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babygirlbraids · 5 years

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Hi there :) any book recommendations? ♥️

Hello! Yes omg I have so many.

The Eight Mountains by Paulo Cognetti - I’m pretty sure I’ve already said way too much about this book on here but it’s so fucking good. It’s a story of two boys who meet in the mountains in Italy and while one moves on at some point, the other stays. The writing is absolutely beautiful and I love the way Paolo Cognetti uses the mountains as a metaphor for life. It works perfectly. Also I just really love Italy and mountains and I went on a trip to exactly the area where this book takes place so yeah. Here’s a quote from the book: “From my father I had learned, long after I had stopped following him along the paths, that in certain lives there are mountains to which we may never return. That in lives like his and mine, you cannot go back to the mountain that is in the center of all the rest, and at the beginning of your own story. And that wandering around the eight mountains is all that remains for those who, like us, on the first and highest, have lost a friend.” // “Whatever destiny may be, it resides in the mountains that tower over us.”

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - This is such a wonderful book. I had to read it for my IB English class at some point and it’s one of the few books I’ve had to read for a class that I’ve actually finished. The narrator of the story is the nine-year-old Oskar, who lost his father to the 9/11 terrorist attack. He’s an unreliable narrator with thoughts that are sometimes hard to follow, so it’s a very interesting and sometimes heartbreaking read. There’s also a lot of interesting pages in the book, including photos and changes in formatting (tw for a picture of The Falling Man). Here’s a few quotes from the book (again, tw for themes of death and references to the attack): “Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are. And the more you wage war.” // “I missed you even when I was with you. That’s been my problem. I miss what I already have, and I surround myself with things that are missing.” // “Feathers filled the small room. Our laughter kept the feathers in the air. I thought about birds. Could they fly if there wasn’t someone, somewhere, laughing?” // “I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it’s in a millisecond, or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that’s born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they’re all on fire, and we’re all trapped.”

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey - Another book that I had to read for IB English. I almost finished it, which really does say a lot. Again there’s an unreliable narrator, which I love. There’s so many themes in this book to analyse, so many different stories, metaphors, allusions, small details that make you go ‘wow’. This book will never be boring. I can’t even begin to describe what this book is about because it’s so complicated. It’s a story about empowerment, about breaking taboos regarding mental health, about nature versus modernisation. It’s revolutionary. Here’s some quotes from the book: “I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.” // “All that five thousand kids lived in those five thousand houses, owned by guys that got off the train. The houses looked so much alike that, time and time again, the kids went home by mistake to different houses and different families. Nobody ever noticed.”

The Melting by Lize Spit - This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read, but in a good way. This fucked me up on so many levels. It’s about a girl in a small town with a disfunctional family who befriends two boys her age. As they reach puberty, their relationship dynamic starts to shift and a lot of cruel things happen. Lize Spit starts the book with a riddle and the main reason I finished this book was because I wanted to know the answer to it. Anyway, great book but major tw for sexual assault and suicide. Here’s a quote from the book, very poorly translated by the one and only me: “People who want to go anywhere, they don’t necessarily want to go somewhere, they just don’t want to stay.”

Beyond Sleep by Willem Frederik Hermans - This book, man. It just gives you an existential crisis but in the best way possible, really made me question everything I knew. This is a book that can be read on three different levels, and you can just choose whichever you prefer. To quote Wikipedia (yeah, I’m that professional): “… as the report of a geological expedition, as a psychological story of a young man with the urge to supersede his father’s achievement, and as a philosophical story in which the search for meteorites must be interpreted as a “holy grail quest”, one that leads the protagonist to the insight that no understanding of the fundamental mystery of life is possible.” I personally read it as the first and second level, which was more than enough for me hahahah. I love this book because it’s so typical of the Dutch post-war period; the ‘everything goes wrong and nothing ever has any purpose’ mentality. Here’s a quote from the book (again, very poorly translated by me): “I suddenly realise that I live in constant fear of having to exist in a society where everyone deceives everyone.” // “Science is the titanic attempt of the human intellect to save itself from its cosmic isolation by understanding.” // “His face is exactly the way I saw it in his sleep: Incomprehensibly old and tired, wrinkled like the bark of an oak. But this isn’t sleep. This is beyond sleep.”

This turned out way longer than I intended it to be, sorry! I hope you like my taste in books hahaha, let me know if you decide to start reading one of these!

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solrosan · 7 years

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There are notes and a more readable version of the wiki page under the cut.

Notes:

The entire article is structured after, and heavily influenced by, Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland’s Wiki article

I picked Västergötland to be Tilde and Eggsy’s duchy for the sole reason that it’s the current Crown Princess Couple’s duchy (and because it has ä and ö in it, because fuck you, English!)

Eggsy’s coat of arms and royal emblem are both modified versions of Prince Daniel’s

Yes, I actually did make up 37 references

One of said references exist

I will write at least one more of them, because I’m obsessed with the idea of Tilde and Eggsy having to come up with a media appropriate version of how they met

Guess who was the last person editing this article? A clue: look at who’s logged in on the first page…

Oh, and yes! This article is last updated a few years from now (2021 to be exact)

If you want me to translate any of the sources, just send an ask!

