Star Trek: The Next Generation: Preemptive Strike Rewatch

December 6, 2021 10:02 AM - Season 7, Episode 24

Lieutenant Ro is sent undercover to root out a Maquis cell.

I'm not exactly what you'd call Memory Alpha material.

Story and production

• The original title of this episode was "The Good Fight" but it was felt that this title was too similar to "All Good Things...". (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (? ed., p. ?))
• According to Jeri Taylor, this episode did not come from a desire to bring Ro Laren back one last time. In fact, after actress Michelle Forbes turned down the chance to take her character to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the role that became Kira Nerys), her relationship with the show wasn't the best. Yet, the series found itself rushing toward a deadline with no other workable story idea but this one, which depended on getting the actress back. Taylor was able to get on the phone directly with Michelle Forbes and pitch the story personally, convincing Forbes to commit to the series' penultimate episode. (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365)

Continuity

• This is the only episode directed by Patrick Stewart not to feature Data in a prominent role.
• The appearance of Nechayev and Evek was intended to add continuity to the developing Maquis arc. Likewise, the use of Klingons, Vulcans, and Native Americans as village extras was a subtle setup for the cast of Star Trek: Voyager. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (? ed., p. ?))
• The lieutenant commander who Ro Laren refers to as her instructor at Advanced Tactical Training in 2369/2370, and who joined the Maquis, was intended by the producers as a reference to Chakotay. As was the Native American connection made in that epsiode, and previously in "Journey's End". (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (2nd ed., p. 298)} In fact, this information is included in Ro Laren's biography at StarTrek.com. While not canon in the truest sense, that intention was ultimately contradicted in the Voyager episode "In the Flesh", in which Chakotay stated that he resigned his commission on March 3, 2368.
• As part of the plan to lure the Maquis in with fears of a biogenic weapon, Ro mentions that one of the items being transported into the disputed area is bio-mimetic gel. She says that it is perfectly legal and does not seem concerned about it, stating that it is harmless on its own. However, when talking about this substance in DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight", Captain Sisko states that it is "strictly controlled by the Federation, and not available at any price," implying that the substance is much more dangerous than stated here.
• This episode marks the fifth and last time Riker participates in an undercover assignment in the series and – like in "Who Watches The Watchers", "First Contact", and "Frame of Mind" – the mission does not end well for him. Riker is also seen going undercover on the planet Barkon IV, when he and Dr. Crusher are searching for Data in the episode "Thine Own Self".
• This episode includes the only time Ro is ever addressed by her given name (which is said when Picard meets with her undercover at the bar).

Cast and characters

• Shannon Cochran later reprised her role as Kalita in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season episode "Defiant". Jonathan Frakes also reprised his role as Thomas Riker from "Second Chances" in that episode.
• This is the last appearance of Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren.
• This is Natalija Nogulich's last appearance as Alynna Nechayev in Star Trek: The Next Generation; although she had also appeared in the DS9 episode "The Maquis, Part II", and went on to star in the DS9 episode "The Search, Part II" (although her appearance in that episode is actually part of a virtual reality simulation and is not the real Nechayev).

Poster's Log:

I have never empathized more with Ro than in the moment when she so obviously does not want to be the center of attention in Ten Forward.

We've spent seven seasons watching Worf barely be able to hit the side of a barn, but he can thread a torpedo spread past the nimbly-dodging Maquis fighters to blow up in front of them?

I want Gul Evek to have his own TV series.

Ro wearing one of Quark's jackets is definitely A Look.

I've never quite understood Picard's heel-turn in this while talking to Ro in the bar. From "Can you still do this?" to "I can have you court-martialed" in just a few seconds seems like a leap.

Next time we see Kalita after this episode, she's working with Thomas Riker. Imagine the off-screen explanation of why he looks SO MUCH like Ro's relative from that one time.

posted by hanov3r (15 comments total)

Cards of the episode in the Star Trek CCG:
First edition's Post-DS9 set Blaze of Glory featured Bajoran affiliated Ro Laren and Riker Wil. Why is Riker not an infiltrator? Eh. I used them both quite a bit as a Bajoran player, two of my favorite cards. You could build a Maquis deck in 1E with cards like Liberty and Treaty: Federation/Bajoran for funzies, though it didn't rise above the level of a noncompetitive 'theme deck' by much.

