History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption

** Guinan mentions a bet she made with Picard that she could make Worf laugh. [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Didn't she already win that bet?]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Curiously, after the writing team admitted that one thing they wanted to do in the season three episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]" was to give Tasha Yar a more noble death/self sacrifice after [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil her original more "senseless" death had proved somewhat controversial among the fanbase]], here we see a reversal of those intentions when alternate Tasha's fate is revealed to be... [[BusCrash not that much better]]. She was [[MadeASlave made a sex slave]] to a Romulan Commander and, eventually, executed during an botched escape attempt. Given Tasha Yar's DarkAndTroubledPast, which had included among other things trying to avoid roaming rape gangs on her home planet, this seems like an even worse fate than her original senseless death ever was.

** Gowron says that women are forbidden from serving in the Klingon council. However, ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' showed Chancellor Gorkon's daughter, Azetbur, inheriting his position after his assassination. Even if the law had changed since then, Gowron offered K'Ehleyr a seat on the High Council as a bribe in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion Reunion]]."

*** Gets more snarled after ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has L'Rell ascend to the Chancellorship (admittedly by way of a threat to destroy Qo'nos otherwise).

** Lursa and B'etor attempt to persuade Worf to ally with them. Worf promptly refuses.

* StockFootage: Footage of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey firing torpedoes and flying towards the viewscreen is reused from ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''. In addition, the attack on the ''Bortas'' uses footage from "Yesterday's Enterprise".

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: After firing a beam at the Sutherland to disrupt the detection net, the Romulans also caused [[TechnoBabble a tachyon signature to form around their own ships]] which Data exploits by firing some low yield photon torpedoes at the Romulan ships to visibly reveal them flying into Klingon territory.]]
* IResembleThatRemark: "Humans have a way of showing up when you least expect them."

Manpower is tight, so the ''Enterprise'' loans out its crew to some of the borrowed ships. This includes Data, who takes his first command aboard the ''Sutherland''. His XO, Lieutenant Commander Christopher Hobson, expresses reservations about serving under an android, but with no one to replace him, he has no choice.

* StockFootage: Footage of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey firing torpedoes and flying towards the viewscreen is reused from ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.

* ThatsAnOrder: Data has to do this several times with his CommanderContrarian NumberTwo.

** Picard can't let Duras's family defeat Gowron, as it would cause the Klingons to form an alliance with the Romulans against the Federation. He also can't assist Gowron directly, since it is an internal political struggle and not an direct external attack by the Romulans. Instead he chooses to expose the Romulan connection to Duras's family and prevent their assistance, and let the political fallout of the revelation take care of the problem.

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Worf assumes that Klingtons never laugh because ''he'' [[TheStoic doesn't]]. Guinan shoots that down.

* WorfEffect: Not a usual example, but Kurn showing his commanding skills by beating his enemies in a situation, where Worf saw no way out but to retreat, is essentially this.

The Duras are celebrating the news, but one of their handlers cautions them as she emerges from the shadows, revealing [[WhamShot a Romulan Tasha Yar]].

*** The novels have come up with a couple of HandWaves - ''Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra'' says that Azetbur's successor was more militant, and blaming her peaceful ways on her gender, thus banning women from future positions on the Council, while ''Literature/StarTrekPrey'' that Azetbur was the exception to the rule due to unique circumstances.

** Gowron says that women are forbidden from serving in the Klingon council. However, ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' showed Chancellor Gorkon's daughter, Azetbur, inheriting his position after his assassination. Even if the law had changed since then, Gowron offered K'Ehleyr a seat on the High Council as a bribe in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion Reunion]]." It was handwaved in the novel trilogy ''Literature/StarTrekPrey'' that Azetbur was the exception to the rule due to unique circumstances.

* ThisCannotBe: Picard assumes Sela's claim to be Tasha's mother is a bizarre Romulan trick, as she's the wrong age and there's no proof that Tasha was ever pregnant. Guinan's explanation does not clarify matters.

