S3 E18 - Allegiance

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GMGERRYMANDER
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S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by GMGERRYMANDER »

Very interesting episode.

I liked it but not sure what the significance is in regards to your criteria.

But a lot of fun. I liked the interaction of the crew with the captain.
dnaphil
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by dnaphil »

This episode is selected for two things.

First, it is often considered a solid Picard episode, as the A-plot focuses on him and the other prisoners. Part of the list is to showcase different characters.

Second, this is the first time we see some indication of Crusher's attraction to Picard, as the Picard Doppleganger flirts with her, and she struggles between her feelings and duty. It opens up the will-they, wont-they tension that will carry through a number of seasons.

Overall, this is a pretty simple, episode, with a problem for Picard to solve and one for the Crew to solve, that comes neatly together in the final few moments.
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GMGERRYMANDER
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by GMGERRYMANDER »

It was a really fun episode.
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pksullivan
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by pksullivan »

I like this episode but don't love it. This is a good example of Star Trek's famous moral quandary episodes, which are where Picard really outshines Kirk who is too much of a cowboy. Plus we get some silly moments where not-Picard cuts loose and acts less stiff and reserved.
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RobAbrazado
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by RobAbrazado »

I like this one a lot. (Season 3 just seems packed to the gills with strong episodes!) Part of what I like about this one besides being a strong Picard episode is that it's also a strong Patrick Stewart episode! He plays a double of his character that's just...a little bit off. Pretty impressive thing to pull off, especially without it being played for goofs. Like maybe the goofiest it gets is the bursting into song? (Oh, but speaking of the Ten Forward scene, one of my favorite moments is Picard congratulating Geordi on the new engine efficiency and clapping him on the shoulder. Geordi winces back like "WTF JUST HAPPENED." Cracks me up. Second favorite moment is Geordi and Worf trying in vain to sing along to Picard's song.) Also, although there's not a lot of Dr. Crusher scenes, I also think this is a strong Gates McFadden episode. Her performance at the dinner was quite good, I thought, and the button at the very end of the episode is really funny. (Though the metatextual audience in me is like "how much does she know about what's happened in the last few minutes?!" but whatever, it's a funny scene.)

Speaking of metatextual, in the scene where the senior officers are meeting to discuss Picard's behavior, they're recounting weird Picard moments of late, and Dr. Crusher says, like, "He invited me to dinner in his cabin, and it was a very...unusual...experience." Then the conversation just rolls right on, and I'm like WHOA wait, everyone's just gonna let that go by, huh? :lol:

Anyway, I noticed something cool on this rewatch that I never noticed before. At the beginning of the episode during the cold open, our perspective switches to the bridge, and Data detects the weird energy in Picard's cabin. Riker calls Picard on the comm and gets no answer, at which point he turns and looks at Worf without saying anything. Worf then calls for a security team and goes to check on Picard. That was just a nice little bookend/foreshadowing of the end of the episode that I never noticed before!

Finally, since I'm just gonna make this my thing now: poker scene! The poker scene in this episode features literally like half a hand of poker, and it still manages to be terrible. That's even notwithstanding Geordi getting up and leaving the table in the middle of the hand. Firstly, though, I was struck by a more general thing, since I think this is the first (and possibly only?) time I see Troi at the poker table: who plays poker against an empath?! And, like, fine, maybe they have an honor system or something that she won't read people, or maybe they're just being cool and including her. That's all fine. So...who plays poker against an empath and then bluffs into them, RIKER?! She snaps it off (of course, because you can't bluff an empath), and then this is followed by Data -- again, the literal supercomputer who has read everything ever written about the game of poker -- making the worst overcall of all time. What's good, TNG writers, hit me up 30 years in the past to be your poker consultant.

Thank you for joining me for the TNG Poker Corner.
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JimLikesGames
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by JimLikesGames »

I was somewhat surprised by the presence of this episode on the list, one which I don't really think about unless it's right in front of me, but yeah, it's pretty decent, and indicative of the show just really finding it stride in Season 3.

Don't worry, [mention]RobAbrazado[/mention] there's 4 more seasons of terrible poker, including using it as the literal framing device of the epic final episode.
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Jared Rascher
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by Jared Rascher »

I think it's interesting that Worf doesn't hesitate to start singing when Picard starts doing the rounds in Ten Forward.

I love Crusher, so I'm happy to watch a more Crusher-centric episode.

It's also a little strange that Picard manages to solve this situation by giving up classified information to prove that someone wouldn't have had that information. It seems really clever at first, but then it's like . . . um . . . wait . . . ?

I do like when we get to see species that are more advanced in SOME things, but not blanketly more technologically advanced than others.

[Side Note: Holy crap, Gates McFadden was the choreographer for Labyrinth?]
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RobAbrazado
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Re: S3 E18 - Allegiance

Post by RobAbrazado »

Jared Rascher wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:41 pm [Side Note: Holy crap, Gates McFadden was the choreographer for Labyrinth?]
Indeed so! I remember years ago either watching like a documentary on Labyrinth or a DVD extra or something like that, and I saw a very familiar-looking redhead in a behind-the-scenes shot and went WHOA WHAT?!
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