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Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Review

The second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a step in the right direction. It’s an improvement upon its predecessor which has its mediocrities, but some shining episodes too.

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“Well, we have a problem.

I find myself in complete agreement with

that assessment of the situation, sir“

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The Child is excellent and certainly one of the best episodes of this season. It’s a great opening which definitely is overly vague in its ending, but still Troi becoming pregnant with an alien child who grows so fast proved to be a phenomenal premise which was well executed in an atmospheric and shocking manner pleasantly reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.

Where Silence Has Lease is entirely forgettable unfortunately, but Elementary, Dear Data is a solid, if overly silly installment with Data playing Holmes in a holodeck mystery providing us many ridiculous, but also funny sequences. The Outrageous Okona didn’t really work as the two subplots are disconnected from each other and Data’s storyline had potential, but didn’t really go anywhere which was a shame.

Loud as a Whisper deals with a telepathic, deaf guest character and thus becomes a rather brave episode about disabilities with many heartwarming, even important scenes and great dialogue.

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The Schizoid Man is undoubtedly the finest episode The Next Generation has given its audiences so far at this point. A scientist cheats death by taking over Data’s body and thus we got not only a suspenseful episode, but also a fantastic villain, an overall sophisticated storyline and a couple of genuinely sweet moments that showcase how the crew cares for their android crew member in abundance.

Unnatural Selection has a killer premise that didn’t quite get there in terms of the execution, but it’s still a very good, engaging episode. A Matter of Honor is a fine Klingon negotiations episode that for once felt politically intriguing and genuinely sophisticated and well thought out.

The Measure of a Man is another absolute classic which has a beautiful story of the crew proving that Data is human after all and not just a machine to the interrogators. It’s a hugely entertaining, intriguing and genuinely smart, thought-provoking story about humanity and robotics. The Dauphin is overly gooey in its love story and Wesley is reliably annoying.

Contagion is a fine episode about a computer virus that is definitely, objectively solid, but the overuse of technical jargon prevented it from ever becoming truly excellent. The Royale is implausible and uninteresting in its storyline.

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Time Squared is a wonderful exploration of Picard’s mind and his willingness to always take care of his team. In a season that lacked Picard, this is his shining moment for sure. The premise is awesome as well. The Icarus Factor is entirely forgettable itself. Pen Pals has its moments, but is overall weak. Q Who is also overly bombastic and unsophisticated.

Samaritan Snare is weak and silly whereas Up the Long Ladder had some potential, but is overly lazy in approach. Manhunt is ridiculous, but watching Picard being sexually hunted by Troi’s mother definitely was hilarious. The Emissary finds a good use of Worf while Peak Performance is particularly strong in Data’s self-doubting subplot. And the less said about the filler that is the closing episode Shades of Gray, the better.

Overall, the second season has its stinkers and mediocrities and it still needs a lot of work, but at least it’s an obvious improvement upon the first season thanks to better dialogue, strong characterization and a couple of genuinely thrilling, original and sophisticated stories.

Worst Episodes: The Dauphin and Shades of Gray.

Best Episodes: The Schizoid Man and The Measure of a Man.