ST:TNG Season Three, Episode Five "The Bonding"

ST:TNG Season Three, Episode Five "The Bonding"
Production Order: 5
Air Order: 5
Stardate: 43198.7
Original Air Date: October 23, 1989

So we're orbiting a planet this week, and an away team with some archeologists is downstairs checking out some ruins and tunnels. Worf is in charge, and he calls in to say that the team has determined that the ruins belong to a group called the Koinonians.
"Hey, Google," says Picard, "who are they?"
"A group of ancient people who got into a civil war and destroyed themselves," replies Data.
Troi suddenly shouts, "Beam them out!"

There's a bunch of crashing coming over the open line, and Worf starts yelling for a beam-out and how there are severe injuries.
"Beam them to sick bay!" Picard yells to O'Brien.
An injured Worf and three others beam to sick bay, but one didn't make it.
"One crew member DOA," Crusher reports to Picard.
Well, fuck.

 Picard's Log 43198.7: "The away team was on what should have been a standard mission, but the ship's archaeologist, Marla Aster, was killed."

Picard goes to sick bay to talk to Worf, who explains what happened.
"We were checking out the tunnels, and Lt Aster was behind me, like nine feet or so? We weren't finding anything with our scans. Then suddenly, this bomb goes off. Lt Aster took the full force of it. When the smoke cleared, she was dead."

Picard thanks him, then Worf moves off to get checked out by the medical people.
Troi comes in. "Sooo, more bad news: Marla Aster was on the E with her 12-year-old son, Jeremy. Annnnd, his father is dead, too. Only living relatives are an aunt and uncle on Earth."
"Crap," says Picard.
"Yeah," agrees Troi. "I told his teacher to expect us."
They start to leave, but Worf interjects - he wants to go, seeing as how he was in charge of the away team.
Picard thanks him, but insists that it is his job to break this news to Jeremy, so Worf stays behind.
On their way to the lift, Picard calls Riker and says that he wants Geordi to lead another away team to find out what happened. Then he tells Riker that he has the bridge while Picard and Troi are talking to Jeremy Aster.
Wes overhears what Picard says about talking to Jeremy, and he and Riker share a glance.
This scene is kind of tough.
Wes: "He had to do the same thing for me."
Riker: "Do you know Jeremy well?"
Wes: (shaking his head) "But I know what this is going to be like for him."
Riker: (nodding) "It's a part of life in Starfleet, Wesley."
Wes: "I know. They're very careful to prepare us for anything. But still..."
Riker. "I know."
Wes: "How do you get used to it? To telling them?"
Riker: "You hope you never do."
Data watches this conversation carefully.

There's a brief scene here where Worf contemplates a Klingon dagger and uses it to put out a candle. More on that later.

In the lift, Troi tells Picard that she knows how he's feeling, and that the sense of duty is weighing on him. He paces, and they get into a discussion about having families onboard the E. Picard thinks the idea is iffy, as it puts those civilians in danger every time they encounter a dangerous foe or situation. Troi points out that death and dying are part of the human experience, and Jeremy would not have been protected from it if he were living on Earth. He's concerned about the fact that Marla Aster knew the dangers of being sent out into the field, and that he has a duty to his crew to keep them safe, but to also push the boundaries of exploration.
What he isn't saying? "It sucks that I have to tell a kid that his mother is dead. Will he blame me for it?"
She consoles him by saying that Wes went through the same thing and now understands how things work in that respect. "In time, Jeremy will understand it as well."

And we don't get a reprieve. We just go straight to the Asters' quarters, where Picard gently tells Jeremy that his mother died today.
"How, sir?" asks Jeremy, both sad and respectful.
Picard explains about the mission, and asks about Jeremy's father. Apparently, the dad died five years earlier of an infection.
"I'm all alone now, sir," he says quietly.
"Jeremy," says Picard firmly, "on the starship Enterprise, no one is alone. No one."
He takes Jeremy's hand.

WHO LET ALL THESE SPACE NINJAS IN HERE?

