Episode #39: Time Squared

TIME SQUARED - episode #13 of 2nd season / Air Date: 4/3/89
written by Kurt Michael Bensmiller; Directed by Joseph L. Scanlon

This one was like a dry run for all the wild cosmic concept stories of the future seasons, especially Cause and Effect. But this early effort pales next to those, being draggy and with no revelations in the final act. The Enterprise comes across a drifting shuttlecraft; bringing it aboard, they are stunned to realize that it is one of theirs. That is strange enough; then, they see the unconscious occupant - it's another Picard! The Picard on the bridge is called over and is a bit disturbed to see his 'other' self. It's no clone, no android, no alien in disguise - it really is another Picard. How can this be?
It turns out that it is indeed another Picard - from 6 hours in the future. Yep, it's one of those time displacement dilemmas. Data & La Forge manage to get some info from the shuttlecraft's log; in several hours, the Enterprise is destined to explode, with Picard the only survivor on the shuttlecraft. The crew now begin to second guess themselves on what steps they should take. The wait is soon over; a strange vortex appears and the ship is probably doomed...
Since the misplaced Picard is 'out of phase' and his internal clock is out of whack, he is out of it for most of the time, so there is a missed opportunity here to have the two Picards interact in a substantial manner. However, Picard's final action against his double may raise some eyebrows. Overall, though, this goes nowhere and is anti-climactic after a promising beginning. There are also some confusing elements, when it's hinted that this is some personal matter between Picard and some living entity in the vortex.  BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10