166. The HuntedFORMULA: Space Seed + Up the Long Ladder + The Conscience of the King + Where No Man Has Gone Before + Symbiosis
WHY WE LIKE IT: Roga Danar is a smart and sympathetic antagonist.
WHY WE DON'T: A preachy ending. Most of the cast makes a poor showing against Danar.
REVIEW: The Hunted is meant to be about the Vietnam veterans, and how we don't welcome as readily the soldiers of a lost war, and their difficulty adapting to normal life after the hardships of war. It works within that context, with Roga Danar a sympathetic character who has committed atrocities and is deeply disturbed by them, but it achieves more as well. It's also a good action episode featuring an opponent that's both strong and smart. Danar's various misdirections are sometimes inspired, and he shows up the main characters throughout.
It's unfortunate that the bridge crew isn't a little smarter, because it would make Danar look even cooler. And there are other problems, such as the usual laughable hand-to-hand combat that looks a lot like pushing and shoving to me, and the "magic" powers attributed to Danar, such as invisibility to sensors (but Beverly can still scan him) and the ability to escape a transporter beam! The latter is a bit much, isn't it? Data and Troi, the two that make friends with the super-soldier, do a lot better here, anticipating his moves and also driving the human rights issues.
Finally, the end is a good bit of fun, with Picard washing his hands of the matter thanks to the Prime Directive. Funny, but it does make the Federation appear smug and sanctimonious. The Angosians may well decide never to reapply after that little scene. This won't really be addressed properly until The Maquis in DS9, of course.
LESSON: We better treat Captain America right. Oh wait, too late.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Very close to high, with a solid antagonist and a worthy subject. The episode keeps us guessing, but I can't really get behind the poor portrayal of the heroes' abilities.
Comments
The crew of the Enterprise needs to be humiliated once in awhile. Otherwise that makes them look like Mary Sues. They can't take on everyone.
It's clear that you have no real understanding of the ending or of the Federation's role. They have no authority to do anything.
For the Federation to get involved and try to solve there problem would be the same mistake that the U.S. does every time they try acting like the world's police by sending in the military, giving money and weapons to the wrong side and putting dictators in power.
"We better treat Captain America right. Oh wait, too late"
The U.S. has dozens of soiligers coming back from war and killing themselves... it' nothing to laugh at jackass...
Someday when you grow up... you'll understand.
Note that I wasn't saying the Federation should have gotten involved. I was saying that tonally, ending on a joke may have been a mistake given the tenor of the rest of the episode.