Other Kingsman wiki pages can be found here

2018-08-26: this wiki page has been edited to fix embarrassing spelling mistakes and some factual errors that can’t be blamed on the Wikipedia editors only having access to the official story Eggsy and Tilde have decided to tell (like the date I picked for the wedding being a Tuesday...) and to make Tilde’s wiki page possible.

Prince Gary, Duke of Västergötland

Prince Gary of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland (born Gary Lee Unwin on 3 June 1992)[2], is the husband of Crown Princess Tilde of Sweden. Prior to his marriage to the heir apparent, Gary was a recruit in the Royal Marines, and later a tailor apprentice at the Kingsman Tailor Shop, Savile Row, London.[1][2][3]

Background and early life

Gary Unwin was born as the only child of Lee and Michelle Unwin (born Jones) in South London.[2] Lee was a Royal Marine and died abroad in December 1997, when Unwin was five years old.[3] In 2005, his mother started a relationship with a man called Dean Baker with whom she had a second child, Daisy Baker.[4] Baker was an alcoholic, and physically and mentally abusive to both Michelle and the children.[4][5]

Before his mother’s relationship with Baker, Unwin trained to become a Royal Marine like his father. Gary left the training when he learned that his mother was pregnant, wanting to protect his unborn sibling from Baker.[4][6] Unwin often put himself between both Baker and his mother and Baker and Daisy. Once, when he was nineteen, he had to go to hospital for a broken clavicle. At the time he claimed he had fallen down a flight of stairs, but in later years he’s admitted that his stepfather hit him with a spanner.[7] Neither Unwin nor his mother ever pressed charges against Baker.[6]

When Gary was a boy he was promising gymnast. He won first prize Regional Gymnastics under 10, 2 years in a row and was said to have been Olympic team material.[3] He also did very well in school, until Baker came into his life, and he finished school with average grades.[6]

Career

Before Gary Unwin married the Crown Princess of Sweden, he worked as a tailor apprentice at Kingsman Tailor Shop, Savile Row, London.[2] After having some trouble with the police due to a series of incidents[8] Unwin was approached by one of his father’s, Lee Unwin’s, old accountancies, Harry Hart, and offered a place in their apprenticeship program. Unwin accepted. Unwin has on multiple occasions said that the apprenticeship probably saved his life and he’s forever grateful for the opportunity.[7][9][10][11]

Unwin stopped working as a tailor upon marriage, in part of adhering to Swedish traditions of members of the Royal family not having salary generating occupations, but also to allow time to be a full time Royal prince and consort to the Crown Princess.[12] He has, however, stated that he wishes to someday be able to finish the apprenticeship and gain his professional certifications if possible.[9]

Relationship with Crown Princess Tilde

Unwin met Crown Princess Tilde in 2015 while she was studying at Cambridge University. This was shortly after the Valentine Terrorist Attack[13] during which Crown Princess Tilde had been one of the Heads of State kidnapped by Richmond Valentine after being invited to discuss the threat of global warning – a topic very close to the Crown Princess. [14]

Unwin, like many others, had lost friends in the terrorist attack and he and the Crown Princess found comfort and support in each other as they worked through their traumas. In the beginning, their interactions were mostly via email and IM conversations with the occasional Skype call when one of them was having a particularly hard time. [13][15] Their friendship grew into love and in 2016 the Crown Princess moved into Unwin’s home. [13]

According to Crown Princess Tilde, Unwin accidentally proposed to her during one of their Skype calls. Unwin has repeatedly denied this, stating that they were definitely in the same room when he did it. [13][15]

Engagement and marriage

Main article: Wedding of Tilde, Crown Princess of Sweden and Gary Unwin

On 24 October 2017, Unwin and Crown Princess Tilde received the required consent of King Fredrick IV and the Government of Sweden for marriage.[16] Such permission is necessary according to the terms of the Swedish Act of Succession. [17] Their engagement was publicly announced by the Swedish Royal Court the same day.[16]

Unwin became a Swedish citizen on 10 April 2018.[18]

In November 2017 it was also announced that the days between the Swedish national day on 6 June and the wedding date on 16 June would be Love Stockholm days in celebration of the wedding.[19] This caused a lot of debate in Sweden regarding the spending of appanage and the monarchy in general.[20] In the end, the celebrations went ahead as planned.

The wedding took place in Stockholm Cathedral on 16 June 2018 with approximately 1,100 guests[21] and was broadcasted in its entirety on Swedish national public TV broadcaster, SVT. It’s said to have been the biggest event ever covered by the station. With them in the carriage was the couple’s dog, J.B.[22] A carriage procession followed the ceremony, in which the wedding couple was transported through the streets of Stockholm. On their way they passed by twenty musical bands, nineteen of which were military.[21] 500,000 people are estimated to have gathered to watch the procession.[22]

The wedding banquet was held on the night of the wedding day in the Hall of State at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.[21]

After the wedding, the Crown Prince Couple moved into the Haga Palace, Solna.[13] On 26 September 2018, Unwin went on his first tour with Crown Princess Tilde, visiting France.[23]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Sweden has practised absolute primogeniture only since 1980. This means that Tilde is the first female heir apparent, and questions arose as to how Gary Unwin would be known after their marriage.[24] Crown Princess Tilde is also the first in Swedish history to marry outside the European nobility yet remain in the line of succession. Previously, Swedish royals who have married commoners have had to give up their titles.

