3x07 The Enemy

[8.2/10] An ailing Romulan holds Geordi at gunpoint. He declares the Starfleet officer is his prisoner and threatens him even in the confines of a hostile environment. That environment makes its present felt with a rockslide that falls on the Romulan’s head, the large stones pummeling him into submission. Geordi doesn’t turn the tables and take his erstwhile foe, Centurion Bochra, prisoner. He doesn’t even kick away the guy’s disruptor. He just slings Bochra’s arm over his shoulder and drags him to safety.

If I could sum up the ethos of Star Trek in one gesture, it would be that. What Geordi does is foolish, maybe even outright dumb, but it’s also selfless and kind, evincing a respect for life and a care for one’s fellow man, even if that man happens to be on the other side of a cold war. Geordi could have taken advantage of the situation. He could have at least focused on eliminating the threat before rendering aid. But instead he focuses his efforts on saving the man who might not have done the same for him.

Therein lies of the heart of “The Enemy”, an episode centered around those gestures of trust and altruism, shown to people who might not fully deserve them, but which reflect the principles of the people who choose to give it nonetheless, in the hopes of forging a brighter tomorrow. Geordi and Bochra eventually find common ground and common cause. Captain Picard resolves a tense situation with a Romulan counterpart with steely diplomacy in lieu of war. And Worf falls short of that standard, for reasons that are completely understandable.

That is, honestly, my favorite part of the episode. In a lesser show, Worf would have acquiesced to the request made by Dr. Crusher, Commander Riker, and eventually Captain Picard himself to donate the genetic material that would save the life of the ailing Romulan in sickbay. Despite his anger over Romulans having killed his parents, he would recognize the ideals of the Federation and the exigencies of the immediate stand-off and relent to save the life of someone he hates on principle.

But he doesn’t. It’s too much. He’s lost too much, swallowed too much resentment over the years in the glaring absence of parents he’ll never know to show some dying Romulan the grace his people didn’t show them. Worf dutifully hears his colleagues out: Dr. Crusher’s moral plea, Riker’s appeal to ending the cycle of vengeance, Picard’s urging him to see the practicalities of the situation given the present Romulan threat. But after he hears the Romulan utter dying words that he’d rather perish than “pollute [his] blood with Klingon filth,” Worf remains steadfast in his inability to forgive or be personally responsible for the sort of mercy the Romulans didn’t deign to give his parents.

It is, ironically, very human. It’s very real. Not all problems can be solved in an hour. Not all wounds heal so easily. And I appreciate the chutzpah TNG shows in presenting this predicament where the naturally thematic conclusion would be for Worf to overcome his resentment, only to show that sometimes such high-minded pleas fail, even when made to the noblest of us, given what they cannot simply shake off.

Better yet, I love the touch that Picard seems prepared to order Worf to do it, after asking him, begging him to volunteer, only to himself relent. He cannot bring himself to violate his officer’s bodily autonomy or personal choice, even at the potential cost of starting a war. It is, as with Geordi’s choice, a little dumb. Hundreds, possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, are at stake when trying to resolve this situation with the Romulans. But his decision is also true to the franchise’s ethos, of constantly having to weigh the needs of the many versus the rights of the individual, and making a hard choice.

Of course, Picard handles the moment with aplomb. One of TNG’s best modes is watching the captain and his officer handle portentous, possibly belligerent diplomatic standoffs where there’s the threat of armed conflict but the hope to evade it. The combination of an ailing Romulan in Starfleet custody who was found trespassing on a Federation planet, the need to defend territorial rights in the Neutral Zone, the obvious lies from Commander Tomalak that nevertheless provide plausible deniability, and the prospect of the fragile ceasefire between the Federation and the Romulan Empire all make for a thrilling, thorny dilemma for Picard as he tries to save his chief engineer and preserve peace while not excusing falsehoods and subterfuge.

That said, La Forge is doing surprisingly alright on his own! The production design team does a great job of making the planet of the week look like absolute hell, and the challenges of the terrain show a grit and resolve we rarely get to see from professional geek Geordi. Seeing him make rock climbing picks using ore and a phaser, muscle his way out of a pit, jury-rig some tech on the fly to reach the Enterprise’s beacon, and help heave his fellow stranded officer reach that point gives him a chance for action hero grittiness and resourceful that’s rare to get for the character.

Those challenges are also an excuse for him and his would-be antagonist to bond. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for these “enemies trapped together” episode, that force foes to set aside their differences to survive or escape and see pieces of themselves in their adversaries. The need to work together and just evade death forces Geordi and Bochra to compares values, sometimes recoiling at one another, but also seeing a lot to admire.

Geordi is compassionate. Bochra is determined. The Romulan is aghast that “weak” humans would let a blind child live, while the human is aghast that Romulans would cull those with disabilities. Despite those sorts of differences, the ticking clock of a planet that’s causing nerve degeneration -- affecting Geordi’s eyes and Bochra’s limbs -- forces them to collaborate. They do, and coach and coax one another through tricorder adjustments and hikes to beacons that make a rescue of both possible. By the end, Bochra credits Geordi for saving his life and trust between the two of them has been earned in unexpected circumstances.

Picard tries to parley that sort of trust on his own, lowering his shields and giving one of those trademark stirring speeches of his. This one’s about ending that cycle, about someone needing to take a leap of faith that the titular enemy won’t try to kill them in the hope that they might not be enemies forever. The stand-off is tense, but in the end, Commander Tamalok acquiesces, and disaster, and war, are averted.

To be frank, I don’t know if I’d recommend any of the choices made here. What little we know about Romulans in this era are that they’re duplicitous and not afraid to start trouble. I might kick away Bochra’s disrupter before helping him, or order my lieutenant to give up some harmless ribosomes to avoid the outbreak of intergalactic war, or keep my shields up to protect the hundreds of crewmembers on board even if it might mean doom for one of them down below.

But that wouldn’t be Star Trek now would it? Sometimes The Next Generation is more aspirational than it is realistic, but god help me if a little bit of optimism and idealism isn’t all kinds of heartening these days. It’s a place where enemies can become allies, where trust is rewarded, and even the hardest and most consequential of personal choices are respected by those with the power to order the alternative. It may be a tad pollyanna, but damn if it doesn’t feed the soul.