Descent

Q (and other all powerful aliens), Lore and the other Frankenstein stories and the Borg are the 3 overdone themes of the Next Generation. In this (and the following episode), the writers combine the Borg and the Frankenstein themes and make a terrible pair of episodes. Some of the decisions made by Picard are downright bizarre (supposedly leaving only a skeleton crew on board the Enterprise under the command of Dr. Crusher and beaming everyone else in a crew of 1014 personnel to operate in search teams of 4 and only getting 15 search teams). And one of those search teams has the Captain, the Chief Engineer and the Ship's Counsellor in it. And when the Enterprise leaves, it leaves all the senior officers except Dr. Crusher on the planet. The entire plot is absurd.

Enterprise encounters Borg drones unlike any seen before and Data experiences his first emotion.

As the first of a two-part story it sets up a premise strongly and makes you want to find out what happens next.

There are two interesting aspects to this episode and the first one is Data. He experiences anger and chases the feeling again, seemingly in pursuit of greater humanity. Brent Spiner is excellent in all scenes and takes the character through some great exchanges with others.

Secondly, the portrayal of Borg drones acting like psychopathic humans is an interesting concept that foreshadows where Data is potentially heading in this story. It is the first Borg episode since the introduction of Hugh and it puts a different spin on what may come of drones after disconnecting from the hive.

There are scenes, particularly those that involve the heavy technobabble, that feel dragged out to get us to the "to be continued" moment, but the actors deliver regardless.

Lots of questions are asked in this episode and to make the overall story work, they will need to be answered well.

Visually it's very good with some strong makeup, costuming and set design.

This particular TNG story has the famous poker game. That old earth card game certainly flourished in the future with the Enterprise brass enjoying it for all it's worth.

But Brent Spiner has got himself a holodeck program with 3 of the greatest earth minds ever, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and the real Stephen Hawking. No bluffing in that game.

The bulk of the episode consists of Data dealing with a flash of a human emotion, specifically anger in an encounter with the Borg. Not just any Borg, defectors from the collective who have their own mission.

But it's the poker game you will remember.

After one of the best opening scenes in all of Star Trek (featuring noted physicist Stephen Hawking in a wonderful cameo), this episode quickly turns to crap: Starfleet can't remember its own motivation, Picard can't competently run a ship, and everyone is forced to go along with what will be a tedious and nonsensical plot. Sometimes we can enjoy a lesser episode as at least being well-intended, and having some good idea to get across, but this is simply time-filling. The only excuse for such an lobotomy of an episode was to have a melodramatic cliffhanger for the season's end -- and that's all it succeeded in being.

P. S. Part two won't get better.

'Descent' is one of the many episodes I've never seen before, and I can honestly say I have no idea how this will end. The best parts are all in the first half; a charming poker game with Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein; Borg drones that behave like individuals; and Data's surge of emotion (anger that veers towards sadism). But even with all the phaser fire and crewmembers dropping like flies, it's never as good as those opening mysteries.

6/10