In the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of The Next Generation<\/i>, Lwaxana Troi meets a potential love interest on the Enterprise<\/i>, only to realize it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at the worst possible time. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For suicide, assisted suicide, ageism.<\/b><\/p>\n
I think that, for the sake of my mental health, this may not be the longest review ever, despite that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve thought a lot about the meaning behind \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For a topic so fraught with emotion and fear, this episode handles suicide with respect, nuance, and character, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not about to write a criticism of it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to dwell on it too much; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a complicated and painful history with suicide myself, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of my major triggers.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not saying that this episode triggered me, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m actually surprised it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. I think the focus of it is why I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel dejected, though. At the heart of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is Lwaxana Troi, who fiercely fights for someone to live<\/i>. In that sense, this episode felt uplifting. It felt like someone fighting for me to choose life over everything else. As a fan of Lwaxana Troi, too, I think I was bound to love this episode anyway. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always enjoyed her appearances on this show, but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d makes her into a character that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much fuller than she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been before.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one hell of a challenging episode to watch, though. I was convinced that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be watching another episode where Lwaxana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wacky exploits messed up something for the Enterprise<\/i> and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to fix it. It seemed pretty obvious that Lwaxana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affection for Dr. Timicin couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t end well, given that his race was so much more reserved and quiet than Troi had ever<\/i> been. But the story itself slowly unwound any theory I had, especially once it was clear that Dr. Timicin liked<\/i> the attention he got from her. Perhaps this was the man that Lwaxana could actually court and would return the affection!<\/p>\n
And then the big twist hits, and this episode isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about Lwaxana Troi embarrassing her daughter or the Enterprise<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a deeply disturbing moral conundrum, one that invokes the Prime Directive as much as it addresses the value of human life past a certain age. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a conversation about ageism, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a conversation about suicide, too. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that the show itself necessarily takes a side on the issue, and the ending leaves things so morally ambiguous that the audience is the one left to make a moral judgment on what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened. I think the script sides more with Lwaxana, but it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do so in a way that suggests she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 100% right, either. The Next Generation<\/i> has often concerned itself with the right to life and<\/i> the value of life, too. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen how often people who are both young and<\/i> old are able to affect events positively, and so it makes sense that people onboard the Enterprise<\/i> would be horrified of the Kaelon ritual of Resolution.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly the case for Lwaxana Troi, who is perhaps the character here most<\/i> full of life. The idea of reaching a specific age and just giving up<\/i> is blasphemous to someone like Troi, and now, at the precise time she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s found someone she may want to spend her life with, that man is going to leave his life behind. Of course, to Dr. Timicin, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what this means to him. I think one of the most rewarding things \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does is show us that this truly is a different culture, that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look at life as we do, and that it is not so easy to claim that one cultural belief is superior to another. I credit part of that with David Stiers, who portrayed Timicin with a gorgeous subtlety, which allowed us to understand the severity of the issue. Through him, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re able to get a sense for how much he and his people view the Resolution as a beautiful ceremony, one that affirms<\/i> life, not denies it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Timicin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interaction with Troi begins to \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in Dara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words \u00e2\u20ac\u201c poison his certainty. Does<\/i> he have life to offer beyond sixty? If his work to save his planet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sun could be finished with his assistance, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that validate his existence? Or is he merely being selfish? I honestly thought he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d maintain his asylum onboard the Enterprise<\/i>, but the appearance of his daughter complicated that immensely<\/i>. Like, could any<\/i> of us deal with their child telling them that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re ASHAMED of us for abandoning our culture?<\/p>\n
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no easy answer to any of the questions raised by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the show should have come down on either side of the issue. I found this to be more challenging (and satisfying) because the writers left this up to us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a devastating episode, one that gave Lwaxana Troi depth as much as it hurt us. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simply a good story, and I think it was handled as well as it could have been.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Half a Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>. In the twenty-second episode of the fourth season of The Next Generation, Lwaxana Troi meets a potential love interest on the Enterprise, only to realize it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at the worst possible time. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star … Continue reading
\n– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S. this summer and fall Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
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