Time Squared is an incredibly flawed and pointless episode. There are serious editing and continuity mistakes throughout the episode. And that doesn’t even begin to touch upon the problems with the story and acting.

The story is one that starts off tenuously enough: we find a duplicate Enterprise shuttle carrying a duplicate Picard. It is a precarious premise, but because we’re watching TNG, we give it a chance to develop. Unfortunately, it develops right off the cliff (or, perhaps into the vortex) and fails miserably.

Time travel / paradox stories require great skill in their telling because the explanations are necessarily vague, esoteric, and often counterintuitive. Sadly, Time Squared is blunt, clumsy, and boring. The whole idea of going back in time throwing off a biological clock is completely contradicted by every other single instance of time travel in the TNG canon — both before and after this particular episode. Furthermore, it leads to a downright embarrassing performance from the duplicate Picard as he tries to portray confusion. Maybe it’s the performance, maybe it’s the nostril-shot camera angle, but this is, truly, one of the worst performance Picard ever gives.

We also get a scene between Pulaski and Troi about whether or not Picard is fit to command the Enterprise all because he is … under stress? I guess the next time Pulaski is under stress, she should be removed from sick bay because, clearly, she believes stress means a professional cannot perform his/her duties.

And the resolution of the story is just plain incomprehensible. We’re given no explanation for the vortex, what it is, what it represents … nothing. And yet, somehow, they figure out that the solution is a kamikaze run straight into the heart of the vortex? And the solution works? The only possible reason for it is that any explanation of a proper solution would have taken longer than the allotted time for the episode. Guess they shouldn’t have wasted time on pointless scenes like having Pulaski confirm that the duplicate Picard is dead — the very scene after we see the original Picard kill him — the scene just before he disappears anyway.

Other clear mistakes include having Troi miraculously show up in sick bay before Picard, even though she left the bridge after he did. Of course, earlier in the episode, she appeared out of nowhere in the cargo bay, so I suppose the ability to apparate is as much of a Betazoid talent as it is for Hermione Granger.

The only highlight to the episode is its opening scene which has Riker cooking for his shipmates. It’s a nice addition to his character and his exposition about his father will be revisited in a future episode.

Time Squared is just a mess of an episode. Pointless, flawed, boring and an almost complete waste of time.

Topics: Time Travel
Filed under: TNG Reviews