I think the standard view of the “Redemption” two-parter can be summed up as: it’s good (a classic, even), but it’s no “Best of Both Worlds.” The thing is, I technically agree with this assessment, but I also see it as a little unfair and even beside the point. I mean, sure…TNG outdid itself with its first-ever genuine season finale/cliffhanger at the end of season three, so when it ended season four with another big, ambitious, first-half-of-a-two-parter episode, it was inevitable for fans to compare the two. But at the same time, any attempt to “top” BOBW with an even more mind-blowingly epic, high-stakes finale/opener would have been misguided and doomed to failure. “Redemption” was never going to be “another BOBW,” nor did it need to be. It just needed to be a really good episodes (or pair of episodes) in its own right. And it is that. I’ve rated it only four stars rather than five, but this reflects my view that (good though it is) it could have been a bit better for what it is—not the fact that it can’t quite stand up to the phenomenon that was “The Best of Both Worlds.”
On the “personal” level (for Worf), “Redemption” is basically two things: the final chapter of the “discommendation” storyline that began in season three’s “Sins of the Father,” and the coming to a head of his fundamental “human versus Klingon” character dilemma, which has been present in virtually every episode that has ever featured him prominently (beginning with season one’s “Heart of Glory”). The latter is set up very satisfyingly, with Picard essentially giving him a push (or permission?) to put aside the “human virtue” of patience and approach things more like a Klingon at the outset, and then Guinan goading him into consciously acknowledging his differentness from other Klingons and his suppressed need to explore a possible alternate path, followed by the expected “are you really Klingon/do you hear the call of the warrior” taunts from Gowron, and ultimately leading to his decision to resign from Starfleet in order to see his experiment in “being Klingon” through, once his leeway from the captain runs out. Klingons constantly getting on Worf’s case about whether he’s truly a warrior or soft and weak like a human gets old (certainly in the future, but even here it was something that we had already heard on several occasions), but this episode draws on this established conflict and deftly brings it to a head in way that was new, and that genuinely felt like a big deal, when it first aired. But as to the resolution of the discommendation arc, I actually feel like this episode leaves something to be desired. For one thing, it feels like it sort of comes out of nowhere. For Worf to leverage an offer of support to Gowron in order to compel the latter to restore his family name, once civil war has broken out, makes perfect sense—but prior to that, what made now “the right time,” particularly, to go public with the truth about Khitomer? The scene at the beginning of the episode in which Picard encourages Worf to reclaim his honor is (mostly) excellent, but it doesn’t really address this “why now?” question to my satisfaction. What relevant political reality has changed, at that point, since “Sins of the Father” or “Reunion”? To me it comes across a little too much like a case of “well, this is a Klingon episode,” or simply “now is when the writers have decided to return to this storyline.” (A related point here: It has always struck me as odd that Worf initially asserts to Picard that it is not yet time, and has to have his mind changed by the captain. As I’ve just argued, Worf is actually kind of right…but for the writers’ story to unfold, he has to adopt the opposite view. For this to happen via Picard pushing him in that direction for no clear reason doesn’t really work, though.) Anyway, I also regret that the eventual moment when Gowron does revoke the discommendation and restore Worf’s (public) honor feels, to me, a bit underwhelming. Maybe it’s that the episode has focused more heavily on larger political machinations, and the outbreak of civil war, and even Worf’s exploration of his Klingonness, than it has on his determination to redeem his public name, so that the “win” on the latter front feels a bit perfunctory. It is earned, on a plot level, but I just don’t feel it as vividly as I’d like to. (The scene in which he was stripped of his good name and his honor at the end of “Sins of the Father” was so good, and the restoration scene here just doesn’t hold a candle to it.)
