TNG: Violations

[Madner Kami]

I also wonder if she just kind of tunes out ''boning feelings'' towards her at this point becoming a kind of white noise. She's a woman in a catsuit with an empathic range of the entire ship (interplanetary with the help of a subspace communicator with all the sense that makes). She probably knows at all times every single man and woman on-board the ship who has sexual feelings for her. That's the best I got - her powers are famously inconsistent but they should be able to spot a guy like this.

She could be kind of a narcissist. I mean, let's presume for a moment that "having the hots for someone" is a vague mix of strong affection, love and attraction. Who wouldn't regard that as good feelings and probably she might be getting a kick out of it, an adrenaline high for lack of a better word, which leads her down to unconciously encourage that sort of behaviour and emotional reaction. I mean, just look at her mother and how she deals with subconcious thoughts of others...

[stryke]

That's a fascinating read on Troi's character and makes a worrying amount of sense. Even more so when you remember how she acted to losing her empath abilities in that one episode.

[pilight]

Yup. That's the thing, you have to take the show as presented for it to work. If you start doing the "but what if I interpreted everything in as much bad faith as possible" you end up with the modern reboot issue where everything is based on the 2000s-era College Humor/Robot Chicken "what if" gag where everything if horrifying.

But then what do we do with TNG: Family? Most people seem to like that episode even though it's all about Picard and Worf dealing with trauma. Should TNG have gone down that road more often?

[LordFeagans]

I remember when this episode first aired and my reaction was "Meh". The best part of the episode was Crusher's memory because it is something that we were told about, but here we actually get to see it. Jack's dead body, and medical patches on a younger Jean-Luc's face, tells us something bad happened and that this wasn't just some accident. A nice little expansion of these two characters and their background.

One of the things that the episode "Where No One Has Gone Before" could have done was used the fantasies come real to tell us more about these new characters that we are just getting to know. Here is another wasted chance. Yes, we got it with Crusher, but it could have also been done with Troi and Riker. Troi and Riker had sex after a poker game one night...okay. No one is surprised by the fact that they were friends with benefits while on the ship (maybe those chips were used as sexual favors after the game was over every week). She could have had a memory related to her past that was unpleasant. Maybe have a patient on the Enterprise openly insult her to her face about how she dresses and questions why she's even on the ship. And Riker's memory could have been something else, like him being a child when he learns of his mother's death. We learned about it in season 2, but here we could have seen it play out.

[stryke]

But then what do we do with TNG: Family? Most people seem to like that episode even though it's all about Picard and Worf dealing with trauma. Should TNG have gone down that road more often?

I think it helped with that one was that it was the very next episode and so it worked as a epilogue to the two parter along with letting the characters to take a breath before getting back to the usual. It was when they came back seasons or even shows later that it starts getting into muddier waters.

[Deledrius]

She could be kind of a narcissist. I mean, let's presume for a moment that "having the hots for someone" is a vague mix of strong affection, love and attraction. Who wouldn't regard that as good feelings and probably she might be getting a kick out of it, an adrenaline high for lack of a better word, which leads her down to unconsciously encourage that sort of behaviour and emotional reaction. I mean, just look at her mother and how she deals with subconscious thoughts of others...

These suggestions are tempting because any examination of Troi's emotional background and underpinnings for her abilities and personality are so rare on TNG.

You would have to be very careful to not have this end up being a "she was asking for it" plot/character trait. Given the general quality of the Troi episodes in general and that topic specifically during TNG, I doubt this would have gone well.

But then what do we do with TNG: Family? Most people seem to like that episode even though it's all about Picard and Worf dealing with trauma. Should TNG have gone down that road more often?

I think it helped with that one was that it was the very next episode and so it worked as a epilogue to the two parter along with letting the characters to take a breath before getting back to the usual. It was when they came back seasons or even shows later that it starts getting into muddier waters.

Yeah, I think this episode illustrates that you can do it, but in very specific ways: immediately following the event so that it is placed as an epilogue and not a long-suffering element under the surface, it serves the purpose of wrapping up the issue(s) at hand, and most importantly it's a rare thing. They didn't do this often (if at all, otherwise), and that's both why the episode is so memorable and why it's so effective, especially for the time.

Finally, and perhaps even more importantly, the episode isn't about the trauma. "Family" is about healing and catharsis. The trauma already happened in "TBOBW". "Family" acknowledges it as the foundation for making the characters better and moving on, ready for the status quo to be (mostly) restored.

I think it's telling that it's often considered an unofficial "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 3".

[clearspira]

I also wonder if she just kind of tunes out ''boning feelings'' towards her at this point becoming a kind of white noise. She's a woman in a catsuit with an empathic range of the entire ship (interplanetary with the help of a subspace communicator with all the sense that makes). She probably knows at all times every single man and woman on-board the ship who has sexual feelings for her. That's the best I got - her powers are famously inconsistent but they should be able to spot a guy like this.

She could be kind of a narcissist. I mean, let's presume for a moment that "having the hots for someone" is a vague mix of strong affection, love and attraction. Who wouldn't regard that as good feelings and probably she might be getting a kick out of it, an adrenaline high for lack of a better word, which leads her down to unconciously encourage that sort of behaviour and emotional reaction. I mean, just look at her mother and how she deals with subconcious thoughts of others...

That's a good reading. As we were talking about over on the ''Inside Man'' review though, it does once again call into question that scene where she covers up on the beach for Reg. Her friend/associate of many years squicks her out immediately, but an actual rapist doesn't?

This is an older Troi, one who is very close to marrying Riker, so maybe she has matured and doesn't like that sort of attention any more. Or maybe the attentions of the ship's resident INCEL who makes deepfakes of her in his spare time were too much even for her.