WARNING:  The following article contains spoilers for the second half of a 
two-part story, entitled "Gambit, Part II".  Those not wishing to have the 
ending spoiled for them should get away now.

In brief:  One of the only part 2's to be better than a part 1, but only 
because it didn't have to set things up the way part 1 did.  Your basic TNG 
B-movie plot.

More on that and many other things, after a synopsis:

...The Enterprise is hit by disruptor fire, but only at minimal power.  Data, 
anticipating this, orders simulated damage and return fire at low power as 
well.  The damage to the raiders is apparently extensive enough to put them 
in a very bad position, and Baran orders them to flee.  Although the ship is 
still sensor-invisible, Data orders Worf to simply let it go...

Some time later, Troi and Geordi are looking at Riker's transmission to the 
Enterprise, hoping to find some sort of coded message, but to no avail.  Worf 
grumbles a bit about having to sit and wait rather than attempt pursuit, but 
just at that moment Geordi finds something:  a carrier-wave pattern on the 
same signal used to transmit Riker's command codes.  They begin decoding.

Meanwhile, on the raider ship, Baran is nonplussed to find the engines 
off-line for hours, but is gracious enough to thank Riker for saving their 
lives.  "Galen", however, is not so gracious, and reviles Riker for crossing 
over and turning traitor against his former comrades.  When he asks Riker how 
it feels to be a traitor, Riker's only response is a punch to the jaw.  Baran 
orders Galen down to the cargo hold to check samples.

Down in the hold, Tallera comes to talk to "Galen", wondering if he's 
"incredibly stupid -- or incredibly smart."  She points out that in the past, 
Galen has managed to bypass the weapons problem that he claimed was 
preventing them from fighting, and wonders aloud why he didn't this time.  
The conversation is cut short, however, when one artifact Galen is scanning 
is revealed to be what they're looking for, and Tallera informs Baran 
immediately.

Baran, after giving instructions for having the artifact brought to him, 
talks to Riker of the potential for vast profit.  After making a veiled offer 
of employment for Riker on a long-term basis, Baran recruits him to befriend 
Galen and help root out potential traitors.  He also says, as a further gift, 
that when the time is right, "I want *you* to kill Galen."

Back on the Enterprise, Data finds that the coded message was a detailed 
flight plan for the raider ship, and orders the Enterprise to the Hyralan 
sector to head off the mercenaries.  When Worf mutters, "Finally!" to the 
prospect of some action, however, Data quickly orders him to the ready room.

There, he comes down hard, reminding Worf that the job of a first officer is 
to carry out the decisions of a captain, not to publicly undercut his 
authority.  Although he welcomes alternate suggestions, he emphasizes that 
Worf is not to question a decision once it is made.  Worf apologizes for his 
error, and asks to remain as first officer.  Data grants that request, and 
both apologize to the other for the possible threat to their friendship.

With the raiders en route to Hyralan, Riker tells Picard what Baran has 
ordered.  Picard, in return, tells of his discovery that the artifact they 
found was not Romulan in origin, but _Vulcan_.  With these two new twists 
revealed, they decide to start planning a mutiny.  Narek informs "Galen" that 
although he wouldn't follow Galen as a new leader, he would follow Tallera, 
and so would the crew.  

As Narek leaves, however, Tallera enters and demands to know who "Galen" is, 
threatening his life if he doesn't answer.  She has discovered the message 
Picard sent to the Enterprise, and wants to know what he's doing on board.  
As it turns out, neither "Galen" nor Tallera is what he/she appears to be.  
Picard reveals his identity, and "Tallera" is now revealed as T'Pal, a member 
of Vulcan security forces disguised as a Romulan.  She joined the mercenaries 
a year ago to ensure that no one found the artifacts that Baran is hunting 
for -- they are pieces to the Stone of Gol, a weapon from ancient Vulcan 
history that amplifies telepathic energy and can be devastating in the wrong 
hands.  She must stop the weapon from being assembled, whatever the cost.  
Picard agrees to help, and suggests that they both continue in their 
respective roles.

