10 /10

I'm glad the writer of this Ep posted here and explained it a little. Nothing is more offensive than to create something and have that creation attributed to someone else.



Now, the basic story may contain elements similar to the Anne Corn Wheat Rice story, but this Ep has nothing to do with VampyreGhostLycans and things of that nature. Although it does deal with the Supernatural, in the case of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all things Supernatural are also Scientific and, most importantly, Speculative.



This Episode has to do with Scotland... With the bloodlines of the Women of that land, tracing Dr. Beverly Crusher down through the ages to the Howard Women of that land, possibly to Mary Stuart herself. And so this puts Cheryl "Gates" McFadden in the same Limelight as other famous redheads, including Katherine Hepburn herself.



The look of the Ep is very Non-Trek, they used a location that was very much Scotland. A Whole Planet Scotland! This is what is wonderful about Trek, because somewhere in the cosmos, is a whole planet Ireland, and a whole planet Africa (This was explored in the first season episode "Code of Honour" and the planet Ligon II) - And so, just for this Ep, we have a whole planet of Moors, and Crags, and we can envision Clan Macloud eventually settling there.



I agree there are some Religious overtones here, but they are represented as Tradition, during Felisa Howard's funeral.



Now, as a Trek Ep, we already knew that Ronin was not a Ghost. Ronin was a good name for the Character, although not an Unemployed and Honour-less Samurai, pretending he is a Ghost. But the speculation of what he actually is, the kind of Life Form he is, and that he had lived with Crusher's ForeMothers through the Ages, is just interesting.



This Episode expresses Regret, because after all that happens and the decision Beverly has to make, we see after all she regretted having to take that step. And that we share that feeling of loss at the end, makes this Episode one of the best of the series, and certainly an example of a well written Trek story. It is too bad that the writer was never allowed to write any more tales for the Trek Universe of the time.