over the Lysian vessel that was destroyed when it seemed like they had no other choice.
Review of Conundrum
