Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 2, Episode 21
“Peak Performance,” while not too deep or thoughtful (aside from one killer Picard line), is still a fun action-adventure story. It’s the kind of episode that Season 2 of TNG became more comfortable doing, as evidenced by great episodes like “Contagion,” “Q Who,” “A Matter of Honor,” and “The Emissary.” There isn’t any philosophical pretext or examination of the human condition here, it’s just a wacky space adventure featuring our favorite crew, a memorable guest star, and some alien aggressors for good measure.
Speaking of “Q Who” – because of the harrowing events of their encounter with the Borg, Starfleet has decided that the crew will take part in some war game exercises to up their combat IQ. Apparently Picard was resistant to it at first, as he states that Starfleet is not a military organization. It’s an interesting contradiction that’s always been at the heart of Star Trek – that denial of Starfleet’s military role despite it… y’know, actually being the Federation’s military in most every conceivable way. That’s not all that it is, as it also performs many scientific, humanitarian, and diplomatic missions. But it is the Federation’s military when need be. The militarism of Starfleet varies based on the time period – Star Trek VI is probably the most explicitly militaristic conception of Starfleet, and Season 1 TNG seems very much the least.
To step back and look at the entirety of Starfleet’s history throughout Trek, one can see an ebb and flow of its militarism based on what’s going on in the galaxy at that point in history. The Undiscovered Country showed the deepest and darkest days of the Federation-Klingon cold war, so Starfleet was appropriately on its highest guard and most militaristic. The Next Generation began a new era that showed a very tranquil and calm period for the Alpha Quadrant – no doubt a direct result of the peace made with the Klingons (as well as the secretive isolation of the Romulans). Starfleet had so totally chillaxed that it was allowing families and children to live aboard its starships. Seems pretty crazy in retrospect, and many have pointed out the potential folly of putting so many innocent civilians in harm’s way on a daily basis.
That could be a legitimate criticism of the show’s logic, but I take it as part of that in-universe ebb and flow of Starfleet’s history. We’re seeing the organization at its most relaxed and perhaps overconfident because of its longstanding track record of peaceful superiority. But even in Season 1 of TNG we see the cracks starting to form – The Romulans return, the Ferengi are making their presence more and more known (oy), and the Klingons are undergoing a worsening spiritual crisis because of all of this unrelenting peace, love, and understanding. Picard’s (as well as Riker’s) attitude in this episode reflects a great deal of wishful denial that combat is only a minor part of Starfleet’s mission. Just think peaceful thoughts, everyone! But Picard isn’t blind, and he can’t help but see that the peaceful utopia they’ve enjoyed all of their lives is being threatened on multiple fronts. As the rest of this era of Trek will show, it’s only going to get worse. But enough about my life!
So aboard comes Sirna Kolrami, a Zakdorn observer and strategist. Sick name brah, I loved all your games as a kid – Gradius III, The Simpons arcade game, Turtles in Time… Memories! The late character actor Roy Brocksmith fills his dweeby little shoes and is lovably loathsome. He moves around like an anxious, arrogant little turtle and immediately makes an enemy of Riker by not so quietly questioning Picard’s decision to put him in command of the derelict vessel USS Hathaway.
Riker is to choose a selection of 40 crewmembers to act as his crew of the Hathaway against the Enterprise in a simulated battle. Despite his lack of interest in combat, Riker agrees to put forth maximum effort in his mission, which harkens back to his role as unenthusiastic antagonist against Data in “The Measure of a Man.” Kolrami is like a little disapproving parrot on Picard’s shoulder the entire episode, and never hesitates to make his displeasure with Picard’s decisions known. He questions Picard’s choice to leave the selection of crewmembers to Riker, to which Picard simply responds that as far as he’s concerned, the mission leader always chooses the people. I love that about Picard – he’s not a control freak and trusts the people under him that he’s empowered with responsibility. If you don’t trust them, why are they working for you? It’s not like he’s the President of the United States or anything.
It’s such a neat plot, with the crews forming two teams to fight each other in a friendly competition. Riker conscripts La Forge and Worf into his ranks, both of whom express how hopeless the fight is but still sign up without hesitation. I also love that about them, that they can’t resist a good challenge and treat it like a fun game. The front part of the episode has such a chummy, wholesome vibe to it.
The only fly in the ointment is Kolrami, who is apparently a grandmaster in a game called Contra. Oops, I mean “Strategema.” Riker invites him to a match, who arrogantly accepts. It’s such an interesting aspect of Riker’s personality. As he explains to a bewildered La Forge, Riker has absolutely zero delusions that he has any chance in the match against Kolrami. He considers it an honor simply to sit at the same table as a top player. It’s like if you had the chance to get absolutely smoked by Usain Bolt in the 100 meter – sure, why not? It would be a great story to tell your kids someday. Or failing that, all those jerks at the bus stop who think they’re so cool.