The Swedish Royal Court announced that Unwin would become "Prince Gary" and "Duke of Västergötland",[25] corresponding in form to the style used by previous Swedish princes, i.e. Prince + Given name + Duke of [Place].

Therefore, since his marriage, Unwin has been styled as "His Royal Highness Prince Gary, Duke of Västergötland". He added the surname of the Swedish Royal Family, Holstein-Gottorp, making his full legal name Gary Lee Unwin of Holstein-Gottorp.[26] When referring to both him and his wife, they are called the Crown Princess Couple (Swedish: Kronprinsessparet).

Honours

See also: List of honours of the Swedish Royal Family by country

National honours

Sweden: Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (LoK av KMO)[27]

Sweden: Knight Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (KNO2kl)[28]

Sweden: Recipient of the Ruby Jubilee Medal of King Fredrick IV[29]

Sweden: Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Fredrick IV[30]

Foreign honours

Chile: Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins[31]

Estonia: Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana[32]

Finland: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland[33]

Tunisia: Grand Officer of the Order of Merit[34]

Arms

Prince Gary’s coat of arms is based on the greater coat of arms of Sweden. It features in the first and fourth quarters, the Three Crowns; in the second, the lion of the House of Bjelbo; and in the third, the lion of the arms of Västergötland, representing the titular designation of his and his wife's dukedom. In the centre, on the escutcheon, is his personal arms.[35] Surrounding the shield is the chain of the Order of the Seraphim, of which he has been a member since his wedding.[27]

Public life

Before the engagement to Crown Princess Tilde was announced, Unwin had never been in the public eye – save for a short newspaper article about him winning first prize Regional Gymnastics under 10 for the second time.[3]

After his wedding, Unwin has taken on the role as Prince of Sweden as a working member of the Royal Family and accompanies his wife when she goes on international trips. As of yet he rarely goes out representing on his own, keeping his public appearances to a minimum. In December 2018 he attended the Nobel banquet for the first time, having one of the Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine to the table.[36]

Before the wedding, he gave a lot of interviews both in Swedish and British media and he has later stated that that were some of the worst experiences of his life.[6] In spite of this, he keeps giving interviews, most of the time to talk about domestic abuse and social and economic segregation, and his own experience with both.[4][6][7]

In March 2019 he launched a project trying to reach at risk youth in Stockholm’s most segregated districts.[37]

References

"Royal Family - Sveriges Kungahus".(in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden

“Prince Gary” (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden

Interview in Skavlan (in Swedish and Norwegian) broadcasted 2018-01-22

“’My stepdad hit me’ – exclusive interview with Prince Gary of Sweden” Times Magazine

“The many faces of a domestic abuse victim” BBC

Documentary; Kungahuset Special – Ett år med Kronprinsparet (in Swedish) SVT

Interview in Min Sanning.(in Swedish) SVT

“Unwin Gary”. The Daily Mail

“Suit up!” The Guardian

“Svergies mest välklädda män” .(in Swedish) QX

Interview. (in Swedish) TV4 News

Claes, Petersson. "Tvingas att sluta jobba" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet.

“Finally ‘for better’” solrosan.tumblr.com

“Head of States return safely”. BBC

“British tailor marries Swedish princess”. Times Magazine

"Engagement between Crown Princess Tilde and Gary Unwin" (Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

The Swedish Constitution; 1810 Act of Succession (1810:0926)

“Gary Unwin blir svensk medborgare” (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"Love Stockholm" (in Swedish). Stockholm Municipality

"Love Stockholm?" (in Swedish). DN.se

"Bröllopsdagen".(Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"Bröllopsdagen” (in Swedish) SVT Nyheter

"The Crown Princess Couple visit France".(Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

“Kommer Gary Unwin att bli prins?” (in Swedish). DN.se

“Mr Gary Unwin will be styled Prince Gary of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland.” (Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"The Crown Princess Couple". (Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"Mr Gary Unwin will be knight of the order of the Seraphim after the wedding" (Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"Photographic image". TT.

"Swedish King celebrates Ruby Jubilee” . BBC.

"70th anniversary of king Fredrick IV of Sweden in Stockholm Sweden". dailymail.co.uk.

"Photographic image" (JPG). ".bp.blogspot.com

"Vabariigi President". President.ee.

"Iklan Scandinavian Royals".Scandinavianroyals.blogspot.com.

"Statsbesök från Tunisien – dag 1” (Press release) (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden.

"Herr Gary Unwins vapensköld och monogram offentliggörs” - (in Swedish).Royal Court of Sweden

"Första nobelmiddagen för Sveriges nye prins". (in Swedish) SvD.se.

