This is an average episode with a few highlights and a few lowlights. However, it's one of the most remarkable episodes in Trek history for one simple reason: it was the first time a main character was permanently killed.
Tasha goes out with a meaningless death. She has a brief character moment in the beginning of the episode, dies, then is mostly unmentioned for the rest of the story until the end. It's as though this story was written in its entirety, and Tasha's death was merely inserted into it afterward. However, there are a few moments that really do a lot to make it work.
There's a brief moment in the cold open where Tasha and Worf have a short conversation. We see there that Worf respects Tasha, both as a warrior and as a friend, which Tasha reciprocates. Later, when Worf is given Tasha's place as Security Chief, he is visibly unsure of himself, but firm in his resolve to do his best. It's one of the best scenes for Worf we've had yet, and it definitely shows a growing depth and maturity for the character and the series as a whole.
The funeral scene is easily one of the most touching moments in TNG history. It gives meaning to Tasha's character where it had previously been sorely lacking. The reactions of the crew to her death seem genuine—and, according to reports from the cast, were in fact genuine reactions to Denise Crosby's leaving the show. In particular, Data and Picard's reactions are the most powerful. Patrick Stewart does an amazing job portraying the sadness Picard is undoubtedly feeling without shedding a tear. Data, in his childlike way, summarizes the very concept of death and loss of loved ones in a perfect way, proving that, in certain ways, he's just as human as anyone else.
The villain of the story, Armus, is a bit cheesy. He's too much like an old-style movie monster, and his voice has an almost technological echo to it that's somewhat distracting. It doesn't help that the environment he's in is the classic "rocky, barren planet" set, which is rarely convincing. One notable thing about Armus, however, is that he's a rare Trek villain that is not defeated. After Tasha's death, the Enterprise crew grabs Troi and leaves, because that's all they can really do. (Personally, I'd have shot a photon torpedo into Armus from space, but that's just me) Perhaps if Armus had died, Tasha would have sprung back to life? That's usually how those types of things work in Trek. And it's perhaps for that reason that this story is so surprising. Although we get a sci-fi solution to the problem of rescuing the crashed shuttle crew, Tasha dies, Armus isn't defeated, and the Enterprise crew ultimately suffers a significant loss.
Speaking of the crashed shuttle crew, one particularly nice touch is the way that Troi refers to Riker as "imzadi" when he's in mortal danger. It's a good bit that shows continuity not often seen in the show thus far.
In the end, this episode is great in concept, but not so great in execution. The character bits with Tasha are great, but nearly everything dealing with Armus is a bit sloppily done. It's a shame that Tasha couldn't have gone out with a better episode than this, but it's a decent story, and a far sight better than anything Tasha's gotten thus far.
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