I have a soft spot for this one, despite the paper-thin plot. Even though it breaks some of the "rules of the holodeck" that are established later in the series. It's still fun, especially when Data's talking.
Once again I have cause to question exactly what Deanna's job is. Officially, she's the ship's counselor—but apparently, that job description also includes preparing the captain for diplomatic engagements? Seems weird. (One shot of her early in the episode, bending over Picard's desk, clearly establishes why Troi is not costumed in the standard Starfleet uniform… The cleavage shot. Sigh.)
Felix Leech is the most entertaining of the mobsters, of course. His repeated pleas to Redblock for permission to kill someone, anyone, fit his rat-faced demeanor perfectly somehow. (And it's pretty obvious why he's named "Leech", isn't it?)
Perhaps it's a bit obvious that Whalen comes along as basically redshirt material, and something of a cop-out that Wesley Crusher figures out the problem with the holodeck in the end. But anomalies aside (later, it's established that the holodeck can end a program without risking dematerializing the real living beings inside), it's a fun excursion to the holodeck, and the first of many to come.
Review by dgwVIP 9BlockedParent2018-09-18T06:48:35Z
I have a soft spot for this one, despite the paper-thin plot. Even though it breaks some of the "rules of the holodeck" that are established later in the series. It's still fun, especially when Data's talking.
Once again I have cause to question exactly what Deanna's job is. Officially, she's the ship's counselor—but apparently, that job description also includes preparing the captain for diplomatic engagements? Seems weird. (One shot of her early in the episode, bending over Picard's desk, clearly establishes why Troi is not costumed in the standard Starfleet uniform… The cleavage shot. Sigh.)
Felix Leech is the most entertaining of the mobsters, of course. His repeated pleas to Redblock for permission to kill someone, anyone, fit his rat-faced demeanor perfectly somehow. (And it's pretty obvious why he's named "Leech", isn't it?)
Perhaps it's a bit obvious that Whalen comes along as basically redshirt material, and something of a cop-out that Wesley Crusher figures out the problem with the holodeck in the end. But anomalies aside (later, it's established that the holodeck can end a program without risking dematerializing the real living beings inside), it's a fun excursion to the holodeck, and the first of many to come.