This two-parter seems to have significant contingents of both fans and detractors. Count me among the former; for my money, “Gambit” is just pure fun. I’ll try to confine myself, in this review, to talking just about part one, but if I’m honest, that seems even harder to do in this case than with most of TNG’s other two-part episodes; if I didn’t know what happens in part two, I think it would be hard to tell, from part one alone, where the episode was going, or what it would ultimately prove to be “about.” Part one does set up some character stuff, but even with that, I think it would be tough to tell to what extent any of it was really going anywhere. Still, I find it pretty easy to say that, if I were watching part one for the first time and had no idea what to expect from part two, the episode would have me; I’d be totally hooked, and enjoying the ride.
Also, I won’t deny that this episode has its share of weaknesses. To begin with, the whole opening sequence (with the regulars under cover at the alien bar and asking questions of its clientele) is a bit dull, as well as being a perfect example of the sort of thing that TNG never really pulls off very convincingly—and the later scene in which Riker bullies the informant aboard the Enterprise is, to some extent, more of the same. These bits, however, are not really bad, per se; they just don’t add much to the episode, for me. I do really like Riker’s beautifully in-character emotional reaction to the captain’s apparent death, and I would like the scene in which Troi calls him out for it, but unfortunately, the latter suffers from Sirtis’s poor acting. The scene in which Data tries to play Riker’s usual role by insisting that, as acting captain, RIker’s place is on the bridge and not leading the away team totally works for me, though; Riker knows exactly where Data is coming from, and even knows that he’s right, but he also knows that he has no intention of listening to him. It’s a nice way to convey exactly where the commander is at, mentally and emotionally. On the other hand, the admiral who speaks with Riker definitely should not have agreed to let him spearhead the investigation into Picard’s “death,” considering that Riker’s pitch for being allowed to do so basically amounted to “I’m an anger-fueled loose cannon who probably can’t be trusted to make good decisions in this matter” (!). Also, it’s rather odd that there’s no talk about the future of the captaincy here; is Riker to be promoted, or is Starfleet going to assign a new captain to the Enterprise? The episode seems to want to glide over all of this, since we obviously know that Picard probably isn’t really dead. But giving it a bit of a pass on that, and also putting aside the admiral’s unwise decision, I at least think the episode does right by having Riker’s obstinacy lead to the consequence of his getting captured. This all, for me, raises the question of whether RIker might not, after all, be all that ready/suited for the captain’s chair—or at least, not to become captain of this particular ship, where he is so deeply ingrained in the first officer role. There might have been potential for some more exploration of character here…but of course, that was not what the writers had in mind for this particular episode.
Once we get to Riker being on the mercenary ship, and the reveal of “Galen,” and everything that plays out from that point on, though, I run out of quibbles and pretty much thoroughly enjoy this episode. On one hand, this is a rare outing for Picard—a chance for him to play against type that actually fully works for me. He’s out of his usual element in just enough respects, while still playing to his strengths in others; also, contra the likes of “Captain’s Holiday,” the episode does not try to present his stint with the mercenaries as some kind of lighthearted romp. One can almost imagine an alternate version of Jean-Luc Picard as the character he plays here: a kind of Indiana-Jones-esque rogue archeologist with an obvious huge chip on his shoulder when it comes to respecting any kind of authority figure. His immediate instinct to maneuver Riker into Baran’s good graces, and the relish with which Riker plays along, are also really fun. Meanwhile, over on the Enterprise, we get a taste of Data as captain, which just makes me inordinately happy. I want more of it (and, of course, part two will deliver on that to some extent), but I do very much enjoy what we actually get—especially in the climactic scene, with the encounter between the Enterprise and the mercenary ship. We’ve certainly seen “regular character turns up aboard a hostile vessel confronting the Enterprise” type scenarios before (“A Matter of Honor”, “Face of the Enemy”), and I’m conscious of the fact that I dinged “Face of the Enemy” a bit for feeling too much like a retread of “A Matter of Honor,” but this time around, the scenario and the plotting are different enough to make it feel like its own thing to me. Riker’s ploy that obviously can’t work in the way that he seems to want it to, and Data seeing this for what it is and playing along, is all awesome…and not least because the episode manages to leave us in at least some amount of suspense as to how it’s actually going to work out. That final, cliffhanger shot, with the mercenary ship scoring direct disruptor hits on the Enterprises‘s warp nacelle? Yeah…I’m all in. 🙂