Star Trek: The Next Generation — 4x07 — Reunion

Aired 1990-11-05

SpaceOpera.com rating:9

Average reader rating:5.7

Synopsis

Picard mediates a Klingon power struggle.

Remarkable scenes

The sight of the Vor'cha class attack cruiser. A beautiful new ship. Love the closeups.
Worf: "Captain, I must request permission to send another officer." Picard: "May I know your reason?" Worf: "My dishonor among Klingons may offend Ambassador K'Ehleyr." Picard: "Lieutenant, you are a member of this crew and you will not go into hiding whenever a Klingon vessel uncloaks." Worf: "I withdraw my request, sir."
K'Ehleyr, to Worf: "Not even a bite on the cheek for old times sake?" Worf: "Perhaps you are not aware of my dishonor. I have accepted discommendation." K'Ehleyr: "I've heard. So now what, do I have to perform some ridiculous ritual to talk to you?"
I love K'mpec's faith in Picard's ability as a mediator.
I also love how K'mpec continues to drink the poisonous wine with dignity even though he knows it will just kill him faster.
K'Ehleyr pressing Worf for answers regarding his discommendation.
Gowron's first scene. I love that man's eyes!
Worf restraining himself from taking the oath with K'Ehleyr out of fear for Alexander, even though he really wanted to.
Gowron bribing K'Ehleyr. Though just about every scene with Gowron was remarkable. God I love that character.
K'Ehleyr digging through the records to discover the truth about Worf's discommendation.
Duras' aide's simple but effective method of distracting the guard...
Duras confronting K'Ehleyr.
K'Ehleyr uncovering Duras' plot.
Beverly simultaneously and independently uncovering duras' plot.
K'Ehleyr's death.
Worf throws his communicator on his table and it falls to the ground...
Worf's fight with Duras.
Worf killing Duras. I was so surprised nobody stopped him!

Review

This episode is very much about life and death. Two K'mpec, K'Ehleyr, and Duras all die, and Alexander and Gowron are introduced, both of which are characters we're sure to see again. It's interesting to watch how Worf's discommendation initially keeps him out of the loop on Klingon matters but slowly his integral connection to these people leads him to a direct conflict. The scene where Worf murders Duras is easily one of the most powerful scenes TNG has shown us so far and well earned. An absolutely fantastic episode.

10 reader comments

During one tender moment between Worf and K'Ehleyr, she places her hands on his chest. In fact, she lays her hand directly over his communicator. Of course, it doesn't chirp. It must have a "loving embrace sensor" to know when not to turn on ;)
by DSOmo | 08/07/2007 at 3:06 am

Another factoid established by this episode: there are representatives of 13 planets among the Enterprise crew.
This is fantastic, definitely a candidate for my 'best of TNG' award. I especially like Picard's reaction to Worf going AWOL and killing Duras. This is possibly the best-rendered episode of Klingon intrigue, and there's not much to dislike here. Gowron eats the scenery every time he's on screen, Duras finally gets his due, the Romulan involvement in the Klingon power struggle gets teased out, K'mpec dies a death worthy of Shakespeare, and everything comes together nicely.
by JRPoole | 05/02/2008 at 2:05 pm

Something I just thought about. As I pointed out in my mini-review, this episode maintains that there are 13 planets represented on the Enterprise crew. This number seems a little small:
Earth (multiple examples) Betazed (Troi) Kling (Worf) Guinan's planet Bolia (I guess this is the name of the Bolians', as evidenced by Mot the barber's, homeworld) Vulcan (several Vulcans can be seen as crew members in the backgrounds of prior episodes)
This is six already, nearly halfway there, and doesn't even count Data, who's from a colony planet, and the various obviously alien extras who've appeared in the background (the lady getting her hair done in the background of the barbershop scene in "Data's Day," etc.
Okay, I've officially descended into Trek geek-dom by even thinking about this…
by JRPoole | 05/06/2008 at 5:14 pm

I've been rewatching this show recently and this is definitely one of the strongest episodes so far. My only minor gripe is with the lacklustre performance of the Enterprise security staff again.
Ambassador K'Ehleyr is playing a pivotal role in the mediations where one of the two sides has already poisoned K'mpect and set off a bomb, and has been directly threatened by Gowron. You'd think after all that, security might at least post someone at her door in case of emergency.
And let's not even talk about the security officer's Keystone Cops-style chasing after Duras' associate. Would a trained Starfleet officer really fall for such an old ploy?
Then again, if security ever did their job properly there would be a lot less drama (and stolen shuttlecrafts) in this great series.
by Mark McC | 12/25/2008 at 11:44 am

Another "remarkable scene", in my opinion: at the end, when Alexander asks Worf "are you my father?" It's a nice reminder to us that Alexander has been pretty much ignored through all of this, even though it affects his life as much as, if not more than, anybody else's.
I've always liked Alexander. I know some people hate him or find him annoying, but I sympathize with him. It's not easy to see your mother die a bloody death, and then find out your father is the biggest hardass in the galaxy.
by John DC | 12/30/2010 at 5:24 am

Great episode. It could so easily have been done badly, but it was done well. I found K'Ehleyr very interesting to watch.
by Christopher Alexander | 03/19/2011 at 3:06 pm

One point I that was confusing to me was the bomb plot. They never described exactly how the plot was supposed to work and why it failed. It came across as though Duras randomly set off a Romulan bomb because, hey, he's an evil traitor, that's what evil traitors do.
by Christopher Alexander | 03/20/2011 at 12:05 am

Another excellent use of the "onesie", the tight, form fitting one piece outfit favored by Star Trek for young, attractive women, in this case K'Ehleyr, who did not disappoint in this area. See my comment on the previous episode.
by Jeff Browning | 10/21/2011 at 2:17 pm

JRPoole, I'll join you in geek-dom, years after your post.
The Federation has a lot of planets and races, but how involved all of them are with Starfleet is unclear. Tellar and Andor are founding members of the Federation and we rarely see them as crew on any ship in most ST series. I think 13 is a reasonable number for the Starfleet flagship. It also stands to reason that humans dominate Starfleet if for no other reason than Earth is where the HQ is at, and therefore probably the main recruiting grounds.
Descending even further into geek-dom, it's been implied that races like Vulcans and Andorians don't reproduce nearly as quickly as humans. Vulcans enter their cycle every seven years, Andorians need four parents, etc. This may also be why Earth and human-colonized planets dominate the overall Federation population.
The simple, real-world reason why humans dominate Starfleet is that makeup and costumes inevitably consume budget money, but I still think that 13 is about right if you consider how many humans are on the Enterprise.
by Axel | 02/28/2015 at 5:18 am

When Alexander grabs the bathlet on the wall, the next scene should have been sickbay. Look where and how he grabs it. And the death of the mother was annoying because they did not seem to hurry at all. No beaming her to sickbay, no beaming the doctors into her quarters.
by Amelia Obumhardt | 07/29/2021 at 4:34 pm