December 3, 2023

Gabbing Geek

Your online community for all things geeky.

Weekend Trek “Reunion”

Worf gets some unexpected news when Picard is asked to mediate for the Klingons.

Wait…Klingons?  A script co-written by Ron Moore?  A focus on Worf?  Could it be Jimmy and Tom got to discuss one of the better episodes of what has already been shaping up to be a pretty darn good season of TNG?

Sure seems likely.  And with a title like “Reunion,” someone had to be coming back, right?

“Reunion”

Picard is asked to mediate a power dispute for the Klingon Empire, bringing Worf a startling revelation!

jimmy:  This season continues to be about family. And we all know…

tomk:  That’s why so many relatives turn out to be jerks.

jimmy:  That’s not very nice to say about Alexander.

tomk:  Siblings tend to be jerks. Picard’s brother. Data’s brother. Tasha’s sister. Captain Jake’s uptight sister the Commodore for the Night Crew.

jimmy:  Siblings jerks, offspring ok. Got it.

tomk:  Parents are also usually cool.

jimmy:  Don’t tell Deanna. Or Riker.

tomk:  I said “usually “.

jimmy:  Ok. Got it.

tomk:  Good. Mama Impossible is incredibly cool.

jimmy:  For sure.

tomk:  And on another note, I recently learned a friend named her son Alexander for Worf’s kid.

jimmy:  I bet that…hasn’t happened a lot.

tomk:  I rather like that kid. When we see him.

jimmy:  Yeah. I think he plays a bigger role in DS9.

tomk:  I haven’t gotten that far yet. I have seen more of Lwaxana Troi than Worf or Alexander.

jimmy:  That’s unfortunate.

tomk:  For me and for Odo

But Worf, well, he’s got other problems than the idea of having Lwaxana Troi hanging off of him or being his mother-in-law or something.

jimmy:  He steps up in the end. Though it’s too bad they killed off K’Ehleyr, she was a good character.

tomk:  She could keep Worf on his toes, and the actors had good chemistry.

jimmy:  Agreed. It’s too bad. And her death seemed to border on fridging.

tomk:  Yes, it did. Especially since Worf immediately sent Alexander to live with those jolly Russians.

jimmy:  It was the clear motivator for him to get involved in the conflict and take over as Alexander’s father.

tomk:  And then immediately send him away.  I like Alexander, but Worf is a terrible dad.

jimmy:  He’s the MVP of the Enterprise, not of parenting.

tomk:  Also, not much of a diplomat when he kills one of the delegates.

Even if Duras had it coming.

jimmy:  They are Klingons.

tomk:  Made Picard’s job easier!

jimmy:  Killing off the Ambassador and a delegate will do that.

tomk:  Plus, Gowron has much more distinctive eyes.

jimmy:  Haha, he definitely has a unique look about him.

tomk:  And he was noticibly less evil.  He only vaguely threatened K’Ehleyr.  Duras actually killed her.

jimmy:  It’s more Klingon that way.

Ask Worf.

tomk:  Killing someone because they found out you did someone dirty is Klingon?

jimmy:  It’s certainly not Starfleet.

tomk:  Hmm. You raise a good point.

jimmy:  Though Worf kills a guy and gets off with a mark on his permanent record.

tomk:  He got lucky no one liked Duras.

jimmy:  His mom probably did.

tomk:  I didn’t see her hanging around anywhere.

jimmy:  Would you even know?

tomk:  I think I can recognize an old lady Klingon when I see one.

jimmy:  We never saw who else was on his ship.

tomk:  Hey, I would take my mother to my possible ascension to power in the Empire.  Unless I planted a Romulan bomb…

jimmy:  You’d never be in league with the Romulans.

tomk:  You’re right. I wouldn’t even be in league with the Watsonians.

jimmy:  They are a Borg level extinction threat.

tomk:  Mostly to themselves.

jimmy:  And now Gowron is the leader of the Klingons. I bet that never comes up again.

tomk:  Well, he hasn’t been crowned yet, and I certainly did not see him and those very distinctive eyes in the DS9 episode “House of Quark”.

jimmy:  Well, duh.

tomk:  Still, I did like the “oh crap” look Duras made when Worf referred to K’Ehleyr as his mate.

jimmy:  He knew he was dead already.

tomk:  What a dumbass.

jimmy:  They’ll be back in the episode Reunion 2: Klingon Boogaloo.

tomk:  That’s an all-time classic.  K’Ehleyr comes back as a ghost and Data hides under some sheets.

jimmy:

tomk:  It’s really scary.

