As Qanqor stated in his or her review, "The Plot Makes No Sense."
S/he asks "If the dog is the creature, then what is the blob?" I would say that's the creatures "poop", the leftover remains of the consumed officer that were left behind when it transitioned to the dog. But, then why does it retain the ability to shape-shift and why did it take some energy beam to do it?
I didn't mind that Geordie is attracted to Aquiel but it was ludicrous for him, as an investigating officer, to simply be alone in her quarters, let alone have a bonding session with her! Geordie should never investigate anything ever again because he doesn't have any restraint. It would be much more interesting to see him struggle with keeping a distance.
I assume that everyone thought "It's the dog!" when they saw Geordie on the bed with the dog. That was one thing that made sense. (But is unbelievable that none of the crew would consider that possibility.) But why did it turn into this growing lump of slime?! That made no sense. If it has to revert to that form then it's not going to be very successful finding food/hosts because any that see it will be scared away,
How would a creature take over a new body? What's plausible? We want something that starts but that Geordie can recognize and get away from.
The slime in the lab only needed to touch Dr. Crusher for a moment to completely replicate her hand.
So, as Geordie pets the dog, we could see it start to change. We could see a paw turn into a hand and grab Geordie's leg, shocking him. Or, more creepy, would could see it's face start to morph into Geordie's. Or, because Aquiel talked about memories being suck out, he could be talking to the dog, telling it a story, when he stops, forgetting what he was trying to say, and then "my mind has gone blank. ... Woah" and then he steps back to see the physical changes in the dog. Geordie tries to run, the dog jumps onto him, knocking him down, and when Geordie tries to crawl away, we see that the dog has a human hand holding him back, but the uniform rips and Geordie reaches the phaser...
Wouldn't that be more interesting than "I see a blob in the mirror, turn around, and shoot it"? I bet that you can come up with something even better. Why can't the writers?
A good mystery provides clues for the audience to guess the villain before it is revealed. Early on, why not have some foreshadowing of the dog not reacting to Aquiel the way that it normally does? Doesn't shake hands, doesn't like its favorite food or something. Best would be a behavioral change, that the dog is more aggressive, just like the eaten officer was much more aggressive on the station than his Star Fleet record indicates.
Some more aspects that did not make sense:
S/he asks "If the dog is the creature, then what is the blob?" I would say that's the creatures "poop", the leftover remains of the consumed officer that were left behind when it transitioned to the dog. But, then why does it retain the ability to shape-shift and why did it take some energy beam to do it?
I didn't mind that Geordie is attracted to Aquiel but it was ludicrous for him, as an investigating officer, to simply be alone in her quarters, let alone have a bonding session with her! Geordie should never investigate anything ever again because he doesn't have any restraint. It would be much more interesting to see him struggle with keeping a distance.
I assume that everyone thought "It's the dog!" when they saw Geordie on the bed with the dog. That was one thing that made sense. (But is unbelievable that none of the crew would consider that possibility.) But why did it turn into this growing lump of slime?! That made no sense. If it has to revert to that form then it's not going to be very successful finding food/hosts because any that see it will be scared away,
How would a creature take over a new body? What's plausible? We want something that starts but that Geordie can recognize and get away from.
The slime in the lab only needed to touch Dr. Crusher for a moment to completely replicate her hand.
So, as Geordie pets the dog, we could see it start to change. We could see a paw turn into a hand and grab Geordie's leg, shocking him. Or, more creepy, would could see it's face start to morph into Geordie's. Or, because Aquiel talked about memories being suck out, he could be talking to the dog, telling it a story, when he stops, forgetting what he was trying to say, and then "my mind has gone blank. ... Woah" and then he steps back to see the physical changes in the dog. Geordie tries to run, the dog jumps onto him, knocking him down, and when Geordie tries to crawl away, we see that the dog has a human hand holding him back, but the uniform rips and Geordie reaches the phaser...
Wouldn't that be more interesting than "I see a blob in the mirror, turn around, and shoot it"? I bet that you can come up with something even better. Why can't the writers?
A good mystery provides clues for the audience to guess the villain before it is revealed. Early on, why not have some foreshadowing of the dog not reacting to Aquiel the way that it normally does? Doesn't shake hands, doesn't like its favorite food or something. Best would be a behavioral change, that the dog is more aggressive, just like the eaten officer was much more aggressive on the station than his Star Fleet record indicates.
Some more aspects that did not make sense:
- Aquiel deleting logs after she gets to the Enterprise. Few Star Fleet officers would be that stupid and it is completely unnecessary to advance the plot. Finding the bad report would be enough for motive.
- "Aquiel is not on the Enterprise." But she was on the Enterprise, even though I don't know why both the dog and Aquiel couldn't be alien creatures. Maybe it divides. Would be cool if, after she meets Geordie that last time, we see her temporarily morph in some way. If she was white, while she shakes his hand goodbye, we could see it turn brown to match Geordie and then revert when she lets go. (Also, why doesn't the computer notify security when a member of the crew disappears?! Always annoys me.)
- Why have the Klingon delete records, which makes no sense except for ones that would document his arrival. Since he copied data, he could have dropped one data disk or forgot one in the computer (whatever he copies it to). Or, the last computer log would be connection to an unknown device, or a device known to be Klingon. When interrogating the Klingon, they could examine his device and it's identification number would match the last log entry.
- Or, better, the Klingon is having an affair with Aquiel. The other officer is mad that the Klingon visits the station. When he discovers them gone, he then deletes every record that mentions his arrival, even the logs where Aquiel talks about him, but he misses one where he was not mentioned explicitly, where Aquiel only hints to her sister that she's seeing a new man, a very strong man, whom she only sees every 7 days (whatever the Klingon's period was) but doesn't fully explain. Then more of the elements of the story could be weaved together.