One wonders why Picard made a point of saying that he wanted to talk to Beverly in person, and yet the away team report was sent ahead, waiting for her to read it…
Can’t anyone make a mistake? How is any of this just?
Perhaps God didn’t make their laws. They seem to be content to allow the Edo to evolve according to their own rules.
The Edo neglected to tell Starfleet their laws. Picard foolishly let an inexperienced boy to beam down. Kinda evens out.
At least there is symmetry. /Zathras 
“Star Fleet takes the Prime Directive very seriously.”
Well, sure, NOW they do. :rolleyes:
I really don’t remember the rest of this episode. I only watched the earlier, somewhat revealing bits.
This really was a poor story.
It would be interesting to see how this affects the Edo society. One law, one punishment, and now billions of possible exceptions. yay. 
How so? I thot the dichotomy between the legal systems, the importance of the Prime Directive, the fact that Might Makes Right isn’t actually in their favor, all of that made for an intriguing story.
But it’s so pedantic. We have the Prime Directive. God gets involved. And let’s throw in a little ‘Time Machine’ innocents. To be honest I think it was a “This isn’t TOS” episode. Like you said, Kirk and crew would have broke the multi-dimensional realm and toasted god, then rescued Yeoman Rand.
Setting it apart from TOS was definitely some of why I liked it. Sure, it’s a little over the top, but it established quite firmly that the Prime Directive actually meant something now. I mean, seriously, how many times did it come up in TOS? And how many times did Kirk just do what he felt like doing instead? Really, this episode was all about following the rules, even when you disagreed and even when it was going to hurt. It certainly made clear that there was still some wiggle room, but it showed that cowboy diplomacy was over.
Not really. Picard still saved his crewman and disrupted a society. He just didn’t kill anyone, including god.
Yes, but he reasoned with God. There was no force involved, no trickery, no destroying of external power sources. One has to wonder just how much of a disruption to this society this was. The Edo certainly recognized that God had prevented them leaving and then decided to show mercy. If anything, that might have a positive effect on their system of laws, tempering the harsh meting of justice somewhat.
It was all a little too P.C. for me. Lenient superpower following rigid parameters and in the end, a pushover. Kirk faced far worse and had to deal with it accordingly.
Let’s face it, it’s all scripted a certain way and this was meant to convey a non-violent resolution.
The humans on the planet held their law above life. Their justice was not fulfilled. They were disappointed by their god and people from outside their system. Their society is so filled with pleasure it would be difficult to raise any rebellious way of thinking. If anyone (the girl who went to the Enterprise) tried to convey a different way of thinking, she would probably be swayed pretty easily. It’s a stagnant culture. After this episode, I think they’ll probably become even more secluded.
Holy craaap! I knew that guy looked familar. Lt. Joseph Carey from the USS Voyager was in this episode. He was at tactical while Tasha and Worf were on the surface of the planet.