TNG S7E12 "The Pegasus" Review By AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

Admiral Pressman (that guy from Lost), comes aboard to take the Enterprise on a special mission to retrieve the Pegasus. This is the ship that he once commanded, and that Riker served on. They were two of the very few that escaped alive when it was destroyed. But now it's apparently not destroyed, and they must find it before the Romulans do. Now how the Romulans know where it is, but not exactly where it is, and that it contains anything of interest, is beyond me. But here we go, let's get searching.



Picard is suspicious from the beginning, and when he presses Riker for information regarding a possible mutiny on the Pegasus, Will tells him that he is under orders not to discuss it. To which Picard replies:

Very well. He's an admiral. I'm a captain. I cannot force you to disobey his orders. Therefore, I will have to remain in the dark on this mission. And I will just have to trust that you will not let Pressman put this ship at unnecessary risk. And if I find that that trust has been misplaced, then I will have to reevaluate the command structure of this ship. Dismissed.

Ouch. But sure enough, 30 seconds later, Admiral Douchebag is ordering the Enterprise to go inside an asteroid, something that has never been attempted before. Inside they find the ship, half destroyed. Pressman insists that only himself and Riker beam aboard to retrieve the equipment. There, Pressman almost can't contain his joy as he shoves bodies aside to get to his beloved cloaking device. It turns out that the crew did mutiny in protest of violating the treaty with the Romulans that prohibits the Federation from pursuing cloaking technology. Riker, as a young ensign, grabbed a phaser and defended his captain. But now that he's older and wiser, he knows this was a mistake. The peace with the Romulans was too important to risk. So after some words, the two return to the Enterprise with the device.

Now why exactly is it so necessary to retrieve this device? Did they lose the plans or what? I mean, they made it the first time, why couldn't they just make another? After returning, Riker has decided to immediately spill the beans and shout from the rooftop that they have a cloaking device. Well, he kind of has to, because the Romulans have sealed the Enterprise into the asteroid and using the device is the only way out. Plus, what better way for Picard and Riker to display their indignity at breaking the treaty by creating a cloaking device but to IMMEDIATELY USE IT to escape the first inconvenience they come across? Ya, there's no hypocrisy there.

This is a Riker character episode. We learn that when he was younger, he blindly followed orders. But after this incident, he stopped being a robot, and began standing up for his ideals when necessary. There is an interesting discussion between Picard and Pressman where Picard tells the admiral that he chose Riker specifically because there was an incident in his file where he disobeyed orders. This surprises Pressman, who only knows Riker as a loyal servant. Riker's growth has already occurred. His struggle in this episode is not what is the right or wrong choice, but how to reconcile his past decisions with his current situation now that the two realities have been thrust together. How he reaches this decision later became the subject of what was to be the very last episode of Star Trek, "These Are The Voyages..."

In the end, Picard arrests both Pressman and Riker for their involvement in the treaty violation. Merely moments later he lets Riker out of the brig, and we are assured that nothing will happen to him. But didn't these orders come from even higher up? Head of Star Fleet security or something? What is Picard to do about that?

"The Pegasus" is an Adequate episode of Trek. It's nice to learn more about Riker, and I liked seeing him squirm while trying to please both Pressman and Picard. It's also good to finally have an explanation as to why Star Fleet doesn't have cloaks. But the episode uses the tired old trope of Admirals being bad guys, and wraps things up a little too tidily. In my view, Picard didn't really have the authority to arrest the admiral, nor to use the cloak to save his skin. Nor was it particularly prudent to immediately reveal to the Romulans that they had the cloak technology. I mean, they could have just flown around to the far side of the asteroid, rematerialized, and they claimed they found another way out.

Published November 22, 2018