Original air date: November 8, 1993
Picard and Crusher are having their daily breakfast together. Crusher is blathering on about a romance between Nurse Ogawa and another crew member. Picard, however, is distracted by the upcoming issue of whether to admit the Kes of the planet Kesprytt into the Federation and leave their more conservative and xenophobic faction the Prytt out, something that has never been done before. Just as the pair starts to argue about it, they're called away to transport down to the planet for a diplomatic meeting with the Kes. After beaming them away, however, Worf receives word that they never arrived at their destination.
Picard and Crusher wake up in a cell with implants attached to the backs of their necks. Prytt Security Chief Lorin arrives to announce that they're under arrest for conspiring to form a military alliance with the Kes, which Picard denies. Before the pair can work out an escape attempt, they receive a tricorder with a map and instructions to escape. They decide to trust the instructions and make a break for it.
On the Enterprise, the crew figure out that Crusher and Picard were abducted by the Prytt and decides to work with the Kes to help negotiate their release. Kes Ambassador Mauric assures Riker that the Prytt are impossible to negotiate with, so a strike team is the only solution. Riker insists on trying diplomacy first, but just his attempt to contact their government outrages the Prytt, who staunchly refuse to even talk to the Federation. Mauric, however, announces that he has already achieved the prisoners' escape, and his spies will collect them at the meeting point he's given them.
Picard and Crusher follow their directions through a labyrinth of caves. It becomes increasingly apparent that they can hear each other's thoughts and feelings due to the Prytt implants, which were intended to be used for their interrogation. When they arrive on the planet's surface, it's already causing them some embarrassment, but trying to separate from each other causes intense nausea, so they're "attached" to each other. After spotting some Prytt looking for them, they hide and decide to take another route toward the border between Kes and Prytt.
On the Enterprise, Mauric is puzzled by the fact that Crusher and Picard avoided his meeting point. He's already loaded his quarters on the ship with surveillance equipment and grown increasingly paranoid about spies and plots. Now he begins to suspect that the Federation is actually in league with the Prytt, and this whole ordeal has been a sham.
As Picard and Crusher camp for the night, they begin freely sharing each other's deepest thoughts. Crusher realizes that Picard was in love with her during her marriage to Jack Crusher, which is why he resolved to stay away from her and initially opposed her being stationed on the Enterprise. Picard admits that he's always felt incredible guilt over his feelings and didn't know whether they'd return when she reappeared in his life. He's come to the conclusion that he no longer loves her romantically, but they are still friends.
Riker has had enough of both the Kes and the Prytt. He summons Mauric and beams Lorin into the observation lounge to hash things out. Both argue incessantly and accuse the other of colluding with the Federation. Riker assures them both that the Federation will not be admitting either of them into its ranks. He then warns Lorin that any harm coming to Picard or Crusher will only increase the Federation presence on their planet. Lorin takes the threat seriously. On the planet, Prytt security forces chase Crusher and Picard to the border between the two nations. Crusher helps Picard escape, while she remains behind, but the Prytt simply communicate their coordinates so that their ship can beam them safely away.
As Riker escorts Crusher and Picard to the turbolifts, the pair share a few jokes with each other through their telepathic link, to the confusion of Riker. That night, with their implants removed, they share the fine, simple meal that they've realized they both prefer before talking about their relationship and the impact their close emotional connection has made on it. Picard suggests that they not be afraid of exploring the lingering feelings between them, but Crusher tells him that they should be afraid. She gives him a chaste kiss on the cheek and bids him goodbye. Picard sullenly blows out the candles on the dinner table as the ship jets off into deep space.
Tropes:
- Aliens Are Bastards: The Prytt take this to an absurd degree. They abduct Picard and Beverly, accuse them of trying to form a military alliance with the Kes, their government leader refuses to talk to the Enterprise without security authorization, then their security leader hails the Enterprise just to tell them to stop trying to talk to them and they'll attack them if they keep trying.
- All Planets Are Earth-Like: At 26:18, you can clearly see that the planet surface is an orbital shot of the northern coast of Australia, which was mentioned earlier in the episode.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Mauric initially appears to be friendly, if more than a little wary of possible spy devices, but he soon turns out to be aggressively paranoid, accusing the Federation of secretly plotting with the Prytt to destroy the Kes. When Riker demands to know why they would do that when it was the Kes who invited them to the planet in the first place, Mauric just snaps: "Indeed! Why?"
- Better as Friends: Picard announces that he's no longer in love with Crusher and that they're better as friends. Later, however, he proposes that they explore their lingering feelings, but Crusher is now the one to turn him down, and they remain just friends.
- Bullying a Dragon: The Prytt join a long tradition of minimally advanced nations trying to get tough with the Federation in spite of posing no military threat whatsoever.
- Call-Back:
- Beverly admits to insulting a date's beard in her youth. She pronounced beards a mere affectation and tried to get Riker, Worf, and Geordi to stake theirs on a poker game in "The Quality of Life."
- Probably not an intentional one, but we can see Picard's fire-making skills have improved since "Darmok."
