Finally we are back into the land of good episodes! It has been a bit of a dry stretch, but I thoroughly enjoyed Conundrum. Seeing the characters having to relearn who they are and sometimes experiment a little with who they may want to be was fun. Also lets be honest, not trying to explain how one weapon could, through shields, erase exactly the parts of all the memories of all the species and computers that they needed to instantly was the right decision. Any explination would have just been BS anyway. Also it was cool seeing Worf step up to command when he believed it was the right thing to do.
We begin with Data playing chess with Deanna and losing somehow because intuition and Dr. Crusher treating a patient in sickbay. On the bridge they have come across a small apparently unarmed vessel. It starts scanning the Enterprise but Picard isn't worried until it starts rooting through the computer so he raises shields. But it is too late, there is a flash of green light and suddenly nobody remembers who they are. And not only that, when they recover there is some new dude named McDuff on the bridge. Worf assumes command initially and they start trying to piece it all together. Riker leads a team to search the ship and Geordi starts looking for records of who they all are.
Eventually they figure out the basics only McDuff is apparently their second in command. They find orders in the computer that indicate they are on a critical mission for a war that has lasted for years. They are to proceed to the Lysian system and destroy their central command. Picard and Troi are especially hesitant, but agree to go forward with their orders. Meanwhile Ro and Riker start getting some action in her quarters about the time Riker figures out he may be involved with Troi. Sensing the captains hesitation McDuff confronts Worf and tries to get him to agree to back McDuff up if push comes to shove with the captain.
Crusher figures out a way to maybe restore their memories but McDuff volunteers and pretends to have problems with the procedure and that it didn't work. They destroy a Lysian ship and head in to finish them off. But it just doesn't feel right. After receiving essentially no opposition they arrive at Lysian central command and find a huge heavily populated space station with no real defenses. Picard refuses to kill unarmed people and McDuff tries to get Worf to shoot anyway. He refuses and McDuff fights for the controls. Riker and Worf both shoot him with phasers and learn he is in fact not human. It turns out McDuff is of a race that has been at war with the Lysians for a long time and this was their latest plan to win the war. Crusher restores their memories and Riker has an awkward run in with Ro and Deanna, but they both seem cool with what happened.
Review: I really enjoyed this episode. Both seeing the characters not quite as they normally are and a cool science fiction plot on top really works in this episode.
8 out of 10
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