Legacy

*** (3 stars out of 5)

Bypassing an archeological survey at Camus II (and the in-joke that they have bypassed their parent series with this 80th episode) the Enterprise rushes to rendezvous with stricken freighter Arcos.

With all the luck of President Donald Pleasance in 'Escape From New York', the freighter escape pod has dropped the Arcos crew on the "totally failed colony" of Turkana IV, birthplace of Tasha Yar. (Home, you may recall, of the Rape Gangs.)

The surface ruined, the colonists "live" in crappy tunnels extending beneath the surface like a sunken pyramid. Two cadres, the Coalition and the Alliance, behave as thuggishly as their self-imposed 'proximity implants' will allow. The Alliance are holding the Arcos crew, and the Coalition will aid in a rescue raid if Enterprise gives them some weapons.

When this fails to happen, Coalition leader Hayes conveniently produces Ishara Yar, Tasha's previously unknown little sister. Equipped with tactical maps and Standard Battle Mullet, Ishara cosies up to Data and quickly reveals that she regarded Tasha as a coward for leaving the world. Ishara's loyalty to the Coalition was stronger than her tie to her sister: she refused to leave when Tasha did 15 years ago.

Ishara is blasted in the ribs during the first rescue attempt, and Dr. Crusher puts her right back on her feet.

Picard describes to Ishara the first time he met Tasha, rescuing people in a Carnellian minefield, and how he called in a favour with her captain to get the brave woman assigned to Enterprise. He says the sisters would have been proud of each other.

Abandoning her leather jacket and giant shoulder pads, Ishara dons a body stocking useful for leaning over in Data's face and little else.

Data describes his attachment to people: even without feelings he anticipates the presence of his friends and misses them when absent. Perhaps the same applies to Ishara's boobs, but I doubt it.

Coalition sternums light up orange and set off Alliance alarms, Alliance sternums light up green and set off Coalition alarms. It's the sci-fi version of gang colours. Ishara offers to have hers removed to aid the rescue, and kisses up to all things Starfleet, literally in Data's case.

La Forge directs ship's phasers to drill a tunnel down which to beam. Once the hostages are freed, Young Yar sets the Alliance fusion generator to overload, preliminary to a Coalition strike. She had her phaser set to kill Data when Riker intervened and Data stunned her.

Riker provides the moral of the story. "In all trust there is the possibility of betrayal..." but "without trust there's no friendship or closeness."

Picard returns the Mata Ishari to her people, suggesting that they should not have been so quick to trust... or look for the good in people.

And on that horrible distrustful note, should you really let her go back home without that implant? Isn't that what let her sneak across and pull this crap? If she saunters in and does the exact same thing tomorrow, isn't that on your heads, too?

"Legacy" is not a win for the good guys. Ishara "Linda Hamilton Lite" Yar wraps a seasoned crew around her dainty street thug finger and, apparently, gets away scot free. She's lucky she pulled that dishonorable trick on Data, because Worf isn't as forgiving. And her rat warren still has a Klingon-sized hole in the roof.