“Prince Gary – One Year In” -- solrosan.tumblr.com

External links

Video on YouTube, Announcement of Tilde and Gary Unwin's engagement

#Kingsman #kingsman the golden circle #eggsy #Eggsy Unwin #Tilwin #kingsman spoilers #i did a thing #kingman fic #fanfiction #solrosan's wiki campaign #(ish)#If I hadn't figured out to do proper royal infoboxes #a few days ago #this wouldn't have happened #I'm ridiculously pleased with this one #prince gary #kingsman wiki pages

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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6 (3 of 6)

Continuing our look into season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, here’s a third round of episode reviews, beginning with the first of three mid-season two-part episodes that during the last two seasons of the show.

Episode 10: Chain of Command (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

The Enterprise rendezvous with another Starfleet vessel, the Cairo, where Picard learns from Vice-Admiral Nechayev that he is being relieved of command of the Enterprise. Nechayev later briefs Commander Riker, Counsellor Troi and Lt. Commander Data that following a Cardassian withdrawal from Bajor, the Cardassians have mobilised some of their forces along the border with the Federation and their communications traffic has increased 50%. Suspecting this may be prelude to a new offensive by the Cardassians, Nechayev has assigned the Cairo s commanding officer Captain Edward Jellico to command the Enterprise as it heads to the border to engage in talks with the Cardassians. Jellico was apparently crucial in negotiating the peace treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians, which is why he is to lead the mission in Picard’s absence.

However, Picard is not the only member of the Enterprise crew being reassigned; Dr Crusher and Lt. Worf are also reassigned as part of a clandestine mission, which the three officers begin to train for as Jellico comes aboard and takes command in a formal ceremony. Jellico is much more strict and less personable in his command style, expecting immediate implementation of his orders regardless of whether they’ll take time to implement or not, and he orders Troi to wear a standard issue uniform while she is on duty. He also uses a lot of strange tactics with the Cardassians when they arrive rather than being more diplomatic as Picard might be, and Troi senses Jellico is not as sure of himself as he acts.

Picard, Dr Crusher and Worf eventually leave the Enterprise via shuttlecraft to begin their mission, which Picard reveals en route is to infiltrate a Cardassian base on Celtris III. Apparently the Cardassians have been experimenting with a new means by which to safely utilise metagenic weapons; viruses programmed to consume any DNA they encounter, effectively wiping out all forms of life on a planet while leaving its population centres and infrastructure intact. Picard was chosen because he is the only officer in Starfleet with any expertise relevant to the delivery system, Worf for his combat expertise and Dr Crusher for the medical knowledge necessary to identify and destroy any bio-weapons found.

The trio manage to convince a Ferengi smuggler to provide them with transport, and the infiltration is initially successful. However, it soon turns out that the whole thing is a trap, and the group is ambushed by Cardassian soldiers. Dr Crusher and Worf manage to escape, but Picard is captured. He is then brought before a Cardassian officer later revealed to call Gul Madred, who reveals the trap was designed so the Cardassians could capture Picard. Madred also notes that Picard is there to answer questions rather than ask them, and any answers the Cardassians find unsatisfactory could mean his death.

Review:

For a long time, Next Generation had shied away from multi-part episodes outside of season finale cliff-hangers, presumably because mid-season episodes of the multi-part persuasion were part-and-parcel of any show having an over-riding continuity, whereas Next Gen was very much supposed to be episodic television that could be dipped in and out of. However, with more and more single episode referring to TNG’s own continuity and to the wider franchise of Trek, not to mention the season 5 two-part episode ‘Unification’, it seems the way was opened to really start this kind of longer episode on a regular basis.

That all being said, it appears that if the Memory Alpha wiki site is to be believed, budgetary reasons were what led to this episode becoming a two-parter. As a one-part episode where Picard was rescued by the end, it was too expensive, so expanding it over two parts was apparently governed by financial concerns. Regardless of the reasoning, the episode is quite an interesting re-jug of the show’s normal status quo. All of a sudden, we have a new captain in command and the old one going off on a stealth mission with two other key officers, and we finally see Counsellor Troi compelled to wear a standard uniform, something she then largely sticks with for the whole rest of the show and on into the films.

The problem with part 1, however, is that while it’s got enough other things going on to keep it from being pure set-up, I also feel like the change of command wasn’t very well-handled. From what we come to learn is standard dismissive bitchiness from Nechayev and Jellico’s out-of-place harsh command style, we’re being set up to loathe and despise the change of commander, so you know from that and the fact this is all coming mid-season that the change is highly unlikely to be permanent. However, the episode tries to make us buy into the idea that it might be with a formal transfer of command ceremony. A valiant try, but for me it’s a waste of time.

To make the change of command seem more likely to be permanent, they should have brought on board a commanding officer who wasn’t acting like a militaristic hard-ass more suited to a 20th century military than 24th century Starfleet. The new CO should have had a different command style but still have gotten on well with the crew instead of rubbing them all the wrong way. Next, there should have been interim replacements for Crusher and Worf as well. Surely there’d need to be a new chief medical officer and new Chief of Security/main Tactical Officer in a situation where combat and casualties would be likely if talks with the Cardassians went sideways. As it is, every time Jellico was on screen, I was hoping for him to get blasted away by a Cardassian. For me, this episode gets 7 out of 10.

