UNCUT - Face of the Enemy (TNG S6E14) | Star Trek Journey 253

https://youtu.be/8yACLkHYqzM?si=50gB2Wf_bjHd9PXu One of the best parts of Don Davis score. At the 1:32 mark...

Don Davis gave a fantastic score here. It almost has that Wrath of Khan motif if you listen. He only scored one episode, and was never invited back because it was too good. I kid you not. It was cinematic, and Rick Berman didn’t want that. Fool.

Skidaddle Battle! My new catch phrase!

She was sure lucky that whole Romulan ship spoke English! I know there's a universal translator, but does it also change your facial movements to match the words the other person hears?

Haircut looking clean Josh

Male pony tales were huge in the 90s. It was disgusting.

I'd never thought about it until this re-watch, but shouldn't Troi's Betazoid eyes have been a giveaway?

I am sorry people leave mean comments.

the best trio episode

Josh, how do you remember names like the Mintakens, damn. I forgot their species' name while watching the episode they're in lol. Alex, flee from those comments. It's just not worth it for your mental health, human psychology is all wacked up. Negative attacks hurt us so much more than the myriad of positivity you come across, but our stupid ape brains filter out or dilute down because it's mostly irrelevant for survival.

Complaing about people not being more positive… after shitting on a character because his wig wasn’t movie grade and maybe not the best written character. The ironi is not lost on me.

Happy you guys enjoyed the episode! This is definitely one of my TNG faves. Marina Sirtis and Carolyn Seymour are both outstanding and it's so interesting to finally see a more complex Romulan perspective. And tying everything back to Spock's "cowboy diplomacy" is nice continuity. I also think it's an interesting counterbalance that Troi has to be closed-off and confrontational to work with the Romulans, while ensign Desev needs to be helpful and communicative on the Enterprise, both of them having trouble adjusting at first.

Deseve was reminiscent of the stories of young American soldiers who defected to the USSR but changed their minds a decade or two later, after they saw the realities of Communism.

Definitely one of my top ten TNG episodes! Marina just crushes it here, and Carolyn Seymour’s Toreth is one of my favorite antagonists. The two of them are amazing on screen together. Sadly, a lot of television dramas at this time didn’t give two women a chance to have a conflict that wasn’t all about either romance or motherhood.

I don’t like Worf’s ponytail. my favorite Worf hair was season 1 or 2 then it just got longer and longer. Till he looked like Donna Reed. 😂 My thing with a ponytail is if you’re gonna always wear it up you might as well just go short.

At the end you spoke about your opinion of Season 6 so far. Last week i looked at my tier ranking for all 7 Seasons, i think 6 might be my favourite. It has the most S and A ratings from me (my previous comment said this is S). Surprised but pleased Josh finally said he likes Deanna more than Beverly. Don't get me wrong of course I love Beverly too (i've made no secret that Remember Me is my third favourite episode), but Deanna is my TNG favourite. Perhaps an idea for the future might be to rank your favourite characters from each show. I'm surprised you never did that for Jim's crew.

It's a good thing Troi spoke perfect Romulan or else it might have given her away if she didn't understand what anyone was saying.

Worf’s new hair is badass. Thanks Mr. Mott!

Troi best episode!

this was an awesome and fast paced episode and I think it would have been way better as an two parter. Btw, don't let yourself be discouraged just because some people don't understand your different opinion. My favorite Star Trek movie is 'the undiscovered country' and it surprised me that you didn't like it, but you explained it well why this was the case and I see your point. (on the other hand there are enough episodes you loved that I don't like that much ;) ) But thats the funny part... I don't want to see/read/hear only stuff that is on the same page as my opinion... We already live in a world where algorythm of apps show us only similar contant as the one we already like... I joined here to see, listen and read what other Star Trek Fans think about Star Trek. Back to Troi: I think the writers often forgott that she is a starfleet officer... And Marina Sirtis killed it here! Awesome episode!

i usually comment after watching, but in this case i make an exception. This is my favourite Deanna episode. I've said many times she is my favourite in TNG. I've also made no secret of Romulans being my joint favourite species along with Cardassians. No surprise i'm sure to read i give it S.

always fun to see a enterprise romulan clash from the romulan perspective

As someone else mentioned, the longer hair is closer to the length of other Klingons too. I do like it when he’s juxtaposed to other Klingons. Like it’s part of his starfleet uniform. My head cannon is that it’s how he’s assimilating to being around humans. though maybe they could have given it a little more body and not be as straight.

I'm very pleased with the acting... but for me this is a C for contract.

i hope you guys like this one/ i have always remembered it as a good one and im looking forward to rewatching it. hope its as good as i remember.

I've been waiting for this episode. One of the best of season six. Marina Sirtis was mostly done dirty by the series, but once in awhile they gave her a chance to show what she can do. S tier.

This is one of the best Troi-centered episodes and Carolyn Seymour is brilliant.

I’ve been waiting for this episode and Worf’s new haircut. Bada**

B- for me. Some good stuff that doesn’t quite hit home for some reason. Good performance from Sirtis and I like the score. The Romulan costumes and sets are ludicrous though. TNG has really held up over the years but the shoulder pads, oh god those shoulder pads. 🤦‍♂️

Between the Galaxy class and the D'Deridex class I cannot choose a favorite and you cannot make me. Either one compares to the Constitution class or the Defiant classBetween the Galaxy class and the D'Deridex class, I cannot choose a favorite, and you cannot make me. Neither compares to the Constitution class or the D*****+ class, but Damn these two ships are gorgeous. It always amazes me to think that these two ship designs were created by guys working on a syndicated television show in 1987🤣. I now live in the future of that time and I can tell you it sucks especially when it comes to creativity.

What a missed opportunity to show the reaction when she was beamed off the bridge at the end.

