Star Trek TNG 5x12 Full Reaction!
Added 2026-01-10 18:00:10 +0000 UTC
Comments
Yeah, the concern of sensitivity was on my end as well. I acknowledge that maybe I didn’t do a good job with it, I know, yet the effort is made. You can tell that the crew gave more thought about that here than in the previous original series episode with Rand. Do love how there’s no question about what an evil fucker that Jev is, making you anticipate the hammer being brought down. Hear the fundamental flaw brought up a fair amount. Yes, the type of set up of just waiting for the heroes to catch up to us does work as evidenced by the great times with my parents watching Columbo, my dad especially adored that show. The difference being that show was, as Dad would say, “a mind game” where the fun is the battle of wits. My favorite ones being the one with Donald Pleasence and the one with Leonard Nimoy. It’s also a compliment my dad gave to the Coen Brothers how their films are so rich with the rewatchability with how they demand your attention and focus in their intricate plots. We don’t have that here, and I can see how that’d be a problem. And they would have a good misdirection with Tarmin after the line that we knew that Jess wasn’t going to love. You mention about probably suspecting Jev anyway given his scene with Deanna right before the assault. Think I would have gotten more suspicious after he assaults Riker, as it establishes the pattern. A moot point as they more or less tell us he’s the culprit. And yes, the greater mystery would give your brain more to occupy itself than just making your skin try to escape from what’s happening, give you that one. Otherwise, yes, objectively quality episode with some pretty impressive camera work. Harder to appreciate it given the hatred and anger, but it is excellent. They did a very good job treating this completely seriously. See we share the, for want of a better term, appreciation that the show didn’t shy away from the subject matter, up to and including Tarmin saying the word “rape” in the final scene. I love how the more mundane explanations are entertained, before they’re quickly ruled out. Again, love Worf clocking the suspect circumstance and timing, Picard willing to buy the idea of coincidence, and when Beverly speaks of the specific piece of information, then the coincidence becomes just a mite too improbable. And again, I love how Picard is diplomatic about the Ullians being suspects; the simple thing of exhausting every other possible explanation, and he’s left with all the evidence pointing to them, and he handles it very well. Gerodi and Data doing excellent detective work is also presented so well. Love it how Geordi’s eureka moment is, “Wait, we got Beverly, who is the best! These guys aren’t.” and looks at the logs with tightened focus. Knew that was going to be something good for Jess. True about although Deanna is subjected this horrific shit thrice, she does fight back, even bashing the fucker’s head with what looked like something that would hurt. Good. I can see her beating his ass if Worf hadn’t shown up. Hopefully she would have kicked him in his fellas harder than in King of the Hill when Bobby kicks Hank below the belt. Shared love about what you said about Keiko, Rosalind is so great. Big relief that she’s spared the horror in this one. There was some hesitation to watch this one too, not going to lie. Jess did pull through fairly well, all things considered. And wholeheartedly concur about such appreciation was had about all the comments Jess had about the sheer hatred that she was feeling.
Thomas Corp
2026-01-10 20:23:29 +0000 UTCI can only assume the reason Jev isn't up there on those fan polls for the most despicable character with Fajo and Winn is that the episode simply isn't remembered much, along with probably a bit of not having a big name playing him. I have a real liking for how Monk put it: "One impossible murder, maybe. Two impossible murders...it's just not possible." We do hear that the punishment for this particular crime is "severe," and after 300 years of not being needed it'll probably go down even worse. Though I could do without Picard saying humanity has evolved past its violence after all the evil humans he's dealt with. I also couldn't help thinking while Beverly was suggesting he go through the process "You realize there's Borg stuff in there?"
