120. DataloreFORMULA: The Enemy Within + What Are Little Girls Made Of? + The Final Frontier
WHY WE LIKE IT: Brent Spiner does a mean evil version of Data.
WHY WE DON'T: Once again, the characters have been dumbed down to allow the plot to happen.
REVIEW: We finally get some backstory on Data, and he ends up with an evil twin to boot! Now, I do have reservations about the way all this was revealed - like the fact that Data has to learn all of it at the same time we do (he never made the connection between the well-known Soong's work and his positronic brain?), and that no one ever went back to Omicron Theta in the past 26 years - but these revelations nonetheless pave the way for a number of stories about Data.
And then there's Lore. He's deliciously evil, and I can almost forgive the fact that he's conspiring with the crystalline entity for no reason other than to cause harm (the entity's a cool effect too). You're perhaps let in on his deviousness too soon, but he at least acts genial in the opening acts so that the naive Data can accept him. And as an android, he really does have the power to destroy the Enterprise. Unfortunately, the writers decided to make his task easier by having the crew act stupidly throughout. It lessens him as a villain in addition to weakening the regulars.
The plot hinges (but doesn't need to) on the bridge crew never listening to Wesley (I'm getting tired not only of this, but of his being always right in the first place), then not recognizing Lore has taken Data's place or really taking the proper precautions once they find out he has. Worf lets himself be soundly beaten. Tasha is her usual useless self. And both Picard and Riker are immensely dense. Troi's missing (she could too easily have read Lore's emotions). Geordi's calling "bogeys at 5 o'clock" (sheesh). It's all about Data and the Crushers then.
And the nitpicker in me can't help but be bothered by such things as the confused timeline with the Omicron Theta colony being destroyed (the kids had time to draw the entity?), the idea that Lore is transported out but the entity does not then attack (as we'll see, he wasn't beamed as energy only either... so why no mention of his being adrift, etc.?), and Data's use of contractions not only since the series started, but in THIS VERY EPISODE! At the end there, when he says "I'm fine" and then twitches, I would have locked him up. Or will we be watching Lore at ops until the episode Brothers when they are switched back? Anyway, it's a good thing the interplay between the brothers is as interesting as it is, because this might have easily been a turkey.
LESSON: Contractions are the devil's work.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: An important episode for Data and all things related to androids, but the plot is on auto-pilot, and the revelations are clumsily written in. Still a must for any fans of Lore. Brent Spiner shines in the dual role.
Comments
The problem is that none of this is clear. I can understand not spoon-feeding the audience, but some of Picards actions don't make sense either way. If he thinks that Lore is pretending to be Data, then send someone to Data's quarters to check on the prone android there. If he doesn't, then why send Worf to tail him. If he does, shouldn't he realise that Worf can't stop an android? And so on.