The Enterprise and her crew get word of a battle in the neutral zone (which neutral zone is unclear) and are asked to check it out. Since the humans are a bunch of xenophobic jack wagons they immediately assume it's the Ferengi or worse the Romulans and start contemplating saucer separation. Turns out it's a Telarian freighter. We get some cringe inducing dialogue and a plot contrivance with Geordi's visor but once we find some surviving Klingons on board the freighter the episode starts to get interesting. The sequence that follows is legitimately tense and the subsequent interactions between the Klingons and Worf aboard the Enterprise are well written, so much so that I am willing to ignore the fact that the Klingons also cast aspersions on my people. There is lots of good Worf back story here, as well as development of the Klingons as a race. This is the first episode where Worf really feels like a character with motives and a purpose. Too bad Tasha never got an episode like this though having them both on the bridge never really works.
Unfortunately, the rest of the episode is garbage. Picard really bugs me here. It still feels like the writers don't know who they want him to be. The notion that Worf might betray the Enterprise crew and join with the Klingons seem ridiculous, but the writers want us to believe that Picard is legitimately concerned about that. There is room for Troi here to make this seem more believable but the writers left her out of this one completely. In a gesture of kindness and goodwill to fans of the show the writers left Wesley out as well. Amazing how the stories hold together when boy wonder isn't shoehorned in at the center of the drama. The security officer in charge of guarding the Klingons is a dumb-bass and deserves to get shot, Tasha loses here ability to use contractions towards the end of the episode, and engineering needs to replace its glass floors with transparent aluminum. Otherwise I have no complaints.
Verdict: Watchable and at times engaging.
Unfortunately, the rest of the episode is garbage. Picard really bugs me here. It still feels like the writers don't know who they want him to be. The notion that Worf might betray the Enterprise crew and join with the Klingons seem ridiculous, but the writers want us to believe that Picard is legitimately concerned about that. There is room for Troi here to make this seem more believable but the writers left her out of this one completely. In a gesture of kindness and goodwill to fans of the show the writers left Wesley out as well. Amazing how the stories hold together when boy wonder isn't shoehorned in at the center of the drama. The security officer in charge of guarding the Klingons is a dumb-bass and deserves to get shot, Tasha loses here ability to use contractions towards the end of the episode, and engineering needs to replace its glass floors with transparent aluminum. Otherwise I have no complaints.
Verdict: Watchable and at times engaging.