The Enterprise reaches the Hyralan system first, and intercepts a small 
Klingon ship which is to make a delivery to the raiders.  At Worf's 
suggestion, they bring the ship aboard for a "health and safety inspection", 
in reality getting the pilot, an extremely large and taciturn Klingon named 
Koral, off the ship while they search it for the second artifact.  When the 
raiders get a message saying that Koral has been detained, Baran says that 
the only way to get the second artifact is to raid the Enterprise itself for 
it, using Riker's knowledge to give them an edge.  When "Galen" complains 
that Riker will just sell them out, Baran orders Galen to accompany him on 
the mission -- and then tells Riker quietly that to prove his loyalty, he 
must kill Galen once they have the second artifact...

The search of Koral's ship proves negative, and Worf and Beverly are at 
something of a loss about what to do next -- but suddenly, the raiders beam 
aboard and solve their problem for them.  Riker boasts to them that "I've had 
a change of profession," and realizes that Koral must have the artifact on 
his person.  "Galen" asks Worf where Koral currently is, and Worf plays 
ignorant as to Galen's true identity.  Koral is in the observation lounge, as 
it turns out -- and after planning to beam there directly from a 
shuttlecraft, Riker stuns both Worf and Beverly into unconsciousness.

In the observation lounge, the arrival of the raiding party leaves Data and 
Troi temporarily speechless.  Riker and company grab the artifact, and when 
Data accuses Riker of a host of court-martial offenses, Riker says that one 
more won't make any difference -- and fires on "Galen".  Picard, however, 
manages to duck, and shoots Riker instead.  "Is he dead?" he demands gruffly 
from Troi, who says that he is.  "Galen", triumphant, orders the raiders to 
beam back, departing with them.  Data takes immediate action, scanning for 
the ship and raising shields, and Riker turns out to have been stunned all 
along.

On the raider ship, Galen slugs Baran, claiming that Baran set Riker to 
betray the boarding party and that it's time for a new leader.  When the 
crew, including Tallera, rallies behind him, Baran tries to kill Picard with 
the neural implant Picard has, but thanks to Picard secretly altering the 
relevant codes, kills himself instead.  "Galen" assumes command, and orders 
the ship to hold course until they figure out the next move.

Riker calls Setok, head of Vulcan security, to inform him that the raiding 
party is en route and is not to be harmed, but finds out to his surprise that 
they have no record of an operative aboard a mercenary ship!  Picard, 
meanwhile, discovers that the artifacts are to be delivered to an abandoned 
catacomb on Vulcan and orders the raider ship there.  He asks Tallera for 
help in deciphering some of the glyphs on the two artifacts found so far, but 
she is strangely unhelpful, almost preoccupied.  She further insists that she 
will be going down alone, so as to create less suspicion in the isolationist 
group after the weapon.

They arrive at Vulcan, but "Galen" orders a change in plans:  Tallera is to 
take only one artifact down, coming back up with their payment before the 
second is delivered.  Tallera turns the tables, revealing Picard's Starfleet 
connections and accusing him of selling out the crew.  In return, Picard 
tells them of Tallera's interest in the weapon, and suggests that they will 
be abandoned once she has assembled the full device.  Narek and Vekor offer a 
compromise:  they will accompany Tallera down and collect the payment 
themselves.  She agrees, suggesting they bring Picard down as a hostage.

They arrive in the caverns, where Narek and Vekor find that their "reward" is 
less than half of what they were promised.  Tallera says that it's the best 
they will get, and urges them to leave.  When they threaten her, she turns 
the now-completed weapon on them, killing them very quickly.  Picard, 
however, refuses to threaten her, despite her insistence that "the power of 
the mind" is unstoppable.  Riker and company arrive in the caves, but Picard 
orders them to drop their weapons and clear their minds of aggression.  
Having seen the glyph on the final piece of the weapon, he reasons that the 
resonator is only effective when amplifying negative emotions, and that if 
they refuse to succumb to aggression, it cannot harm them.  Tallera tries to 
attack them anyway, and to her frustration finds she cannot.  She is taken 
into custody, and as Vulcan arranges for the complete destruction of the 
weapon, Picard and Riker both get used to being back on the Enterprise.