Just in case that scene wasn't rough enough for you, after the commercial break we jump to Ten Forward, where Riker is having a drink by himself. He's approached by Data, who asks how well he knew Marla Aster.
"Not well," admits Riker. "How well did you know her?"
"Why do you ask?" asks Data, in a somewhat suspicious tone.
Riker is taken aback by this response. "Because you asked me."
Data then delves in: several people have asked him this question today, and he wants to know the deeper meaning of the question. Is there a correlation between someone dying, and knowing them well?
In response, Riker asks Data how Marla Aster's death feels differently from Tasha Yar's.
"I don't feel the same absence," Data admits.
Riker says that with humans, friends and loved ones are missed more deeply after they've died, than strangers or acquaintances.
"Shouldn't we feel the same, no matter how well we knew them?" asks Data. "Shouldn't people feel the loss equally?"
"Maybe," muses Riker. "And maybe if we did that, human history would be less bloody."

Geordi calls Riker. He has returned from his away mission, and he has "souvenirs."

Riker and Data go up to the ready room to meet with Picard and Geordi. Geordi brought back one of the bombs that went off and killed Lt Aster. Data looks at them and gives an explanation as to why they wouldn't have been detected by the scanners and tricorders on the earlier mission.
"So this part is creepy," says Geordi. "These were all buried, but have recently been dug up, diffused, and left to find."
"But there's no life on that planet," objects Picard.
Geordi shrugs. "Left to find," he repeats.

Troi and Worf are in the computer access room.
"Tell me about this mission," she says.
He protests that he already gave a report to Picard, but she wants his personal feelings on the matter.
In response, he barks that the Koinonians have been dead for centuries, and there is no one left for him to take revenge on.
"Okay, what else?" she asks.
"Nothing," he grounches. "A good leader stands alone, like Picard."
 "Picard talks to me," she replies, frustrated. "This is going to happen to you over the course of your career, and if you don't learn to deal with it, it'll drag you down."
He pauses then, instead of talking to her about how he feels, he says he wants her opinion about including Jeremy in a Klingon ceremony called R'uustai.
She knows what that is, and is surprised. "The bonding?"
It isn't fully explained here what that is, but Worf argues that it honors Lt Aster, and that, with both of them being orphans, Jeremy will understand.
She counsels him that Jeremy, not being a Klingon child, won't have the same kinds of thoughts on the matter, that when human children lose a parent, they fell the need to be loyal to that parent, and will spurn affection from others based on that feeling. She tells Worf that he can be there for Jeremy, but to go slow.

Jeremy is in his quarters (is no one with him? That seems strange). He's watching iPadd videos that his father took. You don't see Dad, but there's video of Jeremy playing in their home with a calico cat (Patches), and shots of his mother. Jeremy is smiling at the video in remembering.
The door chimes. It's Worf. There's a camera angle from Jeremy's POV.

Jeremy sort of half-invites Worf in, and Worf says that he was with Jeremy's mother when she died. They briefly discuss that Jeremy knows about Klingons from school, mostly that Klingons used to be enemies of the Federation, but are not anymore.
"Did they also teach you that all Klingons wish to die in the line of duty, as your mother did?" asks Worf.
Jeremy fiddles with his iPadd.
Dude, wrong thing to say.
Then they talk about how they are both orphans and understand death, but Worf says he wants to bring meaning to Marla Aster's death, and he would like Jeremy to help him.

 Troi visits the ready room. She tells Picard that Jeremy is angry, but has buried it. She's asked Crusher to ask Wes if he'll talk to Jeremy. And the wild card here is Worf, who wants to do the R'uustai ritual with Jeremy. They talk about her role on the ship as counselor, and how he has to break the bad news to people, but she has to stay with them through the rest of their crappy journeys back to some semblance of happy.

Riker pages Picard back to the bridge, and they both leave the ready room.
"We found an energy source on the planet?" says Riker.
"But that planet is dead," objects Picard.
"Maybe not," says Troi. "I'm sensing a presence."
They do a scan and get nothing.

