TNG - Pre-Emptive Strike

Plot – Pre-Emptive Strike is just on the verge of serialisation, picking up plot threads that have been established elsewhere but being a story that it is unique unto itself. You can see why DS9 picked up the baton and ran with serialisation because TNG was showing how having these running threads was bearing fruit. 

I really like the idea of a terrorist group (or freedom fighters might be a better word, which I guess is the dichotomy with the Maquis) that is a thorn in the side of the Federation. For the human race who claims to have evolved away from conflict, it is perhaps the ultimate embarrassment. And a great way of injecting drama into the series.

Ro is the perfect choice to send on this mission – because she is Bajoran, because she has had trouble with Starfleet. It makes perfect sense of all the people on the Enterprise. ‘There’s one good reason to take the mission, to validate your trust in me’ – we are so used to the touchy feely in TNG and this episode plays to that advantage. I for one never suspected that this episode would end with that trust being irrevocably betrayed. TNG simply didn’t take those kinds of character risks and it’s titillating and frustrating that they dared to do so close to the end. It suggests a very different kind of TNG that we might have had, one that was less predictable and more dramatic.

Seedy bars, terrorist attacks, character betrayals, suggestions of prostitution…this is a TNG I would have liked to have seen more of.

Character – Ro and Troi are congratulating each other on their promotions – a nod to the fact that the seventh season saw a smidgeon of development for these characters. Saying that, why do social conversations between this crew sound so stilted and unconvincing at times? Especially when Troi and Crusher are involved.

Ro was a character that was seriously considered as a contender for the First Officer post on DS9 and what a different show that would have been had that been the case. I think Michelle Forbes is such a strong actress, but Ro was often written in a very grumpy, antagonistic way. I’m glad they didn’t take that approach with Kira, who soon developed a gentler side on DS9. It would seem that Federation or Maquis, Ro is always looking for a father figure.

Picard taking a chance on Ro is one of the bolder moves that he made and one of the more personal ones too. That’s what gives this episode it’s sting, how she takes that trust and shoves it down his throat.

I love Admiral Necheyev, the one person in authority that can really put the wind up Picard. She’s probably the most formidable woman in all of Trek.

Production – The direction is fairly static and the story is essentially lots of people in extended dialogue scenes – TNG can’t quite break out of that mould even when it is trying to get down and dirty.

There’s a terror attack on the Maquis colony that is so signposted by the direction that it would have been more of a surprise if it didn’t happen. TNG never quite got the hang of firefights, with most of them coming across as perfectly choreographed rather than dynamic and visceral. Later Trek shows did a much better job of that sort of thing but they had the advantage of learning from what came before. The Siege of AR-558 is probably the best example of a really nasty, chaotic firefight.

Best moment – I love the fact that TNG made a bold enough move to take one of the most irritating staples of the series – turning everybody from every race into a Federation clone by humanising them – and flipped it. Ro is a fighter, a righter of wrongs, a woman of action. Picard has put a lot of time and energy into coaxing her to Federation principles but ultimately her heart wins out and she has to dismiss his authority and the red tape of Starfleet and do what she thinks is right. It’s an astonishing criticism of the approach that TNG has taken to venerating the Federation and the way that the episode leaves you sympathising with both Ro and Picard is pleasingly vague. There’s no real right or wrong in this situation, morally speaking.

The scene between them in the bar is striking in its raw emotion and implications. It’s one of the best scenes in the entire run of TNG.

Worst moment – It’s an overly simplistic view from the Maquis point of view with the kindly old man who trusts Ro because she makes decent food and the two dissenters who are suspicious of her no matter what she does. I’m used to more marbled characterisation in Maquis storylines, this feels a little ABC. However, this eye rolling simplicity might be the writer clever disguising the terrific character twist of Ro’s defection. You thought this show was dealing with Mickey Mouse characters…surprise! On DS9 I am used to double crossing, triple crossing and worse…Ro commits one act of theft here and everybody decides to trust her. Have they never heard of the double bluff?

I wish they hadn’t done that – Patrick Stewart is a fine actor but I don’t think direction was his strongest suit unlike so many of his contemporaries. There’s a stillness to this story that prevents it from making the impact it could have. It’s crying out to be more dynamic, and less theatrical. This could have been exceptional television, instead it’s reasonable Trek.

I really don’t like the exchange between Ro and Riker before she beams away. It wants to give Ro a nice, comfortable goodbye whilst she is betraying everybody that ever believed in her. The writer should have pulled back and refused to give her (or the audience) that comfort. When she asked Riker to give Picard a message he should have slapped her down (metaphorically, not literally) and refused her that luxury. He should have condemned her. It should be awkward and uncomfortable not sweet and cosy. Ask yourself what DS9 would do and check out the scene in For the Cause between Sisko and Eddington after he betrays the Captain. ‘I will hunt you down’ is the core of it. That’s what we should have gotten here. A stern look from Picard doesn’t quite cut it.

A reason to watch this episode again – As a suggestion of what TNG might have been had it taken this approach more often. It’s by no means perfect (it’s a little ponderous and talky) but it’s doing bold things with a character we have come to trust, it explores a morally grey area in a show that is often black and white and it provides a last minute punch in the gut to Picard that has to be seen to be believed.

Reason to watch this show - There is something so heartening about watching TNG, like wrapping a comfy blanket around me in winter. It takes me back to my early teens and all the excitement and wonder I felt back watching it back then. As an adult, it’s far more castrated than the sort of television I like to watch now but that feeling is still there, regardless. Looking back, TNG had some glorious episodes and a lot of fun with its characters and the warmth that exudes from the show is hard to deny. Pre-Emptive Strike is an attempt to push away from that at the eleventh hour. It isn’t entirely successful (mostly because of the execution) but I appreciate that they tried so close to the end. If the rest of season seven had taken risks like this we would have been in fine shape.

*** out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode:

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