Face of the Enemy

And we get to see the inner workings of the Romulan military and society furthermore. Deanna wakes up. Unbeknownst, she's been surgically altered to be a Romulan. She goes, like it's a normal morning, thinking she's on the Enterprise, to put some make-up or use the bathrroom, when she's done she turns on the lights and looks in the mirror, she finds out she's been surgically altered to be a Romulan and reacts, in horror and gasps. Later on, N'Vek, who will be her commander, comes in. Troi angrily protests and asks why this has happened. N'Vek says he has no time to explain but asks Troi, who knows when someone is lying and when someone is telling the truth, to test for herself. She finds out he's telling the truth and trusts him. Commander Toreth invites Troi, thinking she's a Tal Shiar leader, who later invites her to a lunch. The Tal Shiar is a higher more top-secret order of the Romulan military, introduced in this very episode, and allows us to see how the Romulans operate. "Deep Space Nine" would follow suit with the more advanced Cardassians and give us the Obsedian Order, another top-secret order of the Cardassian military, based on the brutalities of Spanish government authorities to this day.

Essentially Toreth meets with undercover Troi, unbeknownst to Toreth, and Troi gives orders. When they eat Toreth suspects something isn't what it seems and quizes. They eat viinerine, and Toreth tests her to see if she knows what it is. Putting on the tough Romulan act, Troi says she's tasted better. Toreth taunts her until Troi puts her in her place. They rendevouse with a Cravellian crater ship. And here we finally see just how dangerous the Romulans are. No cloak, and they brutally destroy the crator at N'Vek's insistance. And the Cravellians are armed. So yes the Romulans are indeed the first-rate threat they present. But they're still outmatched by Cardassians. Whether they can take on a Federation class starship is still a mystery but there are some flaws in the Romulan design that leave them vulnerable to the Federation and Cardassians. Either way, way Toreth is tired of the Tal Shiar and them underestimating the Federation, which is the cause of Romulan foils and bumbling in many episodes. N'Vek reveals himself as a member of the Vulcan Dissident movement. And that the cargo is secretly the bodies of three dissidents in transit. The side story back on the Enterprise is good "c**p TV" in the likes of the UPN/Warner Bros./WB flagship "Richard Bey" tradition. Stefan DeSeve (Latin how fitting, I'm part Latino), a former Federation officer, who defected to the Romulans, claims to have info on the dissident movement and is greeted with coldness by Riker, who downright says he doesn't want to see him in a Romulan uniform. The Romulans have two problems. One of them is not bumbling and is a source of escapism, in that they're one-dimensional, as are the Klingons. The other is they're comic foils who believe they can't get caught but then try to get sly when they do. Which is why they often are bumbling. This episode is one of the more lethal threat episodes, although it doesn't completely help with being one-dimensional. The bad thing is when N'Vek protests Troi's order she threatens to expose him. It really shows what an informant Troi is. She brings out the worst in a white liberal "Seinfeld"-hating Federation, and being black is the only thing that keeps the "TNG" - "Voyager" shows from being bad.

Counsellor Troi is kidnapped and sent undercover as an agent aboard a Romulan starship.

This is an entertaining episode that gives Troi a decent storyline and contains a some quite compelling scenes.

I am a 'Hunt for Red October' fan so quite like the defection story and involvement of the Romulan cloaking device. Although the suspense associated with certain plot stakes does not really work when you know Troi will be back to normal next episode and the Enterprise will not be destroyed.

Marina Sirtis did not have the best material associated with her character for much of TNG, but this one is good. There is a reasonably good logic connected to her empathic powers that supports the plot. Above all she gets the opportunity to be a strong lead as opposed to a victim, love interest, or a sympathetic ear. For most of her performance she delivers superbly well. There are a few moments when she shouts at people that feels a bit over the top, but it somehow works due to the fact we know her character is acting the part of someone else.

The guest stars Carolyn Seymour and Scott McDonald are great as the Romulan characters and Sirtis has a number of solid exchanges with them. I particularly like the quite tense scene when Toreth tests Troi on her backstory over the dinner table.

It gives a decent level of continuity and follow up to the TNG 'Unification' episodes and is worth watching prior to the 2009 Star Trek movie and the Discovery episode 'Unification III'.

For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

A Romulan double agent aboard the USS Enterprise, DeSeve. Admittedly, only as the B-plot. In the A-plot Deanna Troi wakes up as an altered Romulan on a Romulan ship. The more interesting question is: What do you do with a double agent that you caught red handed ? You let him off. Starfleet is a military organisation. Hierarchically organised. In fact, you have to let Picard off for joining the Borg collective 3 seasons earlier. A military organisation is a threat to any 'enterprise' that might want to form within the Federation. In fact, you thank that perpetrator. Because you were wondering anyway, where all this poverty lately came from.

Deanna Troi is kidnapped by a Romulan underground member. Because she is a star fleet officer, she is the perfect candidate to impersonate a member of the controlling faction (sort of a Gestapo) to smuggle three members of the underground back to the Enterprise or at least away from Romulus. The interesting thing is that she adapts to her role instantaneously and convinces the ships captain that she is the real deal. This woman is never totally comfortable with Troi's character and continues the fifth degree on her, hoping to get her to slip up. Ultimately, she is forced to confront the Enterprise and face off in a warlike posture. She must use her knowledge to make things happen. In the process, she must come across as a brutal, intractable figure who is willing to kill anyone on board. For me, she is just too good to be true.

When the episode begins, Counselor Troi awakens and looks into the mirror--only to discover that she's become, inexplicably, a Romulan! Why?! What's going on here? She has no idea but one of the Romulans comes to her and tells her that she MUST go along with his plan and pretend to be a member of the Romulan Intelligence, the Tal Shiar. Fortunately, since the Tal Shiar is much like the KGB, the commander of the Romulan ship is forced to acquiesce to whatever demands Troi makes--as the commander is scared not to!

I loved this episode because it allowed Marina Sirtis (Troi) to step WAY outside her usual roles on the show. Normally, she's an incredibly passive and dull character but here she is AMAZING. As a member of the Tal Shiar, Troi becomes a very scary woman! She is tough, demanding and even a bit ruthless!! These are all things I loved seeing her character do! Additionally, the show is very exciting and very different from the norm for the show. One not to be missed.