However, Sela sees through their trap. Instead, the Romulans jam the grid with a flood of tachyon particles, so the fleet falls back at Picard's order. All except for Data, who has an idea to catch the Romulans in the act. After a nonstop stream of bigoted whining from his XO, Data slaps Hobson down hard enough to get him to fire a few modified torpedoes that reveal several subspace anomalies as the cloaked ships they are. Sela decides the game is up and withdraws, leaving the Duras at the mercy of Gowron's victorious forces. Lursa and B'Etor escape, but Kurn comes to Worf's rescue and bags Duras's brat in the process.

** Picard can't let Duras's family defeat Gowron, as it would cause the Klingons to form an alliance with the Romulans against the Federation. He also can't assist Gowron directly, since it would violate the PrimeDirective. Instead he chooses to expose the Romulan connection to Duras's family and prevent their assistance, and let the political fallout of the revelation take care of the problem.

* TheVoiceless: Troi, Crusher, and Geordi all appear at the end of Part 1, but don't have any lines. If you look carefully, you can just barely see Gates [=McFadden=]'s baby bump. They have bigger parts in Part II.

* TheVoiceless: Dr. Crusher appears at the end of Part 1, but doesn't say anything. If you look carefully, you can just barely see Gates [=McFadden=]'s baby bump. She does speak in Part 2.

Following the events of ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion Reunion]]'', it is now time for the next Chancellor of the High Council, Gowron, to take his place as the new Klingon head of state. The ''Enterprise'' is en route to Qo'nos, where Picard will oversee the ceremonies as his last act as Arbiter of Succession.

Before they reach Qo'nos, they are intercepted by Gowron's ship. He brings a warning of an impending civil war. It seems that even without their patriarch, the House of Duras remains a threat, and Gowron is convinced that the Duras Sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, are plotting a coup. It is for this same reason that Gowron refuses Worf's request to restore his family's honor, even though he believes his version of events at Khitomer.

Worf starts pulling Starfleet records from the Khitomer Massacre for evidence exonerating his father, but Picard considers this an abuse of his authority since the matter is exclusively a Klingon one. He can't be too upset with him, though, considering the ethical minefield he himself is navigating. A young Klingon named Toral, claiming to be the son of Duras, has challenged Gowron's claim to leadership. Despite being illegitimate (since Duras had no mate), his house and its allies are backing him, which makes Picard's job a whole lot more complicated. The Duras Sisters make clear to him in a private meeting that siding against them would mean the end of the Federation-Klingon Alliance should they win the ensuing civil war.

She is quite correct. Part 2 opens with Kurn and his loyalists badly outmatched by the Duras, to the point that Picard is able to make a case to Starfleet Command that the Romulans must be surreptitiously supporting the rebels. If so, Starfleet will have all the justification it needs to bring the hammer down. They agree to give Picard a handful of semi-mothballed ships to set up a blockade on the Klingon-Romulan border. It's not a very impressive fleet, but all they need to do is throw up a tachyon web that will catch any Romulan supply ships that try to come across.

Manpower is tight, so the ''Enterprise'' loans out its crew to some of the borrowed ships. This includes Data, who takes his first command aboard the ''Sutherland''. His XO, Lieutenant Commmander Christopher Hobson, expresses reservations about serving under an android, but with no one to replace him, he has no choice.

Guinan, with her El-Aurian senses, remembers things the others do not about what happened during ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]''. The Yar from an alternate future was sent back in time aboard the ''Enterprise-C'' when it was captured by Romulans. Sela meets Picard in person to verify the story. Yar received a ScarpiaUltimatum from her overseer, becoming his consort to spare the lives of her fellow prisoners. Sela, their child, says Yar was later executed for trying to take her and escape.

Back on Qo'nos, the Duras Sisters capture Worf and give him the ol' seduction attempt, offering him B'Etor and a share of the power for his support, but Worf is nowhere near that desperate. An exasperated Sela takes him away for a more "conventional" interrogation.

->'''Picard:''' The claim "I was only following orders" has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history. Starfleet doesn't want officers who will blindly follow orders without analyzing the situation. Your actions were appropriate for the circumstances and I have noted that in your record.

The diminutive Toral stands before the Council as a traitor. Gowron gives his life -- and a knife -- to Worf as payment for the wrongs Duras's family has done to his own. But Worf, who sees only a child and pawn of the true machinators, chooses to spare him.

->'''Kurn:''' What's wrong? Kill him!
->'''Worf:''' No.
->'''Kurn:''' [[SinsOfOurFathers But it's our way]]. It's the Klingon way!
->'''Worf:''' I know... but it is not ''my'' way.

* ActionPrologue: Part II starts with Worf and Kurn under attack by Duras' forces.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Displayed by Data, of course, when he successfully determines how to find the cloaked Romulan ships after their radiation burst disables the tachyon net
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Averted; Gowron orders Kurn to finish Toral when Worf refuses, but Worf stops this too, pointing out that Gowron has granted Worf Toral's life, and he has chosen to spare it.

* BookEnds: "Sins of the Father" ended with the Klingon High Council standing in a circle around Worf and turning their backs on him to demonstrate his family's discommendation. Part II of this episode ends with the High Council standing in a circle around Toral, this time looking inward towards him, with Worf's family honor restored.

** Gowron says that women are forbidden from serving in the Klingon council. However, ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' showed Chancellor Gorkon's daughter, Azetbur, inheriting his position after his assassination. Even if the law had changed since then, Gowron offered K'Ehleyr a seat on the High Council as a bribe in "Reunion". It was handwaved in the novel trilogy ''Literature/StarTrekPrey'', that Azetbur was the exception to the rule due to unique circumstances.

-->'''Toral:''' [[DefiantToTheEnd The Duras family will one day rule the Empire!]]
-->'''Gowron:''' Perhaps. (evil grin) But not today.

-->'''Kurn:''' Kill him! It's our way. It's the Klingon way!
-->'''Worf:''' I know. But it is not my way.

* DoubleMeaning: Before walking out on their offer Picard says, "You have manipulated the circumstances with the skill...of a Romulan." The Duras sisters are left wondering how much Picard knows.
* DroppedABridgeOnHer: Curiously, after the writing team admitted that one thing they wanted to do in [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise season three episode Yesterday's Enterprise]] was to give Tasha Yar a more noble death/self sacrifice after [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E22SkinOfEvil her original more "senseless" death had proved somewhat controversial among the fanbase]], here we see a reversal of those intentions when alternate Tasha's fate is revealed to be... [[BusCrash not that much better]]. She was [[MadeASlave made a sex slave]] to a Romulan Commander and, eventually, executed during an botched escape attempt. Given Tasha Yar's DarkAndTroubledPast, which had included among other things trying to avoid roaming rape gangs on her home planet, this seems like an even worse fate than her original senseless death ever was.

* FriendshipMoment: The crew lining the corridor to the transporter pad as Worf leaves Enterprise.

-->'''Data:''' Captain, I wish to submit myself for disciplinary action. I have disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer. Although the result of my actions proved positive, the ends cannot justify the means.
-->'''Picard:''' No, they can't. However, the claim 'I was only following orders' has been used to justify too many tragedies in our history. Starfleet doesn't want officers who will blindly follow orders without analysing the situation. Your actions were appropriate for the circumstances, and I have noted that in your record.

* MachoMasochism: Plenty in the Klingon TruceZone, including arm wrestling played with daggers.

* OutOfTheShadowsReveal: How Sela is first introduced.

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: A 23-ship blockade versus the entire Klingon-Romulan border, and it only works if the cloaked ships pass directly between them? There would be holes large enough to send an entire fleet through. Or they could just go around.

* StandingBetweenTheEnemies: Worf tries to break up a fight between Gowron [[KlingonPromotion and a challenger]]. [[CombatPragmatist Gowron uses the opportunity to stab his opponent while he's distracted]].

* TakeAThirdOption: Kurn initially wants to do this, not being happy with Gowron or the Duras sisters. With four squadrons under his command, he intends to let the two main sides kill each other, then destroy the weakened winner and set up a new High Council. However, Worf is able to convince him that it would be more honorable to back Gowron.

* [[TurnInYourBadge Turn In Your Commbadge]]: Worf resigns from Starfleet when Picard refuses to take sides in the Civil War.

* WhamShot: The mysterious Romulan conspirator steps out of the shadows... and she's the spitting image of Tasha Yar.

* WorfEffect: Not an usual example but Kurn showing his commanding skills by beating his enemies in a situation, where Worf saw no way out but to retreat, is essentially this.

'''Worf:''' I know, but it is not ''my'' way.