Face of the Enemy

I just rewatched this episode after not having seen it for many, many years. It still holds up brilliantly. It is one of the best episodes of the entire series, and by far the best Troi episode. Carolyn Seymore is wonderful as the Romulan commander, to the point that one regrets that the character never reappeared in another episode. The whole thing is deliciously edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, and I'm not going to give away one iota of it, for anyone who hasn't seen it.

I was astonished to find only one review of it here; I had expected that surely many people would want to weigh in on this one. It easily makes my Next Generation top-10 list.

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.

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.

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.