#rakal

[images © CBS/Paramount] 

Caitlin – It’s a faaaaaake

Keras

Vreenak

Rakal

There are secrets getting revealed in Caitlin’s three choices. Keep your lips sealed when you see past the cloaking device for the first time and get our first glimpse of an ever-elusive Romulan, when you see the shady deals the Romulans make with the Dominion and a senator tries to spill the beans on a truly nefarious Federation plan that gets him killed, and when you get to watch the best work we’ve seen out of Marina Sirtis when Troi gets abducted and needs to out-Romulan one of our other favorite Romulans, as you’ll see…

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Jake – Warbirds of a feather cloak together

Jarok

Toreth

Bochra

All of Jake’s faves end up being ethical people when you get down to it, with little to no actual scheming to speak of (shocking!). Once they decloak their true selves, you get to really see a Romulan defector who’s sick of all the corrupt politics, the flipside of that coin in a shrewd and principled commander who nearly takes out Picard and the Enterprise-D, and an enemy officer who chooses to work together with his new best friend Geordi La Forge to get through a disaster.

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Chris – I could have called you friend

Keras

Toreth

R’Mor

Chris’s three Romulans are all individuals with whom we can empathize. Why, in a different reality, we can absolutely envision getting to know more of the Romulan commander who nearly matched wits with the first Starfleet captain to make visual contact with their race, more of the other Romulan commander who had an entirely understanding grudge against their culture’s shadow agency that totally fucked her over before, and more of the scientist who went above and beyond to help a stranded crew whom he’d otherwise call enemies.

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Ames – The plot thickens!

Sela

Nevesa

Narek

Everything in the lives of my picks is an opportunity to make a convoluted Rube Goldberg machine on the off chance it might reach an unearned conclusion. From the sheer gall of introducing Tasha Yar’s half-Romulan daughter who has it out for Picard, to the badass Romulan commander who tries to seduce Spock over to their side, to the blacksheep brother from season one of Picard who gave a whole lot of added depth to this shady, mysterious, kinda sexy race, these famous schemers have it all figured out… until they don’t.

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