It showcases a lack of ego on the part of Riker, as well as a healthy appetite for new experiences, such as when he stuffed his face with a smorgasbord of Klingon food. He’s such a cool guy! Predictably, Riker loses to Kolrami in a matter of seconds. Even with a strong sense of confidence and self worth, it still stings to get beaten by a smug little prick. Like those bus stop kids with their stupid cool shoes!
The Enterprise locates the Hathaway, and Riker beams aboard with his crew to get the battle drill started. They have 48 hours to repair the ship before the battle starts, and as Riker’s crew enters the bridge, it’s clear they have their work cut out for them. Despite the wretched shape of it, Riker seems absolutely pleased by the ship and immediately takes ownership of her and the mission. He’s so good in this episode. Riker assigns Worf as his first officer, who hesitates since La Forge is higher in rank. But they’ve already decided that Worf’s tactical experience will be needed on the bridge. Aw!
Despite Riker’s gusto, he can’t deny that Enterprise v. Hathaway is a colossal mismatch. Kolrami emphasizes that how they perform in a mismatch is the entire point of exercise (as occurred with the Enterprise against the Borg).
In trying to get the Hathaway’s warp engines up and running, Wesley concocts a scheme to return to the Enterprise under the guise of monitoring a school experiment he left running. In actuality, it turns out to be a small quantity of antimatter that they need to make warp speed possible on the old ship and he’s able to beam it over. It’s technically cheating, but some out of the box thinking that ends up saving the day.
Pulaski, in desperate need of some shit to stir and an acute dislike of Kolrami (fair), maneuvers Data into a Strategema match against him. Data – who has no ego or even an understanding of why these silly humans feel the need to compete – still agrees to it despite his lack of interest. He lasts only slightly longer than Riker did, and seems as bewildered as Pulaski that he could have lost against a flesh and blood opponent. Afterwards, he removes himself from active duty.
Kolrami, perhaps feeling extra salty and crispy after beating Data, goes a little too far in putting down Riker in front of Picard, who demands to know what his fucking deal is. Good for him! Kolrami bloviates about how although Riker’s record is technically exemplary, he considers him far too “jovial” for such a serious position as command. Picard replies that Riker’s personal style is what endears those who serve under him. I love that he’s not only sticking up for Riker, but his style of command – which clearly differs from Picard’s. He appreciates him and respects him despite their differences in personality.
(Although perhaps Riker’s jocularity is a bit of a luxury he enjoys as the first officer. His role is to be the conduit between the captain and the crew, so I think a bit more chumminess with the personnel is necessary to smoothing things over and making the captain’s orders palatable. He’s essentially the man of the people, and I think that would change in the captain’s chair.)
Troi visits Data and attempts to problem solve his crisis. He’s running diagnostics on himself since he believes there to be something wrong him due to his game loss. None of her gentle affirming words can sway him, however. A much more acerbic visit from Pulaski (her two flavors being acerbic and super acerbic) doesn’t do any good, either. She clocks it as a massive loss in confidence. Even though Data has no emotions, his belief in his own abilities has been shaken nonetheless and needs to be repaired.
It takes Picard’s no-nonsense tough love approach to finally shake Data out of it and is all “Hey big baby, can you stop wetting yourself and come to the bridge and be my first officer again, big baby?” Actual dialogue. Data’s error in thinking is that he’s malfunctioning because he lost when he should be infallible. But of course he’s not infallible, because no one is. Before he leaves, Picard drops the nugget of wisdom on Data that it’s possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. This is what seems to wake Data up from his isolation.
It’s a great piece of wisdom and one of the ones from TNG re-quoted the most often. It’s absolutely true and a good philosophy to handle the inevitable defeats life deals us. It’s a great strength to take accountability for one’s flaws and dissect our losses, but it’s also necessary to realize that we can do as much as we can and still not win. True confidence and self-assuredness is accepting that we can’t always win, and that it’s OK to lose. This is why Riker, a paragon of confidence, is able to walk away from his loss against Kolrami and move on with his life. Sometimes, that’s all you can do.
The themes of winning, losing, and the struggles therein are woven throughout the episode. At the beginning, Data lauds the Zakdorn as having “the most innately strategic minds in the galaxy,” so much so that many are afraid of challenging them. Worf is unimpressed, and grouses that without their reputation ever being tested, it means nothing. Kolrami states that when one is in a superior position, they’re expected to win (as the Enterprise surely will against the Hathaway).
Kolrami easily smokes Riker and Data in Strategema because of his species’ natural gifts. It’s one thing to be confident, but he’s supremely arrogant. Like Data, he’s convinced he can’t lose. Believing that is a precarious place to be in, since it lulls one into complacency. How much did Kolrami have to work to become a grandmaster? If he was born on third base and just jogged into home plate, how much grit and determination could he possibly have? Learning from our mistakes is key to success and a skill of its own, and too big of an ego can kill that. Riker tells Wesley that the effort is what counts here, and Trek is filled with heroes battling against hopeless odds to beat no-win scenarios. Scrappiness and tenacity are great skills that this mock battle exercise is testing.
