Star Trek: The Next Generation - 10 Best Episodes Not About The Main Cast
3. Preemptive Strike
Ro Laren's final episode is a huge success, both for the character and for the show. While Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would go even further to explaining the reasons behind the Maquis' quest for vengenance against the Cardassians, this was the first time that the audience had seen a character that they knew and understood leaving Starfleet for their cause.
Ro Laren was an excellent addition to the franchise. Michelle Forbes owned every scene that she was in, even if she appeared in some bafflingly small scenes as the character (Cause and Effect being one of these times). Yet her gradual understanding and later loyalty to the Maquis is both heartbreaking and makes perfect sense.
Though Picard feels betrayed by her actions (though not quite at the level that Sisko felt about Michael Eddington), the audience is not so quick to judge her. She grew up fighting Cardassians, escaping to Starfleet but never quite coming to terms with the devastation they brought on the Bajoran people. It is never so clear cut in Star Trek that any character, when making a decision our core cast of characters may disagree with, is entirely the wrong one.
While Deep Space Nine wrapped up the Maquis arc by killing most of them off, the audience were never shown Ro Laren's body. What a gift it would be if, all these years later, Picard could confront her in a future episode of Star Trek: Picard.