----------

That would seem to take care of that.  Now, the usual flurry of comments.

First of all, I have to say that "Gambit" is probably the second two-parter 
in TNG history with a better second half than a first half.  The first one 
was "Chain of Command", and the two actually have a fairly significant trait 
in common.

That trait is that the first part, in having to set up all the complications 
that explode in part two, contains all the ugly leaps in logic and poor 
decision-making that tend to make me wince, and that the second part just 
gets to take the situation as a given and run with it, which gives them lots 
of room for fun.  Truth be told, most two-parters have that kind of setup, but 
it's only in "Chain of Command" and "Gambit" that the disparity between a 
flawed setup and a strong resolution is so pronounced.  

As you may recall, I was left extremely cold by "Gambit, Part I".  It seemed 
to be entirely too full of characters doing stupid things solely for the sake 
of setting up complications.  I still feel that way.

However, with those things having already happened, everyone just got to ride 
out the storm in part 2 -- and everyone involved seemed to have a glorious 
time doing it.  I enjoyed part 2 tremendously -- it wasn't perfect, but it 
was a great deal of fun.

Part of that fun was seeing Stewart and Frakes having their fun playing 
against type.  Both essentially had to play two roles:  the regular Picard 
and regular Riker, and the Galen and Riker that the rest of the raider crew 
saw.  For Frakes, the stretch was mostly a matter of jettisoning some 
scruples here and there; I have a feeling that Frakes playing 
Riker-as-sleazy-pirate is now Frakes might secretly want to play Riker on a 
regular basis.  :-)  

For Stewart, on the other hand, the change was very pronounced.  Picard is 
always a very proper man, not only in deed but in speech.  "Galen" had to not 
only be a bastard (which he was, no doubt), but a fairly lower-class one in 
every detail, including the way he carried himself and his very accent.  
Stewart must have been warming up for the vocal acrobatics he'll be needing in 
his "A Christmas Carol" reading this holiday season, because the difference 
here was really quite a turn from his usual Picard.  Needless to say, 
however, he accomplished it beautifully.  A lot of the fun of "Gambit, Part 
II" was watching both Stewart and Frakes flip back and forth between 
personas.

Also high on the list of Enjoyable Things for this episode was watching all 
the plans-within-plans-within-plans unfold at a rather dizzying pace.  I 
suspect I wasn't the only one, but when Picard thought out loud, "I'm having 
difficulty remembering whose side I'm on," I had to shoot back "How do you 
think _we_ feel?"  :-)  By the time Tallera "confessed" to being a Vulcan, I 
was wondering if *anybody* on that ship was just a plain old pirate.  It 
seems that a few were -- but of course, they're the ones that got killed.  
:-)  

Speaking of Tallera, I think Robin Curtis did an exceptional job most of the 
time in giving us the right mixture of trust and suspicion of "T'Pal".  When 
she started describing the isolationist movement to Picard, I immediately 
said "and she's one of them," but Lisa disagreed, saying "no, they're the 
ones she's after," before Tallera did.  As it turns out, I was right, but 
that's not the point.  ;-)  The point is that there was enough swirling 
around in the show that it really wasn't dead obvious either way, and that's 
a definite plus.

I also liked the idea of the search for the Vulcan weapon, far better than I 
think I'd have enjoyed any new Romulan twist as was suggested by part 1.  
Although the ending was a little on the hokey side, at least in the execution 
("but it can be destroyed by _peace" -- oh, please), the idea of a telepathic 
weapon from Vulcan prehistory was an excellent one, if one that I seem to 
recall popping up in a novel or two.  It was also damned good to see Picard's 
archaeological skills proving so useful for a change.  Since Picard generally 
does seem to be _the_ 24th century Renaissance man, it's good to see the 
range of his knowledge really turn out to be fruitful once in a while.  

