The Enterprise is looking forward to
some peaceful shore leave on an idyllic planet, but this is interrupted by two
things – a plague ship from an alien world threatens to infect the planet, and
an arranged marriage made when Counselor Troi was a little girl catches up with
her. Both of these plots have the potential for being interesting, but the
resulting episode is uneven, at best.
Ten episodes in, Deanna Troi is
probably the least developed character we have on the show (Geordi is a close
second.) This is her first spotlight episode, and we do learn a little about
her, but her show-stealing mother and plot that’s more about the guest stars
than the cast keep us from actually learning anything significant about who
Deanna Troi is.
The most important of the guest
stars being of course Lwaxana Troi, one of those most divisive recurring
characters in the franchise. Personally, I find her extremely entertaining, if
just a tad overused. In her debut she’s a little more obnoxious than she is in
subsequent appearances – just a little too full-of-herself, a little to presumptuous,
a little too rude. All of these qualities I think get toned down in subsequent
appearances, but that could just be my memory. Either way, her condescending
flirtations with Captain Picard are a lot of fun, and Patrick Stewart plays the
comedy of this normally quite dignified man trying to hold onto that dignity in
the face of Lwaxana being Lwaxana.
But entertaining as she is, Lwaxana
is also not the main character of the episode. Unfortunately, Wyatt Miller is,
and while he’s charismatic in kind of a bland way, we don’t care about him anywhere
near as much as we care about the crew, and that’s unfortunate, because he’s
actually the character who drives the action of the show, and he’s the only one
for whom the stake really feel particularly high.
Let me put it another way. Wyatt has
to face a decision about whether to uphold a tradition and a vow he has made or
to follow his heart. If Deanna had to make that decision, then this might have
been an episode that showed us who Deanna is. But before she has a chance to
decide, Wyatt goes over to the plague ship, absolving her of responsibility. It
feels like this guest star cheated a main character out of an interesting
story.
And of course, Troi’s failure to act
on the fact that she would clearly prefer to stay on the Enterprise makes her
look like an incredibly weak character incapable of fighting for what she wants
or even making her own decisions. I keep waiting for the Deanna Troi I remember
liking to show up on this show, and I haven’t seen her yet. I fear I will have
to wait quite a while.
Random Observations:
The
story of the Tellarians and their plague is really interesting, and I wish more
time had been spent exploring it.
The
costuming in this episode is especially 80’s, and the scoring is extremely
heavy-handed, neither of which do anything to sell the premise.
Classic
Data: “Please continue the petty-bickering. I find it most intriguing.”
It’s
odd that Deanna can hear telepathic communication even though she can’t
actually read minds, but then I remembered that Troi can talk telepathically to
Riker, so I guess sending and receiving messages is a different skill than
actually perusing people’s thoughts.
I
love the little bits of Betazoid culture we get, like the Thanksgiving gong and
the nudity at weddings.
It’s
good that Picard points out the ridiculousness of arranged marriage in the
context of 24th-century woman of mixed species heritage, but I wish
it was taken farther. I would really have liked to see Troi stand up for her
right to retain her career.
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