History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E18Allegiance

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Cadet Haro is the only Bolian in the franchise to be shown to have hair. The design was apparently not yet formalized.

* UnwittingTestSubject: The plot is driven by the characters' lack of knowledge of what the purpose of their imprisonment is, which turns out to be because they're part of an experiment.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Cadet Haro is the first female Bolian we see, the second appearance of a Bolian in general, and the only Bolian (male or female) in the franchise to be shown to have hair.

On the ''Enterprise'', the doppelganger Picard assumes command of the ship, abandoning their current mission to examine a pulsar star. He tells Riker that he cannot divulge why he will be doing things and asks Riker's indulgence as well as the crew's. Riker assures him that he has everyone's absolute confidence. Later, the fake Picard asks Troi to let him know if the morale of the crew starts to drop. He also gets an unprompted physical, which he passes with perfect marks. Crusher remarks about how unusual it is for him to volunteer for a check-up, and Picard answers by asking her out on a date.

* {{Allusion}}: Picard tries to demonstrate intelligence to the captors by [[{{Literature/Contact}} signaling the first six prime numbers]].

In the holding cell, Picard has finally figured out what's going on. He deduces that the four captives are in a rat's maze designed to test their response to authority. Picard is a natural leader, Haro a natural follower, Thol a natural opportunist and Esoqq a natural anarchist. Further, he states that Haro knows classified information unavailable to a Starfleet cadet, so she must be an imposter. Haro transforms into three aliens who reveal that they have indeed been studying how other lifeforms resolve conflict because their species is mentally linked to each other and never have any disagreements. The aliens agree to return their captives to their homes now that the experiment cannot continue.

In the holding cell, the captives discover that Esoqq cannot eat the food provided. They have only three or four days before he either starves to death or [[ImAHumanitarian eats one of them]]. Against the advice of Thol, Picard has Haro tamper with the security panel to open the door. The four captives all work together to open the door, but behind it is a solid blank wall. The other three captives degenerate into infighting, accusing each other of being spies for their captives.

The real Picard arrives in a holding cell with two other people: Starfleet engineering cadet Mitena Haro and pacifist philosopher Kova Thol. Soon a fourth prisoner arrives, the savage Esoqq of Chalna. Picard quickly takes charge and assesses their situation. Thol has been there the longest and has never seen their captors. A security panel on the only door is booby trapped to prevent interference. A station in the center of the room dispenses discs of palatable food. All attempts to find some common connection between the four captives fail.

The real Picard arrives in a holding cell with two other people: Starfleet engineering cadet Haro and pacifist philosopher Kova. Soon a fourth prisoner arrives, the savage Esoqq of Chalna. Picard quickly takes command and assesses their situation. Kova has been there the longest and has never seen their captors. A security panel on the only door is booby trapped to prevent interference. A station in the center of the room dispenses discs of palatable food. All attempts to find some common connection between the four captives fail.

In the holding cell, the captives discover that Esoqq cannot eat the food provided. They have only three or four days before he either starves to death or [[ImAHumanitarian eats one of them]]. Against the advice of Kova, Picard has Haro tamper with the security panel to open the door. The four captives all work together to open the door, but behind it is a solid blank wall. The other three captives degenerate into infighting, accusing each other of being spies for their captives.

In the holding cell, Picard has finally figured out what's going on. He deduces that the four captives are in a rat's maze designed to test their response to authority. Picard is a natural leader, Haro a natural follower, Kova a natural opportunist and Esoqq a natural anarchist. Further, he states that Haro knows classified information unavailable to a Starfleet cadet, so she must be an imposter. Haro transforms into three aliens who reveal that they have indeed been studying how other lifeforms resolve conflict because their species is mentally linked to each other and never have any disagreements. The aliens agree to return their captives to their homes now that the experiment cannot continue.

With the aliens gone, and Picard restored to his position, the ship prepares to head out. Crusher arrives on the bridge and gives Picard a saucy look. The nonplussed captain wonders just what his doppelganger got up to while he was gone and then orders the ship to head out.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Esoqq is the most violent of the four captives, and is even willing to kill and eat the other captives if he begins to get hungry, but he is nonetheless perturbed that somebody would imprison a child like Cadet Haro.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: While Picard's doppelgänger doesn't act quite right, the senior staff still goes along with it, figuring it must be some sort of secret mission or test. However, they realize something is very wrong when Picard comes down to Ten Forward, orders ales for everyone, and gives a toast and a song, something the normally very reserved Captain would never do. Other alerts include him attending the officers' poker game for the first time, taking his physical ahead of schedule, hitting on Crusher, and telling Troi to watch out for signs of distrust. He basically gets caught because he's ''too'' interested in fitting in.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Esoqq's homeworld Chalna takes the Klingons' love of combat and strength UpToEleven, though apparently not quite to the psychotic extent of the Jem'Hadar, the warrior slave race of the Dominion. His society is basically a lawless dog-eat-dog world where the strongest rule by killing all their enemies.

Captain Picard and three other people are abducted and imprisoned by an unknown force and replaced by duplicates.

** Picard visited Esoqq's homeworld of Chalna when he commanded the USS ''Stargazer''.

* YouWereTryingTooHard: The Picard doppelganger does everything he can to fit in and ingratiate himself with the crew. This makes the crew very uneasy, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness as the real Picard is rather detached and standoffish]].

* ArtisticLicensePhysics / ScienceMarchesOn: The Lonka pulsar is said to be 4.356 solar masses. Real-world studies conducted after the episode was produced placed the upper limit on masses of pulsars to 3 and later 2.17 solar masses.

* MovingTheGoalposts: Every time the captives make headway in their attempt to escape the cell, another obstacle is thrown right at them, sending them right back to square one. It's one of the things that helps Picard deduce that they are not simply prisoners, but test subjects in an experiment.

* SenselessSacrifice: Discussed by Riker when he confronts the fake Picard over his order to move the ship closer and closer to a dangerous pulsar. The crew may be willing to put their lives on the line for their captain, but they won't do it for no apparent reason or purpose.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Esoqq is the most violent of the four captives, and is even willing to kill and eat the other captives if he begins to get hungry, but he is nonetheless perturbed that somebody would imprison a child like Cadet Haro.

* ProperlyParanoid: Thol suspects that one of them might be one of their abductors. He's right. Cadet Mitena Haro is one of the abductors.

* SenselessSacrifice: Discussed by Riker when he confronts the fake Picard over his order to move the ship closer and closer to a dangerous pulsar. The crew may willing to put their lives on the line for their captain, but they won't do it for no apparent reason or purpose.

* MovingTheGoalposts: Every time the captives make headway in their attempt to escape the cell, another obstacle is thrown right at them , sending them right back to square one. It's one of the things that helps Picard deduce that they are not simply prisoners, but test subjects in an experiment.

* CallBack: Haro mentions the ''Enterprise's'' [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E4WhoWatchesTheWatchers Who Watches the Watchers visit to Mintaka III]].
** Picard once visited Esoqq's homeworld of Chalna when he commanded the USS ''Stargazer''.

* TheSocialDarwinist: DeconstructedTrope with Esoqq's world, which seems to [[PlanetOfHats run entirely off this concept]]. The result is a society composed solely of warriors who constantly kill their weaker competitors is a violent anarchy. No one recognizes any sort of authority or group interest, with the only de facto rule being MightMakesRight.

* LesCollaborateurs: Kova Thol is from a race of cowards who are happy to be slaves to whoever invade them in order to survive--his planet has been invaded and conquered ''six times''. Likewise, Thol himself will switch allegiances at the drop of a hat to support whoever he thinks is in control of the situation.