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| TNG "The Hunted" |
"The Hunted" is Star Trek does First Blood. The Enterprise travels to Angosia, and this strange world is used to reflect our social issue of veteran treatment. Just like John Rambo, Angosian fugitive Roga Danar was a soldier, programmed and conditioned for war, used by his government and society, but cast aside by the same in peacetime.
And functionally, the episode plays out a bit like the Enterprise vs. an 80s action hero. Actually, the one-man army has the upper hand. The ingenuity of Roga humbles Picard and the crew constantly, and Deanna empathizes with the inhumane plight that the Angosian government has put Roga in.
This is an action episode, but the action is built upon a fascinating dynamic. When the Enterprise has Roga in the brig, Deanna, Data, and Picard sympathize with Roga and rue having to turn him over to the local authorities. Roga comes out and says he'll do anything he can to escape that fate. And vis a vis Patrick Stewart's subtle acting, Picard tacitly respects and accepts Roga's vow to tear through the Enterprise for a shot at freedom. So the nominal hero and villain of the episode are in high-stakes conflict with each other, with no malice between them. Each cat and mouse ploy, each reversal, has an undercurrent of respect.
The Enterprise is in the Angosian system because Angosia (headed by James Cromwell's Prime Minister Nayrok) is petitioning for Federation membership. Picard, his eyes open to the Angosian exploitation and disrespect of their soldiers, satisfyingly refuses them. And the Angosian society of bureaucratic philosophers looks like a 19th Century, cod-Wellsian utopia - we see no Angosian women.
Solid social commentary, engaging action, and an antagonist with depth. 7/10.
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