Five episodes in, and this show really is quite lucky to not be canceled yet.
Here we come to the big reveal on the season’s big bad aliens, and what do we get? Some fairly pathetic cowards who behave like left-over stooges. The big fight scene seems more like ‘Munchkins versus Star Fleet’ than anything.
This episode’s problems are not just in the direction of the planetside scenes. Those are bad, but the shipboard scenes are equally dire – from a long digression on ‘red, white and blue’ to the ‘Oh, we’re in a crisis, let’s have a conference’ scene. There’s an almost pathetic attempt to sustain some kind of menace before the reveal, but it just doesn’t work once you know what the Ferengi are like.
Great lines such as “It is obvious we are in a situation that needs resolving” and “We shift down hard, kick back into warp 9 and come back fightin’, woo-ee” show that there really was no hope for this episode.
Still, the one shining moment of grace: when Picard realises that the Ferengi are actually captured as well, and adjusts beautifully on the fly. It’s a glimmer of the awesome we’ll see later.
110 down, 627 to go.