10 Greatest Star Trek Cliffhanger Episodes
6. Guess Who's Coming To Qo'noS (Redemption, Part I)
Just so long as you like the intricacies of Klingon internal politics and enjoy the odd dalliance with interplanetary diplomacy, Redemption, Part I is a great cliffhanger to season four of The Next Generation. By the end of the episode, Worf has resigned his Starfleet commission so he can go off to fight alongside Gowron in the burgeoning Klingon civil war, and that's about it really. Noooo, of course not! For, who is backing the Duras' challenge to the leadership of the High Council? The Romulans, led by a surprisingly familiar face! Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be…
Even though the character had been teased (in voice only) before the big reveal, including in a previous episode The Mind's Eye in which Geordi is turned into a Romulan spy, we were all as shocked to see Denise Crosby/Sela emerge from the shadows as Captain Picard appeared to be when she popped up again on the Enterprise-D viewscreen in part two. "Tasha?" asked a baffled Picard. Weeellll, she does look a lot like her mother!
The character of Sela was largely the brainchild of Crosby, who was inspired by the multiple possibilities afforded by time travel in Yesterday's Enterprise. Sela's plans are thwarted by Data in the second part – "Nicely done" – but Crosby reprised the role in Unification, Parts I & II and returned as Natasha Yar in All Good Things…
Not only, therefore, did Redemption skilfully solidify the legacy of what is considered to be another greatest episode and turning point for TNG, it (must… avoid… the… obvious… pun…) carried on at least some semblance of a story for a promising character who had (quite literally) been thrown away in season one. And even if we'd like to have seen more of Sela than we ever did, Redemption thoroughly deserves its place on this list.