User Reviews

In my opinion, Romulans were under-utilised in this show - and this episode is certainly proof of that.

The script is beautiful and crisp, and even good enough to have been rewritten as a Battlstar Galactica episode.

The acting - especially James Sloyan as the defecting Romulan trying to keep peace - was just spot on. He could have played it over the top, he could have played it as a villain, but he played it perfectly. One cannot help but come very attached to Sloyan's character Jarok - a man who chose peace and suffered the greatest consequences for trying to do the right thing.

I know there are more famous Star Trek episodes that come to mind in terms of quality - Inner Light, Frame of Mind, etc. But at the end of the day, I'd put this episode up there as one of the best.

You have to admire just how nefarious the Romulan military can be. Set up a dissenting high ranking officer to defect to the federation with false information and potentially have him be the cause of a war he desperately wanted to avoid.

Jarok is wonderfully performed with depth and complexity not seen in Romulan's since the initial introduction in TOS. A family man who makes a decision based on his conscious and love for his daughter.

I am the star trek fan who enjoys the subterfuge and clever manipulation from the antagonists versus being evil for evil's sake. I can buy into Romulan's being devoted to the military structure and dissenters being viewed as an extreme threat to national unity.

It's a good thing that Picard is a thoughtful man and had the foresight to call in the Klingon's as backup just in case this was all a set up.

There's some nice build up to the theme of 'trusting your gut feeling' throughout this episode. Geordi discuss the battle between intuition and logic and ultimately the salvation of the enterprise is Picard's intuition that something was a amiss with this whole situation based on the LaForge presentation early in the episode.

This is one of the good ones and did a lot to rebuild the Romulan's from evil caricature's into complexity with a foot still in on the side of nefarious for viewer engagement.

Fantastic episode of the Star Trek—The Next Generation proves, once again, that before the Borg gobbled up a bit of the villainy that occupied a lot of the show's attention, the Romulans always had a place at the table. "The Defector" is a choice selection if you are wanting to groom potential fans of the show interested in the Romulan threat as it concerns an Admiral Jarok (James Sloyan; really solid), hiding under the identity of a logistics officer defecting from his home world in an effort to warn the Federation of an impending invasion, outposting on a world called Narvanna III, wanting to prevent long-scale war that he feels would leave his people forever damaged. Picard must determine if Jarok is telling him the truth. He will listen to what Jarok has to say, as well as, receive counsel from his officers and his Federation superiors in order to decide whether or not to enter the Neutral Zone, traveling to the world, risking possible retaliation by Romulans. Sloyan is, in no small part, one of the major reasons "The Defector" is so powerful, and the episode certainly has quite the tragic conclusion. Through Sloyan, we see that Jarok is genuine in his desire for peace between his world and others, tired of the casualties of war, but his decision to try and protect his people through his defection comes with a heavy burden, a price he feels is worth leaving behind his family. To be a patsy is even more tragic than what he ultimately decides to do when he realizes that a "test of loyalty" was the reason behind his defection, not willing to bear the emotional toll once he discovers what (doesn't) exist on Narvanna III. A lot of time is spent on the crew trying to determine if Jarok is a Romulan spy or legitimate in his claims. It will take some convincing for Picard to cross over the Neutral Zone and into Romulan space.

With Picard watching Data in a Shakespearian play, giving a tutorial on his finding his own performance and understanding the human condition, later requesting his android officer's advice about the crew's spirits, wanting him to "record" the events upcoming, is just another set of moments that add such gravitas to the overall episode. Include some thrilling back-and-forth (once again; if their work in "The Enemy" wasn't nifty enough, this just puts the icing on the cake) between Katsulas' returning Commander Tomalak and Picard, as the brink of war seems imminent (with a nice use of the Klingons in a little twist), and "The Defector" is loaded with drama. Sloyan brings quite a lot of passion and urgency to his part, too. When Sloyan fails, at first and for a while, to give specific details about the invasion, I think he instills Jarok with a sense of loyalty to his people and it is only when Picard doesn't seem willing to just take his word for it that he concedes, for the sake of stopping a potential war. Katsulas gives Tomalak a gleam in his eye, a jovial reception of Picard's presence in his side of the Neutral Zone, and when he talks about using the Enterprise as a symbol of Romulan adulation in its unconditional surrender (or, "best-case scenario", destruction of the starship), it is with great sense of pride he makes such a demand. Oh, how sweet it was when Picard unveiled his little surprise to compete with two Romulan warbirds! Again, like other episodes and the series as a whole, Picard will go to battle if he has to (and equips himself not too badly when he must), but it is clear he would prefer to avoid if at all possible.

