4.24 The Mind's Eye

Rating: 3.5

On his way to a conference/holiday on Risa, Geordi is abducted by Romulans and subjected to brainwashing and torture. Back on the Enterprise, a Klingon ambassador arrives to investigate rumors that the Federation is aiding disidents on Krios, one of their colonies. Geordi returns to the Enterprise with a subversive mission. His brainwashed side beams weapons down to Krios (and may have even worse deeds to perform), while his Starfleet side, not knowing that he is the culprit, works to find the perpetrator.

Comments

This episode was written by Rene Echevarria.

Trivia: Larry Dobkin (Ambassador Kell) directed the TOS episode Charlie X.

NextGen scripts and direction are straighforward. There are no flashbacks, no slow reveals. We know almost everything upfront. Here, we know that Geordi has been reprogrammed and we know the Romulans did it. On another series, this might have been revealed slowly, through glimpses of what happened. So on NextGen, all the cards are on the table and scripts have to rely upon themselves. In this case, however, we don’t know exactly what – and how much – Geordi is reprogrammed to do. Will he kill any Klingons? This is high drama for NextGen, and it works here. And to top it all off, there are even some effective closing scenes where Troi is slowly helping Geordi reclaim his memory.

Nits

I’m surprised that, in the 24^th century, with computers that by this time should be ultra-powerful, it is still going to take three hours to do a search for a specific energy frequency that Data already knows is on one of a possible 327 home worlds.

Memorable Moments

•    The sudden appearance of the Romulan Warbird in the viewing screen of Geordi’s shuttle

•    Geordi killing O’Brien. Sure, it’s only a simulation, but it’s still chilling

•    Picard’s Klingon swearing, as he goes head to head with the Klingon governor of Krios

Quotable Quotes

Picard: Kell, I have been…pleased to offer occasional assistance to the Klingon people in the past.
Klingon Ambassador Kell: Your modesty is very human captain, I will excuse it.