“The Naked Now” is almost as bad as they come, but “Code of Honor” is even worse. This turd is on the short list for the distinction of “worst TNG episode ever.” I simply cannot fathom what the writers were thinking when they wrote this episode; it’s racist, it’s sexist in ways that demean both men and women, its plot makes no sense, and it reduces all of the characters to one-dimensional dullards and morons.
For starters, how is it that a “primitive” tribal society—which lacks space technology (or, seemingly, any governmental or social organization to speak of) and spends its time beating sticks together while watching women fight to the death to settle marital issues—has its own transporters, is in contact with the Federation, and is uniquely capable of producing a mysteriously un-replicatable vaccine for a disease in the face of which 24th-century Federation medicine is helpless? The Ligonians are wildly inconsistent as a civilization. But even so, one thing that is completely clear about them is the fact that the Federation should definitely not be interacting with them in any way! Indeed, when Troi brings up the Prime Directive mid-episode, my main thought is “Yes—what the hell are you even doing on this planet?”
The answer, unfortunately, is that they’re tripping over themselves to prove that they can “show respect” for a (primitive and backward) culture with a quaint “code of honor” and a “resemblance to an ancient Earth culture that they admire”—all in a transparently insincere way, and merely in the hope that the damn natives will cough up the vaccine that they need. Judging by the clunky and way-overly-direct dialog, everyone involved (on both sides) is apparently quite explicitly aware that this motive is the only thing prompting them to go through the whole “we respect your culture” charade, too. The fact that the “primitives” whose culture the main characters are making such a show of pretending to respect are black adds disturbing layers to the whole scenario as well. Additionally, thanks to first-season TNG’s need for the stakes to be astronomical as often as possible, it is established that millions of people are dying from the disease for which the vaccine is needed—yet the worst thing that the episode seems to want us to think about the Ligonians who are holding the vaccine hostage while they muck about abducting Yar and making the Enterprise crew jump through their little hoops is that they’re sort of backward and stubborn (not, for example, that they have the blood of countless innocents on their hands). Both Picard and Troi express mild irritation at the way the Prime Directive ties their hands, but even though (again) millions of lives are at stake, there is no agonizing over whether to violate said directive or not—no serious contemplation whatsoever, that is, of the possibility of simply taking the vaccine. The Prime Directive will be violated outright for much, much less in future episodes!
Then there’s all the unbelievably offensive and flagrantly ridiculous gender crap going on in this episode. The Ligonians are shocked to find security on the Enterprise in the hands of a woman and bemused by Yar’s physical prowess…even though combat to the death between women over mates is an ancient custom (and spectator sport) for which Ligonian women train rigorously all their lives, and Lutan’s own wife is a vicious killing machine in the ring. As for Lutan himself, he’s “such a basic male image” (Troi’s words) that it’s apparently natural and inevitable for Yar to be a little bit in love with him—and indeed, flattered and thrilled when, after abducting her and holding her against her will for a few days, he decides that he wants to keep her. After all, “every woman” loves Lutan. Why not? He’s big, macho, an arrogant ass, and he sees women as trifling things that are pretty to look at but important only because they own the land. As Troi “tricks” her into realizing and admitting (by asking her a direct question about it), this mix of traits in a man is apparently irresistible to a fiercely independent, Academy-educated, “career Starfleet officer” like Tasha Yar!
Ultimately, the conflict with the Ligonians is resolvable only by once again borrowing a major plot element from an original series episode: having two people fight to the death over a mate, then bringing the loser back to life. Bravo. Meanwhile, the episode attempts various bits of character development sort of “on the side.” These include the inaugural Data/Geordi friendship scene, which, while a historic moment, is unfortunately botched so badly that it hurts to watch (compounding “goofy android attempts humor” silliness with an android slip-of-the-tongue (!) and adding in a load of asinine crap from Geordi about the horrors of efficiency, all on top of the fundamental error of showing the pair as already being on very familiar and friendly terms, rather than showing that state of affairs developing). Then there’s the little “Wesley sitting at ops” subplot. In a vacuum, the notion of the captain letting the teenage son of one of his officers spend time on the bridge as a learning experience is a bit iffy, but probably swallowable given the history between Picard and the Crusher family and the kid’s obvious brains. However, given that this is the kid who seized control of the ship and almost got everyone killed in the previous episode, it’s just plain unimaginable that he would be welcomed onto the bridge. Furthermore, if you want to have a subplot like this one, the time to get it going is at the beginning of the episode—before a crisis situation has arisen. As it is, if Picard had any sense at all, he’d have stared at Crusher like she was a raving lunatic for pestering him about letting Wesley sit on the bridge while he’s busy trying to figure out how to recover an abducted officer without offending the abductors so that they will still be willing to provide a vaccine needed to keep millions of people from dying.
In short, this episode sucks rocks.