After the massive jump in quality that marked Season 3, Season 4 does a solid job of continuing that new consistent level of quality, even if that means it's not nearly as big of an improvement as the prior season was.
Season 4 of The Next Generation does something the series has never done to the point: It has a season-wide storyline. Granted, it really only gets a focus in five-ish episodes, but I think it really works for TNG. Season 4 is primarily about Worf as he attempts to reclaim his family honor, while also dealing with his discommendation from the Klingons and the fact that there is a conspiracy involving the one responsible, culminating in the Klingon Empire erupting into a civil war by the finale. Once again, we don't get too many episodes focusing on this Klingon storyline, but the ones we do get are great, and I like that the whole season feels like it's building towards something. Season 4 also feels more thematically cohesive, as many of its episodes focus on family, especially near the start of the season. Data meets his creator, Worf's adoptive parents visit, Picard returns to Earth for an episode, and Tasha's sister shows up. While there's nothing wrong with Trek's prior episodic format, Season 4 sticks out for finally feeling like it was written with its seasonal structure in mind, with a small overarching plot and many of its episodes sharing a common theme.
Season 4 is also, by far, the most character-driven season in TNG up to this point. The season has many minor subplots focused around the cast, like Wesley getting episodes about his father and the Traveler before he finally leaves to Starfleet Academy, Picard dealing with trauma from the Borg, O'Brien getting married as well as a lot more focus, and of course, Worf dealing with his discommendation. Data even gets an entire episode entirely focused around his perspective, and it's nice that this season included a lot of character studies that prioritized fleshing out its cast over a big sci-fi conflict (Family and Data's Day, in particular). However, the focus on the characters does mean that the political side of Trek, something I've always found to be a defining aspect of the series, felt a bit short-changed at times, especially towards the start. Thankfully, the second half of the season does a lot better with the deep moral complexities in episodes like The Wounded, First Contact, and The Drumhead, as well as whenever that main Klingon arc is in focus.
Season 4 has a lot of fantastic episodes, but these were the particular standouts:
Best Of Both Worlds: Part 2: While this episode pales in comparison to the first half and suffers from the infamous Battle Of Wolf 359 taking place off-screen, and I like how its main focus was, above even defeating the Borg, saving Picard no matter what the cost. It was interesting to see the crew operate without their usual captain, and while the ending was fairly happy, I liked that Picard ended up having trauma from the event. Speaking of which...
Family: Coming off the Best Of Both Worlds two-parter, I liked that we had such a low-key and reflective episode to watch the characters (especially Picard) deal with what just happened. Nothing really happens in Family, there's pretty much no sci-fi in sight, but it works so well and runs the emotional gamut. Worf's parents subplot is incredibly heartwarming, Picard breaking down in the mud is heartwrenching thanks to Stewart's performance, and Dr Crusher's message feels somewhere in the middle. I loved how Family focuses solely on the characters and nothing else, and its bold direction made for one of my favorite episodes to date.
Reunion: I've always loved the Klingon episodes, but this was easily the best one to date. Building off of Sins Of The Father, we get to see how Klingon politics in a conspiracy storyline, and many of the mysteries from that episode are resolved. The entire final ten minutes was phenomenal, from K'Ehleyr's death, to Worf's fight with Duras, to his controversial decision that leaves him permanently stripped of his honor, to the brief return of his adoptive parents.
The Wounded: It's always a risk for Trek to introduce a new species. You could strike gold like with the Borg, or completely fall on your face like with the Ferengi. Thankfully, the introduction of the Cardassians falls into the former. They're a cool species with a neat design and lots of fascinating history with the Federation. I love how flawed everyone involved was in this one. Maxwell was absolutely in the wrong about slaughtering Cardassians, yet he was right about them plotting war. It's such an uncomfortable episode to watch, and a killer debut for the Cardassians. All the added depth for the otherwise shafted O'Brien definitely helped.
First Contact: This was a really thought-provoking episode, that feels like Who Watches The Watchers but done even better. It was creative to see the whole episode through the eyes of a probably one-off alien race, as well as how Picard's usual First Contact strategy could backfire by scaring a species out of space travel all together. The real genius, however, is though the alien race of the Malcorians can very easily parallel our own species, and this episode poses the question of if the human race is truly ready for an encounter with alien lifeforms, not just technology-wise, but if we would end up devolving into paranoia and xenophobia .
The Drumhead: Another solid entry in the overarching story, The Drumhead feels like a follow-up to "Coming Of Age", similarly involving an overzealous Starfleet investigator using previous episodes in the series against Picard. Similarly to Reunion and Redemption, this episode does a good job of fleshing out the politics of Trek's universe, Satie is an interesting and ultimately tragic character, and I like how Picard proves his innocence not with a big dramatic speech but with a calm quote that triggers Satie's fanatacism.
Redemption: While not as tense and shocking as Best Of Both Worlds, this is another really strong finale thanks to all the buildup throughout the season. The reveal that the Duras are allied with the Romulans, Worf regaining his family honor, the beginning of the Klingon civil war, the payoff from pretty much every single Klingon episode up to this point is fantastic. The Tasha Yar cliffhanger isn't as good as BoBW, once again, but it's a neat twist that I can imagine left a lot of people stunned.
As usual, there is also a particularly weak episode this season:
Galaxy's Child: This episode seriously damaged my perception of Geordi as a character. He was one of my favorites back in Season 1, but his actions towards the real Dr Brahms were creepy and his apology was just as bad.
Overall, Season 4 just feels like more of what made Season 3 so great. It's not a massive leap in quality, but the greater focus on character and stronger plotting feels like a further refinement of TNG's formula.
4/5 Stars
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