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 sure like part one better than part two, but in the end, both parts are fairly run-of-the-mill trifles, despite the time travel fun and the threat-to-humanity stakes and the whole Data’s head thing and the involvement of Mark Twain. Part two doesn’t seem to aspire to be much more than a fun romp in the 19th century, and up to a point, I’m fairly content to accept it as such, enjoy it for what it is, and move on. That’s not to say that I won’t be cataloguing its faults and shortcomings, of course; it’s just that I see it as one of those episodes that are enjoyable if you don’t try to take them too seriously, rather than as fatally flawed or deeply disappointing. (Still, one can’t help but to regret that the couple of seasons of TNG that actually came in swinging with top-shelf season premier episodes are now behind us.)

If I’m being honest, I have to say that I’m not wild about most of the exploits of the rest of the regulars (apart from Data) in the 19th century. In my review of part one, I called attention to the fact that they completely failed to prep in any way for their trip to Earth’s past (not even changing out of their uniforms, for chrissake); here, in part two, the writers cheat their way around any consequences that ought to result from this omission by opening with our heroes already somehow attired in period garb and ensconced in a boarding house with a cover story about being an acting troupe. Thereafter, they continue magically managing to maneuver freely through the 19th-century setting, gaining access to morgues and infirmaries and whatnot (with Crusher somehow inserting herself as a nurse in the latter). In other words, the episode is singularly uninterested in having the characters struggle in a fish-out-of-water kind of way; instead, it’s mostly content to milk the scenario for humor. But even the latter ends up feeling awfully slight. Captain Picard spends the first half of the hour being uncharacteristically flamboyant, the pretext being that he’s “under cover” as the leader of the “acting troupe,” and we’re clearly meant to find his fast-talking of their landlady amusing. But I’m mostly left feeling like I’m watching Patrick Stewart have a good time, as opposed to watching Jean-Luc Picard—you know, the cerebral, reserved leader who has trouble letting go of his dignified pose and is usually somewhat socially awkward in situations that lie outside of his comfort zone, whom Stewart normally plays on this show? I mean, the first time we see him in this episode, he’s all sprawled out in a relaxed, casual, un-captainly pose on a chair, as though “in character” as a bohemian thespian type, even though there’s no one but Enterprise folks in the room. Likewise, Riker’s smart-ass remark before casually resorting to punching a cop, and the gang’s subsequent mad dash out of the infirmary and timely rescue by / reunification with Data, are very much played for easy laughs as opposed to anything resembling genuine drama. And sure, it’s reasonably entertaining—but like, nothing more than that, you know?

Then there’s Mark Twain, with respect to whom my mixed reaction from part one deteriorates into a more decidedly disappointed one here in part two. It’s not just that the grating voice continues to be grating, and wears away at my patience more and more as the episode progresses (though that’s certainly one issue). I also feel like his characterization changes between parts one and two, and not for the better. In part one, he comes across as self-aggrandizing and somewhat jaded or cynical about human nature, but in a light, irreverent, and good-humored way that complements the underlying broad-minded, forward-thinking qualities that make him interesting; this time around, he morphs into a weirdly credulous and paranoid alarmist who seems to appoint himself defender of the status quo against a perceived threat from time-traveling invaders. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a decidedly odd role to thrust a historical personage like Samuel Clemens into. I guess the writers were going for the idea of an arc wherein getting a glimpse of the future restores his faith in humanity, but making him so crotchety and suspicious just doesn’t feel right. Plus, when he does find himself in the 24th century, his assumptions and suspicions just seem to evaporate like magic after one short chat with Counselor Troi, with no need to actually see any evidence that the Trek future is better than the state of things in his own time. It doesn’t ring true at all.

The episode’s other attempt at deeper relevance concerns the Guinan/Picard relationship, and the conceit of our learning that their bond, in some sense, goes back to this younger version of Guinan having met and been aided by Picard five centuries before what Picard experienced as their first meeting in his own timeline, and her subsequent coming aboard the Enterprise. I really want to dig this, but honestly, I have to call it a bit underwhelming. I mean, it’s certainly significant that the captain stays behind to tend to an injured Guinan when the rest of the characters are escaping through the time portal, seemingly stranding himself in the 19th century, and of course, Guinan would naturally be moved and grateful. But does this, by itself, actually justify all the rhetoric about how their connection goes “beyond friendship, beyond family”? It’s not as though they actually interact a ton here, or like they even particularly seem to have a lot in common to bond over. The idea of the two of them having this deep mysterious connection was always one that the writers seemed to want us to just accept, without ever really justifying it to my satisfaction. I enjoy the idea of a young Guinan having spent some time “listening” (as she briefly alludes to in part one) on Earth in the 1800s, but if this episode was meant to “explain” her connection to Picard, I feel like it really falls short.

For most of the episode, the plot just kind of works itself out. Picard and company suss out what’s going on without encountering any real obstacles, and Guinan, at Data’s request, arranges access to the mine shaft offscreen, and Twain follows them all there, and the aliens show up and interfere, and everybody returns to the 24th century except for Picard. Only at this point do things in any way slow down and allow for actual problems that the characters have to meaningfully grapple with—and said grappling is a bit of a mixed bag. Geordi reviving Data by attaching the old head to his body works for me, and the schtick of Picard sending the Enterprise a message across the centuries via the head is a classic time-travel-story staple that can hardly fail to be fun (even if I question the idea that the captain has the technical knowledge to code a message into Data’s brain using a hunk of metal). On the other hand, the “if you try to destroy the time portal it’ll have the opposite effect” nonsense is annoying, and the scene in which Riker badgers Guinan for answers and she refuses to provide any is stupid. (In case part one wasn’t already contradictory enough in regard to the inevitability, or not, of the timeline working itself out, now we dip into the “I can’t reveal information because it might influence your decision” nonsense well? Not only does this, once again, argue for Data having been wrong about how things work; it also ignores the fact that Guinan has no basis for any belief, one way or the other, about whether she should provide Riker with info or not.) Also, while I appreciate the fact that for once, Worf’s cold-blooded “destroy the threat now” position isn’t just ignored (when he and Troi both argue that it’s what the captain would do, it rings true), Riker going from being dead set on rescuing Picard one second to conceding their point the next second makes the whole business feel false and perfunctory. And then, in the end, the episode is content to move on once everyone is back in their appropriate century (as Picard relates in his log entry), with no thought given to the fate of the aliens (who were preying on humans, yes, but who also claim that they have no alternative source of the energy they need to live) or to the possibility of their simply finding another way to access vulnerable humans now that this one has been taken from them. As I said, not much about this episode seems designed to be taken very seriously.

Damn. I’ve been pretty hard on this one. I do still think three stars is the right rating, but mainly because the episode feels too light and trivial for its many flaws to offend me too much, and because there’s a certain “silly fun” quotient upon which things coast along well enough for most of the running time. That, and I do have a bit of a weakness for stuff like the sending of a message across the centuries via an “artifact” (if you will) that you know will fall into the hands of your companions in “the future.” Time-travel-wise, things do ultimately all fall neatly and logically into place, despite the premise inconsistencies along the way, and there’s a certain satisfaction in watching that play out. And having disaster averted, once again, thanks to some futzing with Data’s brain in the same lab setting wherein he interfaced with Locutus of Borg to save the world two season premiers ago, is a parallel that makes me smile indulgently, too.