Masks

I agree with various points made from several reviewers.

Yes, Brent Spiner did a great job with this one.....but I still felt somewhat embarrassed for him as an actor----given the feeble script.

Yes, I would much rather watch "Spock's Brain" than this episode.

To my credit, I was able to watch it all the way through. But never again.

It just seemed to be embarrassingly bad.

I could not engage.

The basic idea of this episode is really very interesting, but the conclusion/solution is never fully fleshed out and the motivation of the "villain" such as it is, is never logically presented. In the beginning we get some really interesting ideas, like the signs and one of them meaning death, but the solution isn't so much simple as too easy. The biggest problem with this episode is that it really could have been more interesting, an alien civilization is dumping artefacts everywhere. Why? We never find out! Apparently Data is taken over by well over a thousand personalities, why? We never find out! How is Picard able to so easily trick whatever force is behind all of this? We never find out! Too many questions, no real answers.

I noticed the low rating before watching it, and therefore was primed to skip to the next episode, but it held my interest all the way through.

Highlights for me were Brent Spiner's various characters; he is definitely the best actor in this series and I enjoyed watching him dip into his repertoire of faces and voices. Also, the conversation about symbols used by ancient civilizations I found interesting.

I understand that this isn't enough for a lot of people, and I don't imagine I'll ever watch it again. If you're not a big Data fan you might want to give it a miss.

Patrick Stewart once said that Brent Spiner was the best actor he ever worked with. This episode is one shining example of why he said that. The trope of "imported multiple personalities" has been used in virtually every sci fi series in memory, but few actors are as capable of pulling it off. He is.

This may not have been a ten out of ten plot/story-line, but it certainly was a engaging episode. The one thing I truly loved about this episode, was that it gave Brent Spiner the ability to truly demonstrate his acting ability.

Any actor that can portray multiple personalities, and do it in a way where you believe that each persona is a unique and different individual, truly is a great actor. The emotional struggle, between the competing personalities was also portrayed in a believable way.

It's been a while since I have watched this episode, so I can't go into more detail about the story-line... but reading the negative reviews, I felt I had to say something in its defense.

Spiner's performance in this episode has always stayed with me!