LogFAQs > #969720064

It is quite overly bombastic, but it lacks a sense of movement, I feel. Hard to imagine it playing over a shot of the Enterprise moving.

Episode 19: Heart of Glory

First Klingon and Worf focused episode. Get some backstory insight.

Picard quite enjoys seeing as La Forge does. Bit of an easily distracted man. Doesn't buy the Klingons' story for a second. Actually, he's a bit bigoted here. Compared to how he still had unwavering faith in Data when his brother showed up, he's quick to seriously consider that Worf might betray them. When the Klingon captain offered help, Picard didn't seem particularly thrilled with him, either.

Riker has little patience for Picard's gushing, but he leads the away team decently enough.

La Forge, however, has a lot of patience. In fact, he was a little gleeful at getting to educate someone. Quite like that the visor is controlled like any other sense. I wonder if the permanent halo around Data was in some way an impetus for their friendship.

Yar gets to do something for once. It's a bit of a shame that her first real character moments in a while consist of her asking pretty basic questions and being completely tactless in front of Worf, but I suppose it's something.

Worf is the big focus here. Get some meaty backstory with him being raised by humans and the only Klingon in Starfleet. Handles himself well whilst being insulted. Death howls (and similar) in fiction have a tendency of falling into camp, but the ones here manage to be quite decent. It's nice to see Dorn finally be able to sink his teeth into a role and he does not disappoint. Several layers of confusion and restrained anger are conveyed perfectly. I really liked his plea to give the criminals a decent death.

I do think some of the (occasionally literal) back and forth over his loyalties is a little overblown. I do really admire the decision to have him be the Klingon who seems to most understand the actual philosophy behind their culture. Its far better than flat out angstily rejecting the whole thing.

Crusher is decent enough to ask about Klingon death practices.

Troi sits this one out, which is perhaps wise, as a bunch of perpetually angry people would probably not be pleasent for a super empath.

I'm convinced Data answered the same question twice without comment. Hes usually quick to mention repeating himself.

A single pep talk doesn't always cut it, so, I choose to believe that Wesley is still drowning in tears of failure.

A lot of effort is spent on making the Klingons feel like a real culture and Korris gets the best of this. Although he's a villain, he has a lot of decent moments like showing genuine care and understanding for Worf once his backstory is revealed and not objecting to him joining the death howl. His attempts to recruit Worf do veer into the obviously slimy at points, but there's a coherent, if misguided, motive to his actions and hes genuinely hurt when it doesn't work. K'Nera is pretty decent as a more enlightened Klingon. He arguably comes across as better than Picard.

Still loving the many ship designs and other VFX work, even if some of it is recycled. Similar to the Federation conspiracy, I'm assuming, based on the names of future episodes, that the mystery of the Romulans is something of a plot arc. Did not care for the mean spirited jab at the Ferengi. Sure, they flopped a bit, but have some pride in your prior work. The deliberately oversaturated and low quality visor feed is far more beautiful than it has any right to be. Shot like a horror movie, which is fun to see. The sets of the broken ship are great and I love the use of silhouette when the away team are shot from the back.

Apart from Worf finally getting something, the two main themes are understanding of other perspectives and the true shape of Klingon culture. The first is setup by Picard literally seeing through La Forge's eyes at the beginning and includes him and the rest learning about Klingon culture and, by extension, Worf himself. Enough lines are devoted to how much someone does or doesn't understand/recognise someone else to make this a bit obvious. Even Korris gets in on the fun, as he gets fairly sweet, for a Klingon, once he hears Worf's story. His downfall comes from a lack of understanding of the self and its place in his culture, since his motivation stems from an inability to reconcile his emotions with the relatively peaceful world he lives in. Worf, on the other hand, ultimately was in no doubt about who he is and, while he concedes to feeling the same way, has found a means to live quite well in a culture that should otherwise be a complete hell to him. K'Nera outright states it, when he, completely sincerely, suggests that both cultures could learn from each other.

Which brings us to what Klingon culture actually is and how its interpreted, ad another one of Korris' problems is that he has a far too literal view of warrior culture. He's too nuanced to be a caricature, which is to the episode's credit, but his belief seems to be a mindless indulgence of aggressive emotions. He wishes to cause mayhem across the galaxy, but with no clear purpose or end beyond repetitive violence for its own sake and he eventually gets himself and his friends killed in a pretty ignoble misadventure. It's almost a farce and a self defeating ideology. Even K'Nera, much as he sympathises with Worf's plea, finds his own hands tied by a literal reading of this culture. However, Worf himself, perhaps due to his outside perspective, has taken Klingon beliefs to heart and turned the warrior drive into a tool of deep introspection. The way he internalises it makes it akin to a personal spirituality that has continuous self improvement and understanding as its goal. His apparent rejection of Klingonhood is merely a rejection of Korris' well meant, but ultimately doomed, version. The end result being the revelation that Worf is perhaps more comfortable in himself than either he or his closest friends quite comprehended before.

Worth the wait. I can see why Worf holds the record for most episodes.

Will check out The Arsenal of Freedom, next.