This is another episode I remember fondly and it manages to hold up pretty well. I think it has been mentioned before but this episode does a lot to show the interest the captain has in archaeology. It also goes a fair way to establishing Risa as the sex planet of the galaxy. TOS had it's shore leave planet, but it was always a little more PG than what TNG gets away with in this one. I can't really argue with a Picardcentric episode other than maybe to complain that the part with him being grumpy goes on a little too long and cuts into the adventure part at the end.
The episode opens with two aliens materializing on Risa and asking the computer there where to find Picard. It says he isn't there and has no reservation, but one alien reassures the other, "he will come." With that we cut back to the Enterprise where Picard is returning from a tense two weeks of negotiations that he was successful at, but have left him stressed out. After resisting every suggestion he go on leave Picard finally relents when Troi mentions her mother will be joining them for the week at star base while the ship is repaired. That threat is too much and Picard agrees to a week on Risa.
When he arrives a mysterious woman sees him while trying to hide from a Ferengi and gives him a kiss when she needs some cover before running off. This starts Picard in a bad moon and it gets worse when he buys a idol Riker asked him for and the local women won't leave him alone until one of them explains it to him. Next the Ferengi from earlier threatens him if he doesn't give the Ferengi back some disk there will be trouble. And finally the mystery woman Vash shows up but Picard gives her the slip, but not before she can drop the mystery disk into his pocket. Back in his hotel room two mysterious aliens who claim to be from the future are hanging out. Picard is pissed at first, but then they explain they are here to find a mysterious McGuffin from the future and history records Picard as having found it on Risa. After they leave Picard finds the disk in his pocket.
Picard goes to Vash's room and finds her cleaning up a mess left behind when the Ferengi Sovak tried to find the disk. She explains she was the student of a professor who spent his life trying to find the McGuffin. Just before he died he discovered useful information on the location and it is on the disk. Picard agrees to help her find it and they set out, but not before Sovak tries to stop them, but of course Picard outsmarts him. After Vash tries to seduce Picard a few times they make their way to the cave that is supposed to have the McGuffin. First the aliens from the future arrive and then Sovak with a gun. After hours of digging they give up and return to the hotel dejected. Picard figures it out however and catches Vash as she is leaving the hotel. The aliens show up too and Vash explains they are the ones who tried to steal the information from her professor originally so Picard uses a made up transporter code (as far as i can tell) and destroys the McGuffin.
Review: This is more of an adventure episode than most this season, but it manages to succeed at that quite well. Picard is great as always and a plot involving aliens from the future is a cool way to keep things interesting!
7 out of 10
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