4x14 Clues

[7.4/10] I’m running into a problem as I get deeper and deeper into my Star Trek: The Next Generation rewatch. I’ve reached the part where I’m starting to remember the twists. I think I made it about ten minutes into this one before I recall this was the episode where Data had made a deal with the powerful aliens of the week and despite his evasiveness, was always working with the crew’s best interests in mind.

But in some ways, knowing the reveal makes me appreciate “Clues” more. It certainly takes some of the intrigue out of the proceedings. And yet, the thesis of this one is that mankind is innately entranced by the prospect of a good mystery. Knowing what the solution to the whodunnit is when you start the story helps you appreciate the construction of a good mystery, and better able to see the setups, payoffs, and hints that let you know a show is playing fair.

The setup for “Clues” involves the Enterprise encountering a local wormhole whose effects stun and incapacitate the entire crew. When they wake, less than a minute has passed and life aboard the ship continues on as it always does. But steadily, the senior staff start to notice little inconsistencies, subtle hints that something hinky and unexplained happened when they were out. These suspicions are only magnified when Data becomes uncharacteristically cagey, leading our heroes to wonder if one of their own is working against them.

As I often say, it’s a good setup. You’ll rarely hear me complain when Star Trek is in problem-solving mode. Watching the methodical approach of the senior staff, from forming hypotheses, to testing them in action, to putting the pieces together, makes you appreciate the intuition and skill of the Enterprise’s residents. Writers Joe Menosky and Bruce D. Arthurs do a good job of coming up with clever ways for the characters to suspect and ultimately prove that more time has passed than they thought and that someone has been tampering with records.

I’m also a sucker for stories where everything seems fine on the surface, but the deeper you dig, the more it becomes apparent that something is off and wrong about the situation. This normally takes on more magical qualities (see: “Remember Me”, Twin Peaks, the opening segment of Kingdom Hearts 2), but I like it here as a purely scientific endeavor. The little inconsistencies start adding up, until Picard and company cannot ignore them and have to investigate whether something more sinister is afoot.

That’s why I like making Data the linchpin of this one. It makes sense from a practical perspective, since his status as an android is a good excuse for him not to be affected by the stupefaction ray like the rest of the crew. More than that though, he’s an intriguing choice for a saboteur. As we know from episode’s like “Brothers” he is fully capable of taking over the ship and thwarting the best efforts of his crewmates. At the same time, we also know he’s guileless (give or take his actions in “The Most Toys”), a detail that suggests something else is afoot when he seems to be sidestepping and even hindering the inquest to determine what really happened when the crew was passed out.

It’s especially sympathetic when you know the answer to that question. You can sense how infuriating it is for Picard and others to get technically accurate non-answers from the ship’s second officer. But you can also sense Data doing his best not to be dishonest with his friends and colleagues, while also following orders and, more importantly, protecting their well-being. It’s an impossible position to be in, on both sides of the equation.

(As an aside, it would be interesting to see Data say something like, “I cannot tell you why, but I am begging you to drop this, for everyone’s good, and simply trust me.” That said, it’s probably beyond Data’s capabilities to take that sort of approach.)

It’s particularly moving, in hindsight, to see Data’s willingness to sacrifice his commission, his role on the Enterprise, and even potentially his life because it’s necessary to save the ship and its from total destruction. Even without knowing the solution to the mystery, it conveys how serious this is, how far Data is willing to go, in order to prevent his friends from tampering with such a fragile peace.

The one catch to all of this is that the deliberately-paced efforts to uncover what happened can feel a little slow and staid in places. To be frank, I wish we spent a little less time on Picard’s hunt for the answer and more time on what really happened and the consequences of it. The mystery solving occasionally makes it feel like the show is vamping for time and the solution segment plays as a little rushed.

Still, I like the ultimate reveal. The Enterprise accidentally came across a planet of xenophobes who will go so far as to kill any trespassers lest their location be found out. Director Les Landau and the effects team do a nice job of conveying this species, the Paxans, through clouds of green energy. The group possesses Troi and makes her their avatar (poor Troi, how many times has she been possessed or taken over?), and the voice modulation is suitable creepy to add some menace to the proceedings.

There’s also the elegance of the fact that the mind-wipe and sabotage that Picard is so desperate to unravel happened at his behest. It’s a little convenient as a solution to the crew discovering the Paxans’ location. Again, a bit more considering alternatives before settling on that might have helped. But I still like the added complication and circularity of Data having to disobey his captain’s orders...thanks to his captain’s orders. It gives the answers to the episode’s big questions a satisfying, clockwork feel.

Picard’s second solution hinges on the notion that humanity is drawn to mysteries, highlighting the not-too-subtle theme of the hour. A second attempt is necessary, but one where there’s fewer tantalizing hints to ensnare the crew in another puzzle-solving escapade. It’s a touch reductive, but a strong concept to build an episode around, and one that adds tension on the second go-round, where Data intervenes to suggest they steer away from the Paxans’ planet, even seeming to smile, just a tad, when Picard acquiesces.

Remembering how this one goes may have prevented me from being equally tantalized at the hints as the characters were, and denied me the thrill of the “Aha!” moment when the picture starts to become clear. But it allows me to see how TNG built this mystery box with greater clarity, to appreciate Data’s internal struggle with greater depth, and to admire the solution, in-universe and in the writers’ room, all the more.