S1E23 - Skin of Evil

[dnaphil]

I picked this episode because of Tasha Yar, but it also sets Worf's character for the rest of the series.
The secondary reason for this episode will come in two weeks when we will get a call-back in an upcoming episode.

Overall, I have never liked this episode. Watching it now did not improve my feelings on it.

I think that the dramatic effect they were going for, fell flat.
I think that this could have been an episode where Troi could have saved herself but instead Picard white knights instead.

Of the episodes we watched this week, this one is a dud, but one that we need to have watched because of its impact on the series going forward.

[GMGERRYMANDER]

It was not great dialog and I really didn't like the heavy handed villain or the eulogy section.

Apparently, Tasha only cared about the main characters.

[pksullivan]

Watched this last night before we did the watch party. I was surprised that it wasn’t as bad on a concept level as I remembered. The script is a little wonky but mostly it’s the pacing that’s off. It’s a very slow episode that doesn’t use the slowness and stillness to good effect. We know, as fans, that the reason Tasha was killed off is Denise Crosby didn’t think the show was going to last (ratings weren’t great that first season) so she abandoned ship. It wasn’t handled particularly well and the moral philosophy of the episode is pretty sophomoric, even by Trek standards. All that said, I’m surprised at how affecting it was. I did get choked up a bit during the inverse-eulogy.

[Jared Rascher]

It felt very weird that as an episode that was a send off of Tasha Yar, her actually death was fairly early on, and was more about proving the alien thing was willing to kill. It feels like it would have had more emotional impact if she had directly contributed to saving the people in the shuttlecraft.

It almost feels like they had a script that progressed a certain way, then when Crosby decided to leave, they kept the same script structure, found a point to kill her, edited it all down, and tacked on the eulogy at the end.

It also makes me wonder if Starfleet has a designation for a planet that is a mess that a Starfleet crew did manage to clean up. "Here there be unresolved trouble."

I did like that we start to get to see Worf beyond the "He's a Klingon, but in Starfleet!" characterization. He is supportive and complimentary of Yar, and I really liked that.

[RobAbrazado]

I admit, I skipped this one for Watch Club, but [mention]Jared Rascher[/mention], your commentary makes me want to make some time for it.