Devil's Due

The population of Ventax II is losing its collective mind. That’s because Ardra, the deity that brought 1,000 years of peace to the planet, is coming back to collect her payment: the servitude of every Ventaxian, as well as the servitude of every person orbiting Ventax II. Sadly, this includes the captain and crew of the starship Enterprise. But maybe Captain Picard can find a loophole in the contract. Also, are we SURE Ardra is a deity? Part Columbo and part Perry Mason, it’s time to put Devil’s Due in the Mission Log. I thought the story was that the Klingons killed the gods who created them, for being weak, and then destroyed heaven. Maybe Fek’lhr or whatever was like their Hades, and met the same fate. “Vishuns?!? You mean dreamsh.” – Picard, with a weird lisp — For some reason. Proof that this was an adapted Phase 2 script was how useless Troi was. The plot doesn’t work when a member of the crew can sense a con. Typically, Troi would immediately pipe in that she is sensing deception or whatever. In this one, she is silent when Ardra appears, and later there’s a one-line explanation about how she can’t read her because she’s a really good con artist or something, and her powers are never used again. This should have been a season 1 episode and had Troi away on a conference again. Yaaaaaayyyy!!!! You guys fell on the right side of….eternity. Or something. I’m drunk with surprise. And a few beers. I’m used to people disliking this episode, considering it pointless, boring, and not-Trek. Because the cast isn’t traveling around (though they did), visiting planets (though they are), and…well…they’re still preaching stuff (as they do). So…I dont’ know WHY it’s not more-liked, I’ve just gathered that it isn’t. They’re still doing the human condition thing (with a stand-in alien planet this time). Picard speech. Whaddya want? Is it just the minimalism that isn’t working for you? I don’t get the hate, at all. I was fully expecting to have my heart crushed here. But it survives, thanks to our gallant hosts. “Devil’s Due”, whatever you wanna say about its message (which is never, ever the draw of Trek, not for me), is just a super-fun episode. Yeah, a TOS-type episode. Kinda like the last kinda-TOS episode, “The Most Toys”. This episode lives and dies on the chemistry of Picard, Data, and the guest star, the fabulous Ardra. The story here, very, very light. Minimal sets. Just…chemistry. Dialogue. Flirting. Jokes. A message (again, NOT the draw) based on core Gene-values. But not outrageously dated or sexist or whatever. In fact, half the episode is the female guest star sexually harassing Picard. Yeah, it’s not funny. In theory. In practice…it’s…kinda amusing to watch him continually rejecting her, in such a dignified way, I gotta admit. At least she isn’t physical with him. Just beaming him around in his skivvies, while still dressing herself up, trying/failing to be seductive, when really she shoulda taken the hint. If not for her Picard-lust, she maybe coulda had a whole planet at her feet. But she would not let him leave, because she found him irresistible. Woulda loved to see Sylvia’s Phyllis Diller outfit HERE. Troi was a very nice touch, however, though if Ardra knew anything (which she clearly didn’t), she chose the wrong female Trek regular. Was Beverly even in this episode? It’s gotta be the finest hour for Trek and sexual harassment, is what I’m saying. I’ll stand by that. This episode’s a courtroom procedural, Which Trek has done before, never any more dramatically than here (no, that’s not exactly meant as a compliment) The Ventaxian leader is so spineless and brainless that he’s annoying. I almost wanted him to lose, if his poor, dumb planet would still be spared. But having Data as the judge, and the….God, the chemistry! Again. “The advocate will please refrain from making her opponent disappear”, “The advocate will refrain from expressing personal affections for her opponent.” Brilliant deadpan writing. Woulda