Geordi doesn’t run because he drops his VISOR and he can’t see a thing without his VISOR.

Meanwhile, Riker sets a trap, Troi accidentally gets caught, and Picard gets a bad case of the munchies.

But it all turns out to be Q in disguise because he was smuggling stolen Ferengi treasure. And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that meddling Federation and their Android.

jimmy:  Guess we can skip that episode.

tomk:  Unless it was really Wesley all along.

jimmy:  All part of his evil plan.

tomk:  To occasionally get us to watch terrible television?

jimmy:  Did you think this was terrible?

tomk:  No, but the proposed episode above with the Scooby Doo ending would have been.

jimmy:  Haha. That’s true.

tomk:  This was a Worf-based episode that features Klingon politics co-written by Ronald Moore…this is great television.

jimmy:  Ah, I missed the Moore credit. Good stuff.

tomk:  You were too dazzled by everything else to read a name.

jimmy:  Or too lazy.

tomk:  Jimmy, take a compliment once in a while.

jimmy:  Being dazzled was a compliment?

tomk:  Um…yeah!  It means you appreciate finely done work and have good taste!

jimmy:  I do!

tomk:  In fact, have a case of beer.

jimmy:  Awesome. It’s been hot as hell here lately.

tomk:  You can share it with the Moose then. A hot Moose is a cranky Moose.

Unless he took Cousin Minka, Captain Jake, and the Beaver’s advice and joined that 12 step program.

jimmy:  He didn’t.

tomk:  Party Moose is still in da house. Got it.

jimmy:

tomk:  Isn’t that Sarah Palin on the one side of that gif?  She probably wanted to use the ship’s phasers on some Romulan wolf species.

jimmy:  It’s a party on the Enterprise.  You never know who will show up.

tomk:  Well, unless it’s Alexander. He doesn’t show up that often.

jimmy:  You need your head of security threatening to eat children, not raising one.

tomk:  I’m not sure we want threatened cannibalism.

But that said, this was a great episode, Klingon fridging aside. Do you have anything else to add, Jimmy?

jimmy:  Not really.  A little surprised they shuffled Alexander off so quickly.  And asking Picard to basically choose the next leader of the Klingons seems a bit far fetched.

tomk:  Picard is the very model of a modern major diplomat. He has information animal, vegetable, and mineral.

jimmy:  Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the same way, but point taken.  Still, the entire Klingon race couldn’t get this done and had to bring in Picard?

tomk:  Klingons fight each other too much. They respect Picard because, uh, he helped Worf that one time.

jimmy:  Helped him so well, he was outcast and disgraced.

tomk:  But in a way that saved the rest of the High Council from the horrors of…the truth!

jimmy:  Which Worf still can’t share.

tomk:  Not unless the other members of the Council kill his mate or something.

jimmy:  He’ll need to find another now.  And most are too fragile.

tomk:  Well, there’s probably an app for that.

jimmy:  Plenty Of Klingons.

tomk:  That works.

jimmy:  So what’s next?  Another show about family?

tomk:  Maybe.

Sort of.

Kinda.

Have a pizza with cheese stuffed into the crust as a distraction.

jimmy:  My favorite!

tomk:  Good. Ready to move on?

jimmy:  When I’m done this pizza, sure.

tomk:  Take your time. Sometimes time just skips forward too quickly.

jimmy:  Ok.  Let’s go.

Next:  “Future Imperfect”