TNG Spoiler: Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Rightful Heir"
Tim Lynch
Review by Tim Lynch <tly...@juliet.caltech.edu>
===============================================
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Rightful Heir", the latest
offering from TNG. If you're squeamish about spoilers and haven't been
spoiled yet, stay away.
Took a bit too long to get started, but after that it worked just fine.
"Rightful Heir" is in some ways a story that might be too controversial to do
in anything other than an SF setting ... but I'll get into that later.
First, of course, here comes a synopsis!
Worf, feeling bereft of his faith after his recent encounter with a group of
young Klingons, becomes derelict of duty by performing a Klingon religious
rite in his quarters, trying to summon a vision of the legendary Kahless.
Picard, after harshly reprimanding him for the inappropriateness of his
actions, offers his sympathies for what Worf is feeling, and places Worf on
leave. This allows Worf to go to Borath, home of the Klingon High Clerics,
who are awaiting Kahless's prophesied return.
After only ten days on Borath, though, Worf becomes restless and considers
leaving, deciding to stay only after a lecture on open-mindedness from
Koroth, head of the clerics. In a rite soon after, though, Worf not only
_sees_ a vision of Kahless, but _feels_ Kahless's reality, as the legendary
figure claims to have returned.
Initially, everyone is somewhat skeptical, but Kahless tells a tale of his
bat'lekh's forging that has only been passed down orally through the
centuries from cleric to cleric, thus convincing all but Worf of his reality.
Kahless says that he has returned because the Klingon people have "lost their
way", becoming decadent and corrupt. Kahless acknowledges and welcomes
Worf's skepticism at first, saying at least that Worf's _desire_ to believe
is "a beginning". After a few days, however, Kahless begins to tire of it,
and eventually Worf openly questions whether Kahless is trustworthy. They
fight for a short time, but Kahless abruptly breaks off and laughs, exhorting
those around him to rejoice in battle for *honor*, not for bloodshed. "We
are Klingon!", he leads them all to shout...
Before long, the Enterprise comes to collect Kahless for transport to the
Klingon homeworld. Initially, only Worf refuses to dismiss the possibility
of it actually being Kahless, but Picard points out that Kahless is to be an
honored guest while on board. Gowron's arrival, however, puts that hope into
question, as Gowron is convinced Kahless is an impostor and wants the idea of
his return stopped immediately before the Klingons fall into a religious war.
Kahless accepts Gowron's demand for a genetic comparison of him to the
bloodstains on a knife said to hold the blood of Kahless. The scan is
carried out, and shows the two *identical*. This leaves Gowron incredulous,
and Worf fervent -- "Kahless has returned!"
As Worf and Kahless drink together, Kahless begins to talk of his plans for
the Empire and invites Worf to join him in creating them. Gowron, however,
insists that it is all a plot by Koroth to seize power, and that this
"return" will lead to war between those who believe and those who do not.
Gowron urges Worf to renounce Kahless, reminding Worf of old alliances and
urging him to help keep the Empire together a second time. Gowron meets
Kahless for the first time shortly thereafter, and challenges him to battle.
Amazingly, Gowron _wins_ that battle, and laughs his contempt at "the
greatest warrior of them all".
The clerics want to ignore this setback, but Worf becomes indignant, saying
that he's now convinced Kahless is _not_ real, and threatens to kill the
clerics unless they tell him what's really going on. They admit,
reluctantly, that Kahless is a _clone_ of the original Kahless, with some
experiences and memories from the sacred texts implanted in him. Kahless is
taken aback, and Worf is equally horrified. Koroth urges Worf not to make
this information public, saying that real or not, the Klingons _need_ Kahless
now.