Wes goes into Dr Crusher's office. She tells him that Troi has asked her to ask him if he'd talk to Jeremy Aster. I've got give credit to young Wil Wheaton here. He does a good job being sad and slightly uncomfortable. He says he isn't sure what help he can be to Jeremy, and Crusher tries a bit harder than is advisable to talk him into it. Like sure, go ahead and tell him how it might help Jeremy, but don't push him into it. Wes might not want to talk. However, when Wes says he'll consider, she just gives him a tiny smile and says "okay."
Wes hesitates, then asks, "Do you ever think about him?"
Crusher is playing it cool, continuing to work, but not looking at him. "About your dad? Sure I do."
He says sometimes he forgets what Jack looks like, and it bothers him. She responds by saying there are time when she can't get his face out of her mind. This is clearly bothering her, and when he starts to reminisce about Jack saying good-bye to them before leaving, and the way Picard looked when he came to tell them the news, she stands up and touches her forehead to his.

Dammit, show. Who gave you permission to give me feels about Jack Crusher?

Back on the bridge, they're still trying to figure out where that weird energy source is coming from. Troi is unnerved. Geordi calls to say that there's something going on with the anti-matter chamber of the warp engines.
In his quarters, Jeremy is watching iPadd movies of himself and the cat Patches playing hide and seek with his mother.
Then -
"Jerrrremeee," sings a voice.

NOOP.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

On the bridge, Geordi says everything is good, but there's still a weirdness in the warp engines. And there's still an energy source on the planet.
"There's a presence on the ship!" says Troi.
"Whut?" asks Picard.
A scan shows nothing strange. Riker calls yellow alert.

Back in the Asters' quarters, Jeremy is not interested in entertaining his new guest. He looks pissed as hell and appears to be doubtful about this new development. He flinches when she tries to touch him.
"They said you were dead!"
"There was a mistake," she smiles. And she never gives any better explanation than that. "I'm never going to leave you again!"
Jeremy is suspicious, but when she offers him a hug, he takes it, because dude actually does need a hug, and believing that his mother isn't really dead is so much easier than probing for the truth.
Creepy, horror film music plays.

"We need to go now," she says. "We're going down to the planet's surface to live in a home. It'll be awesome."
Jeremy looks confused.
Worf drops by to see Jeremy, and when he takes a step inside, he pulls out his phaser.
"There was a mistake!" says Jeremy happily. "She isn't dead!"
Worf tries to coax Jeremy away from Marla, but Jeremy goes back to her again.
She refers to Jeremy as "the boy" instead of "my son" but I guess Jeremy hasn't picked up on that.
Worf calls Picard. "Lt Aster is in her quarters."
"Say what?" demands Picard.
Worf repeats what he just said, and Picard quietly tells Riker that he has the bridge, and to tell security to move in that direction but keep their distance.
He and Troi get in the lift.

"Marla" and Jeremy leave the Asters' quarters. Worf calls Picard to let him know instead of stopping them, because what kind of zombie-poltergeist shit is this? Picard tells Worf to follow them, and Worf reports that he thinks they're going to the transporter room. When they arrive there, O'brien makes the face we're all making.

Marla-thing tells O'Brien they're going down, and his face remains the same, because seriously, WTF is this? They get on the transporter pads like she's not dead and this is all just some routine transfer down to an abandoned planet full of the ruins of a dead civilization.
Picard and Troi show up, and you can see gold shirt security members in the corridor before the doors close.
"Who are you?" asks Picard.
"Marla Aster," says Not Marla, with a slight duh inflection.
"Where are you going?" Picard asks.
"I'm taking my child to the planet to care for him," she says, all smiley-smiles. "I'm going to take care of him." Then her smile drops and she asks, "Why do you resist?"
Because that's what all mothers ask. It's totally natural.
"I'm responsible for him," answers Picard. "What are you?"
This whole time, Jeremy keeps breaking in to point out that this is his mother, and it's not weird at all that she's back from the dead and taking him to live out in BFE, Space with no explanation.
He steps toward Picard, and Worf snatches him off the transporter pad. "Marla" disappears.
Jeremy is dragged out of the transporter room, kicking and screaming alternately about how Worf needs to let him go, and where did his mother go?

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Troi walks Jeremy back to his quarters, trying to convince him that that was not his mother, and asking the sensical question of "why the hell would she move you down to the planet?"
Jeremy points out that he was able to touch her, and while she doesn't have a good answer for that yet, she knows that that was definitely NOT Marla Aster.
Unfortunately, Not Marla is waiting for them in Jeremy's quarters, which she has turned into his house on Earth, complete with Patches the fucking cat. 
See, now I'm pissed at this whatever-she-is. Not only is she posing as his dead mother, but she's recreated his home and his freaking pet, the manipulative bitch.

