{"id":4610,"date":"2015-04-20T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2015-04-13T17:29:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T00:29:31","slug":"mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e24-well-always-have-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/04\/mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e24-well-always-have-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S01E24 – We’ll Always Have Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twenty-forth episode of the first season of The Next Generation<\/i>, Picard runs across someone from his past. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think this is a bad episode. It does what it wants to, but it feels so terribly safe. Despite the threat of the time loops, this episode isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dangerous, or risky, or frightening. The loops are bizarre, but we only experience them a few times. I think the challenge here was in building an episode that made us <\/span>care about what Picard was going through. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard when his ennui is over someone we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never met. <\/span><\/p>\n

Did this episode accomplish that? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not really sure. I think Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, and Gates McFadden are all fantastic in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll Always Have Paris,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and they certainly help<\/i>. My problem is with the story itself. We open with a surreal sequence of repetition and a distress call from a distant planet. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fantastic bit of potential! Why is time repeating? Why is the automated message coming from so far away? What did Paul Manheim discover while experimenting with time? These were all interesting ideas, part of a premise that I was eager to see unfold.<\/p>\n

As for the scene in the Holodeck? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 okay. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a rather common story within this genre, especially when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dealing with military sci-fi or any fictional organization that requires someone to suddenly ship out to somewhere else. Someone is inevitably left behind, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tragic and sad, and then THEY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122RE BACK IN YOUR LIFE! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen this story a ton of times, and the Next Generation<\/i> writers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything to twist it. To make matters more complicated, Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anxiety over Manheim is revealed to be due to his wife. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one who waited for Picard in Paris many years earlier, only to be stood up. So, Picard chose Starfleet over Jenice. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s messed up, especially since he never showed for their rendezvous. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it would ever<\/i> be believable for Picard to leave Starfleet for someone. So where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the tension? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the conflict here?<\/p>\n

Well, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the external conflict of the time ripples, but even that<\/i> is relatively calm considering where the show could have taken it. Again, there are only three manifestations of it throughout these forty-five minutes, and thus, it never felt truly threatening. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the other dimension that Manheim gained access to. And when Picard and Jenice do<\/i> finally confront one another about what happened in the past, it still felt\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 saccharine. Extremely safe. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not any dramatic tension in Jenice telling Picard what his fear truly was. Dr. Crusher doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t open up to Deanna about her feelings for Picard, either, though she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly wearing them on her sleeve. What we get in this episode, then, is a lot of set-up and very little delivery.<\/p>\n

Like, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s look at the final scene in the Holodeck. After surviving the time ripples, Jenice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s husband declares his love for her once more, promising to treat her better. Picard, on the other hand, brings her to Paris back when they were supposed to meet, which seems like a TERRIBLE idea to me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so uncomfortable! Who would think bringing someone back to the place of a deeply disappointing memory would be cathartic<\/i>? I mean, it looks like it was to Jenice. She uses it to say goodbye to Picard because when you enter a highly realistic, computerized replication of Paris in 2342, you definitely should only stay there FOR LIKE SIXTY SECONDS. I would have been like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thanks, Picard, SEE YA, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M GONNA GO CLIMB THE EIFFEL TOWER AND HOOK UP WITH SOME HOT FRENCH DUDES.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 meh? again, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t terrible at all, but I wish it had more bite. I wish it took a few more risks instead of giving us such a simplistic story that was easily resolved with little character development.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll Always Have Paris\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. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>– Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’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, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"