Turning to the larger-scale political side of the episode’s plot, my thought is that the setup of the conflict is masterful, but there’s something lacking, or kind of hollow, about the resolution. For a succinct summary of the overall politics of the dilemma in which Picard finds himself as Arbiter of Succession, one can do no better than to look to Picard’s own analysis of it in his scene with Lursa and B’Etor—and his pointed remark that the sisters “have manipulated the circumstances with the skill…of a Romulan” is an all-time classic line that I love to death. But… First of all, when Picard takes Worf to task for the “conflict of interest” surrounding the latter’s use of the Enterprise‘s records, his objection doesn’t quite make sense to me. I like that he sort of admits that he is perhaps being overly cautious because of how he’s wrestling with his own parallel conflicting interests, but still—Worf is not really using his position as a Starfleet officer to influence Klingon politics, but rather simply making public certain historical facts of which Starfleet happens to be aware. This seems pretty above-board to me. Also, the captain’s “compromise” wherein he makes the records publicly available “to anyone” rings false—partly because (again) it seems obvious that they should be made available, and also because how is it even a “compromise”? The truth about what went down at Khitomer only benefits one side! So that’s all a bit iffy. But my bigger problem with the basic plot is this: Picard wrestles with, and wrings his hands over, the dilemma of what to do about Toral’s challenge to Gowron…and then he just straight-up makes the decision that is in Federation interests, without any indication of what decided him on this course, or any clever plan, or anything having changed. This does not feel entirely satisfying; something feels missing here. Plus, he somewhat lamely justifies his decision on the grounds that Toral is a child who has “fought no battles” and etc. That’s all he’s got? The argument that Toral’s father (Duras) died in disgrace (having poisoned the former chancellor, let’s not forget!) is brought up earlier, and Picard even sounds like he might be banking on this when he cites the fact that Klingon sons share in the honors or crimes of their fathers, but then he seems to change course. Or, for that matter, what of his having supposedly made the records concerning the treachery of Duras’s father public, per the scene I was just discussing? Wasn’t that all about Worf being determined to prove once and for all that Duras and his kin were the traitors, rather than Worf’s own family—both for the sake of restoring his own good name and of ensuring that the Duras family doesn’t consolidate power? It’s as though the different pieces of the story aren’t quite connecting, here.
I feel like I’m being more critical than is compatible with my fondness for this episode, but maybe that’s because the shortcomings that hold a really entertaining story back from being a truly phenomenal one are sometimes the most frustrating shortcomings of all. Whatever its flaws, “Redemption” (part one) is exciting and engaging and “big” and packed with fantastic scenes that are a joy to watch: Worf springing the truth about Duras on Gowron; Worf balancing his sense of honor with a degree of Klingon guile as he pursues his goals while staying true to his values; various scenes that I’ve already mentioned (like the Picard/Worf ones, the Guinan/Worf one, and the Picard/Duras sisters one). (Bonus points to the Guinan scene for indirectly referencing a scene from “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” too!) But perhaps best of all are the pair of scenes that take place right before Worf leaves the Enterprise, having resigned his commission. Worf’s reply to his captain’s inquiry as to whether he’s sure of his decision is on point (and the fact that he acknowledges something as human as his adoptive parents’ love for him is touching), and then I have always loved Picard’s words to Worf about his admiration for how the Klingon made “the best qualities of humanity” part of himself. It’s a wonderful way of looking at Worf’s more-Klingon-than-the-Klingons sense of integrity, loyalty, and justice, and a beautiful tribute to the best parts of who he has been on the show to date. If Worf had actually been leaving the show here, this would have been a fitting farewell. And then, of course, the very formal, very military send-off in the transporter room, capped off by the final touch of the captain saluting Worf’s prospects with a “Qapla!” and Worf replying, like a sentimental human, with a simple “Goodbye.”
Having hopefully established that I really do love this episode, though, I’m going to wrap up by raising a final couple of questions of a more critical nature. First: Was the “women cannot serve on the high council” idea really necessary? I’m not the first to point out that it’s inconsistent both with Star Trek VI and with Gowron having offered K’Ehleyr a seat on the council in “Reunion,” but that’s not even my main issue. Part of my point here, of course, is simply: why go the boringly predictable sexist route? But also, there’s this: Why introduce a pair of villainous scheming sisters to carry forward the Duras legacy, yet hobble them with an arbitrary inability to lead in their own right? (Damn! I’ve neglected to even remark, yet, on this episode’s historic significance as the one that first introduced the Duras sisters!) Why manufacture a mystery/plot problem (how will the Duras sisters claim power, given that women are barred from it?), only to immediately introduce a previously unknown son of Duras to plug this hole? I just don’t see what (if anything) this adds to the story. And then, on another subject (about which I’ll have more to say when I review part two): What to make of the final moment’s big reveal of the character whom a friend of mine long ago dubbed the “RMA” (for “Romulan? My ass!”)? Is is intriguing and fun, or is it a case of the episode trying to be too clever by half? I mean, for one thing… “humans have a way of showing up when you least expect them”? Really? But also, I kind of feel like Worf resigning his commission and leaving the Enterprise, against the backdrop of the Klingon Empire descending into civil war, was enough of a shocking, cliffhanger moment for the episode (and the season) to go out on, without tossing in “why the hell is Tasha Yar suddenly back from the dead, and also a Romulan?” at the last minute. I don’t hate it, but I do kind of lean toward the view that it somewhat undermines the poignancy of the previous scenes (Worf’s departure) without really adding very much.