The Price

Think about this episode the next time you see Matt McCoy selling insurance on TV. Not so much that the product is defective, but that you're listening to an actor.

Enterprise hosts an event to negotiate access rights to a wormhole leading to the Gamma Quadrant.

This is a mostly good episode with some poorly written romantic scenes but more than a few redeeming qualities.

The plot is interesting from a sci-fi and nerdy perspective with regards to the implications of the wormhole, particularly if you are interested in the premise of shows like Deep Space Nine and Voyager. It also works as moral take on an empath's ability to read emotions.

Unfortunately central to the plot is a fairly weak romance involving Deanna Troi and a guest character. These type of one-episode-wonders never work for me because I can never take them seriously. Romances on screen only get my interest if the love develops out of something meaningful the characters go through together or if they have spectacularly good chemistry. This is not one of those stories and, like most Star Trek romances, she's in love because she just is.

The best aspect of it is how it turns out for Troi in relation to the wormhole plot which gives her some strong character building moments and a good contribution to something important in the episode.

Riker has some decent scenes. One in particular where he is somewhat taunted by someone and then responds with a fantastically written and delivered piece of dialogue. It is probably the highlight of the episode and nearly made me say "well done" to a fictional character.

The visuals are okay with some great makeup and costuming for the alien effects of the Ferengi and others. One sequence of dialogue is very abruptly and noticeably cut mid discussion. The less said about Troi and Dr Crusher's aerobics session whilst they discuss men the better.

Performances are solid with good work from the main cast, particularly Marina Sirtis and briefly Jonathan Frakes. Matt McCoy looks the part of a classic slime-bag with his baby face, dark hair and blue eyes and to be fair he acts it well.

This episode is a gift to Marina Sirtis (Dianna Tori) to try and develop her, so-far, one dimensional character. But instead of giving Tori a pathway to create a more interesting and involved character, they give her a plot where she looks like more like a 'women-of-the-night' than a respectable member of the Enterprise crew.

It begins when the Enterprise is in orbit around the planet Barzan that has a stable wormhole nearby. They are in negotiations along with the Chrysallis and the Ferengi over rights to the wormhole. But little does anyone know, the Chrysallis negotiator Devinoni Ral, a nice outward looking fellow, is part Betazoid and can read a person's feeling while negotiating. He is also rather nasty person that will do, say or use anything just so his side gets the best over another in any situation. And for some reason Counselor Troi hops in bed with the slick agent and actually abets him by not revealing the truth about the good-looking negotiator.

An uninteresting episode that seemed way slow in developing. The part of the story that concerned the wormhole was a good story but when it was paired with the Troi/Devinoni relationship, it got old fast. The best part of the episode was between Geordi and a Ferengi shuttle-craft operator concerning the wormhole becoming unstable. But other than that short moment, there is little to entertain in this slow and uninteresting offering.

Another nice episode of this season. Don't understand the criticism.

The plot is all about Deanna's romance with the guest character. She immediately falls in love with him as he can hide emotions and turns out to be a mystery for her. Soon it will be explained though.

This reveal much of Deanna's personality and ethics, also her improved relationship with Riker. The guest turn out to be just a manipulative and egocentric predator with no values at all, who is rejected by Deanna as she understand his true colors.

Anyway, this episode also introduces ideas later explored in Star Trek universe (Deep Space Nine) and has an interesting aproach on wormholes.

The only negative stuff is the ridiculous gym outfits and the annoying ferengi attitude towards the whole conflict.

Love the Wormhole thing. However on entrance of Devinoni Ral i had to fight the immediate impulse to puke. Not in the least in how he looks. As the episode evolves it becomes clear that the character's immoral way of negotiating only adds to this premenition...