New Ground (⭑⭑⭑)
I'm honestly not sure that I can muster up too terribly much to say about this episode. It's kind of just there: not bad, really, but certainly not great, either.…
The Masterpiece Society (⭑⭑⭑)
"The Masterpiece Society" is by no means a masterpiece. It's misguided in various ways, its handling of issues is too easy in several respects, and some of the character relationships…
Conundrum (⭑⭑⭑)
I enjoy this episode, and I remembered it fondly enough that I imagined possibly giving it four stars, but after re-watching, I can't justify that. Its plot doesn't hold up…
Power Play (⭑⭑⭑)
I find "Power Play" to be a surprisingly compelling episode given its limited ambitions and lack of anything that could be called "depth." It doesn't really try to be anything…
Time’s Arrow: Part I (⭑⭑⭑)
I have so many mixed feelings about this episode that it's hard to know where to begin. It strikes me as fundamentally ill-conceived on some levels, and most of its…
Time’s Arrow: Part II (⭑⭑⭑)
I'm not sure if I should count "Time's Arrow" among the TNG two-parters whose second parts fail to live up to the first, or not. I mean, I do for…
Realm of Fear (⭑⭑⭑)
"Realm of Fear" works reasonably well as a character story, but its plot is decidedly unsatisfactory. There are some good Barclay moments here, and watching this always-fun and always-relatable minor…
Schisms (⭑⭑⭑)
This is the third episode that I've rated with three stars so far this season, and each has been wildly different. The season premier was half-baked, frivolous fun; "Realm of…
Rascals (⭑⭑⭑)
"Rascals" is an episode with a beyond-absurd premise and an insultingly implausible plot, but one that somehow manages to be entertaining enough that I actually don't hate it. When you…
A Fistful of Datas (⭑⭑⭑)
There aren't a lot of TNG episodes that aim almost exclusively for comedy; even "Rascals," the episode immediately before this one, has some non-comedic aspirations, despite its ridiculousness. But "A…
The Quality of Life (⭑⭑⭑)
I've now given three-star ratings to a full two thirds of the nine sixth-season episodes that I've reviewed so far, culminating with this one. This wasn't the first time that…
Birthright: Part I (⭑⭑⭑)
This is kind of an oddball of an episode. I usually remember it mainly as "the Data dreaming one," probably because that story thread is the one that interests me…
Birthright: Part II (⭑⭑⭑)
Without a doubt, "Birthright" is TNG's oddest two-part episode. Instead of one story split over two episodes because it was clearly too big to fit into a single one, it…
Starship Mine (⭑⭑⭑)
This is another of those relatively rare "fun, but not deep" TNG episodes—a description (not necessarily in those exact words) that I also applied to both "Power Play" (three stars)…
Lessons (⭑⭑⭑)
Sigh. I remember really liking this one years ago. I always had issues with its ending, but I fully expected to be charmed enough by the rest of it, even…
The Chase (⭑⭑⭑)
I can't give "The Chase" more than three stars, but I actually enjoyed it somewhat more than I expected to on the rewatch immediately preceding the writing of this review.…
Rightful Heir (⭑⭑⭑)
You can't help but to admire the ambition of this episode, which plunges Worf into a crisis of faith, then immediately confronts him with an apparent miracle, and has him…
Timescape (⭑⭑⭑)
"Timescape" is a pretty solid three-star offering about which I have a few minor quibbles but no major complaints, apart from some very general here's-why-I-don't-enjoy-it-more type observations. For the most…
Descent: Part I (⭑⭑⭑)
And so, we come to TNG's fourth and final cliffhanger season finale. I'll be saving most of my my big-picture thoughts about "Descent" as a two-parter, and its place in…
Phantasms (⭑⭑⭑)
I'm not sure how much I really have to say about "Phantasms." It's...fine. I mean, it's not too hard to imagine what was going through Brannon Braga's mind when he…
Attached (⭑⭑⭑)
I like "Attached." I always have. I want it to be much better than it is, but even so, I do enjoy it. (I guess you could say that I'm...attached…
Inheritance (⭑⭑⭑)
I have very mixed feelings about "Inheritance." On one hand, it's a competently executed and emotionally compelling story that focuses on one of my favorite characters, and it raises an…
Eye of the Beholder (⭑⭑⭑)
This is a pretty down-the-middle, three-star episode: not bad, but not great either. It holds my interest while I'm watching it, but for the most part, it doesn't really...matter to…