{"id":4566,"date":"2015-03-31T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4566"},"modified":"2015-03-23T09:46:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T16:46:43","slug":"mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e17-when-the-bough-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/03\/mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e17-when-the-bough-breaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S01E17 – When The Bough Breaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventeenth episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>, the crew finds a mythical planet, and everything turns into a disaster pretty much immediately. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For kidnapping, manipulation.<\/b><\/p>\n

I feel like this first season of this show is establishing a rubric for the\u00c2\u00a0kind<\/i> of stories that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be told here. I would understand if \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When The Bough Breaks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had been a much angrier and more violent kind of story because the Aldeans are EXTREMELY MESSED UP.\u00c2\u00a0SO MESSED UP<\/i>. Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0most<\/i> people react strongly to have their kids taken away from them? And yet, the crew of the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>, while still being upset, devises a plan to rescue these kidnapped children that utilizes reason, cunning, and, ultimately, altruism. THAT FEELS LIKE A HUGE DEAL TO ME. The\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> still offers something undeniable good and helpful to a race of people who KIDNAPPED THEIR CHILDREN.<\/p>\n

Lemme back up a bit, because I need to RAGE about the Aldeans. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an undercurrent to their characterization that I picked up on right around when Radue cut Picard off for being too emotional amidst the negotiations. The Aldeans are every bit the advanced society that the myths and legends purported them to be. We see just how advanced they are in the first ten minutes or so of this episode, too. From their transportation system, to their computers, to their sense of duty and hospitality, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re clearly meant to revere the sort of life these people have made. Now, because this is a science fiction show, and because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i> to give me a forty-five minute character study about what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to live in a perfect world, I expected a twist. There was something awful about this utopia.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When The Bough Breaks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d did not waste much time getting to that point. Any worldbuilding for Aldea was then accomplished through their heinous act. Which was to reveal to Riker, Dr. Crusher, and Deanna that they were all infertile WHILE KIDNAPPING CHILDREN FROM THE\u00c2\u00a0ENTERPRISE<\/i>. SERIOUSLY. And the more I think about what these people did, the more\u00c2\u00a0severely fucked up<\/i> it is. Not only did they take children from their families because they could not have any of their own, but they specifically sought out children they could manipulate into staying. Those children were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153matched\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with parents like they were ACCESSORIES. Of course some of them were going to feel drawn in by the Aldean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom and their technology, and they knew that. They knew the easiest way to get around the children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctance to\u00c2\u00a0BEING KIDNAPPED<\/i> was to more or less trick them into staying.<\/p>\n

On top of that, they then treat the crew of the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> as if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a spoiled child, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revolting to watch. Which brings me to the point I was trying to make: even \u00e2\u20ac\u0153advanced\u00e2\u20ac\u009d societies can do barbaric, evil things. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably the most rewarding aspect of this episode. This culture values certain things like fairness and art, and yet they manifest in ugly ways that benefit only themselves. Radue constantly dismisses the humans as overemotional (AFTER THEIR CHILDREN WERE KIDNAPPED, GOOD GOD), despite that the very act he sanctioned is an overemotional reaction to his people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own fertility. At one point, he calls humanity \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stubborn,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I wanted to reach through the screen and shake him because\u00c2\u00a0I cannot imagine something more stubborn than\u00c2\u00a0kidnapping children and then demanding the parents sit through negotiations for payment of said<\/b> children<\/b><\/i>. Pot, meet kettle. May the kettle DROWN YOU IN BOILING TEA.<\/p>\n

But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more to this episode than just the Aldean Frustration. (That gets an official title because I said so.) I love that Wesley gets to be the leader for the group of kidnapped children and that he teaches them a bit of passive protesting. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adorable! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also fantastic that the show briefly addresses multiple kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 perspective throughout this ordeal. Like, we check in on the kid who hates calculus, which just gave me flashbacks to my awful, bigoted calculus teacher in high school. (She was the literal worst, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. She once shamed me in class and laughed at me because I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford a graphing calculator, or whatever those ridiculous ones are.) While none of these kids ever choose to remain on Aldea, that specific kid? He finds out that he loves sculpting and that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0good<\/i> at it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s invaluable, and he gets to take that realization back with him. (Though I suspect he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be disappointing that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sculpt ~with his mind~ on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>. Shit, that was so cool!)<\/p>\n

So let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end this, then, by talking about what a great thing it is that Dr. Crusher does for the Aldeans. I feel like I have made the point that the Aldeans did a terrible thing and then reacted even more terribly to the response to it. In any universe, I think it would have been pretty appropriate to just get the children back, and then wave goodbye to the Aldeans, damning them to their fate because Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL ARE ASSHOLES. The Enterprise<\/i> crew probably could have done this with a clean conscience, too, invoking the Prime Directive to wipe their hands clean of this culture. Instead, Dr. Crusher and Picard know that if they can offer a solution that benefits everyone, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less of a chance of conflict. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less of a chance of this spiraling even further into disaster. So she not only figures out what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s causing infertility on Aldea, but she comes up with a cure, a way for these people to re-populate their planning\u00c2\u00a0without harming another person<\/i>. That kind of gift is immeasurable; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beyond lifesaving. This is\u00c2\u00a0culture-<\/i>saving, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beautiful gesture from a woman who had her own son taken by these people. Sure, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pragmatic act as well; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain Dr. Crusher knew this was the trade she was making. But she could have lied or done any other thing to trick them, just to get her son back.<\/p>\n

But I feel like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> way. And I like that.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When The Bough Breaks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0 MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"