Star Trek: The Next Generation

"The Mind's Eye"

3.5 stars

Air date: 5/27/1991
Teleplay by Rene Echevarria
Story by Ken Schafer and Rene Echevarria
Directed by David Livingston

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan





Previous episode: The Host
Next episode: In Theory

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36 comments on this review

























Just some more minor thoughts:





Diamond Dave


Excellent stuff, 3.5 stars.



Regards... RT
A Brilliant episode of Trek's version of Manchurian Candidate.



Still as an episode it deserves 9/10 for sure.
Mon, Sep 12, 2016, 2:37pm (UTC -5)
It was good, but you guys are overrating it a little. The first brainwashing scene had so much obvious exposition, I thought the Romulan was going to turn to the camera and say "All you viewers got that? You understand what we're trying to do, right?" And what a fortunate coincidence for the viewer that Geordi's double happens to be in the room! Beyond that, I can't find anything specific to point to that was wrong, and there were many scenes that were effective in their own eerie, dark way, but I just can't see this making anyone's list of best all-time episodes.
Intrinsic Random Event
Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 9:14am (UTC -5)
It is a great episode for so many reasons highlighted above, but the best bit for me was Picard swearing in Klingon. Brutal.
Fri, Jun 9, 2017, 10:00pm (UTC -5)
Lots of elements here "borrowed" from The Manchurian Candidate including the killing of Chief O'Brien scene but I saw this episode long before the 1962 film. They say it's not stealing if you call it a homage.
Mon, Jul 10, 2017, 6:08pm (UTC -5)
-The camerawork. Lot's of different angles and closeups. Effective at keeping the viewer aware that something was going on inside Geordi's mind.
-Scary Romulans
-Geordi's scream during the teaser
-Klingon backstories, regarding Worf, the home planet, and colonial politics
-The face of a dead Chief O'Brien

-Some of the camera shots where a little over the top, like when they show Geordi walking down the corridor at the end.
-Having a phaser continuously fire inside main engineering. Couldn't this be done somewhere else where it has less of a change of vaporizing someone?
Tue, Aug 15, 2017, 5:39pm (UTC -5)
Excellent episode -- it really picked up when Geordi sets out to kill the Klingon captain while Data races against time in the shuttle to figure out the mystery. That part with Geordi walking down the hallway, the camera angle, the musical score all came together wonderfully to achieve the perfect effect of an assassin about to carry out his grisly deed. And it could have ended with Geordi killing the Klingon captain because he's just a guest character -- and then what would have happened? So I didn't know how it would play out in the end.

Again, the Romulans come across as a deceptive and worthy enemy. This episode makes use of Geordi's previous encounter with the Romulans (which ended well, or so I it seemed) in "The Enemy" -- although there is no reference to that episode, it would explain how the Romulans know of the visor and Geordi. But I guess there's still a fair bit of timing that they needed to get right with planting the Klingon ambassador on board the Enterprise, Geordi in a shuttle etc.

"The Mind's Eye" also mixes in the ongoing Klingon power struggle, corruption arc, which never ceases to provide decent to great episodes.

The only complaint I have is why were those transporter chips not checked for fingerprints? They should have been able to pin down Geordi sooner. Or to avoid this oversight, have Geordi do his bit with gloves on.

I give this episode 3.5 stars -- hard to turn away from it for a second. The normally affable Geordi is a good candidate to become a sleeper assassin. Plenty of suspense here as we wonder what Geordi is going to do (like when he spills his drink on O'Brien) as well as some credible investigative work done by Data. Also one of the notable musical scores for a TNG episode.
Wed, Oct 25, 2017, 3:03am (UTC -5)
Great episode, just rewatched. And thanks to SkepticalMI, I can now put a more cynical face on Bochra from "The Enemy".


I noticed this immediately and even though I know you aren't supposed to notice it consciously for it to be fully effective, I still love it, probably because I've been messing around with indy film how-to's for the last few months. Wide angle lens, close-up, dolly back. One of those great shots that communicates a bit of mentally unhinged. In unconventional films or when playing with the subjective effects of certain drugs, they really ratchet this up by getting a variable width lens, and widen it as they zoom in fast for an extreme close up on the face. This episode had great music and cinematography.
Wed, Nov 1, 2017, 4:28pm (UTC -5)
Great Geordie/Romulan/Klingon episode, the likes of which we'd never get again. Inspired choice to utilize the VISOR as a means of assassination. Weird how Geordie can function with it, with those fuzzy infrared images, but I attribute that more to the poor quality F/X of 1991. In a real 24th century, I can imagine the images would be super sharp.
Thu, Nov 9, 2017, 3:09am (UTC -5)
The first of Chief O'Briens many sufferings. :)
Scotty from Detroit
Mon, Nov 13, 2017, 1:58pm (UTC -5)
Was anyone else really bothered that when Data and Geordi were testing the phaser rifle that they took it to main engineering just mere feet from the warp core? If I needed a shooting range on the Enterprise I would NOT make one right in front of the thing that can blow the whole ship up.
Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 4:19pm (UTC -5)
@Scotty: ... not to mention Data standing downrange while Geordi fired the rifle. I also saw Geordi open fire without looking up to see where Data was.
Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 2:18am (UTC -5)
@CRUFP: This isn't Troi's third time counseling someone. You mentioned "The Nth Degree" in which she counseled Barclay but she also originally counseled Barclay in "Hollow Pursuits" even if it was rather briefly.
Wed, Dec 27, 2017, 1:36pm (UTC -5)
Jammer once described the heart of TNG as "problem solving" and this episode really exemplifies that - it's one of the best "problem solving" eps in TNG. I love following along with the deductions and the Treknobabble doesn't overwhelm, and there are real stakes here.

