A tale of two Rikers. Not that that, of two Will Rikers. I guess when I watched this the first time it didn't strike me that this is the second episode in a row about a duplicated person and how they are treated since despite being a copy they are still a real person. The effects aren't perfect, but overall they manage to convincingly create two Rikers. I am sure I was much less interested in the reignited romance between Troi and Lt. Riker when I first saw this, but this time it got me pretty good. I also didn't remember if they killed off Lt. Riker or not so the end actually had some real tension.
The episode opens with Commander Riker playing a jazz concert in Ten Forward. Troi requests a song he has never made it through in 10 years and he agrees, but just as his part is coming up Data calls him to the bridge. They are going to be beaming down to a station where he rescued the crew 8 years earlier. There is a distortion field around the planet which makes transporting impossible at most times, but in the next few days there will be three windows. Cmdr. Riker leads the away team to the surface and they find the station not in the same condition he left it. Worf detects a lifeform approaching, they all take cover only to see Lt. Riker walk in looking haggard. Cmdr. Riker refuses to believe he isn't an alien or something by back on the ship Crusher confirms it is him down to the brain patterns.
Geordi figures out that the transporter beam they used to get Cmdr. Riker out was somehow slit creating two of him. Neither of them gets along with the other well which of course makes things even more complicated. Lt. Riker immediately starts up his romance with Deanna again and at first she isn't having it, but he sends her on a scavenger hunt around the ship looking for clues. She admits to him she regrets the other Riker not meeting her for a vacation on Risa, but he put his career ahead of his romantic engagements. Both Rikers are forced to work together on retrieving the logs from the station and they basically bicker the entire time.
The finally of the episode has Lt. Riker going behind Cmdr. Rikers back to propose a dangerous plan to the captain. He wants to go into the unstable caves below the station to repair some damage and allow them to get the logs. Picard approves and the two of them descend into the caves. Lt. is almost killed when a platform collapses but Cmdr. manages to save him. In the end Troi decides to not give up her career to follow Lt. Riker but Cmdr. stops by and give Lt. his trombone. Lt. tells him he has decided to go by Thomas to avoid confusion in the future (couldn't they have done this at the beginning of the episode???) and heads off to a new assignment.
Review: Not an episode I forgot, but not really that much above average. It is always interesting to think about how things could have been different it ones life with different choices, but I feel like another rewrite or two and this one could have really been stellar.
5 out of 10
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