Second Edition made a much more serious stab at making Maquis a deck type in itself, it was the distinguishing feature of that game's first expansion set. From this episode, they included the key card For The Cause and the handy Macias, who didn't seem like much of a medic in this episode but it's really good to have. Ro Laren, Maquis Sympathizer provides all the skills on For the Cause, basically you'd always have her in a Maquis deck and she's not bad out of Bajor, Gift of the Prophets either.

The foil set Reflections 2.0 included more support cards for Maquis decks, such as Maquis Raid, Stalling for Time and Strength for Our Struggle. Santos, Squad Leader filled out your rebel crew a bit more. Later expansions offered Strafing Fire and Advanced Tactical Training. Overall, Maquis was never the strongest affiliation in 2E owing to a fairly limited card/episode pool, but at the very least were highly interactive and fun to try to make work.

Oh yeah, Cardassian players got Goran, a cheap to play Intelligence/Medical personnel who really stands out from other Purple cards with his orange monk robes.
posted by StarkRoads at 10:40 AM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

"Preemptive Strike" is one of those episodes I try not to deconstruct too deeply. Taken that way, it's one of my favorite episodes. Ro is excellent and the Maquis are interesting. And the Maquis costumes are a breath of fresh air. The weak link for me is Picard. TNG didn't much explore Picard and Ro's relationship after "Ensign Ro." And now suddenly they do have a relationship, and a toxic one at that. Picard is a father figure to Ro who has sponsored her rehabilitation. But he also seems to think that that sponsorship makes Ro beholden to him personally. He bullies her, threatens her career when she starts to go sideways. And then he feels personally betrayed by her defection. Jeez. Picard's unprofessionalism really became a thing with this one and "Lessons" before it.
posted by Stuka at 11:28 AM on December 6, 2021

I've never quite understood Picard's heel-turn in this while talking to Ro in the bar. From "Can you still do this?" to "I can have you court-martialed" in just a few seconds seems like a leap.

First time I saw this one I wondered if it was a bad edit and maybe a minute’s worth of dialogue was mistakenly cut. The writers need Picard to reach his boiling point but they push him there too quickly. Calling her “Laren” feels more like manipulation rather than genuine sentiment at how close these two people have actually become.
posted by Servo5678 at 12:11 PM on December 6, 2021

Outing myself here as a total Picard/Ro shipper because of this episode. Like, I loved the mentor relationship that they seemed to drop fairly quickly after she joined the Enterprise, but that bar scene really worked for me and when they pressed their foreheads together, zing! went the strings of my heart. The criticisms of the episode I'm sure are well-earned and I'm sure you guys have good points, but the heart wants what the heart wants and I was devastated that this would never be fully explored.

Typical Next Gen, though, to bring back what became my favorite character and throw her away again. Why am I not surprised they screwed Michelle Forbes over and she had bad feelings?

Every time I see Riker in that Bajoran getup I find myself wanting to either cover my eyes or laugh till I choke. He just looks ridiculous. I don't even know what it is--there's just something about Frakes with that costuming/makeup that causes me serious embarrassment, even though plenty of actors have worn those things and carried them off perfectly well.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:22 PM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

If I didn't know we were already at the end of the series, this is where I would have stopped watching.

Another Bajoran woman manipulated into a dangerous mission to aid her oppressors, and Picard again using his personal connection to browbeat her into following through. What the hell is he supposed to stand for at this point, anyway? They don't even have the usual beats of soul-searching and circular ethical discussions among the crew. I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from this episode other than: Starfleet is awful, Picard is awful, nice rebel dad never gets to try Ro's grandma's blueberry pie, the end. Lower Decks made the crew seem monstrous, but this one seals the deal.