In "The Defector", fearing the Empire is attempting to start another war with the Federation, a Romulan officer defects. He flees into the Neutral Zone where the Enterprise is there to rescue him. But not everyone aboard is buying his story. Is he actually telling the truth about secret military bases in the Neutral Zone or is this just another ploy by the Romulans to provoke the Enterprise?

This is the best episode of Season 3 up to this point. A lot of this has to do with the heavy lifting that guest star James Sloyan does. Scenes with Picard and Setol sparring off are absolutely wonderful. The script is very good as well, with no fat to trim off of the edges. The ambiguity of what Setol's true intentions are throughout this episode really keeps the watcher engaged. The undercurrent of Worf's hatred for all things Romulan can be felt here as well. It's a nice touch. I also love the Klingons showing up at the end (which was foreshadowed throughout the episode). Very cool to see them assisting the Federation in their fight against the Romulan Empire.

The ending (while tragic) is a suitable ending for the Romulan officer. A race with a culture so jingoistic and militaristic can't really escape your veigns. To Setol, he has betrayed his family and his people. He only hopes of a day in which his letter can be delivered in peace...

ST:TNG:58 - "The Defector" (Stardate: 43462.5) - this is the 10th episode of the 3rd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This episode is about the Romulan defector who says he has vital information for the Federation concerning a Romulan invasion. Returning in this episode is the late Andreas Katsulas as the devious Commander Tomalak. But of course, things are never as they seem as Picard and crew try to figure out if this "defector" is telling the truth or not.

This is a direct continuation of the previous 3rd season episode, "The Enemy".

Trivia note: you see a Romulan scout ship for the first time. Also, you see Data in his first role in a Shakespeare play with Picard "directing" him in the continued effort to become more human.

It was only three episodes prior that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) was forced to use his negotiating skills with Romulan Commander Tomalak (Andreas Katsulas) in 'The Enemy'. It was under a similar situation as well, although in the prior story, it was an injured Romulan who was beamed aboard the Enterprise that Tomalak wanted returned. This time however, it appears that a Romulan traitor has defected to the Federation, intent on preventing a potential war between both entities. Obviously, Captain Picard and the rest of his officers had no way of knowing if this was a Romulan ruse to provoke an attack, so a good part of the story involved exploring sub-Lieutenant Setal's motivation. When Setal finally revealed his real identity as Admiral Alidar Jarok (James Sloyan), it became even more questionable as to whether he was a Romulan plant to get The Enterprise to surrender to the Romulans. It wasn't until Jarok gave Picard intelligence on the locations, strengths and cloaking capabilities of Romulan warships, did the Captain finally come to believe him. It helped that Jarok expressed some reservation over the fact that he would never see his family again, a point that allowed Picard to understand the Admiral's determination to avert a war.

Here's something I could never understand about The Federation in both series, the original 'Star Trek' and 'Next Generation'. The Romulans and Klingons both had superior cloaking ability for their ships, making it impossible to locate them in the vast reaches of space. But somehow, the Federation did not employ cloaking to hide their vessels. One would think their technology would be at least a match against former enemy Klingons and Generation's Romulans. I do recall Captain Kirk stealing a cloaking device from the Romulans in the third season ST episode, 'The Enterprise Incident' in one of the best stories of that series. Doing a quick internet search, I just learned that the Treaty of Algeron, referenced in this episode, banned the development of cloaking technology by The Federation and isolated the Romulans behind their borders. So, Tomalak's desire to provoke an incident here would have broken that treaty, under the guise of framing Picard and The Enterprise for it. You have to give the Klingons credit for the way this one ended. They had a couple of cloaked vessels at the ready, causing Tomalak to back down in the face of certain death. Very slick move by The Captain!

Glorious! Patrick Stewart doing a little Shakespeare. The mystery of the defector is awesome and at the end Jean-Luc showing that he's got some Kirk gamesmanship! Again, oh so glorious!

Trek is too high minded to let them shoot it out, but come on! Youre telling me 3 Klingon ships AND Worf DONT fire on the Romulans?!? Unbelievable!

What a great conflicted performance by Sloyan as Jarok.

Another well executed/paced dive into the human (or Romulan) condition examining the conflict between duty and personal conscious.

It's an uphill battle to trust a defector but with Jarok's passion and earnest presentation, you just want to believe the guy and it is a kick to the gut to discover that this was set up to expose his dissent and potentially capture the Enterprise.

Often our team of Boy/Girl scouts are completely oblivious when it comes to the cat and mouse dance of counter intelligence operations but Picard actually has the foresight to keep the Klingons in his back pocket just in case this goes bad. The Romulans did tip their hand when they left the shuttlecraft/Jarok in federation space without a fight.

I am a fan of the exploration of manipulation and strategy so this episode lands well for me and is elevated by Sloyan's great performance.