‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘A Matter of Honor’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The old saying that we cannot truly understand a person’s plight until we’ve walked a mile in their shoes is one that still has gravity in our modern world. Because the fact of the matter is, human beings still live in quite the bubble. Sure, we have information at our fingertips and ways to learn more about one another, but we really only know our world and our environment over anything else. This means it is paramount to truly take the time to get to know people from other walks of life and learn about their experiences. Because that is the only way to truly understand the world and what it is all about since there are limits to actually walking in those proverbial shoes, and that’s why it is nice that fiction takes the time to try and help expand our knowledge in regard to that notion as often as it can.

For books and movies and shows from different voices around the world can, in fact, give us the insight we seek to better understand our world and the incredible people that inhabit it, and wouldn’t you know it? The next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation took the time to dive into this particular concept in a fascinating manner. For ‘A Matter of Honor’ saw Starfleet create a new officer exchange program. So that humans and aliens from all parts of the galaxy could come to better understand how other cultures and species live and this was, quite the brilliant concept for certain, storytelling wise. Because that is indeed a solid starting point to learning as much as one can about others and well, this episode took full advantage of this concept by way of a couple of unique storylines.

The first one involved a young Benzite officer named Mendon who came aboard the Enterprise to study our ways and his purpose in this tale, was to remind everyone to be mindful of other cultures and take the time to soak up what you can about them, before making waves within their society. A point hammered home by the fact that this ambitious young man came aboard with the intention of becoming an outright hero of the Federation for figuring out new ways to make a starship run more efficiently. Only to discover that Starfleet and humanity operate quite differently in regard to ambition. A lesson that humbled Mendon to no end and allowed for him to quickly integrate into the crew and save the day, once he understood the right path to take aboard a Starfleet vessel. 

But while that was wonderful and subtle, where this episode truly shines is by way of Commander Riker’s journey. For he opts to spend a little time on a Klingon vessel known as the Pagh and this was just, brilliant storytelling through and through. For Riker was able to break bread with a former and deadly enemy of the United Federation of Planets. One that Starfleet had met in combat countless times and learn, that they are just people like the rest of us and that they too worry about some of the same stuff that we do and that is a point that sticks with you for a long time after this tale has come to an end. For that is the point of trying to walk in another person’s shoes so that we learn that while we have different backgrounds and social standings, we are still people underneath it all, and we are all just trying to get by in a different manner. 

Which quite frankly, makes this perhaps the finest episode that season two has offered to date. Because this is the stuff we’ve been waiting for, and it really is a solid episode through and through. One that definitely is carried by Riker’s storyline in this tale. Because he really is forced to juggle two worlds and work with a measure of subtlety and guile to keep the peace, and his ability to do so speaks volumes to his abilities as a leader and truly, none of this works without Jonathan Frakes bringing those nuances to the table as an actor and he shines here for certain. In the end however, it really is a treat to see TNG start to find its storytelling footing. Because this really is the stuff that we know and love from this series and it has this reviewer quite excited to continue the journey. Because the storytelling will only get more powerful from here and it should be interesting to see what kinds of wonderful surprises await us down the line as our journey through season two continues along. Until next time.

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