{"id":4739,"date":"2015-06-09T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4739"},"modified":"2015-06-03T22:22:42","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T05:22:42","slug":"mark-watches-the-next-generation-s02e15-pen-pals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/06\/mark-watches-the-next-generation-s02e15-pen-pals\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S02E15 – Pen Pals"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>, Wesley gets his first command, while Data unknowingly makes a huge mistake. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/i><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent and non-consensual medical procedures.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I certainly think this is a strong episode, yet another in a recent bout this season that builds up the character of Data, but holy shit, that ending is so horrifying! And look, I feel like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pen Pals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does a fine job showing us the uncomfortable and disturbing implications of the Prime Directive, and then, when it comes to Sarjenka, no one seems all\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0upset about what the team does to her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jarring, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

But let me back up, since there are two plots unfolding here.<\/p>\n

Wesley<\/b><\/p>\n

I definitely expected the title of this episode to be a reference to Wesley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story, that somehow, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d find a way to communicate with someone on Drema IV. Instead, Wesley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story is about his growth as an officer in the fleet, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty cool! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not an easy thing to suddenly be in charge of other people, and this episode does a fine job of addressing Wesley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youth in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s both respectful\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0not condescending. Yes, Wesley is younger than everyone he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in charge of, and that creates an uncomfortable dynamic. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable! Everyone he works with is clearly more qualified than he is.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Wesley isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t capable, nor does that mean he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s automatically right about everything. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he does end up being right, but THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NOT THE POINT. The point is that once given authority, Wesley starts questioning\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big deal for someone like him, who is often more of a know-it-all than anything else. Right??? But if Wesley is going to ease his way into a command position, he has to learn how to speak with an authoritative voice. What I appreciated most about this episode was how the various crew members assisted Wesley in a way that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t insulting. They obviously wanted the best of him, and sarcasm and rage weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to bring that about.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be much longer before Wesley outgrows the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>. I think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see that by the end of season four.<\/p>\n

Data\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

You know, I think that no other character could have been given this specific story because it relies so heavily on curiosity. If anyone else on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0had been presented with this same predicament, would they have responded to Sarjenka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s haunting question? Perhaps, but I would argue that\u00c2\u00a0none<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of them would have done so without consulting Picard or immediately notifying him once they got their first communication back.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very weird that we go from that first exchange of Data and Sarjenka to, minutes later, the reveal that the two of them have been having an extended conversation. I get that it packs more of a punch when he finally\u00c2\u00a0does<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tell Picard, but it also makes it more difficult to understand Data\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attachment because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only\u00c2\u00a0told<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0about his pen pal relationship. We see none of it. Still, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it worthless, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a magnificent value in what happens after this:<\/p>\n

Does the crew save Sarjenka and her people, or do they obey the Prime Directive?<\/p>\n

Our gut reaction is, of course, to instantly respond with, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153SAVE HER, WHY ARE YOU CONSIDERING ANY OTHER OPTION AT\u00c2\u00a0ALL<\/i>?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d However, the problem here is that Data\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pen pal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d conversation violated the prime directive in a pretty blatant way, so much so that Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instinct is go into clean-up mode first. Again, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I think this couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have happened to any other character; all of them would have been far too terrified of breaking the Prime Directive in the first place. Data, however, is not like anyone else on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>. When he is asked a question, what does he do?\u00c2\u00a0He answers it<\/i>. Therefore, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the ability to derive context from this behavior. Someone asks him if anyone is out there, and he responds with a resounding, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Thus, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pen Pals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d becomes a vicious philosophical experiment. What does the team do when faced with the fact that their own policy will guarantee that millions of people are going to do in the next few hours? Well, Dr. Pulaski and Geordi are both quick to say TO HELL WITH THE PRIME DIRECTIVE. And seriously, that was my initial reaction, too, given that Data had already violated it\u00c2\u00a0anyway<\/i>, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 yeah. In for a penny, in for a pound. But is it that simple? The problem is that every step the crew takes in that specific direction, the more they risk irreparably ruining the future of the people on Drema IV.<\/p>\n

However, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me (or people like Geordi, Dr. Pulaski, and Data) that the very idea of fate is largely redundant in this case. While some of the crew argue that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re interfering with fate, most of them realize that perhaps their purpose\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to intervene the whole time. Honestly, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perpetual circle of logic if you accept the idea that there is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fate\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the universe, so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy it that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just supposed to exist to fulfill this idea of a cosmic destiny. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the very act of exploration a defiance of this principle? How can they claim to be inventive and adventurous when a moral conundrum makes them want to run and hide, ignoring the problem?<\/p>\n

Of course, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m referencing the end of this episode, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of impossible for me to think of this story\u00c2\u00a0without<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0addressing that point. Data cares about Sarjenka, enough that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willing to continue his violation of the Prime Directive, his orders, and Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wishes. (Never has Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hatred of children ever felt so REAL and so ANGRY, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. HOLY SHIT.) I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s significant because it demonstrates that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continuing to grow. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got an intense morality here that is in direct contradiction to his training. Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that a sign of some form of humanity?<\/p>\n

I suppose that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the end of this episode frustrates me so much. Dr. Pulaski in particular seems so uncaring about what she forces upon Sarjenka. In the end, her justification for wiping Sarjenka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s memories amounts to, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for her\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nah, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0and literally no one else. How the hell was their intervention \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one that saved the planet from annihilation! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so horrible to the fate of those on Darem IV that they had to\u00c2\u00a0erase it from Sarjenka<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind?<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0To me, this felt like the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0cleaning up the legal mess that Data made and saving their asses in the process. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no charity or sympathy in their actions; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nonconsensual medical procedure, plain and simple, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrifying. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s especially so when Picard tells Data that Sarjenka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued trauma will help the android to understand humanity. Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really, really gross, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? How is someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life and memory fodder for character development?<\/p>\n

Ew.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pen Pals\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

– Please help book\/finalize the Mark Does Stuff European Tour!<\/a>
\n– I am now on Patreon<\/a>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"