Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S04E16 – Galaxy’s Child

In the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of The Next Generation, the crew makes a fatal mistake; Geordi is visited by an old flame, sort of. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.

This could have been such a fantastic episode, but then THAT THING HAPPENED.

Galaxy’s Child

There really are two distinct stories happening here, and I’m not certain either are thematically related. Perhaps you could argue that they’re both about children in some way? If you consider that Brahms’s plans are like her children, as Geordi suggests. What is a parent willing to do for their child?

Well, I think the metaphor kind of falls apart right here, because we find out that the parent of the unnamed creature in “Galaxy’s Child” is willing to die to protect their offspring. This was such a weird and shocking story, and I loved it. I mean, this whole plot opens with the crew finding a creature that no human has ever seen before. We watch as Picard’s face goes from barely-contained excitement to crushing horror as they realize their interaction with it killed the creature. I simply didn’t expect it, and from Picard’s expression, neither did he. I appreciated that the writers took this plot so seriously, too! The Enterprise is supposed to explore, to bring new information back to the Federation, and to respect all life forms they find. This act, even if it was accidental, completely contradicts that mission, and the team are appropriately horrified by this.

It’s the main reason they’re dedicated to saving the life of this newborn creature even when it imprints on the Enterprise and nearly sucks all the power out of the ship. I think it’s fitting that these people contributed to a mistake – one that was fatal – and then worked as hard as they could to make up for it as best as they could. Actually, you know what? That’s the string that links these two stories, though not because they end the same.

Dr. Leah Brahms

No, Geordi does the exact opposite as the crew: he does not take responsibility for what he’s done.

This is actually a really good episode until the confrontation scene later on, and despite that it’s so painfully awkward, I felt like it needed to be. Guinan got this situation right at the beginning of “Galaxy’s Child”: Geordi fell for a fantasy version of Dr. Brahms, and he set himself up for disappointment. As Guinan is proved right, we are led through one uncomfortable sequence after another.

Here’s the thing, though. The awkward nature of this is important, but it’s not why this is such an awful situation. Throughout Geordi’s interactions with Dr. Brahms, he consistently knows more about her than she knows about him, and he uses that to his advantage. She is justifiably unnerved when she begins to realize this, and it’s because there’s a gross power imbalance at work. I have been on a panel with my friend Jesi at two separate conventions called “Romantic or Repulsive” where we’ve talked specifically about this trope. (For context, the panel discusses tropes and devices common in romance or romantic scenes and determines whether they’re romantic or repulsive. We firmly came down on the side of “Repulsive” for this specific trope.) Knowing more about a person than they know of you isn’t bad in and of itself; it’s the way in which Geordi exploits that in order to impress her that’s super fucking creepy.

Like the dinner invitation, for example! He knows her favorite food, but plays it off as a mere coincidence so that it seems like she just happened to meet someone else who likes what she does. He does this multiple times! On top of that, he bases his interactions with Dr. Brahms almost entirely on his interactions with the holographic version of her, which is clearly nothing like her real personality. He expects her to fall for him because her holograph did. He expects friendship because he’s certain that they’re compatible. And he can’t even treat her like her own person, which was made clear by the fact that HE DIDN’T EVEN CHECK TO SEE IF SHE WAS SINGLE. That’s how caught up in his own bullshit he was.

So when the confrontation finally happened after Dr. Brahms stumbled upon the original holodeck program, I was so excited. She was saying EVERYTHING that needed to be said about how creepy and inappropriate this was, and I was so thrilled that it was being spelled out so clearly. Yes. YES. Y E S.

And then Geordi has to go and blame it all on Dr. Brahms because she dared to reject his offer of friendship.

BULLSHIT. You cannot claim to offer real friendship when you exploit a person like this. This episode absolutely falls apart after this point, and I’m annoyed at whomever wrote this nonsense. How do you have a character violate someone’s privacy for an entire episode and then try to make me feel sympathy for him without him apologizing? And look, I think many of us have imagined affection where there was none. I WAS THE KING OF IT FOR A LONG TIME, Y’ALL. (Why oh why did I fall for so many straight men? No, Mark, abort mission.) But that doesn’t mean that I’m automatically going to understand something as painfully foolish as this. It’s a horrible mess, and the episode gives us no reason at all to believe that Geordi really understood why his behavior was inappropriate.

The video for “Galaxy’s Child” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

Mark Links Stuff

I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
– 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.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra, series 8 of Doctor Who, and Kings. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
- Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook! I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!

About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
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