“The Enemy” (3×07)
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This was just a straight-up excellent episode. All three storylines were firing on all cylinders, and two of the storylines were genuinely surprising.
This episode evidently originally aired on November 6, 1989 — three days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. I mention that because the themes of the episode resonate strongly with that particular moment in history. For all of the classical Roman iconography, the Romulans have always been a useful stand-in for the shadowy Soviet menace. It’s a classic Cold War-era standoff: The Romulan commander can’t leave his people behind, at the mercy of the enemy, and so he risks the ceasefire to get them back. Picard can’t let the Romulan incursion into Federation space go unanswered, or the Federation will look weak in the eyes of the Romulans, inviting further aggression. As their brinkmanship escalates, the fate of both sides rests with characters who may or may not still be alive, as far as those up in space are concerned.
At the same time, LaForge and Bochra are able to bridge the immense gulf between their two peoples, see one another as people, and collaborate to get rescued. And their personal detente in all likelihood averts a galactic war.
So it’s a Cold War story that had the foresight to understand that the Cold War wouldn’t last forever.
It’s a great Geordi episode, and LeVar Burton gets some bad moments. First he MacGyvers his way out of that sinkhole, and then he doesn’t give an inch to his Romulan captor. Really good work by John Snyder too as Bochra.
Conversely, Worf’s hatred toward the Romulans is only further solidified in this episode. It was vaguely shocking that Worf didn’t consent to the procedure and let the first Romulan die; it’s the kind of move DS9 would pull, but it’s uncharacteristically harsh for this show. I loved that when things came to a head, and Worf told Picard that he would obey a direct order, Picard couldn’t bring himself to do it even though it would have made his life a lot easier. Even though it wouldn’t have been his choice, he understood Worf’s reasoning, and respected it.
Impacts on Star Trek Continuity:
I know the collapse of the Romulan Star Empire as a result of Romulus’s home star going supernova is not popular with wide swathes of the fandom, but this episode underlined for me why it was the right move. The Romulan Empire was so militant and so secretive that it greatly constrained the stories that could be told with them. But Romulans as a race of humbled refugees? Now that opens up some possibilities.
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