Redemption is basically Trek porn for this nerd since it’s all Klingon and Romulan intrigue. As an episode it’s sort of weak since the threat to Gowron never felt too strong, especially with Worf on his ship, but the real fun was seeing Worf’s name restored and then resigning as a Starfleet officer. Good episode to end the season, especially with Romulan Yar making her first full appearance (though they’ve been showing her in the shadows in the last episode).

Sins of the Father is cool because it sets up a story line that continues all thru TNG and DS9, in fact it isn’t until the final season of DS9 when this issue with Worf’s father is settled. The other great thing here is Tony Todd who plays Worf’s brother, Kurn. After Michael Dorn, Todd does the next best job of portraying a Klingon, especially because he has to play a character more conflicted and less sure of himself than Worf. Todd also starred in one of the other great Star Trek episodes, DS9’s The Visitor, when he plays an elderly Jake Sisko.

This is a strange episode to process. On the one hand it’s very uneven, mostly because it’s trying to fit a season’s worth of episodes into 40min, but it does somehow still work. Granted, the Admiral should not have been intractable and Lal’s progression was too rapid, but otherwise there was some strong emotion here. The best part was the Admiral describing Data trying to save Lal’s life rather than showing it. By having the audience imagine Data trying to save her makes us connect with him much more than by just showing it. I’d say this was a pretty good episode, in even and rushed, but memorable.