Symbiosis

A distress call come from a freighter as the Enterprise begins to explore an interesting star.. On board, seeking help, are a couple of people who are in a state of reverie. Picard wants to help, but these people can't seem to help themselves. They don't seem to be able to do the most rudimentary things to control a starship. Soon the ship reaches a critical point and is about to explode. When asked to beam on board, instead of people, a pack of strange containers appears. It takes a second effort but only four of the six persons on board are able to be rescued. When the four arrive, they are arguing and sparring over the cargo and seem to have no concern for their dead comrades. What we find out is that the four represent two planets, on that profits from selling "medicine" to the other. The ones receiving the medicine are grateful for being able to pay for this stuff. What follows is a kind of negotiation between two forces that together manage to maintain a kind of balance. What happens is a moral dilemma where the prime directive does not allow PIcard to interfere, even though one force aggressively subverts the other. What ultimately happens makes for some interesting discussion.

While it does seem follow some standard anti-drug art expressions from the time period, the episode is saved by it's acting and overall plot line.

Crosby and Frakes have some great execution of scenes dealing with the Ornarans/Brekkians. Especially when it comes to their evolutionary acquired weapon. Stewart's tone throughout sums up a tough interaction for JLP.

It's pretty clear that creating and then exploiting an entire planet of crackheads is up there on the list of reasons you'd break the prime directive, at least when it comes to JLP. A drug-addicted world, suddenly having 100% of the population going through massive withdrawal pains, without any notice whatsoever, doesn't seem to bother Dr. Crusher. However, JLP's plan has some foresight for the Brekkians in a way that shows compassion and good judgement in a no-win type spot. His final order of the episode to the helm sums up the result of the situation perfectly.

Enterprise receives a distress call whilst observing a sun.

This is a solid episode focussed on the prime directive and has some effective guest characters.

The story is a simple but effective way to show how the prime directive is observed by Federation starships. It puts Captain Picard in a difficult position and under pressure from characters whose interests conflict.

Underlying the above are some fairly clear themes on capitalist systems and drug addiction. This gives the story a bit more relevance to real life issues, particularly during the 1980s when it was written. It can be a bit heavy handed at times, especially during one scene of dialogue between Tasha Yar and Wesley Crusher that feels terribly forced.

For me it is concluded in a refreshing way by a decision where we see the reaction of the individuals it impacts and then left to ponder what might become of the situation. It's not particularly cinematic, but the acting is strong enough to make it work well.

There are some decent visuals, particularly at the start where we see the solar flares. The costumes are a bit naff, but do tell you everything you need to know about the differences between the Ornara and Brekka. The effects that depict electrical powers also hold up well.

All performances are solid with Patrick Stewart standing out as always. Gates McFadden has a decent episode and all the guest actors play their parts well.

I kept waiting for someone to say, "just say no." First of all it's obvious from the start that the Brekkians are drug addicts but the supposedly intelligent Enterprise crew with every medical technology at their disposal can't figure this out until 40 minutes into the episode? They act like a bunch of clueless idiots for the sake of the plot device. Then we have the obligatory "don't do drugs" talk with Wesley. I love Star Trek TNG but this episode just annoyed me and smacked of poor and obvious writing.

This was a great early episode of TNG with Picard facing a difficult choice. Better acting than most of the S1 episodes. Unfortunately it features what is possibly the worst scene in Star Trek history when Tasha gives Wesley the "drug talk". Nancy Reagan should have got a writing credit.