Best Star Trek Episode: Tapestry, from Star Trek the Next Generation
Magnificent application of the “George Bailey” or “Path Not Taken” structure
Quick Plot:
- Opens with Picard’s “Jarvik 7” heart failing from an injury a normal heart would have survived
- Omnipotent cast-regular alien “Q” arrives to give Picard the chance to revisit the moment he sustained the injury requiring the transplant – a fight in the bar on the night of Star Fleet Academy graduation in a confrontation with a couple of loud Klingons
- In the fight scene, you see Picard smile as he is stabbed through the back of the heart
- Picard accepts the “redo” and instead of fighting, defuses the fight
- Fast forward to present day and Picard is a junior science offer not considered leadership material because of his risk-averse behavior
- Picard calls “Q” back and says he wants to undo the change and that he would rather die following a life well lived.
- Flashback to the bar fight, at first provocation Picard wails on the Klingon, and as the knife pierces his heart you understand the smile on his face
Kablam!