The war games finally begin, and it’s a lot of fun. Picard tries an obvious tactic to tease out Riker’s strategy. Worf is able to fool the Enterprise’s sensors into thinking that a Romulan warbird is attacking. While Picard tries to scramble to deal with it, it proves to be a diversion as the Hathaway is able to inflict heavy simulated damage on the Enterprise. Kolrami, in his only real likable moment, laugh uproariously at Riker’s inventiveness, even admitting that “he’s quite good.” He’s just having a great time here. “He’s the best,” Picard says of Riker before locking in.
The episode feels the need to eventually introduce some actually deadly stakes, as in “Heart of Glory.” It’s not as inelegant and shoehorned in as that episode, but I kind of think it’s unnecessary? I could have watched a whole 40-ish minutes of this likable crew chummily trying to defeat one another. The deadly stakes here curtail any interesting character work since everyone’s just trying to survive. Life and death situations in media can be so black and white and lacking in nuance. In turning up the intensity to maximum, it paradoxically makes me less interested a lot of the time. But maybe I’m weird (spoiler: I’m definitely weird).
As the Enterprise prepares its assault, they detect a Ferengi vessel closing in on them. Picard, thinking it to be another of Worf’s illusions, takes no action. But of course it turns out to be for real, and the big eared goons come in blasting with an attack that severely damages the Enterprise. Aboard the unarmed Hathaway, Riker and crew can only watch. After the attack, Kolrami barks at Picard to GTFO and escape, the lives of the Hathaway be damned. His game theory instincts are to sacrifice those 40 pieces to save 1,000. It’s heartless, but brutally logical. Picard of course refuses to do that.
The Ferengi ship captain Bractor makes his presence known to Picard. The Ferengi were initially planned to be major antagonists of the heroes, essentially TNG’s Klingons. That ended the moment they painfully bellyflopped in their first appearance in Season 1’s “The Last Outpost.” Their appearance in “The Battle” was marginally better, but almost anything would be. Here they’re probably the closest they ever get to their original concept as fearsome marauders, thanks to Armin Shimmerman’s bombastic, scenery-chewing performance. Seriously, he just goes full Klingon and it’s pretty great. He was one of the first Ferengi we ever saw in “Outpost” and may have played another at some point, I’m not sure.
The Ferengi would of course evolve into a race of goofy non-threatening hyper-capitalists, which is probably the more interesting route between the two, I guess. It’s not like Trek really needed yet another enemy race of warriors (TNG had like four major recurring ones already), but I think they work really well here as fierce antagonists. The Ferengi military (or whatever it is, it’s never given a proper name like the Klingon Defense Force) weren’t even seen in DS9 and they completely gave up on this direction. Ah, well.
Bractor deduces that the Hathaway must have some value and demands it for themselves. Picard tries to bluff his way out, but for once the Ferengi are too smart for that. Bractor allows Picard the chance to give him the vessel and escape unharmed. Riker urges Picard to escape, and reveals that they can use their limited two seconds worth of warp power to elude the Ferengi. Kolrami is in disbelief, as the Hathaway was deemed warpless (the title of my Trek-themed series of romance novels). Picard, on the other hand, is confused but impressed.
Data formulates a plan to use a series of photon torpedo blasts to seemingly destroy the Hathaway, whilst they simultaneously warp away to safety. La Forge emphasizes that they don’t even know if their warp trick will work. If it doesn’t, the Hathaway will of course be destroyed.
Picard contacts the Ferengi and in his steeliest, Picardiest tone, orders the destruction of the Hathaway. The ship is seemingly obliterated, and the Ferengi seem almost impressed. But they detect another Federation ship approaching, and make a hasty retreat. It turns out to be another of Worf’s sensor ghosts, and it’s revealed that the plan worked perfectly and that everyone is alive. Picard reserves an even steelier and dirtier silent glare at Kolrami, who meekly stammers out some weak praise for both Riker and Picard.
Later Kolrami gets some proper comeuppance during a Strategema rematch with Data. Whereas Data only got 81 moves into their first game, he pushes Kolrami past 32,000(!) as the dude becomes an increasingly twitchy mess who eventually rage quits and storms out. LOL, see ya. Data explains that he employed a different strategy this time, going for a draw by countering every move his opponent made in what turns out to be the longest Strategema game ever played. So in the end, Data learns the value of coming back from a loss and trolling a big ass video game dork really hard. Fin.
“Peak Performance” is all about strategy. Not just the specific tactics of how to win a face off, but the psychology and emotional dimension of contests. The human component is just as important as the game theory tactics and can make all the difference in winning or losing. The desire to compete is a basic human impulse that not only reveals character, but builds it as well.
Stray Observations:
- Hopefully those strategic bosses the Zakdorn were able to help outwit the Dominion during the war. Oh, what? It was actually Sisko doing all the heavy strategic lifting while these geniuses were barely able to run starship junkyards? Nice.
- LOL, that first scene with Kolrami. Right as he’s about to dart into the corridor, he turns and gives this quick scrunchy-face look to all the bridge people. What a grumpy little turtle man.
- Some nice shots of the Hathaway:
- I can’t even tell you how many hours I wasted playing this:
