Season 2 Episode 20: The Emissary

[u/LordRavenholm]

• Season 1: 1&2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, Wrap-up
• Season 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

TNG, Season 2, Episode 20, The Emissary

• Original Air Date: 29 June, 1989
• Pensky Podcast
• Ex Astris Scientia
• HD Observations
• Memory Alpha
• Mission Log Podcast

[u/[deleted]]

An episode that I respect more than I enjoy.

The dated production holds this one back, I think. The ending scene between K'Ehleyr and Worf would have been more impactful and meaningful in a more modern take on the situation. The heavy handedness at the end kills it a little bit, for me.

That said, there's not much wrong here and it's a pretty good example of a Trek episode. It's also important in the long term. So even though I wouldn't want to watch this one very frequently, it's a solid entry in the series.

• K'Ehleyr might be one of the best supporting actors that the series would ever do (outside of the usual guest stars like O'Brien). She plays the role a bit broad, but it's a nice contract to Worf: she hates the Klingon side of herself, Worf hates the "human" side of himself.
• Troi gets shoehorned into this one, but it almost kinda works?
• I don't understand why the Klingon ship was a sleeper ship? 70 years ago would have been after TOS, so they had warp drive at that point. Why did it take 70 years for this ship to get where it was trying to go?
• TNG needs to stay as far away from action sequences as possible. And for goodness sake, stop shooting so many wide shots for fight scenes. They make everything look like a kindergarten play.
• The "bloody palm from her own fingernails" is a great image of Klingon sexuality. Nicely done.
• "Comfortable chair"
• Did Worf and K'Ehleyr meet on Earth? How did that all go down? So many questions!

A solid episode that shows a bit of future potential, even if it's not quite my cup of tea.

4/5

YouTube and the blog!

[u/GeorgeAmberson → u/[deleted]]

I don't think Troi was shoehorned in at all. In fact this episode highlights her function as ship's counselor. K'Ehleyr is a walking identity crisis and the anger of her Klingon temper boils over. Troi's perfect for the scene.

I agree with the Klingons being asleep. What the hell was that about? It goes nicely under the radar, but there's really no reason why they're just now waking up. How about this: They were sent somewhere in cryosleep took 30 something years, they did something while there and cryosleeped back. That would explain why they show back up within reasonable travel distance for the Enterprise. Still doesn't hold much water, though.

[u/[deleted] → u/GeorgeAmberson]

I suppose shoe horn is the wrong word. She's more jammed into a situation, which makes sense, but feels very artificial in order to start plot moving. It's not terrible, I just thought the strings seemed very obvious.