WHY WE LIKE IT: A lot of Titan action. The Easter Egg collection.
WHY WE DON'T: Where's Deanna Troi?!
REVIEW: A lot of laughs in this one, and a lot of replay value as well thanks to the collector's ship whose focus seems to have been "Star Trek Easter Eggs" (still didn't get Data, though). The Cerritos is tasked with cataloguing and moving that collection, but things go pear-shaped when someone accidentally activates the museum's defenses, which weaponizes the exhibits basically. Lots of action ensues, more artifacts are revealed (I don't know which I like more, the giant Spock clone's skeleton left over from The Animated Series or a natural history museum exhibit of Lincoln vs. an Excalibian), and lessons will be learned. Because this mission involves the new security chief Kayshon, the first Tamarian in Starfleet. His universal translator doesn't always work, but like Mariner says, "Context clues!" and besides, "Darmok" is one of my favorite TNG episodes. Fans have long wondered how a Child of Tama would work as a regular character, well, this is probably our only shot at the idea, and it's cute. Of course, he gets turned into a hand puppet by a... puppet ray... so he's not in MUCH of the episode, but our Catian doctor's seen it all, and he'll be fine in a hour (hilariously - this is a fine take-down of Starfleet's magical medicine).
The other guest on the away team is Jet Manhaver (cough), a cool, popular ensign that briefly showed up in Season 1. Mariner treats him like an ambitious careerist and a competition sparks up between them (from an early scene in the common co-ed sonic showers - shades of Starship Troopers - on through their assignment together. One is by-the-book and cautious (guess which), the other a by-the-seat-her-pants maverick, a mirror of the Boimler-Mariner crew-mance, but in Jet's case, he's no pushover. Only be finally listening to Tendi and Rutherford do they get out alive; leadership means listening to your team.
And what OF Boimler? The first episode of the season hinted that he was out of his depth on the Titan and we were left wondering how long he would last there. The answer comes in this one, with a full mission for Boimler and the bridge crew of Riker's ship. Though they're up against Pakleds - truly the show's main villain race - the Titan is the reverse-Cerritos. Instead of missions that sound tedious, it appears everything they do is action-packed, to the point where Riker waxes nostalgic about his days on the Enterprise-D. The rest of the crew think it must have been deathly dull for their jazzy captain, what with the day-care centers and classical concertos. Boimler, a true Starfleet nerd, not only remembers all the exciting stuff the TNG crew got up to, but brings out in his action team the reasons they actually joined Starfleet FOR - the exploration, the little pet projects, the, yes, TEDIOUS, obsessions. By the end, what seems like yet another reference to an old episode (i.e. Second Chances) is Boimler's actual solution to get everyone back to the ship safely, but it creates his own Thomas Riker, William Boimler, who chooses to remain on the Titan while the original goes home to the old status quo.Move over Jet, our boy is back where he belongs... going boldly.
LESSON: Reasons not to touch Kahless' sex helmet.
REWATCHABILITY - High: Nerdy fun with references aside, there's an important character shuffle and ultimately, it's about re-stating what Star Trek is really about.
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