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| Picard is interrogated by Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes). |
Original Air Date: Mar. 16, 2023. Written by: Cindy Appel, Chris Derrick. Directed by: Dan Liu.
THE PLOT:
The Titan is safely back in Federation space, away from Capt. Vadic and the Shrike. But Picard and Riker now face an inquiry by Starfleet security. The USS Intrepid meets the Titan and orders all but a skeleton crew be transported over for reassignment during the investigation. The officer in charge is none other than Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), the Bajoran officer who betrayed Picard to the Maquis decades earlier - and Ro seems to be harboring a personal grudge.
Meanwhile, Worf and Raffi are denied access to Daystrom Station, leaving them to find another way to look into the theft of Starfleet weaponry and its connection to the changelings. Since Worf was forced to kill Sneed, the Ferengi gangster, in order to save Raffi's life, they seem to be at a dead end. But Worf knows of another potential information source: Krinn (Kirk Acevedo), a Vulcan crime lord who was an associate of Sneed's. Krinn is far more clever and dangerous than Sneed, however, and getting to him may require a sacrifice Raffi isn't willing to make...
CHARACTERS:
Picard: He's incensed that Ro has the temerity - let alone the position - to question him. Even thirty years later, he feels personally betrayed that she chose the Maquis over Starfleet, and he wastes no time in turning her interrogation of him around on her. He also wonders if she might be a changeling, particularly given that "Commander Ro" isn't wearing her Bajoran earring.
Riker: He was never close to Ro, so her past decision did not hit him personally. As a result, he's more laid back about her position in Starfleet. He even attempts to mediate between Picard and Ro, an effort that is stymied by Ro insisting on questioning Picard alone.
Seven: When the security team takes a shuttle to the Titan rather than simply beaming over, Picard is spooked into asking for one more favor. She agrees to hide Jack from the investigation. She does this by giving him a Starfleet uniform to wear. "If security officers come looking, it's best to hide you in plain sight."
Dr. Crusher: She's a picture of crisp professionalism as she performs her autopsy on the changeling corpse, calmly observing the differences between this changeling and the ones Starfleet warred with decades earlier. She can see that Jack is troubled, and she urges him to talk to her about whatever is wrong.
Jack Crusher: The disguise of a Starfleet uniform works surprisingly well, though his aversion to Starfleet makes him reluctant to wear it. That's a secondary character beat, however. Most of his role centers around visions he's having of himself committing violent acts. The writers seem to badly want us to suspect that he's a changeling without knowing it - which is exactly why I'm sure that he isn't.
Capt. Shaw: Is positively giddy at the thought of Starfleet punishing Picard and Riker. When the two older officers point out that they've saved the galaxy multiple times, Shaw reminds them of some of the less spectacular aspects of their record, grinning as he recalls "that time that someone threw the Prime Directive out the window so they could snog a villager on Ba'ku." However, the events of the previous episodes are enough that he's willing to listen as the security investigation grows increasingly strange.
Commander Ro: Michelle Forbes returns to the franchise for the first time since TNG's Preemptive Strike, and she's still convincing as Ro. Her best moments, unsurprisingly, come opposite Picard. Her emotions toward him are every bit as raw as his toward her, with her feeling that his mentorship was always conditional on her upholding his values over her own. "I joined the Maquis because belonging there meant standing up to injustice, even if it meant betraying your beloved Starfleet!"
THOUGHTS:
If the first four episodes formed an action/suspense story, then this episode conveys more of a "conspiracy thriller" vibe, with the characters uncertain who to trust. They can't even be certain which officers actually are themselves, with Picard and Ro each showing suspicion that the other might be a changeling. It's an effective change-up, though I hope the show doesn't try to hold this particular tone and style for too long.
Imposters is not as good as No-Win Scenario was, but that would be an unfair expectation. It's still a good episode that continues to reflect one of the major strengths of this season: good use of the characters. The heart of the episode is the confrontation between Picard and Ro. Plot-wise, each suspects the other might be an imposter... but the real emotional core comes from each airing the pain inflicted by the other. Picard's anger rings true, but so does Ro's, and Patrick Stewart and Michelle Forbes play as well off each other now as they did back in the day.
The Worf/Raffi subplot is less interesting than the rest, and I rolled my eyes at a particularly clichéd plot development once they finally came face-to-face with Krinn. Still, Michael Dorn and Michelle Hurd work well together, and this episode finally connects their strand to the main plot. While Krinn's method of dealing with them is ludicrous and - for a Vulcan - rather illogical, the scene is at least watchable, even if it's the episode's weakest.
More importantly, in a season that's managed consistently strong episode endings, this one might have the most startling ending yet...
OVERALL:
Imposters is another good episode in what's shaping up to be a good season. The story moves to its next phase, with a shift in tone that should keep the arc from becoming stale. The episode gets an extra boost from the dynamic between Picard and Ro, with the characters' emotions feeling authentic and true to who the two of them are.
The Picard/Ro material earns an already good episode an extra point, leaving me awarding a strong...
Overall Rating: 8/10.
Previous Episode: No-Win Scenario
Next Episode: The Bounty
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