Although, as the parody pointed out, Worf missed a big clue (Direct quote from the parody - Geordi: "Everyone has an alibi but me." Worf: "I'm stumped.")

And I loved the little word game at the end (I can't remember the exact words though)

Kell: "You can't search me!"
Vagh: "I agree. We will take him with us...and search him ourselves."
Kell: "I want asylum!"
Picard: "I'll be happy to grant it...when you have been absolved of this crime."

Brilliant writing!
Roger W Norris
Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 10:39am (UTC -5)
Since this is the first appearance of Sela, a few complaints about her. According to a later show whose name I forgot, she is the daughter of Tasha Yar, who landed on Romulus 22 years ago. She definitely doesn't look 22 years old! If she is, she's too young to be a Commander (Captain). A human 22 year old Starfleet officer would be an ensign. If Romulans have Vulcan life spans, she's the equivalent of a teenager! So why is she a Commander?
And to complain about the makeup. If she's half Romulan, couldn't they at least make her a brunette? You might be able to ignore the ears. But she's much too much Denise Crosby, and not enough the offspring of Tasha and a Romulan. (But she makes a good adversary over the length of the show.)
Wed, Apr 11, 2018, 10:10pm (UTC -5)
About Sela - I concur, I've always found her backstory to be extremely weird. She's just 22 years old, but a commander? Any why does she look exactly like her mother? We've seen Trek actors play their own relatives before, but there were usually hundreds of years in between - think of Brent Spiner on "Enterprise".

I know that a core story to define her was how she betrayed her own mother, when she was still a small child, and told the guards that her mother was trying to flee, getting her own mother killed. That's a strong backstory, to point out how this child was brainwashed into thinking like a Romulan from her earliest days. But still... it doesn't go well with being played by the same actress.

I would have made Sela an actual clone of Tasha instead - with no Romulan DNA involved. Effectively, she would've been like Shinzon from the Nemesis movie. Now, I don't really like that movie, but the concept of a clone as such is a good one: You have exactly the same person, from a genetic perspective, just raised in another environment, and you see that beloved person grow up to be evil. I feel this is how the Sela actor should've been done; it just would've made more sense. It could also have explained why Tasha looked older than 22; the clone could've gone through an accelerated growth.

I think the clone should've been created AFTER Tasha's execution, by her husband, in order to replace her with a more loyal version. That would've been genuinely eerie. So yeah, the writers kind of created a sub-par backstory for Sela. It could've been better.
Wed, Jun 6, 2018, 3:35pm (UTC -5)
I absolutely loved this episode channeling The Manchurian Candidate and teeing up the Romulan plot against the Klingon Empire soon to be realised.
I had forgotten the shadowy Denise Crosby presence.
This was all executed with style and a genuinely chilling performance by Burton which continued right to the last scene where Troi begins the painstaking task of helping Geordie reconstruct his lost memories.

Now, we would more easily appreciate the likely PTSD that would need to be addressed but I guess that was not such a known problem in 1991.
Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 12:16pm (UTC -5)
Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to the episode, but what was the point of the double on the Romulan ship? It seems like they just sent the original Geordie back to the Enterprise...or the double went to Risa, and then they swapped again on the Romulan ship?
Jeffrey Jakucyk
Sun, Oct 7, 2018, 8:04pm (UTC -5)
JerJer, Geordi's double went to Risa so nobody would ask why Geordi never showed up, and also to get memories to be implanted back into Geordi after they finished his conditioning ("but I REMEMBER everything!").
Geordi La Forge
Sat, Nov 24, 2018, 12:52am (UTC -5)
Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 11:08am (UTC -5)
I guess 6/10. I am not a fan of these brain washing type shows. Some are done well but it just doesn't seem original anymore. +1 for the creepy nature they showed leading up the attempted assassination and also Troi's gentle assistance afterwards. La Forge was truly tortured and to do a reset after this is just plain ignorant and rude. However...
Sat, May 11, 2019, 1:36pm (UTC -5)
Very good, tense episode, I'm surprised there aren't more comments.

I would love to know what Picard swore at Vagh. Any Klingon speakers out there?!

Kell's banquet of Klingon food though, blurgh. Shudder.
Tue, Jun 11, 2019, 8:57am (UTC -5)
How was Sela Tasha Yar's daughter? Yesterday's Enterprise and Redemption, part II explains that.

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