The Last Outpost (⭑)
This is another candidate for "worst episode ever" that (like the previous episode) belongs squarely in the "what in the name of god could the writers have been thinking" category. …
The Battle (⭑⭑)
This episode is not very good, really. However, it is much better than any other episode since the pilot. Its plot contains no surprises, is executed clunkily, and isn't really…
11001001 (⭑⭑⭑)
This is unquestionably the best episode of the first season—so much so that it’s actually hard to wrap one’s brain around its presence in the same season of the same…
Arsenal of Freedom (⭑⭑)
The plot of this episode doesn’t stand up to even casual scrutiny, and the backdrop is a typically hokey, first-season premise (a planet of arms dealers who destroyed themselves). But…
Conspiracy (⭑)
This episode is actually popular among many fans, to the point of often being cited as the best episode of first season. I can maybe understand some of the reasons…
Elementary, Dear Data (⭑⭑⭑)
This is one of the first genuinely good and flat-out enjoyable episodes of the series (notably, only the second one that I have rated above two stars). Its main weakness…
A Matter of Honor (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
As my rating indicates, this is easily the best episode of the series thus far; it's not perfect, but it just towers over the majority of what comes before it. …
Q Who (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
I said in my review of "Pen Pals" that most of the best and worst episodes of this season are clustered together in its final third. Nothing illustrates this better…
Samaritan Snare (⭑)
The yo-yoing inconsistency of the latter part of second season continues, plummeting all the way from the heights of "Q Who" to another low point with this clunker. When I…
The Enemy (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
"The Enemy" has proven to be the episode that forces me to define exactly where the line is between four and five stars. I've gone with the lower of those…
The Defector (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
This is the second classic Romulan episode of season three, and like "The Enemy" before it, it's a terrific episode that makes excellent use of everything that is cool about…
Menage a Troi (⭑)
This travesty has essentially nothing to recommend it and is, along with "The Price," easily one of the two worst episodes of TNG's third season. Considering that it's both a…
The Best of Both Worlds: Part I (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
"The Best of Both Worlds" is assuredly TNG's best-known installment and the biggest "event" episode of its entire run. It's also a phenomenal piece of work. I'm not saying anything…
The Best of Both Words: Part II (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
There is a conventional wisdom—not universally agreed upon, by any means, but certainly subscribed to by many fans—according to which this second half of TNG's epic two-part Borg extravaganza does…
Data’s Day (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
This has always been one of my personal all-time favorite TNG episodes, and I perhaps can't really evaluate it "objectively" at this point (not that any such assessment is ever…
The Wounded (⭑⭑⭑)
"The Wounded" is very much a borderline offering, right on the line between three and four stars for me. There is a lot to like about it, but there are…
Redemption: Part II (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
The second half of "Redemption" is a bit all over the place, and honestly, it both could and should have been better than it is. And yet, it's also an…
The Game (⭑⭑⭑)
"The Game" seems to be a highly divisive episode that some fans enjoy but many others heartily loathe. I can understand both reactions. Apart from the teaser, and notwithstanding some…
Unification: Part II (⭑⭑⭑)
Oof. There is some good stuff in this episode, and the whole of it is perfectly watchable, but its plot makes basically no sense, and it doesn't come close to…
The Next Phase (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Another classic of late-fifth-season TNG, "The Next Phase" has always struck me as iffy in the sci-fi logic department but really solid in terms of character and tone, and just…
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…
Chain of Command: Part II (⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑)
This episode is widely regarded as one of TNG's most impressive, and rightly so. The scenes between Picard and his Cardassian torturer, Gul Madred, are disturbing, compelling, and complex, and…
Face of the Enemy (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Just a few episodes after exchanging her old outfits for a standard Starfleet uniform, Counselor Troi is suddenly given an episode in which she plays an unprecedentedly serious and substantive…
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)…
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…
Descent: Part II (⭑⭑)
Part two of "Descent"—and, by extension/as a result, the entire two-parter—is a mess on pretty much every level. It began (in the first half or so of part one) as…
Gambit: Part I (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
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,…
Gambit: Part II (⭑⭑⭑⭑)
Yep...still on board. :) TNG's last-ever two-part episode, while not terribly deep, is a delightful bit of fun that wraps itself up with a suitably Trekkian theme. Admittedly, as often…
Bloodlines (⭑⭑)
I think of "Bloodlines" as "the last bad episode of TNG." This is an episode that's ill-conceived, pointless, and dull, and with the show nearing its end, one dearly wishes…