2.17 Samaritan Snare

Rating: 2.5

Accompanied by Wesley, who is again testing for Starfleet Academy, Picard undergoes a routine heart operation. Meanwhile, the good intentions of the Enterprise are being twisted by the seemingly harmless Pakled.

Comments

Picard tells Wesley how he got his heart injury and earlier replacement: as a brash young man, he picked a fight with three Nausicans, and one pierced his heart with a serrated knife.

Nits

Riker seems foolish to ignore Troi’s strong feelings about the Pakled and about the danger to Geordi. He should beam Geordi back immediately, then deal with her feelings – she has never sounded so sure of herself, and Picard never ignores her. Maybe Riker wasn’t ready for command after all.

I am amazed that the Universal Translator not only can translate language, it can translate stupidity too. In other words, what the Pakled say may be simple, but it is only because of their intonations that it sounds stupid. I’m just surprised that intonations also are translatable.

Picard says that there is a 2.4% fatality rate for the operation he is about to perform. He seems to think that means there is nothing to worry about. It seems high enough for me to worry about. Plus, the surgeon reassures him by saying, "We’ve done a hundred of these operations." That means, statistically, that 2 or 3 of those hundred people died!

Don’t shuttles also receive distress calls? Literally seconds after Picard and Wesley depart in the shuttle, the Enterprise receives a distress call from the Pakled ship. Did the shuttle also receive this message, and, if so, was there any option for Picard and Wesley to return to the ship? And even if the message was not received, why doesn’t Riker inform Picard of their new destination?

Why isn’t Troi on the bridge when Riker makes first contact with the Pakled? Shouldn’t she be summoned for all alien contact?

What does Data mean when he says the Pakled are ‘relatively harmless’? Is Data withholding information about harm they have caused?

Since the Pakled have no weaponry, the Klingons, Romulans, and other races from whom they stole technology must have lived to tell the tale. Why is there no information about their proclivity for theft in the records?

When he begins the operation, the surgeon requests a ‘tissue medicator’, and his assistant is already holding it and produces it by simply pulling his arm up from his side. Now that’s a good assistant – maybe all surgeons should have telepathic assistants. J

Memorable Moments

•    Many of the lines delivered by the Pakled are funny.

Quotable Quotes

Grebnedlog: We are far from home. We need help.
Geordi: Lemme guess, their rubber band broke, right?