Worf, however, stalks out, and goes to Kahless's holodeck "altar", where he
sees two of Gowron's men waiting fervently for Kahless to return. After a
talk with Data about faith, Worf realizes that the "technicality" of this
Kahless's origins may not be enough to shake the faith of some. He informs
Gowron of Kahless's origins, but notes that enough will believe the signs to
cause a civil war anyway if Gowron stands against Kahless. Worf proposes
Kahless as a figurehead Emperor, thus letting him serve as a moral leader
while keeping the secular power in the hands of the Council. He says that
the people will be told the truth, and that Kahless will be considered the
rightful heir to the original Kahless. Gowron is skeptical, but when Worf
threatens to denounce Gowron and withdraw his brother's support on the
Council, Gowron agrees and bends his knee. Shortly thereafter, Kahless
leaves, but not before reminding Worf that the true Kahless's return may
not matter -- "what is important is that we follow his teachings."
There we are. Now, on with commentary on the show. (I'd say just "on with
the show", but in response to some requests, I'm making sure my "bridge"
between synopsis and comments always has the word "comment" in it somewhere
so people can search for it.)
I know of a few people who were not looking forward to "Rightful Heir",
saying it seemed to be "yet another Klingon show". I'm not sure I was that
concerned about it, despite the fact that the last two "big" Klingon shows
were "Redemption II" and "Birthright II", neither of which I particularly
liked.
However, this didn't feel so much like a Klingon story to me as a story about
the power of beliefs and of faith, and both the positive and negative sides
of religious ideals and religious fervor. In that context, "Rightful Heir"
was extremely interesting to me.
We had a range of reactions to Kahless within the Klingon characters we saw.
There was Koroth, who believed in the prophecies enough to "help them along"
a bit, believing perhaps that the Klingon people needed a more _visible_ god
to help them now; there was Gowron, who was scared into denial and became the
ultimate skeptic; and there was Worf, who held many opinions in a row, with
each one *just* as fervent and *just* as powerful as the one before it. Worf
may have been pure of heart, but it was the purity of desperation. It
reminded me of his complete agreement with Admiral Satie's paranoia in "The
Drumhead" a couple of years back. He went from totally fed up with his
beliefs to total skepticism to total adulation, and finally to utter betrayal
of his recent feelings. He honestly looked near *tears* when he found out
Kahless was a clone, and that's not something one tends to identify with
Worf, _ever_. I liked it a lot -- Worf has always been full of action and of
passion, which lends itself well to this kind of fervor (for good or ill).
This was the most interested I've been in Worf as a character in ages.
The roller-coaster of emotions Worf was going through was helped immensely by
Kevin Conway's work as Kahless, who was probably the most interesting Klingon
guest star since either K'Ehleyr or K'mpec, both of which have now been dead
for over two years and thus not likely to resurface unless played by Denise
Crosby. :-) Real or not, legitimate or not, Kahless *felt* like someone who
could have once rallied his people under any banner to face any obstacle, and
like someone who really will be able to serve as a leader by example. If
that's what the clone can do, the original Kahless must have been *really*
charismatic.
I find the genetic "test" a little tough to swallow, but I'd have had a lot
more difficulty with it if it had proved negative and been used as a proof
against Kahless being legit. Don't worry, this isn't another genetics
rant -- I just find it hard to believe that the blade of Kirol really *did*
have the 1500-year-old blood of Kahless on it. Still, whatever works...
The Klingons under Kahless here reminded me in some ways of old Norsemen.
Certainly, the idea of battle for honor and of singing the praise of battle
for its own sake is very much the sort of thing you'd find in tales of
Valhalla -- and the fact that Borath was a very cold planet brought the
Norsemen to mind as well. Even the tales Kahless told could have been taken
from versions of the Eddas -- turning a lock of hair into a bat'lekh is no
more bizarre than Odin sacrificing an eye to the well of wisdom, for
instance. And given that I've always been extremely interested in mythology,
Norse in particular, the show got me very interested.
The setup for Kahless's return was necessary, to be sure, but all the same
it ran a bit slow. While I quite liked some of the Picard/Worf scene
(particularly seeing Picard come down hard on Worf for unprofessional
behavior), much of it dragged, as did the teaser and the first scene on
Borath. Although I appreciate the attempt to make something good out of
"Birthright, Part II", which in my view failed pretty badly, I think there
might have been a better way to do it than to have such a long speech from
Worf about his emptiness. (Ideally, of course, it would've been to see Worf
getting slowly more depressed and introspective over several shows, but I
know better than *that*.)