- Chained Heat: An Applied Phlebotinum telepathic chain, to boot. Also the theme of the episode.
- Conspiracy Theorist: It takes Mauric all of a few minutes to decide that Picard and Crusher failing to make a rendezvous is a sign that the crew of the Enterprise are colluding with the Prytt. Likewise, his counterpart Lorin hotly insists that the Prytt are fully prepared for the attacks the Kes are planning to launch on their country once they have Federation technology.
- Continuity Nod: Beverly previously displayed a fear of heights in Chain of Command.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: In order to get the Prytt to play ball, Riker threatens to have even more starships show up scanning every meter of the planet, calling every official at every level, and generally being as obtrusive and obnoxious as possible to drive the xenophobic Prytt insane.
- Deadpan Snarker: Picard observes that Beverly always has a sarcastic remark at the ready and often has to bite her tongue.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- The Prytt clearly didn't think out the ramifications of abducting two Starfleet officers, let alone the captain of their flagship. Riker even points this out when chastising Lorin. He says that unless both officers are returned peacefully and unharmed, their nation will become swarmed with Starfleet officers demanding answers.
- Mauric seemed to think that accusing (at minimum) the captain, first officer, and chief medical officer of the Federation's flagship of colluding with the Prytt would have no effect whatsoever on the Kes' application for Federation membership, despite the fact that the whole reason the Enterprise came to the planet in the first place was to evaluate them for exactly that reason. Riker and Picard both strongly imply that he's basically torpedoed any chance they had of joining for the foreseeable future.
- Electronic Telepathy: The devices attached to Picard and Crusher allow them to read each other's mind.
- Foreshadowing:
- Picard's disinterested reaction to Crusher's promise of "something Vulcan" for their next breakfast foreshadows the revelation that he doesn't like the fancy food Crusher has been inflicting on them both.
- Picard and Crusher's growing telepathic link gets foreshadowed a few times, first when Crusher stares at Picard for no particular reason, and then when Picard asks Crusher to repeat something, but she didn't say anything.
- Hypocrite: After being beamed aboard the Enterprise, Lorin describes her abduction as an "outrage", despite having done the same to Picard and Crusher (and with far less benevolent motives, to boot).
- Improperly Paranoid:
- Lorin has Picard and Crusher abducted out of a paranoid assumption that the Federation is forming a military alliance with the Kes, when in reality, they only came to Kesprytt III to evaluate the Kes' application to join.
- Mauric feels the need to scan his quarters on the Enterprise, as well as the ship's first officer and chief of security, for bugs, and quickly assumes that they're conspiring against the Kes the moment things don't go according to plan.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Mauric describes the Prytt as a brutish people who only understand force while looking right at Worf, who narrows his eyes dubiously. Worf has heard these accusations many times about Klingons such as himself.
- Crusher recalls insulting the beard of the man she was dating, thinking she was being "cute," but she later realized that she was just being mean.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- When Picard and Crusher fail to make a rendezvous, Mauric, rather than take any actual evidence into account, immediately assumes that they're working with the Prytt. This, despite the fact that it was the Kes who requested the presence of the Enterprise, and he had already described the Prytt as xenophobic and distrusting of outsiders, begging the question as to why they'd want help from outsiders.
- After abducting Picard and Crusher, Lorin justifies their imprisonment by charging them with spying... on a planet they never set foot on prior to their abduction.
- Irony: For all their sniping at each other and the cold war between their people, Lorin and Mauric independently come to the exact same erroneous conclusions, that the other side is working with the Federation to establish a military alliance, and that Riker is just pretending to be opposed to either of them, proving that they, and probably their nations, are not so different.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The threat of more Federation ships putting the Prytt under (in Riker's words) "a very large, very uncomfortable microscope" convinces Lorin to allow Picard and Crusher to return to the Enterprise.
- The Main Characters Do Everything:
- Worf handles the transport of Picard and Crusher down to the planet so that he can be the one to react to the message that the pair never arrived.
- The ship's diplomatic envoy is composed solely of the captain and chief doctor for no apparent reason. It's just so Picard and Crusher can work out their feelings for each other over the episode's plot.
- Not Helping Your Case: When Riker assures Lorin that the Kes' application for Federation membership will be denied, Mauric objects that even though the Enterprise crew has been conspiring with the Prytt since they arrived in the system, the Kes still intend to seek membership in the Federation.
- Not So Stoic: Worf is audibly annoyed by Mauric's paranoia, letting out an irritated sigh when Mauric insists that Worf enter the provided quarters first.
- One World Order: While not a requirement for admittance into the Federation, every planet admitted so far has put aside its factional differences and joined the Federation as a single nation. The fact that Kesprytt is still divided gives Picard and others in the Federation pause about whether the Kes should be admitted alone.
- Only Sane Man: Riker gets quite a workout in his dealings with Mauric and Lorin; while they both confidently assert that they "know" about the supposed alliance between the Federation and each opposing side, he's barely keeping his patience while insisting on Picard and Crusher's safe return.
