In the tenth episode of the fourth season of The Next Generation, Deanna Troi loses her empathic abilities and is struck by how much she relied on them. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief/loss.
There are two main things I want to address here. Let us begin!
The “Antagonists”
I definitely tend to enjoy the episodes where Star Trek pits the Enterprise crew against an antagonist that ends up not really being an antagonist at all. The two-dimensional beings within “The Loss” are only antagonistic by sheer coincidence. They’re simply trying to make their way home, and they just so happened to have wrapped the Enterprise up in their journey there. The fact is that just by the odds alone, this sort of circumstance probably would happen during space exploration. Not every being is either an enemy or a friend; many are probably disinterested in humanity as a whole. That indifference ends up being frustrating for the crew, since they can’t convince these beings to let them go.
In the midst of this dilemma, we learn a great deal about Troi and her sense of identity, so this was gonna be a great episode by default. But I wanted to point out how cool it was that these creatures were two-dimensional. Who says that all creatures in of the universe have to be three-dimensional?
Loss
I mean, I did ask for a Troi-centric episode, did I not? I just didn’t expect it to be so sad. At heart, this is a story about someone losing something that informed a core part of their identity. How do they deal with it? How does it change the way they perceive and interact with the world? For Deanna, her empathic abilities make up a significant portion of her life. I think that “The Loss” demonstrates that it’s more than just a petty reliance on something. It’s who she is! Not entirely, of course, but enough that the loss of her abilities leaves her feeling inadequate and worthless.
But why is that? Why does she give so much meaning to this experience of hers? First of all, Betazoid culture has always been a part of her life, and lived experience is a hell of a thing. I mean that in a good sense! It’s understandable for anyone to come to rely on their natural abilities during their life. In Deanna’s case, she’s built an entire career out of it. As a counselor, she’s used her empathic abilities to explore the feelings and emotions of her patients and help them as best she can.
So what kind of counselor is Deanna Troi without this ability? I’d say that throughout all the grief, denial, and anger that we see here, we’re shown that Deanna is still an excellent counselor and friend. That’s not surprising to me because she’s easily the most caring and empathetic person on the ship, and some of that can’t have been due to her Betazoid side. Just because she can read emotions doesn’t mean she knows what to do with them, and that’s the key element here. Deanna has always made a conscious choice to use her ability for the good of others. When she loses it, she may lash out, as we see here. That’s perfectly understandable for anyone experiencing loss and grief. But that doesn’t change who she is at the core of her being.
The story of the two-dimensional beings is neat and a fascinating challenge, but “The Loss” is such a powerful episode because it highlights why Deanna is a necessary part of this crew. I still feel like she’s under-utilized as a character; she’s often in the background and appears to offer up some sort of insight or exposition before fading back into the scenery. The writers never seem like they know what to do with her, so I’m thankful for an episode like this that’s so uniquely about her. It can’t be about anyone else. Marina Sirtis does a phenomenal job with the material and with a script that challenges our ideas of Deanna as a character. All around, it’s another brilliant and engaging entry into the Next Generation canon, and that means season four is 10/10. HOW DID THIS SHOW BECOME SO GOOD SO SUDDENLY? I’m all for it, so I AM NOT COMPLAINING.
The video for “The Loss” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
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