What I found extremely interesting was the choice of Data to continually goad
Worf into justifying his extreme choices. After seeing the show, of course,
it makes perfect sense, but he's not the one I'd have first thought of --
Picard or Riker would be more likely. Data's story about his own "leap of
faith" was riveting -- and it's interesting to note that his use of the
phrase "a collection of circuits and subprocessors" perfectly mirrors Soong's
use of that very phrase in Data's dream in part I of "Birthright". Very
interesting.
Adding to all this, of course, we did get a bit more information about the
state of the Empire and some old Klingon history. That's all well and good,
but it's so par for the course now that it's almost passe. It was good to
focus on Kahless and Worf rather than on the cultural side this time, I
think.
One question on the current state of Klingon politics, though: Since when
has Worf been such a powerful voice? The last time we saw any contact
between Worf personally and the Empire was in "Redemption II". Worf's
actions at the end of that show suggested a slight turning away from Klingon
ways, and I'm a little surprised to see him suddenly considered the voice of
reason in the Empire. (Kurn on the Council makes perfect sense -- it's Worf
that I'm wondering about.) I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I *am*
puzzled about where it suddenly came from.
I've already sung my praises for Kevin Conway, but I'd also like to point
out that Alan Oppenheimer (Koroth) did a great job as well. Despite his
actions, I had no difficulty believing that his intentions were good, and
that he honestly thought his course of action *was* in the best interest of
the Klingon people. (Beats the heck out of most high-profile televangelists
these days, I must say.) In addition, Jay Chattaway gave us some nice music
for Worf's experiences on Borath. It felt decidedly alien for a change.
There isn't that much to say. The show was a simple one, but well thought
out and well textured -- and I liked it a bunch.
So, some short takes:
-- Where was Alexander? Not that I'm *objecting*, mind you, but if Worf was
going to turn his quarters into a furnace you'd think he might have said
something.
-- "It is difficult to explain." "TRY." Gotta remember that next time a
student comes to me with excuses. :-)
-- One thing about those Klingons -- they're good at speechmaking. Many of
the lines (such as Worf's about Kahless being grown "like a fungus" and
Gowron's claim that he would _never_ bend a knee to Kahless) were both
inspired and inspiring in many cases. Ron Moore deserves credit for some
nice dialogue this time around.
-- One has to wonder something, though. Given that over the past few years
we've been seeing that the "honorable" Klingons are anything but, are we now
_really_ going to see a reversal of that trend? Or will Kahless not manage
to do much to stop the degradation of his people? Either way, I hope we find
out -- and I suspect we will.
That about wraps this up. "Rightful Heir" may not be the best thing TNG has
ever done (or even done recently -- "Frame of Mind" was still amazingly
good), but it certainly relieves any worries I had after "Suspicions". Nice
job.
So, the numbers, as always:
Plot: 9. Solid.
Plot Handling: 8. A bit slow at the beginning, then good.
Characterization: 10. Marvelous.
OVERALL: 9.5, after giving Chattaway the extra half point. :-) Very nice.
NEXT WEEK
It's two Rikers for the price of one. The recently-discovered one doesn't
look any too stable, though...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Have you ever fought an idea, Picard? It has no weapons to destroy, no body
to kill!"
-- Gowron
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Rene Magritte
>[TNG] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Rightful Heir"
>Review by Tim Lynch <tly...@juliet.caltech.edu>
>===============================================
>WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Rightful Heir", the latest
>offering from TNG. If you're squeamish about spoilers and haven't been
>spoiled yet, stay away.
>
>So, the numbers, as always:
>Plot: 9. Solid.
>Plot Handling: 8. A bit slow at the beginning, then good.
>Characterization: 10. Marvelous.
>OVERALL: 9.5, after giving Chattaway the extra half point. :-) Very nice.
