1.09 Hide and Q

Rating: 2.5

On route to a rescue operation, the Enterprise is halted by Q so that he can attempt to convince Riker to join the Q Continuum.

Comments

The episode is completely focused on Q’s attempt to convince Riker to join. It is helped by the scenes with Q and Picard, which are excellent.

Nits

On the planet, Worf is sent out to scout the opposing forces. He is quite far away from the others in the landing party, and only Geordi can see him. In fact, Geordi states that he can see the freckles on his face. Soon after, Geordi says, "Oh, oh, I hope he can see them." Geordi can see the opposing forces and is not even sure that Worf can see them yet. Well, why didn’t Geordi go then? Or, since Geordi can see freckles from that far away, was there any reason for anyone to go? Couldn’t Geordi just have climbed to a high point and scouted from their present position?

Once again, Tasha Yar is ineffective as a security chief. What is her reasoning behind drawing her phaser and threatening Q with, "Enough is enough!" Is there any point in getting angry at something with Q’s power? She is zapped into the ‘penalty box’ and ends up back on the bridge alone with Picard, where she cries and has to be comforted by the captain. She says, "If you were anyone else but the captain…" suggestively…what a security chief!

I have to generally question the behavior of people in landing parties. What’s the point of having a senior officer leading a landing party, if people can just do whatever they feel is right at the time without having to wait for an order? Yar does this here, as does Worf, when he decides to take on the ‘vicious animal things’ all by himself, even though he is unarmed.

Riker does his Wizard of Oz thing at the end and makes Wesley 10 years older, gives Geordi his sight, and materialized a hot Klingon woman for Worf. Although he has called for all the staff, he doesn’t do anything for the women (Crusher and Yar). Does the power of Q only work on males?

What’s up with Worf? In the episodeJustice, he told Riker that he wasn’t interested in having sex with the human females because they are too fragile for Klingons. But when presented with the gift of a willing Klingon female, he growls, "She is from a world that is now alien to me!" Gee, this guy is picky – well, hopefully we can find a species somewhere that he will have sex with.

Memorable Moments

•    Picard and Q arguing by quoting Shakespeare

•    Q made up to look like Data

•    Basically, any scenes with John DeLancie as Q – he puts so much humor and energy into his character

Quotable Quotes

"Pity – you might have learned an interesting lesson, macrohead…with a microbrain!"
- Q to Worf

"Perhaps someday we will discover that space and time are simpler than the human equation."
– Picard