A few years back, mostly out of nostalgia, I started rewatching the original series. In my memory and imagination, it had always been a very progressive and inspiring show. Watching it now, in the 21st century, it was at best problematic. I'd talked to friends who I greatly respected and had grown up with TNG about this experience, and they'd tell me again and again about how TNG was what I'd remembered TOS as being. But the reality of watching TNG is that it hasn't been the inspiring, progressive show they'd remembered, either. It's often been fun, and sometimes even hit the notes I'd been hoping for, but it really hasn't been an optimistic view of the future. It might have started out that way, but here at the end it's muddled along into a view of the future as a fashion challenged space version of today, with all its problems and failings intact. It's not that it's a bad show. It's just not the show I hoped it would be.
posted by phooky at 1:52 PM on December 6, 2021

This ep contains a deep-cut reference to the season 1 planet Ornara.

I feel like Picard being a jerk in this one would've been helped by more time spent on their relationship. This story could've been a two-parter (or, on DS9, a three-parter). And better still, it could have been less than almost two seasons since we'd seen Ro—but because it's been so long, Picard's big "I've been betrayed" moment at the end feels kind of unearned.

I mean, it's cool that they gave her a send-off, but it's maybe even stranger than the Wesley send-off, and maybe feels extra-strange because it's so dark and yet it's the penultimate episode.

It's often been fun, and sometimes even hit the notes I'd been hoping for, but it really hasn't been an optimistic view of the future. It might have started out that way, but here at the end it's muddled along into a view of the future as a fashion challenged space version of today, with all its problems and failings intact.

"Space version of today" is a good way to phrase it, and I think it's a fair characterization of the later seasons of this show, for sure—probably attributable to changes in the writers' room and the need to set up DS9 and VOY. Similar criticisms have been leveled at DISCO in recent FF threads.

And ya know, it makes me sad, for a couple of reasons. We would hope that the current and most recent seasons of DISCO (for reasons I won't go into, b/c spoilers) would have the best possible chance of truly living up to that "inspiring, progressive" Trek promise. But instead: more cataclysms. But maybe we just don't live in times that can produce anything else.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 2:44 PM on December 6, 2021

I've never quite understood Picard's heel-turn in this while talking to Ro in the bar. From "Can you still do this?" to "I can have you court-martialed" in just a few seconds seems like a leap.

Particularly odd, given that Stewart directed this episode. Was he intentionally making Picard more of a jerk? Were the writers doing it intentionally? Or did they legitimately think he was in the right here (and in "Lower Decks")?
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:38 PM on December 6, 2021

Particularly odd, given that Stewart directed this episode. Was he intentionally making Picard more of a jerk?

I read an opinion once that PS wasn't that great a director except when he was directing Brent.
posted by Fukiyama at 3:59 PM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

My memory totally cheats about Ro being a really occasional side character on TNG, I think of her as fully replacing Wesley as a part of the crew. Being wrapped in the penultimate episode certainly helps, as well as having a fuller origin story in D.C. Comics, as well as being a primary character in the DS9 Relaunch series, which is just finishing a 20 year run.
posted by StarkRoads at 4:47 PM on December 6, 2021

I liked it, because it made probably the best possible case for the Maquis that could be made, but I agree about Picard being not-great in this. I suppose that you could say that his experience with Gul Madred could have made him very much not want war with the Cardassians, or something, and that therefore he was bending over backward to avoid restarting the war or having a not-too-cool Cold War. Or he just has this thing where someone who deliberately rejects the Federation, even after going through whatever that special tactical program was (maybe the Starfleet version of Special Forces, even though they're quote-endquote not a military program?), sets him off; it's basically what Eddington accused Sisko of.

Regardless, Forbes is in top form here. Nana Visitor was one of my favorite people on DS9, but I could see Forbes also doing very well in that role. (Pursuant to the discussion of Trek novels on the blue, the DS9 reboot series has Ro reappearing and assuming the role of station constable.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:55 PM on December 6, 2021

Always nice to see Forbes, especially in a power performance.