Plot:10
Plot Handling:10
Characterization: 11
I think you missed on this one, Tim. Watch it again. This is
an awesome peice of work. Look at how wonderfully consistent they've
kept Galron from Redemption I and II -- Galron as the ultimate
pragmatist. Sees violence and obstainance as necessary for
leadership, but acquieces when it is necessary or suits his purposes.
Or Worf: crisis, personal or otherwise, inspires him to do great
things. The acting in this episode was flawless.
Compared alongside other Trek, Rightful Heir has the kind of
"epic" sense of such work as Darmok, Sins of the Father, Birthright I,
and The Inner Light -- of portraying SIGNIFICANT personal or political
events that have a more universal message than simply that articulated
in the episode. I walked away from RH witha more complex view of
both Worf's existence and my own in terms of faith and belief; the
show that can do this in a significant way is rare indeed.
Ten Stars. Four Thumbs up. Watch this one.
Joshua A. Laff
:)tly...@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Tim Lynch) writes:
All that are left are numbers, but if you consider those spoilers...
:)>So, the numbers, as always:
:)>Plot: 9. Solid.
:)>Plot Handling: 8. A bit slow at the beginning, then good.
:)>Characterization: 10. Marvelous.
:)>OVERALL: 9.5, after giving Chattaway the extra half point. :-) Very nice.
:) Plot:10
:) Plot Handling:10
:) Characterization: 11
:) I think you missed on this one, Tim. Watch it again. This is
Umm... maybe there was something odd in my lunch, but Tim gives this a rating
of "almost perfect", you give it a rating of "well, it *is* perfect", and
say he's *missed* something? What *IS* that supposed to mean?
--
Joshua A. Laff, CRL operator, UofI (217) 384-6249
email to: la...@cs.uiuc.edu (NeXT Mail accepted)
_______________________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: If I were speaking for the UofI, I wouldn't be paying tuition.
00td...@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
> tly...@Juliet.Caltech.Edu (Tim Lynch) writes:
>
>>[TNG] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Rightful Heir"
>>Review by Tim Lynch <tly...@juliet.caltech.edu>
>>===============================================
>
>>WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Rightful Heir", the latest
>>offering from TNG. If you're squeamish about spoilers and haven't been
>>spoiled yet, stay away.
>>
>
>>So, the numbers, as always:
>
>>Plot: 9. Solid.
>>Plot Handling: 8. A bit slow at the beginning, then good.
>>Characterization: 10. Marvelous.
>
>>OVERALL: 9.5, after giving Chattaway the extra half point. :-) Very nice.
>
>
> Plot:10
> Plot Handling:10
> Characterization: 11
>
>
>
> I think you missed on this one, Tim. Watch it again. This is
> an awesome peice of work. Look at how wonderfully consistent they've
> kept Galron from Redemption I and II -- Galron as the ultimate
> pragmatist. Sees violence and obstainance as necessary for
> leadership, but acquieces when it is necessary or suits his purposes.
> Or Worf: crisis, personal or otherwise, inspires him to do great
> things. The acting in this episode was flawless.
> Compared alongside other Trek, Rightful Heir has the kind of
> "epic" sense of such work as Darmok, Sins of the Father, Birthright I,
> and The Inner Light -- of portraying SIGNIFICANT personal or political
> events that have a more universal message than simply that articulated
> in the episode. I walked away from RH witha more complex view of
> both Worf's existence and my own in terms of faith and belief; the
> show that can do this in a significant way is rare indeed.
>
> Ten Stars. Four Thumbs up. Watch this one.
I enjoyed "Rightful Heir" too, but there was one place it failed for
me: Kahless's reaction to being told he was a clone. I mean, think on
it: to go from being a savior to a carbon copy-- who even Worf looked
down upon as being an abomination-- would be a pretty big letdown.