"How did you do it?" he asks in amazement.
You gotta wonder if he suspects now, especially when she replies with a non-answer and a laugh.
"Does it matter?"
YES IT MATTERS.
Troi agrees.

Not Marla seems annoyed and says she is trying to show them what awaits Jeremy downstairs.
"Isn't that really Patches?" she asks Jeremy.
And he picks the cat up to snuggle him, astounded that the cat knows him.
"Why would you create this fantasy?" demands Troi. "Jeremy, we need to leave."

Troi calls Picard on the bridge to report what's happening. She doesn't think Jeremy is in danger, and she thinks Not Marla wants to help him, and can't figure out why they won't just let her kidnap him.
"Should we get him out of there?" asks Picard.
"Not by force," she replies.
Riker makes a good point.

"Would any of us say no if someone offered back a dead loved one?" asks Crusher.
Picard asks Troi to stay with Jeremy. They'll try to fix things from the bridge.

They determine that whatever is on the planet is using the anti-matter chamber in the warp engine to power Not Marla and her fake-ass Earth house. Geordi gives some kind science-y explanation as to how he can shut off the power.

We go back to Jeremy's quarters, where Troi and Not Marla are engaged in puppy-calling with Jeremy.
"I'll make you happy," says Not Marla.
"I'll never lie to you," counters Troi.
Jeremy looks confused, then the house and Not Marla disappear. Jeremy is disappointed, and Troi hugs him.

Oops, they pissed off whatever Not Marla is. A beam of energy shoots at the E, then ping-pongs through the corridors and into the transporter room. It then knocks over two golds, makes its way down to Jeremy's quarters, and surprise! the house comes back.
"Let's go," says Not Marla.
Jeremy looks nonplussed.

Horror film music! Commercial break!

Troi calls Picard, who is in the lift with Worf and Geordi. Plans go into place to keep Not Marla from taking Jeremy.
Worf shows up at transporter room 3, where O'Brien is waiting in the corridor. That energy ball is bouncing around the room, checking things out. It leaves. Geordi has shut down the power to the transporters.
Not marla takes Jeremy by the hand and they march through the corridors, but Picard has turned on forcefields at specific intervals, blocking every path to the transporter room. Not Marla can leave the ship any way she wants, but Jeremy has limits. Picard shows up and asks how Jeremy is.
"Frightened?" he asks.
"No."
Not Marla smiles triumphantly.
"A little," he admits.
"Yeah, this is frightening shit. We won't let anyone hurt you," Picard agrees. "You should take him to my quarters," he tells Troi.
"NO," barks Not Marla.
She steers him back into his own quarters.
Picard and Troi exchange a look.

Geordi and Riker are monitoring the situation with the energy thing that keeps bouncing off the walls. Geordi tells Riker that the thing is in the engineering panels, learning the ship's computers and systems. After a bit, it turns the transporters back on. Geordi manages to get them shut off again by manual bypass.

Picard and Troi go into Jeremy's quarters. The house is set up again.
We finally get some straight answers from Not Marla. She tells Picard that the planet was once inhabited by beings of energy and beings of matter, and the people made of matter - the Koinonians - destroyed themselves in civil war. The remaining beings - those of energy - feel shitty about Marla Aster dying. They don't want any more people suffering from those old wars. So they've decided to recreate Marla Aster so they can raise Jeremy and make him happy.
"But you're not his mother," points out Picard.
"I can be," she argues. "How do you know he won't be happier with me? I don't understand why you find sorrow so noble."
"It's part of human nature to experience joy and unhappiness," says Picard. "Jeremy's mother has died, and he has to learn to live with that."
Then Troi dumps some realness on Not Marla: is she going to provide friends for him? A romantic partner? A career? There's a lot of stuff you need to raise a kid in BFE, Space. Not Marla would basically be providing another Hotel Royale for Jeremy. Jeremy doesn't look very enthused when Troi points all this out.
Not Marla pauses because she hadn't considered this, but then she's standing firm again about going through with this crap.
"We're mortal," says Picard. "Death is part of our life cycle, and we have to come to terms with it."

