Unification, Part 1 (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 7) Picard Questions Sarek about Renegade Spock

Rewatching ST:TNG

Informed that the venerable Ambassador Spock has vanished without a word and has been spotted on Romulus, Picard visits the ailing Sarek, who reports Spock’s optimistic hopes to reunify the Vulcan and Romulan people.

This was an important theme in the early 90s, with the recent fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR.

As a fan of Trek and good acting, I remember being thrilled by the big scene between Patrick Stewart and Mark Lenard. It still holds up after 30 years.

Following up on information he gained from Sarek, Picard heads to the Klingon Homeworld to call in a favor.

The episode is a two-parter, so we aren’t hustled through the story. There’s a good bit of filler, but I enjoyed the side quest that takes the Enterprise to a junkyard run by a procedure-minded sad-sack, and the extended comic bit where Picard and Data do a “Bert tries to sleep while Ernie cluelessly keeps him awake” routine. Our first visit to Romulus, with subterfuge and disguise, and some space pew-pew keeps us entertained, though of course I was impatient to finally meet Spock.