Retro ReView – “Hide and Q” (ST:TNG S1E9)

New blog rule – any Next Gen episode featuring Q automatically goes up at least one point in my totally arbitrary ratings scale, simply because John De Lancie does a brilliant job chewing up the scenery whenever he’s onscreen. Q is unquestionably the best part of the otherwise painfully dull “Encounter at Farpoint” opener, and in his return here, he once again doesn’t disappoint, taking an otherwise fairly bland rehash of TOS episode “Plato’s Stepchildren” and instead turning in some great moments opposite Patrick Stewart’s Picard.

The overarching plot on this one is that Enterprise is en route to aid colonists caught in a methane explosion (too many cows? Ed.) when Q shows up again, this time to announce that Riker is being considered for membership. Riker is then gifted with Q powers, and he and most of the bridge crew are placed on a planet for a war game, the whole point of which is to push Riker into a no win scenario where he has to use his powers.

Which, predictably, he does, saving both Worf and Wesley from death. Oh Riker, you really walked face first into that one, didn’t you? Q plays an interesting dual role here, alternating between the mischievous trickster god trying to entice a new member into his club, and tempter pushing Riker to test his powers and go back on his word, just this one time, always for the best of intentions.

Cue some fantastic dialog exchanges between Q and Picard where they proceed to quote Shakespeare at each other. As usual, Picard’s view of humanity seems hopelessly optimistic in 2023, though it’s fair to ask if it would have seemed any less optimistic in 1987 when the Cold War still seemed like it could go hot at any moment. Still, one of the things I find most refreshing about TNG is that it comes from an era where writers still cared about Western Literature. Picard, a 24^th Century, well educated, Starfleet captain, doesn’t quote from or study Ibram X. Kendi, Robin DeAngelo, or any other modern authors, he studies Shakespeare and other giants of Western Civilization.

Yes, I realize that in behind the scenes writing terms, none of the modern authors I mentioned had written anything in 1987, but the point remains. I like the optimism that by the 24^th Century, the woke nonsense of the current era will have fallen by the wayside while the founding pillars of western thought remain.

From here, we meander on with Riker promising to not use his new powers, and failing. Good intentions are no match for the seductive lure of absolute power, nor do his friends appreciate his ability to gift them whatever he things they truly want. In that regard, he’s kind of like the Wizard of Oz – Worf wants companionship, Wesley wants to grow up (as do we all…), and Geordi wants to see – but none of them want this in the way that Riker delivers it.

This episode works well as a tale of a good man tempted and corrupted by absolute power. In that regard, it’s almost a morality play. However, this is still a TV show, so at the end of the episode everything needs to be neatly wrapped up. Riker loses his powers, Q loses his gamble, and gets dragged back to the Q Continuum for his failure.

And that’s the last we hear from Q for the rest of the series. Haha, just kidding. He’ll be back to chew up the scenery a few more times, over the course of the Next Gen seasons, not to mention the future brain melting crossover into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.