Probably the best subplot of the whole affair, however, was seeing Data in 
command.  This is one 'droid that's come a long way since the first season -- 
he's ready for a full-time command post if he wants one, I think.  His scene 
with Worf was probably the single best scene TNG has had so far this year, 
and possibly the best Data/Worf scene done ever.  Spiner deserves a major 
cheer for pulling off the challenge of having a character who was emotionless 
and pissed-off at the same time, something I don't recall seeing done this 
well since "The Most Toys" over three years ago.  Bravo's all around.

Finally (as far as the positives go), this was the first show TNG's had this 
season where the dialogue not only flowed, but downright crackled.  I've 
already mentioned the line about Picard not remembering which side he's on 
and the entire scene in the ready room, but beyond all that there were two 
bits which absolutely had me on the floor.  The first was a small exchange 
after Riker's been "killed":

"He's only stunned."
[Data:] "I must admit -- I am experiencing a similar sensation."

Love it.  The other one was, of course, the last several lines of the show, 
as Picard and RIker are wrapping up their affairs:

"Wait a minute -- you've been declared dead.  You can't give orders around 
here."
"If we are to adhere to the exact letter of Starfleet regulations, then 
technically, sir, you have been declared a renegate.  In fact, I believe you 
are facing twelve counts of court-martial offenses.  You cannot give orders 
either, sir."
"That's quite right -- and, as I am supposed to be dead, I'll go and get some
sleep, and Mr. Data, I suggest that you escort Commander Riker to the brig."  
"Aye, sir." [Picard leaves...]  "This way, sir."
"Data, he was joking.  You know that, right?  Data?"

The only thing that could have made the ending even better was to give Data a 
very small smirk on the side of his face that Riker couldn't see, but that's 
a nitpick.  I loved it to pieces.

So, all in all, "Gambit, Part II" was a rollicking good ride.  However, I 
don't want to give the impression that there were no negatives.  There 
definitely were a few.  First, I've already mentioned that the execution of 
the climax was a little off -- I like the idea of an emotional defense 
against an emotional weapon, but not the way it was done.  Second, James 
Worthy was pretty much a waste as Koral -- a *big* waste, but a waste.  
Third, and probably most importantly, the one serious problem I had 
suspending disbelief was that nobody noticed the raider ship arriving before 
the boarding party came on the Enterprise.  The thing's invisible to 
long-range sensors, but you can't tell me nobody could make _visual_ contact 
with it.  That's the one bit of "stupid plot tricks" that part II suffered 
from -- not enough to really annoy me, but enough to remind me of all the 
things in part I that *did* annoy me.

All in all, "Gambit" as a whole seems to be the TNG equivalent of a good 
Saturday matinee B-movie.  There are some big leaps in logic to set the whole 
thing up, but once you suspend large enough chunks of disbelief to let 
yourself go with it, it's entertaining.

So, some short takes and then I'm outta here:

-- Picard changed the transponder codes on Galen's little neuro-device.  
WHEN?  I must be missing something, but I can't figure out when or how he 
could possibly have done such a thing...

-- Most people probably noticed this, but Tallera gave a big clue to her real 
identity in the teaser, when she informs Baran that with the damage, "The 
*logical* course of action is to withdraw."

That would seem to be about it.  Thus, to wrap up:

Plot:  All the absurdities were set up in part 1, so this just got to see 
	where they led.  Some nice intrigue.
Plot Handling:  Terrific.  You never get time to think because you're having
	too much fun just enjoying the ride.
Characterization:  Also very strong.  Liked it a bunch.

OVERALL:  Call this a 9.  That would give "Gambit" as a whole a 6.5, which 
sounds about right for a TNG B-movie.  :-)

NEXT WEEK:

Data gets nightmares.  I've been waiting for this one for *months*.

Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET:  tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET:  tlynch@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.caltech.edu@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Well, you always seemed to be after my job..."
			-- Picard
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch.  All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net
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