‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Too Short a Season’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

It is always interesting when a television series takes the time to go on a thematic kick storytelling wise. Because it likely means that one of the episodes you recently enjoyed, had to eject certain notions and concepts for the sake of time constraints, allowing for the writers’ room to expand upon those ideas further in later episodes. Something that always benefits the audience since it means more meaningful and powerful stories await as the season rolls on and it just so happens that we are entering that particular phase in season one of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Because the prior episode, and its examination of how far a collective species will go to save their own kind opened up all kinds of possibilities storytelling wise, to the point where someone thought it would be fascinating to explore a darker side to going the extra mile.

Something that remains hidden in ‘Too Short a Season’ since it features some basic plotting early on. For this particular tale immediately introduces us to a Starfleet Admiral named Mark Jameson, whose claim to fame is the sheer fact that he is a skilled negotiator, and his services are needed once again on a planet where lawlessness has led to hostages being taken. Which prompts Jameson, to quickly come aboard the Enterprise and work with the crew to get every bit of information about the current situation and to properly strategize. Because the person they are going to be dealing with is a hostile governor, named Karnas, who Jameson worked with forty years ago, to successfully secure the release of forty-five hostages. But while it seems as though this is going to be a game of chess between Jameson and an old foe, it is the secret that the admiral is hiding from Picard and his crew that starts to move this episode into some bleak and fascinating territory.

Because when Jameson negotiated with Governor Karnas back in the day, Jameson crossed the line. For he gave Karnas exactly what he wanted, weapons and lots of, while at the same time arming his enemies. An act that led to decades of civil war on this particular planet, the kind that cost countless lives and it is clearly a decision that has haunted Jameson throughout his entire Starfleet career. But now, he has the chance to set things right, and do things differently and that motivates him to do something incredibly bold and downright dumb, by injecting his body with a youth serum from a distant world. So that he can leave his eighty-four-year-old body behind and lead an armed away team as a young man in order to rescue the hostages before Karnas can harm them and this was… quite the unexpected plot twist to inject into this particular tale.

For it adds a tinge of regret to the story, since Jameson clearly cannot forgive himself for his poor negotiating choices back in the day. But what matters more about this secret and his decision, is that they lead us right into the show’s exploration of how there can be a dark side to going the extra mile. Because Jameson will do whatever it takes to quiet the demons in his soul. To the point where the admiral risks his relationship with his wife, and his health in order to teach Karnas a lesson about the value of life and that makes this episode quite cerebral to say the least. And it makes that final showdown with Karnas quite powerful and heartbreaking for certain, since Admiral Mark Jameson dies without ever taking the time to make peace with the one person who could have healed his ailing soul, himself.

If anything, this turned out to be one incredible episode. In part because of powerful thematic elements present within the script, because they are indeed thought-provoking. But the special effects and the acting also make this episode worth one’s while. Because none of this works without a talented actor, and guest star Clayton Rohner absolutely kills it in in this episode. Because he does a phenomenal job of playing an octogenarian turned middle-aged man and the makeup just aids in that wonderful transformation. In the end however, this is another one of those early episodes that shows us what this series is going to be capable of. Simply because this dives into notions and concepts that TNG thrived within since it features questions of morality and the past and it was quite nice to experience that again in season one and hopefully we will be able to revisit more gems of this nature as year one rolls along, because this was a true delight through and through. Until next time.  

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