Synopsis: Season seven in predictable fashion pulls The First Duty from the recycling bin and gives it to an officer with more of a track record.

Memory Alpha Summary: Riker gets thrown in the brig for the first time, and not for his whoring with alien diplomats.

Review: Riker and Asshole Admiral #17 discuss “the experiment” in such obtuse terms for most of the episode and it feels a bit contrived to me.  If we’re not supposed to find out about the cloaking device until the “big reveal”, don’t show Riker talking about it vaguely for thirty minutes.  Also, Riker’s allegorical conversation with Beverly about his Bat’leth exercise with Worf is so obvious I’m surprised Beverly’s tricorder didn’t just say “contrivance.”

That said, I always like it when the characters act a bit more human and make stupid mistakes.  The relationship between Picard and Riker is developed even further.

Also, why the heck did Star Fleet sign a treaty that the Romulans could have a cloaking device but not the Federation?  It seems a little bit like conceding the Sudetenland to me.  It’s never really explained to my satisfaction.  And if it weren’t for Roddenberry, who didn’t believe honorable humans “sneak around,” the writer wouldn’t have had to come up with ridiculous explanations.  Thankfully, the DS9 writers decided this piece of canon should be shot and gave the Defiant a cloaking device.