Season five kicks off in earnest with Darmok, an episode that is as much a departure as it is a success. The story, the acting, and the directing are all top-notch. And there a few scenes that are easily some of the most memorable of the entire series.

Darmok is, at its heart, a story about the profound importance of communication and finding common ground between two very different cultures. The Enterprise has been dispatched to El-Adrel, a neutral, unexplored planet to meet up with a mysterious race called the “Children of Tama” who, in previous encounters with the Federation, were reported to be “incomprehensible.”

But the Children of Tama, also known as the Tamarians, are intent on establishing communication — so intent that their captain, Dathon, kidnaps Picard and transports him to the surface below. Riker, and the rest of the crew, spend the episode attempting to retrieve Picard. But their attempts (using transporters and shuttlecraft) are foiled by the Tamarian ship, also in orbit. Meanwhile, on the planet, Dathon (uttering the baffling phrase “Temba. His arms wide.”) is eagerly offering a vicious-looking dagger to Picard who refuses what he perceives as some sort confrontation.

It seems a bit extreme for the Children of Tama to take such drastic measures just to establish communications. But when you consider how profoundly language influences a culture’s thought patterns, the rationale behind their actions becomes clear. As Picard discovers, the Children of Tama communicate by way of metaphor. And so the phrase, “Temba. His arms wide,” is actually a visual representation of giving something away.

The rationale for the abduction of Picard is encapsulated in the phrase “Darmok and Jalad and Tanagra,” which Dathon repeatedly utters to Picard. The mythological origin of this phrase tells of two hunters, Darmok and Jalad, who overcame their differences to become friends by facing a common enemy on the island of Tanagra. And indeed, on El-Adrel, there is a powerful malevolent entity stalking the two captains. Dathon’s dagger is meant as a means of cooperation, not competition. So, to Dathon, the idea of “Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel” makes sense — because it worked for Darmok and Jalad on the island of Tanagra.

As it turns out, through their shared sense of danger, Picard and Dathon do begin to form a bond and start to overcome their language barrier. But the breakthrough comes at the cost of Dathon’s life. The scene where he and Picard finally begin to speak to one another is beautifully written, directed, and acted. It is the final moment of Dathon’s life and Picard’s recollection of Gilgamesh and Enkidu is both poignant and symbolic. And for an episode that relies on metaphor, a more perfect scene could not have been performed.

The episode also does an excellent, yet subtle, job of establishing that Dathon’s sacrifice was not in vain. After Picard defuses a firefight between the Enterprise and the Tamarians, brought about by Riker’s impatience, he is shown in his Ready Room reading Gilgamesh. As he says to Riker, “More familiarity with our own mythology might help us relate to theirs.” And the final scene, of Picard giving a Tamarian salute to his fallen comrade, is a fitting remembrance.

There are only two notable criticisms of this episode. The first comes from Riker. He says all the right things and goes the proper actions. But somehow he has suddenly become an impatient, angry commander — instead of the poised captain who defeated the Borg. The second has to do with the episode’s backstory. Why would the Enterprise be dispatched to this encounter without the recorded logs of the previous encounters with the Children of Tama? And why would there be absolutely no theories, of any kind, on communication?

Darmok is a poignant, dramatic and classic episode of TNG. Intelligent, profound, and filled with a rich study of the importance of language and understanding, Darmok is an episode that every fan of TNG must see.

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