Star Trek TNG 5x05 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-11-22 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
Comments
You enjoying a rewatch, especially of your second-most favorite episode, was not at all annoying -- exactly the opposite.
Paul Patine
2025-11-30 21:18:14 +0000 UTCIn terms of guessing Jess’s favorites, there was something of the question about which ones Jess saw the most. This one was one that, as she said, if it wasn’t one of her favorites, it certainly was going to be as it did tick off a few boxes. This one is immensely rewatchable. Looking forward to revisiting Jess’s favorite one, now that it’s been confirmed which one it is. (Or at least I’m dead certain about which one it is.) And it comes a few episodes after my second favorite behind Déjà Q. What you said about how perfectly balanced all the plots and dynamics are, that is my assessment as well; there’s no real A plot or B plot. A fully balanced ensemble episode, with no bullshit or padding, and it’s so great. Picard has the great showcasing of the character growth. Some shades of Alan Grant of dislike of dealing with children though he has, when there is the danger, he steps up and then some. Patrick sold well the pain in moving. Again, I got flashbacks of my dad, and recalled my own pain with my one gout flare up. Not read it, but I’ve heard of the Marissa Picard thing. Sounds better than the infamous Harry Potter fic, My Immortal, so it’s got that going for it. See we’re both with Worf in this scenario. Again, Keiko says the baby’s on the way, and the instinct is to be Alan Alda in the one scene, where you point and yell, “NO!” My brother and I were both early, my brother especially so, and we both needed some follow-up attention after the birth, my brother had that worse. Hence, I hear you on the investment in this. They balance the tension and laughter perfectly, and we love Michael and Rosalind selling it so well. The advice on what to do with your lungs in a vacuum, again, my mom would have a few words on that one. (Still better than how many times the movie Gravity pulled you out of things with the inaccuracies, which is another reason why you let this one slide.) The question of was there heavy material in the barrels or did Gates and LeVar just sell it so well, I could buy either idea in this case. Heard about the writers having the regrets about the writing for Ro here. Her being saddled with the trope of “The complainer is always wrong” doesn’t feel as bad as it could have been. Felt more like whilst a bit harsh, she wasn’t out of line with bringing up the possibility of having to take the drastic measures. Again, had similar shades to Dean Stockwell in Air Force One where, hawkish though his character is, his assessment of what could transpire wasn’t unrealistic. Even if the peaceful ending is what happens, it’s still the very real possibility it could have ended worse. Which is where I liked it how Ro offers an apology, and Deanna responds by conceding that Ro’s points could have been accurate. There is still the small issue of Deanna needing the very concept of a warp core breach explained to her. Which isn’t the MOST unrealistic thing. If you’re in a more specialized field, you wouldn’t necessarily be trained up on certain aspects of the ship. Alternatively, she is more or less aware, and her questions about it were more for clarification. Like how in Ghostbusters when Egon tells Ray and Winston about Peck shutting down the containment grid, and Winston chimed in, “That’s bad, right?” Or in The Blues Brothers when Elwood hears the Bluesmobile throw a rod, and Jake asks, “...That serious?” Here, though it stands out, yes, it’s minor enough to not overshadow how great everything else is, and how it gives Deanna superb evolution. Reiterate my own comments in response to what Jess said about what she and Rocco are going through. Shared sentiment of if Jess does need the time off, we’ll be supportive of that.
Thomas Corp
2025-11-23 06:52:00 +0000 UTCOnce we got a solid idea of exactly what about this show appeals to you, I pegged this episode as hitting the perfect sweet spot. No antagonist, just a whole bunch of problems to solve, and a bunch of people going through big character growth as a result. This also makes it one of the most rewatchable episodes of the whole show, so even with how well you clearly know it, this one was a blast to get through. What impresses me most of all is how evenly balanced all four subplots feel. We never get a sense that any of them only exist because the characters needed something to do, and they all get about equal screentime. Which also means the episode gets to just be wall to wall competence porn as each set of characters figures out a solution and then does it with no need to pad out the script with further complications. I'm most impressed of all with Picard himself, who's come such a long way from the guy totally incapable of dealing with children. It also says something that the script had to give him a broken ankle so we'd believe he couldn't just instantly fix everything. And Patrick does such a great job selling that pain through every moment even when it's not a direct focus. Oddly enough, Marissa was the very first character on the show whose name I knew, thanks to a set of notoriously terrible fanfics where she's adopted by Picard and becomes an even more ridiculous Mary Sue than the actual Mary Sue that got passed around for mockery in the early days of the Internet. As for the song, I'd go with something by Tom Lehrer. National Brotherhood Week has the most steady beat of them all. I'm with Worf; if I was in this situation and a woman announced she was in labor, my immediate response would be "No you're not. Take that back." And I get especially invested in scenes like this because my own birth was pretty troubled, so much that I came out with a broken collarbone, which I'm extremely grateful I can't remember. This balance between laughs and tension is very hard to pull off this well, but Michael and Rosalind totally nail it even as we know the whole time this isn't at all the kind of show that won't have it turn out okay. Geordi and Beverly I don't have much to comment on, except that the advice on what to do with your lungs in a vacuum is the exact wrong thing to do, which especially stands out since everything else she says is spot on. Oh, and either they actually put heavy material in those barrels for once, or Gates and Levar did an amazing job selling the nonexistent weight. Troi and Ro, the writers themselves actually regretted a bit, since in Ro's second appearance which should be all about selling her viability as an ongoing character, they instead saddled her with an extremely cliche trope at the time of "the complainer is always wrong," which had become so tired it was mocked mercilessly on Garfield of all shows. At least it ends with Troi acknowledging it really was just blind luck that she was the one who was right. Though the much bigger issue for me is Troi needing the very concept of a warp core breach explained to her; could they seriously not think of any other way to get the information across? But if you can let that go this is all just as engaging as the rest of what we get, and a very natural way to expand a character who'd been in danger of getting totally stagnant. I've very much been there with a dog having walking problems, and you have my deepest sympathies. I'll be keeping hope up that it will pass, and if you need any time off that's absolutely fine with me.
Ryan
2025-11-23 05:47:53 +0000 UTC