According to memory alpha, the original premise was Q sent Picard, Data, and Troi to a romulan ship where the crew would perceive them as Romulans. The show runners felt this was too similar to "Quantam Leap." The idea about Spock was that they would think it was supposed to be Spock in the container, but it was someone else and thus "Spock didn't make it" but the idea of killing Spock offscreen was rejected. The part of Toreth was originally written for a male but none of the dialogue had to be changed. They had the idea of bringing back the Romulan female commander from "The Enterprise Incident" but she wasn't available. When they got Seymour, they considered having her play the Romulan from Contagion but someone misremembered her character as having died in that episode.

I have no idea what people who say season 6 is a start of a decline are talking about. I don't see season 7 as a decline. I would guess its more just the "this has been going on for a long time and the novelty has warn off" kind of thing. Although no one claims DS9 season 6 was a decline. Some people dont like season seven as much but i really disagree. Or at least the early part of season seven.

Troi legitimately looks like a villianous romulan

lol, I literally never noticed the haircut.

The commander wasn't suspicious at the dinner table. Her point was to critcize the Tal'shiar. From her perspective Troi's evasiveness makes sense.

The romulan commander seems familiar because it's the actress who played Romulan Taris from Contagion and Mirasta Yale (the one who was pro federation contact) from First Contact

The only thing I have a bit of question with here, and really similar episodes when others are in these kinds of situations, is how Troi is somehow able to be a good spy without any training or experience. Seems like a very particular skill set that everyone can't just do.

Sex Scoreboard. No scores BUT in the beginning we thought we would need to give Lwaxana Troi a score for getting a Romulan Donging; BUT no. It was just the stupidest plan ever. To kidnap a fake officer (Troi) to get through the border by giving them a top secret code that there is NO WAY she would have. WTF.

I can't in good faith give this an S or A. It never reached that level for me at all. I enjoy it just fine. To me, this episode is the definition of a B. It's a solid Banger! That said, Troi was S Tier Level. :)

This one was pretty good and it's good to see someone die to help sell the gravity of the situation. I skipped this while going through the eps , but this was not bad at all. Another better than average episode, another episode without a B plot.

Marina Sirtis’s best episode, Carolyn Seymour playing a great Romulan commander and the arrival of Worfs pony tail, although it doesn’t look great here, make this a standout for me. Always loved it.

I'm really fond of Troi too, I'm glad to see you two coming around

Loved Alex's 100% correct rant right after the reaction. We get some great romulan lore and fantastic Troi development here. The story is good but getting to see both Troi and Marina shine is the bigger treat. Especially on a rewatch. I'm not defending this part of the episode cause the final cut is the final cut, but there are deleted scenes with the human Romulan defector that make his character and motivations better. Still not great, but better. I can see why if they needed to cut something they went with those scenes

DeSeve is the first case documented by the Federation of a Romulaboo

I wonder if Carolyn Seymore was playing the comander as a counter part to captain Picard. There were times I could swear she deliverd her lines like Patric Stewart would. Eh, maybe it was just her English accent.

Honestly, when I think of season 4, I think of a lot of great episodes, but I also think of how bored it makes me feel. When I think of season 6, I think of TNG firing on all cylinders.

Thank you for another entertaining review. I thought Carolyn Seymore (Romulan Commander) was fantastic! She's up there with the TOS Commander from Enterprise Incident. Great job!

Great reaction, guys. I really do enjoy this episode and think it's probaby Troi's best. There are a couple of others that contend for that honor, but the stakes in this one push it to the front of the pack for me. Plus, the longer I watch Star Trek in all its various incarnations, the more the Romulans become my favorite "villains" of the shared universe. And things do eventually develop for them in a way that (to me) is a satisfying - and dare I say logical - outcome of all the previoius developments. But that is down the road a ways in your Star Trek journey. Anyway, looking forward to the next reaction vid!

Watching this I’m reminded how much I love Carolyn Seymour. This is her third performance in TNG.

This one is easily Troi's best episode IMO. I compared it to the Defector in my patron take. It's not quite on that level, but it has a lot of the same building blocks that made that episode great. I also didn't realize they had a different composer. At first I was thinking Jay Chattaway as it's kind of his style, but in any case it works. It was this episode that made me realize that putting Troi in a uniform wasn't just a new look, but a new approach to the character altogether. I'm appreciating better this time around that S5 did start to turn the character around, but S6 remains the point where that change kicked into high gear. I always did get some Crimson Time vibes from this one, and in fact the wardroom scene reminded me of the intellectual sparring during the dinner scene in CT, but I get the Inglorious Basterds comparison. Characters like N'Vek and Toreth also add some extra dimensions to the romulans. N'Vek shows us that even Spock's underground movement are willing to resort to some rather extreme tactics, and Toreth's story about her father shows us that not all romulans are war mongers, but those voices are being systematically suppressed in their society. Definitely an S tier for me.

Thanks for the reactions, gentlemen. I was lucky enough to be gifted a month's membership about 29 days ago, and it's been an absolute treat. Unfortunately, I can't re-up right now (new baby means the budget is tight) but when I'm in a better position, I look forward to being back. I'll keep watching, liking, and commenting on the YouTube vids until then (watch for comments from Actor_Jim!). I will now watch this one last full length reaction, and then probably leave a less sincere, goofy, semi-sarcastic comment in about an hour's time about something that caught my attention in the reaction. Cheers!

I think Worf looks better with the ponytail. He looks more traditionally Klingon that way. Worf probably decided that he wanted traditional Klingon hair length. The ponytail was probably to keep his hair acceptable to star fleet dress code.

I enjoyed how much of the reaction itself and the discussion was about Worf's ponytail.

Count Dooku "I've been looking forward to this"