When Picard gets up at three in the morning he is somewhat annoyed that several systems are down at the request of the Stellar Cartography department; unable to do what he planned or even have a cup of Earl Grey he goes to see what can be so important that key systems must be taken off line. Here he meets department head Lt. Commander Nella Daren. He finds himself attracted to her and after discovering that they share a love of music they start spending more time together. He plays the Ressikan flute that he got in the episode 'The Inner Light' and tells her about the events of that episode. As their relationship develops it makes things a bit awkward for Riker as Daren asks him for the allocation of resources and personnel; routine requests that any section head might request but made awkward because she is seeing Riker's boss. Then the Enterprise is called in when a dangerous firestorm approaches a Federation outpost and her skills mean she is called on to take part in the evacuation. The storm is worse than expected and it looks as if a couple of the away teams may have been lost; including Daren's. Back on the Enterprise Picard feels helpless and unable to function properly.
This is one of those episodes that is more about the emotions and relationships of the crew rather than about the action. The action that we do see is there to serve the emotional side of the story. It was nice to see Capt. Picard forming a relationship that went beyond friendship especially when it managed to link to 'The Inner Light'; one of the series best emotional episodes. This episode does have one major weakness; the nature of the series meant we know from the start his relationship would be over before the episode was. It would have been nice if the relationship could have been allowed to last a few episodes so its end wasn't so obvious at least they avoided the cliché of having her killed and dealt with the difficulties Picard would have sending her of further away missions. Guest star Wendy Hughes did a fine job as Daren; the relationship between her and Patrick Stewart's Picard was believable and touching; I especially liked their playing music in the Jeffrey's tubes. Overall a good emotional episode.
This is one of those episodes that is more about the emotions and relationships of the crew rather than about the action. The action that we do see is there to serve the emotional side of the story. It was nice to see Capt. Picard forming a relationship that went beyond friendship especially when it managed to link to 'The Inner Light'; one of the series best emotional episodes. This episode does have one major weakness; the nature of the series meant we know from the start his relationship would be over before the episode was. It would have been nice if the relationship could have been allowed to last a few episodes so its end wasn't so obvious at least they avoided the cliché of having her killed and dealt with the difficulties Picard would have sending her of further away missions. Guest star Wendy Hughes did a fine job as Daren; the relationship between her and Patrick Stewart's Picard was believable and touching; I especially liked their playing music in the Jeffrey's tubes. Overall a good emotional episode.