[Nate the Great]

O'BRIEN: Just talk with her. Make her see reason. She's going off half-cocked, not thinking this through. You've worked with her for a long time. She respects your opinion.

Even if Keiko is nominally in Data's department, I can't imagine why they'd have much interaction besides her giving him reports.

DATA [OC]: Commander Maddox, I noted that Keiko was quite calm and rational when she informed me of her decision this morning. Therefore, I can predict that she will respond to an objective analysis of the situation based on the available facts. It is fortunate that she has not let emotional considerations cloud her judgement. It should make my task much simpler.

Haha, pride goeth before the fall, Data!

DATA [OC]: In many ways, Deanna Troi is the friend that I understand the least. Her life and her duties are predicated on her understanding and perception of emotions. Since I have none, no doubt she finds me as much of a mystery as I find her.

A good insight.

DATA: Chief O'Brien talks to me. Keiko talks to you. Why do they not talk to each other?

And another!

DATA: In an effort to be helpful, I am attempting to calculate the variables involved in a successful marriage.
TROI: Good luck.

The belief that everything can be reduced to equations is a classic source of hubris. It's a good thing that Data is immune to hubris. Nice bit of sarcasm from Troi.

DATA: There are many opinions. On Galvin Five, a marriage is considered successful only if children are produced within a year of the wedding. Andorian marriages require groups of four people unless

I do hate Data's recitations of irrelevant and only tangentially-related factoids. Only mention of Galvin V, you'd think there'd be a short story devoted to it by now...

DATA: Do you believe it to be the right decision for them to marry?
TROI: I don't know. They're very much in love, but sometimes that isn't enough. Marriage is an agreement to share who you are with someone else. To spend your lives together. To grow old together.

Oh, how the times have changed, and I can't say that I like how they have. These days 15 years is about the median, with a third getting to 25 years. And remember that people live longer in the 24th century.

DATA: Although I am an android, I have not excluded the possibility that I, too, may someday marry.
TROI: Data, I had no idea you'd thought about getting married.
DATA: I believe I have much to offer a potential mate. However, we cannot grow old together because I will not grow old.
TROI: Data, you do have a lot to offer.

The problem with this is that he hasn't even tried a romantic relationship yet. He doesn't have a clue about how marriages really work.

T'PEL: What is the field strength of the ship's deflector shields at maximum output?

You know, you'd think the Romulans would know that already.

O'BRIEN: The signal lock wasn't broken, sir. I had just entered the transfer sequence when the Ambassador's pattern began to break up.

"Entered the transfer sequence" implies that the Enterprises's transporter was in operation. Later they'll imply that the Romulan transporter was operating independently, not hacking into the pattern within the Enterprise's transporter.

CRUSHER: Her molecular structure dissipated instantly once the pattern was lost. There were some organic compounds left on the pad, but there wasn't enough material to do an autopsy.

How are there organic compounds left at all? A lost pattern indicates that the matter was already in the ship's pattern buffer. Which is impossible if the Romulans beamed her off the pad. And are we to believe that the transporter scans the person, dissolves them into atoms, THEN transports them away? That's one too many steps.

MENDAK [on viewscreen]: Well played, Captain well played. Starfleet opposes normalisation of relations with the Romulan Empire, and so you are ordered to create an accident.

Um, if Starfleet didn't want peace the Enterprise wouldn't be here in the first place. Furthermore, the Federation doesn't need to stage an accident to avoid peace with the Romulans, they just need to refuse to show up.

DATA: I could be chasing an untamed ornithoid without a cause.
CRUSHER: A wild-goose chase?

These jokes get tiring sometimes.

DATA: The only abnormality found during my investigation was a temporary increase in the matter to energy signal ratio. Due to the circumstances, I decided to investigate the possibility that a second transporter signal had caused the fluctuation. Although this was highly improbable, it was the only remaining theory.

So T'Pel (or should I say Selok) initiated transport with the Enterprise's equipment. Then the Romulans highjacked the signal and did a bait-and-switch with it. I'm sorry, but that just can't work, not without leaving the passenger a pile of goo on the transporter pad. Furthermore, the Enterprise's equipment should've noticed more than they did.

PICARD: Since the days of the first wooden sailing ships, all captains have enjoyed the happy privilege of joining together two people in the bonds of matrimony. And so it is my honour to unite you, Keiko Ishikawa, and you, Miles Edward O'Brien, together in matrimony.

I like the reuse of the "Balance of Terror" wedding ceremony. And given the pre-Internet stage of the fandom, the creators had no obligation to use it. It's almost like Trek gets worse when the creators have distain for the legacy of the franchise...

DATA: The Juarez child?
PICARD: A boy. At the same time we were facing destruction, this small miracle was taking place. Welcome aboard.

Wow, the Borg really did mellow him out.

Memory Alpha

* First appearance of Keiko. I don't like this any more than Ogawa getting married offscreen and getting pregnant is such a short period of time.
* The Bolian barber in this episode is V'Sal. The Star Trek Encyclopedia thought that he was still Mot.
* Memory Alpha also did the math with the ship's launch and the Festival of Lights.
* Since the transporter set was being redressed for use in Star Trek VI, the appearance of the set varies throughout the episode.

Nitpicker's Guide

* What's the point in lower lighting levels for Night Shift, anyway?
* And if the lights are lowered a third of the day, how likely is it that all major events in the series occur during day shift (it's not like Worf would have full control over the lights, right?)
* Why was Data able to come into Sickbay during a prenatal exam? Shouldn't Lieutenant Juarez get some privacy? (I might add, doesn't Sickbay have supplemental room for this kind of thing?