User:Wfaulk/reviews/4x13

feels like a season 1 episode
3/5: not recommended

Legal dramas and con men are surprisingly common and surprisingly effective in Star Trek. Not so much with this episode. For one thing, the special effects are not up to snuff, and the Ventaxians' unquestioning deference isn't quite believable.

There is one thing in the episode that I liked. Picard references Satan and Ardra says she hasn't heard that name in a while. In a later scene, she changes her appearance into that of Satan. After she's had a chance to program it into her computer. This wasn't spelled out, and it added a nice subtle confirmation of the premise.

But there's not really a lot to the episode. It's just a lot of posturing (and more attempted Picard seduction -- someone on the writing staff must have had a crush) until the secret was discovered -- off-screen, no less -- and the con defused.