The Defector

This is one of my favorite ST-TNG episodes. I found the script flawless and the premise gripping. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. The climax and ending are brilliant. In my opinion, the writers did their best work here. It's a match of wits in this story, highlighting the core traits of the main characters and of the intergalactic races. Guest star Sloyan is excellent. Stewart does some of his best work as Picard. {Though this episode is of a serious nature, Data has some humorous and endearing moments.} Burton, as LaForge, has thoughtful commentary on analytical thinking. The visuals and special-effects are superb, as only ST can do. I've seen this episode several times in reruns and I don't tire of it. If you are a Star-Trek fan, but haven't yet seen this one, you should. It's one of the most celebrated episodes of the series.

Perhaps the only episode in which Stewart plays a second character, not as Jean-Luc. In the introductory scene, Data is on the holodek enacting a scene from Henry V, One of the two commoners interacting with Data, as the King Henry, in commoner guise, is Stewart, playing Michael Williams (presumably as a holodek-generated character). Stewart as Captain Jean Luc Picard looks on, in appreciation of Data's performance.

This is Star Trek at its finest. Superb plot, the writing is amazing and the performances are best in class.

The best thing here is the character reactions to Setols story, they plain don't believe him, they aren't naive, and most of the episode is spend trying to work out how much of his tale is a lie.

You just don't see stuff like this anymore. People just take what's said at face value, or maybe there's a blatant lie to be revealed but here there are so many layers. Sloyan is superb and as always Stewart is sublime.

I loved the twist at the end, on a rewatch the clues are obvious but they were perfectly written and directed to not give the game away.

I've loved this one since I was 8, and 34 years later it's still for me one of star treks finest hours.

Enterprise gives asylum to a Romulan defector.

This is a classic episode that has an excellent story and a number of great character moments.

The plot works on a number of levels, presenting aspects of a political thriller alongside a focus on command responsibilities in a volatile conflict situation. There is an inspiration from the Cuban missile crisis, some nice tributes to Shakespeare's Henry V and a clear anti-war message.

I cannot go into detail without spoiling key areas of the plot, but it's safe to say that the opening holodeck sequence sets the tone for what is to come and every character exchange that follows is memorable. Picard, Riker, Data, Worf and all the Romulan characters have many strong scenes of dialogue and for me it has one of the most effective endings to a Star Trek show.

'The Defector' is one of the definitive Romulan episodes and thoroughly establishes their deceptive nature and desire for conquest, whilst at the same time adding layers of depth with the portrayal of the title character.

Visually it works well with a number of nicely filmed sequences. The opening scene in particular is very atmospheric. Everything is edited in a way to keep the pace ticking over in an interesting way, especially with so much dialogue.

All performances are great with Patrick Stewart leading the cast brilliantly with great support by Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton. Andreas Katsulas has another excellent cameo. The star of the show though is guest actor James Sloyan with a fantastic turn as the defector.

This for me is the first Star Trek episode to compare favourably to the similarly themed original series classic 'The Balance Of Terror'.

There are some minor plot holes but nothing that distracts from the entertainment, so I think it's a 9.5/10 and round upwards.

I 'accidentally' watched this episode long before I became a Star Trek fan (my ex-girlfriend had lived in Seattle for 6 years and promptly introduced me to it several years later). I came home from a night on the town at maybe 3 AM, which was the time these reruns were shown on Norwegian TV back in the early 90's.

I was gripped by the story of this episode, but more importantly the acting. This was the first thing I had seen featuring Patrick Stewart, and I thought he was amazing along with guest star James Sloyan, and I was wondering why this show didn't air in the daytime/prime-time so that everyone could see it.

Norway has never been known to show sci-fi during prime-time though, and most Norwegians that admit to liking it are kind of cast-outs and are not taken seriously in other matters if they admit it. It's not like in the USA where even presidents admit to know of and even quote Kirk and Spock and even name space shuttles after it.

Anyway, since then I've watched every Star Trek episode (except TOS. Too dated for my taste) and movies (movies with the TOS cast are great) several times, but this still stands out as one of the best installments in any Star Trek media that I know of so far, mainly because of the acting.

And the best thing with this episode: Riker (Jonathan Frakes, the worst actor in Star Trek history, in my humble opinion) does not do any of his annoying moves:

• His left eyebrow lowered when he attempts to look 'mean'.

• His head cocking to one side when he's puzzled by something.

• His stumbling, tilted moves when he pretends to look tough in action scenes (imitating John Wayne or some other action hero from the 50's)

• His exaggerated speech when he pretends to be in distress ("Aaannyboodyyyyy!" taken from the first episode of TNG)

• His over-acting in general.

In this episode he actually appears normal and professional, just like the other actors.

My first impression of this episode back in the beginning of the 90's or something when I had been out on town was maybe infused by alcohol, but I just saw the episode again now, and I stand by it.

Highly recommended!