Suspicions

Dr Crusher investigates the death of a scientist.

This is very straightforward murder mystery that isn't overly bad, just very predictable and simplistic.

It's good to see Dr Crusher have some decent screen time, but the plot unfolds in a rather formulaic structure that tries to be an old fashioned detective story. The end reveal is a nice idea but it's pretty obvious who's going to be behind it all.

Some of the dialogue feels a bit bland and lifeless, it's almost as if it's the same voice talking for a number of different characters. Try guessing what the next line is going to be in certain exchanges and you might surprise yourself with how many you get. I am not keen on the film-noir style narration as it does not work particularly well here.

The involvement of Guinan feels shoehorned in for the character to make an appearance, however Caryn Johnson is on good form, as ever, and has great charisma.

Reading about the conception of this episode it sounds like a case of 'too many cooks' during the scripting process.

Visually it's very good, especially the stellar corona scenes and the alien makeup/costumes.