Episode 11: Chain of Command (Part 2):

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Gul Madred uses a number of torture methods on the captured Captain Picard, including sensory deprivation, sensory bombardment, forced nakedness, stress positions, dehydration, starvation, physical pain, and cultural humiliation to try to gain knowledge of the Federation's plans for Minos Korva. Picard refuses to acknowledge Madred's demand for information. Madred attempts another tactic to break Picard's will: he shows his captive four bright lights, and demands that Picard answer that there are five, inflicting intense pain on Picard if he does not agree.

Meanwhile, the Cardassians inform the Enterprise crew that Picard has been captured. Captain Jellico refuses to acknowledge that Picard was on a Starfleet mission, an admission necessary for Picard to be given the rights of a prisoner of war (along with better treatment) rather than being subjected to torture as a terrorist. This leads to a heated argument between Jellico and Commander Riker, which ends with Jellico relieving Riker of duty and promoting Lt. Commander Data to acting first officer. Lt. Commander La Forge detects residue from a nearby nebula on the hull of the Cardassian delegation's ship, and Jellico suspects a Cardassian fleet may attempt to use the cover of the nebula to launch an attack on Minos Korva. Jellico determines that their best course of action is to place mines across the nebula using a shuttlecraft. However, Riker is the most qualified pilot for the mission. Jellico visits Riker in his quarters, where he candidly criticizes Riker's performance as a First Officer and Riker does the same for Jellico’s command style. Jellico asks, rather than orders, Riker to pilot the shuttle. Riker agrees, and he and La Forge successfully lay the minefield. Jellico uses the threat of the minefield to force the Cardassians to disarm and retreat, as well as agree to the release of Picard.

With word of the failure of the Cardassians to secure Minos Korva, Madred attempts one last ploy to break Picard, by falsely claiming that the Cardassians have taken the planet and that the Enterprise was destroyed in the battle. He offers Picard a choice: to remain in captivity for the rest of his life or live in comfort by admitting that he sees five lights. As Picard momentarily considers the offer, the Cardassian head delegate enters the room and informs Madred that "a ship is waiting to take him back to the Enterprise." Picard realizes he has been duped. As Picard is freed from his bonds and about to be taken away, he turns to Madred and defiantly shouts, "There are four lights!" Picard is returned to Federation custody and reinstated as Captain of the Enterprise. Picard admits privately to Counsellor Troi that he was saved just in the nick of time, as by that point he was broken enough to be willing to say or do anything to make the torture stop. In addition, by the end he actually believed he could see five lights.

Review:

It’s in the second part of ‘Chain of Command’ that we finally see something of what Trek should be in that it tackles an on-going issue from real-life society. However, because of how part 1 was presented, it’s not so easy to see. Basically, this is an anti-torture episode, but that fact is kind of hidden by the fact that Picard is being held captive by a highly militaristic race like the Cardassians who are fundamentally villain characters for the Trek set in the 24th century. Because of that, it’s hard to see that this episode is trying to make an allegorical case against torture because torture is something to be very much expected of the Cardassians based on how TNG has portrayed them up until now. This episode was the last before Deep Space Nine’s pilot aired, so the complexity that show added has yet to materialise, and so if not for reading Memory Alpha’s page on this episode, I wouldn’t have got the message of the episode.

To my mind, an effective anti-torture episode should really show it being used by some rogue human or other and involve some genuine debate around its use. It’s more the kind of show that would have been better on Deep Space Nine after the characters of Sloan and Section 31 were introduced. Alternatively, it could have fit into the season 4 episode ‘The Drumhead’ or involved an over-zealous Starfleet security officer in another episode of this series. Because this episode was part 2 of a multi-part episode and combined such villainous behaviour with what was a villain race at the time, the message is lost and ends up appearing as just so much status quo.

We also get more of Jellico being profoundly unlikeable back on the Enterprise and the somewhat convenient return of Crusher and Worf before yet another command shake-up as Riker gets relieved of duty and Data not only becomes acting first officer, but also has to shift from the gold shirt of an engineering officer to the red shirt of the command branch. It just goes to show what a total tight-arse the character is, and much as I’d rather have seen him get a right cross to the jaw or a phaser hit before leaving, at least Riker put the idiot in his place towards the end. Ok, yes, Jellico did a good job working in getting the Cardassians to agree to return Picard at the end, but to me it was very much too little too late. When Jellico leaves the bridge for the last time, I want him ejected through a photon torpedo tube or the waste disposal rather than by transporter or shuttlecraft.