The door opens, and Worf escorts Wes in, who looks around at the house in confusion. Picard has asked them to come. Whether he wants to or not, Wes has to talk to Jeremy. And he's not happy about it.
"This has been bringing up bad memories," Wes admits, "of when my own father died in Starfleet."
Not Marla sits down, suddenly interested in the convo between Wes and Picard.
"They talked to us about how dangerous it could be, working in Starfleet," Wes says.
"You were prepared for it?" asks Picard.
Wes: "No, I wasn't prepared at all. How can anyone be prepared to hear that a parent is never coming home again? I tried to be what everyone expected of me -- brave and mature."
Picard: "Wesley, are you saying that you didn't want anyone to see what you were really feeling?"
(Wes nods.)
Picard: "Well, what were you really feeling?"
Wes: "Like somebody had kicked me in the head."
Picard: "Somebody?"
Troi: "Go on. You've wanted to tell him for a long time."
Wes: "I was angry... at you."
Picard: "Why angry? Why were you angry at me, Wesley? Were you angry at me because I was the one who had told you your father was dead?"
Wes: "No."
Picard: "Then why?"
Wes: "Because you led the mission. You came home, and my father didn't."
Troi: "How long were you angry with the Captain, Wes?"
Wes: "For a long time... but not anymore, sir. Not even a little."

Troi: "So, Jeremy... you must be very angry at Lieutenant Worf. He was in charge of your mother's mission, just as Captain Picard was in command when Wesley's father was killed. Isn't that right? Worf came back. Your mother didn't."
Jeremy: (tearfully and angrily turning to Worf) "Why? Why weren't you the one who died? Why did it have to be her?"
Troi: "He can't answer that. None of us can."
Picard: "Lieutenant Worf also lost his parents."
Worf: "They were killed in battle when I was six. When I was alone, humans helped me. Let me help you. The Marla Aster I knew and honored is not in this room, nor does she await you on the planet. She now only lives here (touches his chest) and here (points to Jeremy's chest). (Troi nods at him.) Join me in the R'uustai, the bonding. You will become part of my family for now and all time. We will be brothers."
Not Marla gets up and gives Jeremy a sad smile, then she and the house disappear.

Worf and Jeremy are wearing Klingon garb, and lighting candles in some kind of ambiguous location. Worf places a sash on Jeremy, then speaks Klingon to the candles. Jeremy asks what he said, and Worf replies that it honors the memories of their mothers, joining their families, and making both stronger. Jeremy repeats the Klingon phrase. They smile at one another.

