In the first episode of the second season of The Next Generation, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent, disease, mystical pregnancy.
This episode is all over the place, y’all. I wondered if my perception of it was altered by knowing that it was a season premiere, but I don’t think that affected my interpretation of it all that much. It feels like there are five separate plots all unfolding at once, which isn’t a problem all by itself. There’s no reason why this show can’t do something like that. But most of these stories (aside from Wesley’s) aren’t given enough screen time to feel fleshed out or complete, so this ends up coming across as a scattered narrative. LET US DISCUSS.
Changes
I’m not opposed to the fact that major cast changes happened in between seasons. Both Worf and Geordie were promoted, which is great! Wesley appears to have more responsibility on the bridge. (And precisely the same amount of awkwardness. Gods, every scene with him and Picard is so deliciously uncomfortable. WHY DOES THIS ENTERTAIN ME SO MUCH?) But it was certainly jarring to have Dr. Crusher suddenly away from the Enterprise with news of her promotion relayed to us by another character. I desperately hope that this isn’t permanent because WOW, that would be two women on this show shuttled off the cast in really unsatisfying ways.
But I don’t know that yet. That’s fair! So, while I wait to find out if Dr. Crusher comes back, I’ll celebrate the fact that there are TWO new characters on The Next Generation. We’ve got Dr. Katherine Pulaski, who is ostensibly taking Dr. Crusher’s place for however long she’s gone. She’s neat, but not nearly as friendly as Dr. Crusher. (It’s always a challenge to warm up to a character who is meant to fill someone else’s shoes.) We’ve also got Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg, AND THANK YOU FOR NOT SPOILING THIS FOR ME. I didn’t even know she was on this show. So, now the Enterprise has a bar and a barkeep THIS IS GREAT.
The Containment Module
I think I see what the show was trying to do with this object, but for me, it fell flat. There should be something thrilling about a module meant to hold in a brutally ruthless plague, one that can kill an entire starship’s crew in just a few hours. That threat should be upsetting or suspenseful, but it’s so wrapped up in the technical terms spouted by Geordi and Hester Dealt that it loses that danger. I think this story also suffers from a lack of focus; as I said earlier, there’s so much going on that most of this episode feels cluttered. Hell, it isn’t even until the final act of “The Child” that we really get a sense for how dangerous and life-threatening this module is. It’s like the writers tried to invoke a specific trope here – the one where a fragile object has to be transported over a dangerous terrain – but then took out the dangerous terrain part. The module sits in one place, immovable. The transportation of the plague is accomplished using the transporter, so we don’t actually see it. All we’ve got to go on is what they tell us, and that’s no suspenseful.
(I feel like I should, for the thousandth time, recommend The Wages of Fear, which uses this trope so perfectly that I kind of measure all thrillers of this style against it. It is utterly terrifying in its execution not just of the central trope, but in how it relates to existentialism, imperialism, and capitalist exploitation. It’s not for the feint of heart because JESUS CHRIST, THE WASHBOARD ROAD. NOPE. N O O O O.)
Wesley / Guinan
Before I yell about one of my least favorite tropes, let’s talk about why Guinan rules. In just one episode, we’re expected to believe that Ten Forward and Guinan have always been on the Enterprise. That’s a lot to ask from an audience, but here’s how The Next Generation pulls it off: by showing it. I often talk about showing vs. telling  in writing (something I was taught in high school!), and I think Wesley’s scenes with Guinan strike a perfect balance between the two concepts. There are things we need to know, that can’t just be shown. We need to know Guinan’s name, what she does, and why Wesley is so full of angst over his upcoming transfer. And yet, when the two get down to discussing what Wesley is going to do about his decision, we are shown that she’s the kind of barkeep who fulfills a very specific role. It’s true – in both fiction and the real world – that bartenders are often viewed as neutral parties, that they’re unconnected to our personal lives and are therefore perfect sounding boards for our problems. She performs a necessary role here in “The Child.” My hope, though, is that she gets developed as a character instead of existing just to build up and grow other people. Still, this was a fantastic introduction to her! She helped Wesley realize that being selfish WASN’T A BAD THING. There’s nothing wrong with wanting something more than what’s expected of you! EXCELLENT.
Deanna / Ian
I wish I felt as excited about Deanna’s plot, but what the fuck was that? Granted, the mystical pregnancy is one of my least favorite tropes of all time. It seems that every science fiction or fantasy show has to have an episode during their run that contains this trope, and guess what? They’re never good. NEVER. They are always awkward. They practically NEVER address the consent issues at hand, and this particular episode is rather egregious in this regard. Like… why does Deanna spend most of this episode unbothered that an alien life form invaded her body and made her pregnant? Are we supposed to believe that her half-Betazoid side makes her more susceptible to accepting this development? Does this count as sexual assault? At the very least, the being that enters Deanna does so without getting consent from her, so it’s gross just from the start.
And then… jesus. Why? This is such a tonally bizarre story because for the most part, this is about the joy of childbirth and raising a child and having a child become a huge part of your life and WHY IS NO ONE TRULY FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS CHILD BEING DAYS OLD? WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING LIKE THINGS ARE, FOR THE MOST PART, TOTALLY OKAY AND JUST OCCASIONALLY WEIRD? (I have a theory about this, since this is not the first time the Enterprise crew have had a muted reaction to something utterly horrifying. I think they’ve seen so much weird shit over the years that they just can’t be bothered to care about most things.) I think the exploration of Deanna’s emotional attachment to Ian would have been a lovely story. Mirina Sirtis is, unsurprisingly, such a fantastic actress when it comes to complicated shit like this. But by the time we get to see her as a mother, this plot comes crashing down minutes later in one of the most unbelievably absurd resolutions this show has ever gave us.
You see, once we find out that Ian is the cause of the radiation causing one of the plague samples to grow, he wills himself to death. That’s it. He’s all, “Oh shit, I’m fucking everything up, I’M OUT, MOM.” That’s it. Gone. His physical body evaporates, he thanks Deanna for letting him live (BUT NOT FOR INVADING HER BODY???), and then he’s gone, and everything is sad. That’s it. Is this going to have any longstanding ramifications for Deanna Troi? Probably not, which makes this episode all the more furious. How can you put something so huge into canon and then back away from it with WILLING ONE’S SELF TO DEATH.
It’s too absurd for me to think about.
The video for “The Child” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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