Luckily, the episode does far better with British actor David Warner guest-starring opposite Patrick Stewart in the role of Gul Madred. Apparently, Warner appeared in a couple of the original series films, but I know him more from roles like Captain James Sawyer in series 2 of Hornblower and Professor Jordan Perry in the second of the original live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. Both Warner and Stewart are classically trained theatre actors, so seeing the two perform together is similar to the high quality you get out of performances between Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan when they played Professor X and Magneto in the X-Men films. In other words, there’s some great acting going on with a lot of gravitas, and it makes for great viewing regardless of the roles being played or the franchise at hand. Overall, I give part 2 8 out of 10; with a more likeable interim captain, a more blatant exposure of the issue part 2 was exploring or the unlikeable interim captain getting a bit more karma for his bastard attitude, this episode might have snatched top marks, but sadly it misses out and largely relies on Stewart and Warner to save its proverbial bacon.

Episode 12: Ship in a Bottle

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Lt. Commanders Data and La Forge are enjoying a Sherlock Holmes holodeck program when the pair notice that a character programmed to be left-handed was actually right-handed. They call Lt. Barclay to repair the holodeck, but as he checks the status of the Sherlock Holmes programs, he encounters an area of protected memory. He activates it to find the sentient Professor Moriarty character projected into the Holodeck, who appears to have memory since his creation ("Elementary, Dear Data"), including during the period while he was inactive (a feat Barclay and the others claim to be impossible). Moriarty again wishes to escape the artificial world of the holodeck and was assured by the crew of the Enterprise that they would endeavour to find a way to do so, and is irritated at the lack of results on the part of the crew and their seeming lack of effort. Captain Picard, along with Data and Barclay, attempts to assure Moriarty they are still working towards this goal but their technology does not yet permit it. Moriarty is dismissive.

Moriarty confuses the crew by seemingly willing himself to existence by walking out of the holodeck door. He explains this to the stunned Picard and Data by saying, "I think, therefore I am." Moriarty creates a companion for himself, the Countess Regina Bartholomew, by commanding the computer of the Enterprise to place another sentient mind within the female character of the Sherlock Holmes novels that he is programmed to love. Moriarty then demands that a solution to get Regina off the holodeck be devised. He takes control of the Enterprise through the computer, insisting that a way be found for her to experience life beyond the confines of the holodeck.

Barclay and Data suggest trying to beam an inanimate object off the holodeck using pattern enhancers in hopes that the transporter could re-form the object as conventional matter. However, when the experiment fails and Data finds no information in the transporter log, he becomes suspicious. Data then observes that La Forge's handedness is incorrect, just as they had experienced earlier. Through this, Data deduces that he, Picard, and Barclay are still inside the holodeck with Moriarty, and everyone else and everything that appears to be the Enterprise is part of a program Moriarty created. Picard then realizes that he has unwittingly provided Moriarty with the command codes for the Enterprise. With this information, Moriarty takes control of the real Enterprise from within the simulation.

Captain Picard finds a way to program the holodeck within Moriarty’s simulation to convince Moriarty that he and Regina can be beamed into the real world, though in fact they are only "beamed" onto another simulation on that holodeck. Moriarty, believing he has entered the real world, releases control of the ship back to Picard. He and the Countess use a shuttlecraft given to them by Commander Riker to leave the Enterprise and explore the galaxy. Picard ends the simulation and the trio return to the real Enterprise. Barclay extracts the memory cube from the holodeck and sets it in an extended memory device in order to provide Moriarty and the Countess a lifetime of exploration and adventure.

Picard comments that the crew's reality may actually be a fabrication generated by "a little device sitting on someone's table." This unnerves Barclay enough for him to test the nature of his own reality one more time: he gives an audible command to "end program" to test whether he is still in a simulation. There is no response, indicating he is indeed back in the real world.

Review:

“Elementary, Dear Data” was one of the few highlights of TNG’s second season, and apparently hadn’t been revisited before now because the show’s writers believed there was an on-going legal dispute between paramount and the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the end, it turns out to be a misunderstanding; the estate had been irritated at Paramount over the film Young Sherlock Holmes. Fortunately, the estate allowed Next Generation to use the Holmes characters again for a reasonable license fee, and thus the sentient Moriarty holodeck character came back. However, this time we see Picard, Data and the ever-amusing recurring guest character of Lt. Barclay get trapped within a simulation of the Enterprise that is created by Moriarty, which is quite a clever way of mixing things up.

However, the one thing that spoils the episode slightly is the final scene where Picard suggests the reality of Trek itself may not be real and Barclay then feels compelled to test that idea. I get that it’s meant to be a bit of an in-joke given that this is a TV show, but not only does it seem unnecessarily cruel to a well-known paranoid multi-phobic introvert like Barclay to make that suggestion, but it’s also annoying when any TV show tries to suggest the reality of its own world isn’t that at all. Once any world of fiction establishes what its reality is, to my mind that reality must be its reality at all times. You don’t wait until you are mid-way through your penultimate season and then suggest it might be a fantasy. Either it’s a fantasy from day 1, and you either also show the real world now and then or make that what you’re trying to get back to, or it’s real and any fantasies are conclusively revealed, over and done with inside of a single episode or multi-part story. Having it both ways is just indecisive and moronic. Because of this, the episode only nets 8 out of 10 where it could otherwise have claimed full marks.

