"A Rose in the Ashes" -Episode #109 (slight spoilers below) (Click here for synopsis)

One or more characters are unjustly imprisoned, must face vicious inmates, fight for respect, are aided by smart and 'good' inmates and ultimately are set free or escape.

Well, the above is at least part of the plot for countless movies (including ST-VI) and has been used to a large extent in episodes of a number of series. The many clichés that go with this plot do not exclude a quality story, but here are dealt with in a fairly unoriginal way. This was not helped by the generally poor acting on the part of the guest stars (Kae-Lee was particularly poorly done).

On the positive side I was very impressed by the way Rommie was handled. Having her humanoid and ship side forms independent makes sense, perhaps with the two syncing up (like a Palm Pilot today does) when she returns to the ship. Also, having both forms argue for the relative expendability of the humanoid form also makes a lot of sense since the only thing that would be lost to the AI would be a few recent planet-side memories. This helped to make Rommie as an artificial intelligence much more believable.

Trance was also fairly well done, with her 'luck' given a nice air of mystery without letting it be the focus of the story. How her character is developed will be interesting as long as she is not made into too much of a source of 'miraculous' solutions (ala 'Deus Ex Machina' ).

The scenes involving Harper reading the 'constitution' and Dylan pleading before the council gave some good continuity toward the premise of a restored Commonwealth. The prison sentence was surprising, but perhaps due to activities by Dylan and Rommie that occurred prior to the opening scene. However, some later scenes (the Maru's mysterious 'invulnerability' under fire, the technology of the 'outsiders' and Rommie's amazing battery recharge) made the rest of the episode impossible to believe at times.

Overall I have to say that this was one of the weaker entries in the series to date. As noted above it handled some of the characters very well and advanced the series premise adequately. However, the clichés and other problems made it difficult to enjoy at times.

The rating for the episode is given below. For information on how my rating system works, click on this link.

 Reviewed 12/06/00 by Larry Kramer       Updated 10/11/01

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