Man, this was rough episode. Great, but rough.
Losing a parent is one of the toughest things a person can go through, and to lose them at a young age and to an accident is especially hard.
This episode works well on a myriad of levels.
Generally speaking, when Star Trek redshirts a character, it is to get a cheap rise out of the audience. A new character is introduced, attached to a principal player, and their death is done in such a way as to purposefully drag the audience along on a roller coaster ride. We are asked to care just enough about this new person that we feel bad for the principal who lost their friend. And sometimes it works. But quite a lot of the time, it is apparent that this is the case, that this new person will never be seen again, or will die before the end of the episode. Here, though, we are not introduced to the real Marla Aster. Her death is not being used to harvest feels in the same way as the others. She is dead in the first scene, and we are left to deal with the fallout. The Marla Aster that shows up is one alien species' approximation of her personality, and so we never come to meet her. The request to grieve her death is not asked of us. Instead, it is used to explore what it means to experience death in Starfleet, an organization that deals with death all the time.
The journey is made through her coworkers, her superiors, and her son. And for once I don't feel like Jack Crusher's death is used in the same way as the redshirting technique, to get an emotional reaction out of the audience. Wes is meant to mirror what Jeremy will face. Anger of the situation, and finally acceptance, is discussed between Picard and Wesley, which is then repeated by a confused Jeremy and a wounded Worf.
What a really amazing performance turned out by Wil Wheaton. He is hesitant, anguished, uncertain, angry, resigned, all within the space of a few minutes. Confessions of deep feelings to a person you revere and sort of fear is not easy, and I felt as though Wheaton managed to hit them perfectly.
While we have touched a bit on what it means to lose someone while in Starfleet, it has not really been explored in depth this way. In this respect, I feel as though Marla Aster's death was actually more important that that of Tasha Yar. While the funeral scene at the end of that episode was a good one, the rest of it was absolutely abysmal, whereas Marla Aster's senseless death was used as a vehicle to further explore death within the confines of the ship.
As per the usual, we got a speech. In this case, it was Picard telling an alien disguised as one of his crew about human nature. Sometimes these speeches are tone-deaf or heavy-handed or preachy, but I felt as though it fit well here. Picard's insistence that Jeremy must process his mother's death rather than pretend it did not happen goes right to the heart of who we are as a species. Jeremy might have been happy on the planet with his fake mother for a while, but not dealing with emotional baggage means that it will always be present. And no human is content to be content. We are a violent, unhappy species who requires conflict of one kind or another as a comparison. We need to know what it is to be truly unhappy in order to know what it is to be happy.
The only part of this episode that feels strange or off is the parts with Not Marla. Often, an outsider is used to describe human nature, to hold up that mirror to the audience to confirm that "yes, this is us." Data is generally used in this respect, and the early scene where he asks Riker about why people keep asking him how well knew Marla Aster was a good one. But it was felt that someone with even less experience with humans was needed here, and a counterfeit Marla Aster was created. It feels a bit like a poignant episode about death briefly became a horror film. For those scenes, a creepy vibe prevails and does not quite eel like it fits with the rest of the episode. Wes' talking to Captain Picard about the day he told the Crushers about Jack felt right to me. Worf talking to Jeremy, and Jeremy angrily accusing Worf of coming home alive when he should have died - these worked for me. The alien posing as a dead woman felt a bit strange.
In all, this episode felt like a good addition to the TNG catalog. Dealing with the inner workings of Starfleet is always a welcome situation to me, and knowing that this is a topic that would come up frequently off-screen makes it all that much better. These episodes serve to really illustrate things that come up in day-to-day life on the starship Enterprise, and in a show that attempts to marry interpersonal relationships with sci-fi, the humanization of the characters is vital.


Fun Facts:

- This was Ronald D. Moore's first script for Star Trek. He was a fan of TOS, and his girlfriend had worked on the pilot. She got him a tour of the sets, and he wrote up a quick script. Turns out the tour guide was one of Gene's assistants, liked his script, and passed it along. The script ended up in Michael Pillar's "slush pile," where it sat for seven months. PIllar had no scripts for season three, and went through that slush pile. He liked Moore's script, polished it up with Melinda Snodgrass, and asked for another script from Moore.
- In the original script, Moore had Jeremy recreate his mother on the holodeck. he wanted to explore the fact that the Enterprise-D includes the families of the crew, and what happens when someone's mother dies in the line of duty. The holodeck was dropped in favor of the alien element (which had been there from the beginning, but not in the same way) because the producers had just done a holodeck script and didn't want to do another right away.
- Gene Rod felt that children in the 24th century would have a better grasp on death, but given that Wes states outright that he was still blindsided by Jack's death, that's clearly not the case.
- This is the second and last time time the computer access room will be seen.

- Jeremy Aster's story ends with this episode. Moore has said that the writers considered bringing him back, but decided against it. According to the writers, Jeremy moves back to Earth with his aunt and uncle, and he and Worf sometimes exchange postcards or letters. However, in apocrypha sources, Jeremy later joins the House of Martok, and becomes close to Worf's adoptive human parents.
- When the energy source is detected on the planet's surface, and Data is asked to zoom in on that spot, a shot of the surface of Mars is used.

- A deleted scene reveals that Marla Aster was an exoarcheology teacher on Earth, but had signed on with the Enterprise to "see the galaxy with her own eyes."

- According to a TNG novel about Jeremy, Marla is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

Red deaths: 0
To date: 0

Gold deaths: 0

Blue deaths: 1
To date: 1
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0

Obnoxious Wes moments: 0

Legitimate Wes moments when he should have told someone to go fuck themselves: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Wes Moments: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date: 3

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 2

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 7

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 7
To date: 9

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 0
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 0
Picard Maneuvers: 1
To date: 11

Kittens like parkour, or something. Good job, Harvey :P