Episode 13: Aquiel

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The starship Enterprise arrives at a subspace communications relay station near the Klingon border on a resupply mission. However, when an away team boards the relay there is no sign of the two officers assigned there. Lieutenant Aquiel Uhnari, Lieutenant Rocha, and the station's shuttlecraft are missing. While searching the station, the away team finds a dog that belongs to Lieutenant Uhnari. The away team also finds a substance on the floor, which Dr Crusher determines is a type of cellular residue.

The crew uncover evidence that a Klingon had been on the station leading Dr Crusher and Commander Riker to suspect that Uhnari and Rocha may have been the victims of a Klingon attack. Lt. Commander La Forge backs up this theory when he examines Uhnari's personal logs. He finds an entry in which Aquiel relays her fears to her sister Shianna about a Klingon named Morag. Captain Picard contacts the local Klingon governor, Torak, and learns that Morag is commander of one of the Klingon ships that patrols that section of the Klingon Empire's border. At this point, Torak refuses to cooperate further. Picard threatens to take his case to Chancellor Gowron, a threat scoffed at by Torak until Picard casually mentions that he served as Gowron's Arbiter of Succession. Knowing Gowron would be in Picard's debt and how the former might frown upon the disrespect shown to the latter, a nervous Torak agrees to cooperate fully.

The senior staff meets with Torak, and he produces Aquiel alive. She explains that Rocha attacked her and that her last memory was escaping from him. She doesn't remember precisely what happened. To help clarify what really occurred, Picard requests to speak with Commander Morag, the Klingon who was allegedly harassing the station. Attracted to her, La Forge befriends Aquiel, and takes her to the Ten-Forward lounge. He reveals to her that he surveyed her logs and personal correspondence as part of their investigation. Aquiel says she didn't like Rocha but did not wish to hurt him. She realizes she is a suspect in his death.

Meanwhile, Dr Crusher continues to examine the cellular residue found on the deck plate. Riker and Lt. Worf, who are examining the shuttlecraft, come across a phaser set to kill. La Forge gives moral support to Aquiel as she is questioned again.

Commander Morag then arrives aboard the Enterprise and meets with the senior staff. He admits that he was present on the station, and that he took priority Starfleet messages from its computer. La Forge returns to the station and discovers that Rocha's personal log has been tampered with. He confronts Aquiel who admits deleting messages from Rocha's log, because Rocha, as the senior officer, was going to declare her insubordinate and belligerent to Starfleet. Scared that this new evidence will condemn her as Rocha's killer, she agrees to stay aboard the Enterprise because La Forge has faith in her. He and Aquiel use an ancient method of her people to bond and share their thoughts.

While Dr Crusher examines the DNA found on the deck plate yet again, the material moves and touches her hand. It then withdraws and forms a perfect replica of her hand. Due to this, she suspects that the real Rocha may have been killed by this strange coalescent organism, and a replica of him may have attacked Aquiel in search of a new body. Believing that the organism may now have Aquiel's body, Riker and Worf race to Aquiel's quarters and stop the ritual she is conducting with La Forge. Morag is also arrested, as it is just as likely he is the organism.

With Aquiel and Morag in the brig, the Enterprise proceeds to the nearest starbase as the crew keep a close watch on them both, since the organism may need a new body soon. La Forge is in his quarters along with Aquiel's dog Maura reminiscing about her. The dog transforms and attacks him, but he is able to kill it. Later, he explains to Aquiel, who has been released, that Rocha was replaced by the organism. When it attacked her, it began the takeover process (hence her lapse in memory); however, she managed to get away in time. The creature then turned to the only other life form on the station, her dog.

The episode ends with Aquiel and La Forge in Ten-Forward, where she turns down his offer to help her join the Enterprise crew. She tells him she wants to earn her way there on her own merits.

Review:

This episode is rather ‘meh’, as it was supposed to be a La Forge character episode that gave a main cast member a long-term romance and compensated for the transfer of the O’Briens to Deep Space Nine, which meant TNG had lost the only married couple on the show and was once again basically a Trek singles’ cruise in terms of its main cast and recurring guest characters. However, it ends up being taken over by the murder mystery plot, and not in the fun way of Data pretending to be Sherlock Holmes or Picard acting as Dixon Hill. It’s a decent episode, but it’s too plot-driven with no character focus or issue exploration, which means it’s not proper Trek.

The only thing I truly hate regarding this episode is that according to the Wikipedia page about it, in 2019 the website ScreenRant claimed this episode made Geordi look like a sexual predator. Presumably this is in relation to Geordi reviewing Aquiel’s logs and personal correspondence when she was through to be dead, so all I can say is clearly ScreenRant knows fuck all about proper murder investigation. If someone is believed to have been murdered, everything about the victim and any suspects has to be looked into, and it’s not like a corpse has to worry about privacy anymore. The idea that this would lead any reviewer to categorise Geordi as some kind of pervert only shows what naïve, romanticised and childish views some people hold regarding murder investigation. Far too many people out there seem bound and determined to act like Hastings in Agatha Christie’s Poirot stories, blanching at any detection methods he considers as ‘ungentlemanly’.

