Contagion
Season 2 Episode 11
Original airdate: March 18, 1989
Netflix Synopsis
Capt. Picard and the crew respond to a distress call from the Enterprise’s sister ship, the USS Yamato.
My Brief Review
Boy, the Yamato had a troubled and brief existence. In my first review, it featured — merely as an illusion — in a surreal sequence where it was destroyed, and in this episode it is destroyed for real. But its demise leads to an intense and exciting episode, wherein the Enterprise travels deep into the Neutral Zone, pursued by angry Romulans, as it attempts to uncover the mystery of a series of system failures that led to the Yamato’s explosion.
A mysterious probe launched from the ruins of an ancient, highly advanced civilization was the source of the problem, and the contagion — a computer virus, of sorts, not a biological one, for once — spread from the Yamato to the Enterprise and to the Romulan ship. Picard leads an away team along with Data and Worf — no red shirts dying today! — to the site where the probe was launched, where they discover a portal that the ancient society had used to teleport instantly between worlds.
This kind of episode may not be everyone’s cup of tea (Earl Grey, hot), but I love it.
Memorable Moment
Speaking of Earl Grey, hot… this was the first episode wherein Captain Picard ordered his signature beverage from the replicator. Only, due to the computer virus, he is served a potted plant instead.
Crew Rando
Ensign Williams. She isn’t really that memorable, but hey, a crew rando who actually gets a named, credited role! At least she wasn’t sacrificed on the away mission.
I should also note that I skipped an episode here, S2E9, “The Dauphin,” which Netflix summarizes thus: “Wesley Crusher suffers from the pangs of first love when the Enterprise is tasked to transport a young woman, Salia, back to her home.” No thanks.
Distance Rating: 5K
IMDb score: 7.7/10