Interesting subtext between Picard and Ro - I don't have to squint too hard to see a bit of squicky grooming; Ro acknowledges that Picard put her on a path to success/ away from self destruction, and Picard, again!, talks a young(er) woman to go under cover.

I did like Worf and Data playing gestapo and swaggering into the dive bar. Not so much Ro macking some rando as "cover." But the entire scenario was seriously amateur hour, all around. Forbes sells Ro as heads and shoulders more competent than anyone else, but the Maquis as depicted here are super duper mickey mouse.

Though, Forbes straddling the bench after waking up and getting interrogated was a nice touch - and not for the titillation. But Ro using "macking as a cover" on Picard... while titillating, I really want to read that Picard does have a weakness, Ro sees and takes advantage of it, and that she really is anti-Starfleet all along and using the "I don't think I can do this"* weakness-card to hook Picard, and in turn Starfleet.

Bit odd for a penultimate episode, but Picard being a jerk (for "higher ideals," pragmatism, horniness-for-Ro) works well with casting Starfleet in a more nuanced light than Roddenberry would have preferred. TNG would have been much different if this level of grit was introduced earlier and more consistently. But then, B5 went there (and DS9).

As for Patrick Stewart as director, this feels complicated. The writers frequently write Picard as supremely noble, yet throw stuff like a reckless adolescence in - but that reinforces that adult Picard is a total goody two shoes, especially with the 20C sexual prude-ness (qv Vash) and a "dorky" (even in 24C) hobby of antiquities/ archeology. If it was Stewart's intention, I sympathize with his directorial decision to put into cannon that Picard is as fallible as any other human, which retrospectively greater enobles Picard's embodiment of the better ideals of humanity while making the character more human through their fallibility.


*Holy shitsnacks, that scene. I fucking love that scene and Forbes matches Stewart and then some. And then the denouement when Riker gives his report to Picard - the look on Stewart's face. Perfect.

The (short) timing before the cut the credits is perfect.
posted by porpoise at 9:24 PM on December 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

I like how when Ro betrays the mission, Riker doesn’t try to stop her or talk her out of it. He just tells her to take care of herself before she beams out. Considering how much those two clashed when she was introduced, they parted as friends.

Stewart had a busy few weeks, directing this one and prepping for the finale where he’s in almost every scene. I can see him channeling any fatigue or anger into Picard here.
posted by Servo5678 at 9:33 PM on December 6, 2021 [3 favorites]

I think this is one of the episodes that sets up “Star Trek: Picard” quite nicely. Captain Picard is intelligent, capable, principled - but also, yeah, kind of a dick. And “Picard” does a decent job of playing with that idea.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 5:23 AM on December 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

I like how when Ro betrays the mission, Riker doesn’t try to stop her or talk her out of it. He just tells her to take care of herself before she beams out. Considering how much those two clashed when she was introduced, they parted as friends.

Agree with this 100%. "Preemptive Strike" is late-season Riker at his most likable and one instance where TNG's relationship building paid off nicely. I never had second thoughts about the Ro-Riker relationship because they had on-screen history. They did it in "Conundrum." Riker was going to give Ro's eulogy in "The Next Phase," (which was actually a super efficient way of showing a Ro-Riker bond). So Riker being a friend first wasn't a stretch and was a satisfying way to bring closure to the relationship.
posted by Stuka at 10:01 AM on December 7, 2021 [1 favorite]

Riker's actions here also set-up the DS9 episode (SPOILERS!) where Thomas Riker goes full Maquis. Despite his dedication to duty, Riker also has a tendency to buck authority when he feels that Picard (or whoever) is genuinely in the wrong -- as we just saw in "The Pegasus." He provides a balance to Picard's more rigid tendency to follow the chain of command no matter what (Insurrection notwithstanding...). I think Riker lets Ro go both because he respects her and because he has sympathy for the Maquis cause. It makes total sense that Clone-Riker, jaded about his career and Starfleet in general after being left behind for however many years, would be even more drawn to a righteous rebellion against a corrupt authority.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:19 PM on December 7, 2021 [4 favorites]