Sub Rosa

Okay. I admit: after reading most of the very negative reviews, I'd planned on skipping this one (This is my first run through the series). The one element that changed my mind was the fact that Jonathan Frakes directed. As far as I can remember, I've enjoyed every one of his directorial episodes.

Then there were the occasional glowing reviews. So I sighed, and decided to give it a try.

A great episode? I wouldn't say so; and yet......the script, the direction, the performances were all so enjoyable. Perhaps it feels to be such a lightweight episode, that many viewers were turned off to its story; but what a nicely done ghost story (if you will), and yes, told with a light touch.

I sure am glad I overcame my resistance and saw this charming episode for the first time!

Fans of classic V will enjoy Duncan Regehr, as long as they don't mind doing so with jaws agape in disbelief. If you know someone who loves NEXT GEN but hasn't seen this one, i guarantee they will absolutely not believe that it isn't some practical joke created by a fan with too much time on his hands last Thursday. The only way for it to have been any bizarrer would have been for Beverly to get on a motorbike, jump a tank of naked Evel Knievels, and land in a threesome with Pinky and Leather Tuscadero. Note the "McFly" on the Scottish tombstone. I swear to you, if Ellen Dow (THE WEDDING SINGER) had started rapping from within her coffin, it would have fit right in.

Whether or not they meant it, Anne Rice did this story about Lasher, who became a spirit in 12th century Scotland and attached himself to a woman, then her daughter, then her daughter...etc. He brought them gifts, wealth, protection and also lots of trouble and heartache. He also knew how they liked to be touched and could only take form briefly, with effort. He loved each one of them, too. The similarities are too much for me to believe that book didn't influence this episode.

I've heard plenty about 'Sub Rosa', most of it negative; but there's still the possibility of something being so-bad-it's-good, right? Sadly, that doesn't really apply here . . .

It all starts off well enough with a solemn eulogy, eventually blossoming into a trashy romance novel. Throw in the brainwashing angle, and it just gets worse. Maybe it played differently pre-"Twilight", but that's out of my hands.

You have to credit Gates McFadden for making the best of it. How often does a Beverly episode come along - and here it is, complete with green vapor sex scene. It has a decent closing scene makes some of this worth while, but will I ever revisit this episode in the future? Probably not.

4/10

Well indeed, ahem. A semi-gothic ghost story in outer space, with Dr Crusher getting all hot and bothered. In my more caustic moments I have been known to describe the less riveting TNG episodes as 'a bit like social work in outer space' but this is something different again.

This episode sits incongruously alongside the usual TNG fare, so naturally some fans will just hate it. On the other hand the few 10/10 reviews each have their reasons. According to one, if you happen not to like it, that would be an attack on female sexuality.

I found it moderately interesting but not especially compelling; since there are plenty of TNG episodes that are like that (if you try enough slightly different things there are bound to be a few that fall flat) then it shouldn't come as a massive disappointment if you happen not to like it.

in point of fact a few things did irritate me, but they were not the ones you might expect; first there is a character that has an accent that I can only describe as belonging to an Irishman who has been told to talk a bit Scottish; a more mangled sound you have never heard. Second when someone is attacked and they fall over, they are immediately declared 'dead' with no attempt whatsoever made to resuscitate them. Very un-TNG, that. It isn't explained how the Howard family line even came to be; the candidates are alien incest or more than one relationship, I suppose. There also isn't much of a sub-plot in this episode; I thought that such things were almost compulsory. Maybe I read it wrong, but the other gravestone (other than the one that says 'McFly') appeared to me like it might read 'Nadir'; I didn't think it was that bad, but for some this would sum up this episode nicely.