In the BBC audio drama for ‘Peril at End House’, Poirot unearths love letters from Michael Seaton to Mademoiselle Nick Buckley, and when Hastings objects, saying “Poirot, you really can’t do that; it isn’t playing the game.” Poirot then instantly responds, and quite rightly, “I am not playing a game, my friend; I am hunting down a murderer.” This is the perfect example of the ScreenRant idiot’s point of view versus my own; even in the world of Trek, hunting down a murderer is a serious business and you can’t avoid potentially vital information just because it might invade the privacy of a victim or, as in the case of ‘Peril at End House’, an intended victim. If you have reason to believe the information is relevant to finding the killer, you pursue it, end of debate. Geordi just mis-handled telling Aquiel about it afterwards, but he nicely recovered and was otherwise a perfect gentleman. End score for this episode is 5 out of 10, end score for ScreenRant’s ability to comprehend proper murder investigation procedure, zero out of infinity.

Episode 14: Face of the Enemy

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Deanna Troi is kidnapped and brought aboard the Romulan Warbird Khazara. After waking up, Troi looks in a mirror and is horrified to find that she's undergone cosmetic surgery to make her look like a Romulan. Subcommander N'Vek, the Khazara first officer, privately explains that he has no intention of harming her, but needs her to pose as Major Rakal of the Tal Shiar, the Romulan intelligence service and secret police. N'Vek has secret cargo meant for the Federation, and needs Troi to act her role to convince the Khazara commander, Toreth (who is not aware of N'Vek's plan) into complying. Troi, as Rakal, is able to sway Toreth to head for a planned rendezvous in the Kaleb sector under threat of intense interrogation techniques.

Aboard the Enterprise, the crew brings aboard Stefan DeSeve, a human who had served as an ensign in Starfleet before defecting to the Romulans. Now he has returned with a message from Ambassador Spock. Captain Picard, wary of his prisoner's motives, considers Spock's message regarding a meeting in the Kaleb sector that would be prudent for the Federation's interest, and directs the ship there.

As the Khazara is en route, N'Vek shows Troi the secret cargo - Vice Proconsul M'Ret and two of his aides, held in stasis. They wish to defect to the Federation, and his presence there would aid further Romulan dissidents to flee the Empire. The plan is to transport the stasis chambers to a Corvallen cargo ship at the rendezvous point, who will subsequently deliver them into Federation space. When the Khazara meets up with the cargo ship, Troi senses its captain is not trustworthy, and N'Vek fires upon it, destroying it. He claims he was ordered by Major Rakal. Troi later explains to Toreth that she recognized the captain of the cargo ship as a known Federation spy. N'Vek, in private, explains to Troi that their only other option is to travel to Draken IV, an entry point for the Federation, where Troi can use her Starfleet codes to allow the ship to enter undetected. Troi gives this order to Toreth, who reluctantly agrees to it. However, their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the Enterprise.

The Enterprise arrives at the designated time and coordinates, but finds no trace of the cargo ship. They start a search, soon finding the wreckage of the vessel. As the Enterprise moves in, Toreth takes this as a sign of Troi's truthfulness. Troi wants to hold position, but the commander points out that with the wreckage nearby, they will be detected, and has the ship travel some distance away while the Enterprise continues to search. Troi is worried that the Enterprise will not be able to follow them, and has N'Vek create a trail of the cloaked ship.

Toreth learns of the Enterprise trailing them, and suspects that they've been detected. She orders a collision course for the vessel in order to test their reaction. When the Enterprise moves to avoid collision, Toreth orders the ship to decloak and attack. Troi steps in as Rakal and takes command from Toreth, then orders the ship to decloak and hails the Enterprise, offering to discuss the matter. The Enterprise crew, though they recognize Troi, feign ignorance and take down their shields. N'Vek fires on the Enterprise with low-powered weapons, appearing to damage the vessel. In reality, the low-power disruptor shot masks the transport of the stasis chambers to the Enterprise. Toreth, realizing that she is being deceived, executes N'Vek and retakes control of the Khazara. Before the Romulans can leave with Troi as their prisoner, Troi is safely transported to the Enterprise. In sickbay, Troi's cosmetic surgery is reversed, and she contemplates the value of N'Vek's efforts to aid the Federation.

Review:

This is the first and only call back in TNG history to Spock’s dissident movement that was showcased in the two-part episode “Unification” the previous season. It’s an interesting episode, and for a Troi episode very good, as it nicely takes us away from seeing her having to deal with her mother or whine over something strange sensed via her empathic abilities. Personally, I’d have preferred to see Troi go into this set-up fully briefed and prepped to play the role of spy rather than being landed in it at the deep end, as some of her initial scenes do verge on being highly cringe-worthy a la the Troi episodes of old. Moreover, it would have helped distinguish it more from the later Deep Space Nine episode “Second Skin” which revolved around a very similar premise.

The episode gives us a good of character development for Deanna in hindsight as well; between her recent uniform shift and having to play a commanding role on the fly, Deanna is beginning to develop skills she will later need when she takes the Bridge Officer’s Test to try and become a full commander the following season. As such, the episode is a case the show trying to get back to what it should be. I give it a score of 8 out of 10.

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