Didn't think I was going to enjoy this one too much and was consequently surprised when I did :ponder:

Nice to see the Romulans making another appearance and a little bit more depth added to the species. Geordie resorting to finding the iron ore (or whatever it was) to melt and form strangely rounded and well made spikes was pretty silly - there were comfortably enough holds on the rock for him to have at least made a couple of attempts to climb out :rolleyes:

Perhaps the most interesting bit of the ep for me was the Worf/transfusion issue. Given that his parents were killed by Romulans and his life pretty much devastated as a result, Beverleys handling of the situation was poor to say the least. You could also argue that the Romulans desire to be "uncontaminated by Klingon filth" was an important issue that she failed completely to take in to account. Patrick Stewart did a fair job of portraying his position re appreciating Worfs situation but setting that against the implications of the Romulan dying aboard a Federation ship, albeit again the faint sense of smugness/contempt that Worf is unwilling to volunteer to save the Romulans life is pretty distasteful - I couldn't make my mind up if this was inadvertently introduced by the writers or a deliberate move :ponder:

Superb! :thumbsup:

This, for me, is one of the best Geordi episodes, who I always found to be one of the least interesting characters. I love the ingenuity with which he gets himself out of the hole and the way he deals with Bakra, the way they slowly begin to w**k together as a team. I also liked the way Geordi was protective of him when they were finally beamed up. It's such a contrast to the previous episode. For once, Geordi actually seems to have grown a pair :thumbsup:

I also like the Worf side of the situation. Dave, I'm sorry but I don't buy into your "faint sense of smugness/contempt that Worf is unwilling to volunteer to save the Romulans life is pretty distasteful" reading of the situation, I don't buy that at all. Had Picard felt even a glimmer of that he would have ordered Worf to go through with the procedure, and the fact that he doesn't do that speaks volumes of Picard's integrity. What there is in him is anger and it's aimed in more directions than just at Worf, because he knows what he is going to have to deal with should the Romulan die and what it could potentially lead to.

I also like Riker's barely concealed fury for much of the episode, having "misplaced" a member of his away team :thumbsup:

And yay for Andreas Katsulas :thumbsup: :tear:

:lol:

You've pretty much ignored Beverleys attitude though......

Why would he though :shrug:

You could also make a strong point for Picard showing his integrity despite a faint feeling of contempt, disappointment, smugness or whatever, by his decision not to order Worf to go through with the transfusion - arguably this would speak more strongly of his integrity.

BTW I'm not saying that my opinion of the Worf situation ruined the episode for me, far from it in fact :ponder: :)

That's very true, and I think "disappointment" is a far better choice of word than either "contempt" or "smugness", because I don't think either of those are in play ;)

Had you said them of Riker I might have agreed :lol:

No, not really, cos I actually agreed with you on that one :p :lol: