Star Trek: 10 WORST Holodeck Episodes

While this episode granted audiences the gift of the Riker Facepalm meme, there is an undeniable fact that, despite the best attempts of all involved, it simply doesn't come together as it should. The holodeck here is used as a tool to tell several versions of the same story.

This is a trope that has been used in media before, and is often a successful way of addressing differing stories. Yet this episode, despite its multitude of plot twists, just sits in that middle section of 'fine'. The true issue, perhaps, it that the mystery isn't at all interesting enough to sustain the case.

The audience knows Riker didn't kill anyone. The audience knows that nothing is going to come of this. So, dragging out the reveal at the end makes this episode feel like a bottle show, crafted to save money, and perhaps rather cynically one could assume it was a cost cutting exercise for Yesterday's Enterprise, which would be the next episode in production order.

But, to end on a positive, we did get that Riker Facepalm, so that makes up for things - a little.