- The Paranoiac: Both Mauric and Lorin, and this is implied to be the hat for Kesprytt III:
- Even aboard the Enterprise, hoping to gain admittance to the Federation, Mauric doesn't trust the crew or their security measures for a moment (he has Worf— the ship's security chief— walk first into the provided quarters, scans the room for bugs, and does the same to both Riker and Worf, and once he's satisfied with the room, he essentially turns it into his new office, fills it with surveilance equipment from his own planet and is only willing to divulge Riker any information while in the room), and it only takes Picard and Crusher failing to make a rendezvous (one that the instructions for their escape route failed to mention) to convince him that the Enterprise crew is plotting to backstab them to make a military alliance with the Prytt.
- Lorin has Picard and Crusher abducted on the assumption that the Kes are planning to form a military alliance with the Federation, mentions that they're officially charged with spying (worth noting is that Picard and Crusher hadn't even set foot on Kesprytt III before Lorin kidnapped them), and threatens to open fire on the Enterprise for simply trying to negotiate.
- Plain Palate: Due to their telepathic link, Crusher finally realizes that Picard prefers simple breakfasts and not the elaborate ones she's been making lately. For her part, Crusher admits that she actually prefers simple breakfasts herself. The pair agree to keep their breakfasts simple going forward.
- Properly Paranoid: Deconstructed with Mauric. At first, his paranoia and concern for security seem rather reasonable, as the Prytt did manage to abduct Picard and Beverly right out from under the Enterprise. However, he becomes increasingly unhinged and suggests wild conspiracy theories.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Riker delivers one to the Kes Ambassador Mauric by telling him that their application to join the Federation will be denied due, in part, to their extreme paranoia and because the whole debacle with Picard and Crusher's kidnapping has illustrated how deep the problems actually are on the planet:Mauric: We still plan to take our application directly to the Federation Council! They'll listen-!
Riker: They will also listen to the reports of the Captain of the Enterprise and its First Officer! And I can tell you right now that the First Officer's report will go something like this: "Kesprytt, a deeply troubled world with social, political, and military problems that they have yet to resolve. The Kes, while a friendly and democratic people, are driven by suspicion, deviousness, and paranoia. It is the opinion of this officer that they are not ready for membership." - Screw This, I'm Outta Here: For most of the episode, Riker feels that it's necessary to maintain basic courtesy towards the Kes (who are, after all, potential future members of the Federation), and perhaps even hopes that forcing a dialogue between the Kes and the Prytt will help resolve some of their lingering issues. After only a few minutes of listening to said "dialogue", which consists entirely of both sides accusing the other of trying to use Federation aid against them, Riker slams a hand down on the table, tells the Kes's representative that there is no way in hell their planet will be admitted, then delivers a not-so-subtle threat to the Prytt's representatives to get Picard and Crusher returned. His tone makes clear that once the Enterprise has its missing officers back, the ship will be leaving orbit and it will be a long time before another Federation ship comes their way.
- Ship Tease: Picard and Beverly finally address their Unresolved Sexual Tension, though they decide that they're Better as Friends.
- Small Name, Big Ego:
- Lorin threatens to open fire on the Enterprise if they don't stop trying to open negotiations. Worf quickly determines that their weapons pose no threat at all to the starship, and Riker seems to find the threat more annoying than anything else.
- Mauric thinks that the Federation Council will listen to him, an ambassador from a prospective member world, rather than the highly-respected Captain and First Officer of the flagship when they say the planet isn't ready to join. He also thinks the Kes are entitled to have their membership application heard and granted, even as he is accusing those same officers of conspiring with the Kes' rivals.
- Space Cold War: The Kes and the Prytt - two rival factions on the same planet - are a less-than-subtle Expy of the United States and the Soviet Union during the 20th Century. While the Kes appear to be the more democratic and welcoming of the two, both sides appear paranoid to the point of insanity to the Federation outsiders.
- Spanner in the Works: The escape route that Picard and Crusher are following turns out to be blocked by a random Prytt guard, forcing them to seek another way to the border. When they fail to show up for their expected rendezvous, the paranoid Mauric promptly becomes convinced they have made a secret deal with the Prytt, resulting in the whole thing escalating into a three-way diplomatic crisis. By the end, it's implied that this will have torpedoed the Kes' chances of joining the Federation.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Guess who. Picard realized his feelings for Beverly back when Jack was still alive and felt awful for feeling that way about his best friend's wife. After Jack died, Picard was ashamed that even considered acting on his feelings and thought they'd just go away. He admits he tried to keep Beverly off the Enterprise for this reason.
- Status Quo Is God: A bit of a marginal case. After six seasons of Unresolved Sexual Tension, the writers demurred to have Picard the Crusher finally get together. This episode does seem to formally announce that they're Better as Friends, but Picard's unhappy reaction to Crusher's decision still leaves the door open.
- You Are Not Ready: The ultimate conclusion with regard to Kesprytt III, as the clear and rancorous division between the Kes and the Prytt disqualifies the planet from inclusion in the Federation.