Ryan
2026-01-10 20:02:36 +0000 UTCYeah, we all knew this would be a hard one for you, and I can only promise I'll try my best to talk about it with the proper sensitivity. At the very least, I'm sure it was on the crew's minds on some level that they had to do a better job than the last time Trek handled the subject, with Yeoman Rand saying she doesn't want to mess up Kirk's life just because of a blatant sexual assault, and ending up pressured by Spock to admit Evil Kirk was kind of hot. And they succeeded, instantly getting you very invested in wanting to see the hammer come down on this bastard and never once indicating he's anything less than 100% evil. Though I do find there's one fundamental flaw here, with the episode tipping its hand about exactly what's going on way too early, which means we spend the whole thing just waiting for the heroes to catch up to us. And under the right circumstances that can be a perfectly good storytelling method (there's a reason Columbo lasted so long) but this isn't those. Just imagine if we didn't have that obvious villain shot of Jev with scary music playing to lead into the credits, and his face wasn't so clear during the assaults. You might suspect it was him just from his being the last with Troi, but Tarmin's comments in the first scene that come so close to just saying "Her eyes were saying yes" would be very effective misdirection that could lead you to accept what seemed like the twist that it was him, taking you off guard for the un-twist that is actually was the person you first thought. Especially since both of them are cast with the kind of low key journeyman actors who don't actively point to having a secret larger role. At the least, it would give your brain more to occupy itself than just making your skin try to escape from what's happening. Other than that, though, this is quite a good one, taking on a very hard subject matter with all the seriousness it deserves, and I especially appreciate that it has the guts to actually use the r-word at the end, rather than just hiding behind a sci-fi allegory like so often happens in these things. Also quite refreshing that after all the crap this crew has gone through, they only give the barest thought to more mundane causes before focusing squarely on the people who just came onboard as the likely suspects. And of course we get some especially well done detective work by Geordi and Data showing how both their approaches are necessary to put all the pieces together, Data having instant access to so much information but Geordi able to make a logical leap that cracks it wide open. And for as upsetting as it is that Deanna has to go through this THREE FUCKING TIMES, she at least gets to fight back good and hard when the chips are down, and I'm pretty sure she would have completely kicked his ass if Worf hadn't shown up. Also quite a relief that Keiko never has to be part of this, and it's quite a sign of how much she's integrated into the cast that she can appear in an episode that doesn't have Miles at all. I hesitated to watch this one at all knowing how uncomfortable it would be, but you pulled through quite well and all the comments about the sheer hatred you were feeling were very appreciated. It's why we all watch, after all.
Ryan
2026-01-10 19:43:51 +0000 UTCI apologize if I’m too loquacious about this one. First off, shared thing of not quite knowing how one got through December. Made worse for me that for the last six years now, the first weekish of January is never good anymore. Horrible memories had with certain dates. We’re both hanging in there. Not sure about being excited for this one which brings us to the episode. Which not wanting to cry was never going to work with this one; we both had bad timing with that one. The show pulled a sneak attack with both of us. That thumbnail seems about right. Knowing your triggers of consent, which is shared, I knew this one would be terrible for you. Much like the episode of Geordi being tortured and turned into a Manchurian agent for the Romulans, this was another episode where I thought, “I’m seriously worried that Jess might murder someone after this one.” I worried about that for myself as well. We both made comments about wanting to break shit, and we like our stuff. Oddly enough, the anger helped distract from the VERY bad date that I ended up putting this on to prepare for your reaction. Disgusting is a good word for this one. Genuinely good quality that you sadly can’t appreciate as the hate becomes potent. Horrible though this is, honestly it is great that there is no subtlety, even outright using the word “rape” leaving no room for misinterpretation, short of anyone deliberately not paying attention. Not that it makes it easier to watch, though as you say, they weren’t careless with it. We at least have one nice scene with Keiko. Interesting timing as over Christmas Eve, my brother and I kind of compared notes over memories in a manner similar to the opening of the episode. How neither of us had a fully solid memory of certain things, yet we remembered rather vivid details about specific