Thoughts: We've met Picard's brother and nephew, and we've seen both of his parents in visions. We've met Riker's father. Troi's mother has been on board the Enterprise several times. Worf's adoptive parents have visited the ship, as did his brother, Kurn. We've seen Data's father/creator and his “brother”, Lore. Doctor Crusher's son used to be part of the crew, and we've seen her late husband a few times in visions and as a hologram. It's Season 7 and this is the first time we've seen any of Geordi's family – and it will be the only episode dealing with his family until he has children of his own in Star Trek: Picard. It's a shame, too, because this one and only look at Geordi's family leaves him looking rather unprofessional.

Thoughts: This two-part story doesn't have the best ratings, but I rather like it. I like the idea of space pirates (despite Gene Roddenberry's would-be objection), I like the mystery around searching for strange artifacts, and I think it's sometimes nice to see the seedy underbelly of the galaxy instead of always dealing with the “evolved” and “enlightened” species. I will concede that the conclusion of this story is a big let-down, though. Spoiler » The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad weapon that was talked up so much turns out, in the end, to be a painfully slow action, visually unremarkable, wildly boring joke. It is a handgun that still needs to be aimed at a target and fired, and it's seemingly no more devastating than a phaser.

Thoughts: Ratings are mixed for this episode. As for myself, I don't particularly care for it. The dream imagery is obviously meant to be strange, but it's a shade too surreal for my liking, and the ultimate explanation for Data's nightmares is a sort of meaningless sci-fi thing that could have been exchanged for any other explanation, so it didn't really have much of an impact. I think the episode would have done better with a more meaningful explanation for Data's nightmares. Plus, that shrieking noise he makes is truly annoying. I will say, however, that I did laugh out loud at Worf sneezing in poor Spot's face 😅

Thoughts: I don't know, personally I'd rather watch this one again instead of Phantasms. This one, at least, has a very impactful resolution. The reveal makes me shed a tear, every time. I guess I'm going against the grain by rating this a little above average.

Thoughts: This episode is clearly an allegory for present-day global climate change, but I'm not sure how effective the message really was, especially since there wasn't really ever any on-screen follow-up. For example, although it was never confirmed on-screen, it is generally accepted (based on technical manuals and other quasi-canon material) that the reason the warp pylons on the USS Voyager from Star Trek: Voyager physically change positions when going to warp is to reduce the damaging effects on subspace.

Thoughts: This is definitely an interesting story, but it's one of those stories that suffers from being crammed into a single episode. There is never any follow-up after this major incident – what repercussions did the Federation face with the Romulans? What was done with the prototype device? I would have loved to see a second episode exploring these questions, perhaps highlighting the events of Riker and Pressman's inquiry, maybe even with some flashback scenes to the events on the Pegasus. Now that would have been something! Instead, this episode ends with unanswered questions and we never speak of this very serious incident again.

Thoughts: If you're a little surprised that Worf has a foster brother, don't worry, it's understandable. It would be impressive if you could remember the one and only time he was mentioned previously, in a single line, all the way back in TNG 1x20: Heart of Glory, when Worf said, “When my foster brother and I were of age, we entered the Starfleet Academy. He hated it and returned to Gault. I stayed.”

Thoughts: Well, here we are, all the way in Season 7 and somehow this ridiculous story made it through all the approvals and on to air. This one earns the “worst episode” distinction for so many reasons. There's only one episode that got a lower score, and that was “Shades of Gray”, but that was a clip show, so there was barely any effort put into it. “Sub Rosa”, however, is a bona fide episode that had just as much effort given to it as any other episode, and just look at the result. A weird Scottish town, a ghost that lives in a candle, and reincarnated Nana?! Say it ain't so!

Thoughts: Although it's an average episode, it is one of my personal favorites. For one thing, I really enjoy Ronnie Claire Edwards' performance as Talur, but I also really enjoy the concept of this somewhat primitive culture trying to fit Data's strange appearance into their realm of understanding. With our current level of scientific maturity in the real world, it's amusing how Talur dismisses her ancestors' “ridiculous superstitions” in favor of “scientific reality”, and then proceeds to reach an equally ridiculous conclusion about Data's origins. I very much enjoy the interaction between Talur and Data – both scientists, only separated by centuries of discovery. Talur, although somewhat displeased with Data questioning her at first, is ultimately open-minded about his ideas and willing to learn, just as any true scientist would be. It's a charming interaction. I'm giving this episode an extra half-star for that... unfortunately, the B-plot sort of drags the rest of the episode down.