Granted, Kahless did kind of lose all sense of purpose at that point,
but that was all. I would expect rage, anger-- SOMETHING. After the
revelation, Kahless was turned into a puppet with cut strings. I would
have much preferred for Kahless II to have taken control of his own
destiny rather than sit around like a bump on a log till Worf came up with
something for him to do. Before his identity was revealed, he seemed
like the kind of man-- or Klingon, if you prefer-- who could hold the
Empire together. Afterwards . . . he came across as being too weak willed.
His reaction just didn't ring true to me.
David Weinstein
My Ratings: Very Good. Excellent! :)
--
Helmet Rules!
What's up doc?
Ill be on vacation the month of June.
Patrick Rannou
I enjoyed "Rightful Heir" too, but there was one place it failed for
me: Kahless's reaction to being told he was a clone. I mean, think on
it: to go from being a savior to a carbon copy-- who even Worf looked
down upon as being an abomination-- would be a pretty big letdown.
Granted, Kahless did kind of lose all sense of purpose at that point,
but that was all. I would expect rage, anger-- SOMETHING. After the
revelation, Kahless was turned into a puppet with cut strings. I would
have much preferred for Kahless II to have taken control of his own
destiny rather than sit around like a bump on a log till Worf came up with
something for him to do. Before his identity was revealed, he seemed
like the kind of man-- or Klingon, if you prefer-- who could hold the
Empire together. Afterwards . . . he came across as being too weak willed.
His reaction just didn't ring true to me.
Huh, maybe it was SHOCK? You know, learning you are not who you think you
are can be so devastating, even for such a powerful personality as Kahless,
that it would take a few hours/days before the guy reasserts himself, huh?
If you've ever lost a close family memeber, you know how tough it can be to
come on top of things again. Now, imagine losing YOURSELF!
Ouch.
I felt Kahless reactions perfectly believable. Also, seeing him have hate
or anger at that point I would NOT have found believable. After all, he HAS
the personnality of the true Kahless, and that's not the kind of "hero"
which would pick a temper because someone tought making him born again
would help his empire...
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My opinions cited in the previous article are really those of the
Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, of the City of Montreal, of the
residents of the Province of Quebec, of all Canadians, of everybody
in North America, of everyone on the surface of the Earth, of any
living thing in the solar system, of any member of the 3rd Spiral
Arm of our Galaxy, of any existing entity in the entire Milky Way,
and come to think of it, why not also include altogether every single
being in the whole universe. This is, of course, to the exclusion
of Groo and my cat, who are too stupid to have an opinion. Since
this leaves the whole rest of the multiverse with other opinions,
it shows that my opinion is the same as a minority of people. CQFD.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick "Paradak" Rannou
Ran...@info.polymtl.ca
Patrick Rannou
Well, actually we have the capability even now to isolate DNA from
Neanderthal bones and compare; we've done it with mummies over 3000 years
old as well. The genetic test via DNA comparison I didn't have a problem
with.
What I DID have a problem with (and what prompted everyone I was watching
this episode with at the time to say, "What?" simultaneously) is the
bit about "programming" him. He isn't a machine like Data. Sure, you
can recreate the DNA, that I can buy, but implanting memories, "Here's
what you know" type thing through that procedure strikes me as very
improbable.
Well, not if by "implanting memories" they truly meant
"using hypnotism and things like that". Notice that for all intents and
purpose he was a newborn and we all know how newborn brains are eager for
informations (they suck it up like real sponges!). Maybe they "programmed"
him that way, then, like in many hypnotism sessions...
"when you wake up, you will have remembered absolutely nothing of us... you
will remember only the actual information we gave you as if you had lived
through it and learned it by yourself. You will have no memory of this
laboratory blah blah blah... now go to sleep".
And then it;s only a matter of waiting for Worf or some other important
klingon to come to that planet and make Kayless appearance more
believable...
Heck, Worf was there for more than 10 days...
From ST:DS9 we know a clone can be grown in less than 2 days. I don't know
how much time it takes to hypnotize someone in learning the language and
such and such, but maybe it was Worf's very visit which gave them the idea
of the clone in the first place!!!