things that we hadn’t thought about in years. Made the scene with Keiko a bit emotional. Sort of sweet moment of Beverly teasing Picard trying to get him to try out the memory trip. I wouldn’t want it any more than you would. Plus, the Ullians would not want to wade within the nightmarish and noxious muck that is my brain. Good initial red herring with the dad having the sentence that of course you weren’t going to love, I wasn’t crazy about it either. (I mean, he’s right about Beverly being beautiful, which is not relevant to the point, skip that.) Then they have the lingering shot on Jev, “He had a look.” as you put it, that’s more ominous than the one had with Cook’s Assistant Loginov, and your alarm bells go off. The title of the episode not helping, figured your response would be what it was. Jev. This fucker. Man surpasses Fajo in being a hateful piece of SHIT. Christ, he might surpass Kai Winn in being the most hateful Star Trek character. Because as hateful as she is, at least she has Louise being magnificent in her favor. This dumb bitch as you dub him does not. You said after his taking out Riker that you wanted the fucker to die, and I ain’t arguing with ya there, Jess. Can see how Jev’s manner would exacerbate the hate that was swelling within you. The heart goes out to Deanna. Marina breaks us with those scenes. We’ve both spoken about love for Deanna, and this one hurt. Reaches the point where I want to give you a hug upon hearing in your voice how badly this was getting to you. Sweet it is your comment on Deanna having the hot cocoa. Jonathan likewise gets us both. Much though I’m Picard/Beverly every day of the week and thrice on Sunday, Deanna/Riker is up there as well. Appreciate the words you had on that. Love how Picard and Beverly have the distinction between coincidence and improbable coincidence. And it shows my own thought process with it: two things of a coincidental nature by themselves can be just coincidence. But when a third variable is introduced that ties the two together, then you scrutinize more closely. And Picard is so very diplomatic about it, and I live. Likewise, I live for how Picard explains that every other possible explanation is ruled out. The only suspicion not removed, the sole impossible not eliminated is the Ullians being responsible. Love Beverly saying how she’d be willing to buy the one scenario except the one key symptom is absent, and she was on the ball, which Jev underestimated. God bless Beverly. Jev hits a REAL fucking low blow when he makes Beverly relive trauma of seeing the dead body of her husband, the father of her child, that one’s SICK!! Your own reaction to that was striking. Mildly distracting to see Picard when he was in his mid-fifties still having hair up top. Lucky bastard. And of course, Jev didn’t anticipate the power of Geordi. Love how Geordi reassesses with the logic of Beverly is Charles Emerson Winchester III level of medical excellence. The doctors on these other planets, though maybe they aren’t Frank Burns level bad, they aren’t anywhere near as iconic and wonderful, so what might they have missed? Leads to you having your customary love for Geordi, and it’s always a pleasure to see. The delightful little dance you had, Jess, made me giggle in glee. Supposing Jev did strike against Geordi, then the episode would have had a different outcome because all of a sudden, we would be seeing you tackling Jev and bashing the stupid fucker’s face in before shooting the fucker the fuck out into space. I’d have gotten the popcorn for that. Then Jev frames his dad, and yeah, he’s just begging for gruesome death to befall him. God bless Geordi for piecing the truth together when he did. We had similar comments on the big dramatic ending. You yelled, “GET the FUCK OUT!!” and I yelled “BACK the FUCK up!!” Disgusting thing to see the fucker graduate from mind rape to literal rape. Made you say that you were wanting to smash your tv into bits, (which as we have a full reaction, I imagine you refrained,) and strongly encouraged Deanna to beat his ass. The scene incited the Malcolm Tucker rage in me, as I was yelling at him, “BACK the FUCK away from Deanna, right fucking now!! Or I will perform a fucking living fucking autopsy on you!! With a fucking rusty spade, and I’ll have your kidneys for fucking cufflinks!!!” We both cheered Worf taking him out with the palm strike, love your shout out to Geordi. Alas, we do not see Jev shot out into space and see his face going Total Recall. Goddamn shame. Feel bad for Tarmin when the truth is revealed, and Picard can’t do much beyond offering the words that he did. This is one like the blooby-blob where almost all of your post-episode thoughts are such high quality, that I say, “I don’t think I can improve on that.” And don’t apologize for having the tough time with that. Don’t you ever fucking apologize for that, Jess. Setting aside that this got me bad too, so I can’t judge, this affecting you as it did was inevitable, and again, many hugs sent your way, Jess. Thank you for the very powerful reaction.
Thomas Corp
2026-01-10 19:03:02 +0000 UTC