Thoughts: I don't hate this episode. In fact, I found the symbolism of Masaka and Korgano to be interesting enough to keep me engaged. I felt that Brent Spiner (Data) made the best of portraying the different parts he was given, and the conclusion was satisfying enough, for me. This turned out to be one of those rare instances where I actually went looking for different opinions and reviews to better understand why the episode is disliked. Other than mixed opinions about Spiner's acting, I couldn't find any big trends that explain why people disliked it that could not also be used to describe other, more successful episodes. What I found:

• All talk and no action — fair enough, but there are plenty of episodes in this series that can be described that way, and not all of them are this poorly rated, so there must be some other quality that people dislike. TNG 4x21: The Drumhead, for example, is a very well-liked episode that definitely fits in the category of “all talk and no action”.
• Brent Spiner's acting was bad and/or annoying — this one seems to be a matter of opinion. I found plenty of reviews that said he did a great job with what he was given. Well, even Brent Spiner, himself, said he felt that his acting was “preposterous”, but he was talking about how it was making everyone laugh and that made it difficult to take the episode seriously. Even if it is silly, I don't think it ruins the episode.
• The premise is ridiculous — I file this complaint under the category of “suspension of disbelief” because, again, there are plenty of TNG episodes that start off with a ridiculous premise that sometimes you just have to get past in order to enjoy the ride. I mean, I think we were all willing to shrug off “trapped in a transporter buffer for 75 years” just so we could see Scotty interacting with La Forge in TNG 6x04: Relics, right?

I recognize that I'm the outlier here, but I'm giving this episode an average rating of 3 stars. I don't think it deserves the negativity it usually gets.

Thoughts: Ugh. I haven't been looking forward to re-watching this one. For one thing, it's too direct. I mean, come on, Picard being forced to relocate a group of American Indians? I wonder what that could possibly be an allegory for. Now, we know that the consultant for American Indian culture who was hired for Star Trek: Voyager was a fraud, and while I can find no evidence that he contributed to this episode, the portrayal of the Indian culture here still seems... off. And then there's Wesley. He wasn't exactly anyone's favorite character, and for his final appearance here, they've written him to be a petulant asshole. It really makes you say, “Gosh, I'm so glad they brought this character back” while rolling your eyes into the back of your head.

Thoughts: There is a twist/reveal that occurs at about 37 minutes into the episode, and that takes the story in a direction that reminds me of... Spoiler » the DS9 episode DS9 4x03: The Visitor. Both episodes involve an older version of a son mourning the loss of his father (in the case of the DS9 episode, it's Jake and Ben Sisko – don't worry, that's not a spoiler), and both episodes involve the son's difficult journey to somehow “correct” or “undo” that loss. The difference between the two episodes is that “The Visitor” usually makes me shed a tear at the end. “Firstborn” does not. I think the main difference is the final scenes: in both episodes, after the father learns what the aged version of his son did (or attempted to do) for him, he then has one more scene with the original/younger/current version of his son. Worf has an understanding talk with Alexander, and then puts his arm on his shoulder and they walk away. Ben Sisko embraces his son, and his voice quavers with emotion at the impact of his experience. I agree that Worf getting emotional would have been out of character for him, so I wouldn't have changed it, but Sisko's emotions do make for a better ending, in my opinion, than this episode's ending.

Thoughts: Apparently desperate for ideas, someone went back to Season 1 and tried to find some story they could rehash and build off of. Instead of picking something like TNG 1x25: Conspiracy, a compelling episode with space-bug imposters and exploding heads, an episode that ended with the strong implication that they'd be back some day... someone instead chose to bring back DaiMon Bok from TNG 1x09: The Battle. Bok, in my view, was almost a completely forgettable character, if not for his memorably annoying personality. It has been 165 episodes since we last saw him! I was struggling so much to remember his role in that early episode that I didn't notice that they didn't even bring back the original actor to play the part!

Also, Spoiler » knowing that the series was coming to an end and seeing that they've introduced a new character reported to be Picard's son, I naturally assumed that they pulled out the long-lost-son story before the show wrapped, so that they would have a potential opening for a future show about Picard's legacy. But, surprise surprise, they just can't help but hit that magic reset button before the credits roll so that nothing changes.

Thoughts: This is definitely a Season 7 plot, both because it's a little off-the-wall, and because they're clearly setting things up for possible sequels or other follow-ups. As a side note, if the intelligence initially has only the Enterprise crew's holodeck programs from which to draw on, I must say that the crew must be an awfully prudish and unimaginative bunch...

Thoughts: I think it's just an okay episode. The story feels like it was done almost solely for the benefit of Deep Space Nine and that it wasn't necessarily an episode they specifically wanted for TNG. I mean, they suddenly brought back Ro Laren after the last two times we saw her where she was just transporter-accident fodder. (Last time, she was turned into a child because of a transporter accident in TNG 6x07: Rascals, and before that, she was turned invisible because of a transporter accident in TNG 5x24: The Next Phase.) Don't get me wrong, I was happy to see her again, it just seemed odd to squeeze her in here right before the series finale.