Production Order: 10
Air Order: 10
Stardate: 44356.9
Original Air Date: December 31, 1990
Ensign Janet Brooks is sitting in Troi's office, naming off all of her accomplishments in the last five months. It sounds kind of like the sort of bragging that one does at high school reunions, trying to convince themselves as much as others that their life is going great. Problem is, the thing she's trying to convince herself of is that she's fine after the death of her husband.
"Some people are just better at dealing with death than others," she says, as though people who grieve are not as evolved as she is.
Troi gets real with her. "And some people don't deal with it at all." She reminds Janet that today is her husband's 38th birthday.
Janet admits that she had a dream the night before about celebrating her husband's birthday with him, but she woke up alone, and faced the full situation that he was dead. "I looked around for anything that was his, but remembered that I told them to take it all away after he died. Why did I do that?"
Troi gets up and fetches a music box from a closed cabinet, telling Janet that she snagged this from all of the things she sent away.
Janet sobs and clutches the music box, while Troi hugs her.
Picard and Riker enter the bridge. Picard is trying to talk Riker into a buddy date that involves horseback riding in the Himalayas, and actually uses the phrase "fresh holodeck air."
I really hope that, by the 24th century, air quality on starships has improved beyond the stale crap that gets recycled on airplanes. ("Sir, has someone been smoking in the holojohn?")
Worf interrupts them. "Hey, there's like a -- it disappeared."
"What?" asks Picard.
"Like a big, interstellar thing in front of us."
The ensign sitting at navigation confirms that she caught something on sensors too, but Data says he's got nothing.
Outside Troi's office, Janet says she will come back tomorrow.
(I wonder if it's changed since now, when the doctor says they'd like to see you next week and the receptionist says they can't fit you in for another six months.)
Troi cringes and touches her forehead, but when Janet expresses concern, Troi shrugs it off and says she's just tired. They agree to meet the next day and Janet leaves, at which point, Troi practically collapses on the floor in pain.
Dramatic music!
The next few scenes are interspersed: the bridge tries to figure out what keeps appearing on the sensors in front of the ship and disappearing; and Troi stumbling in her office, trying to deal with what looks like a gnarly migraine.
More dramatic music!
Troi passes out.
Biggest swell of dramatic music! Opening credits break!
Picard's Log 44356.9: "So we're heading for the T'lli Beta system when we ran into something that's both there and not there. All of our diagnostic tests have come up blank, sooo... shrug?"
"We lost some time," says Riker. "Data, how long until we hit T'lli Beta?"
"Six days, thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes."
Sassy Riker Moment: "What, no seconds?"
"People get annoyed when I calculate to seconds," replies Data. "You want seconds?"
Riker grins. "Naw, I'm good."
"Let's get out of here at warp six," says Picard.
But when they try, they lurch to the side and minor injuries start being reported all over the ship.
Picard calls Geordi in Engineering to find out what happened.
"We did the warp bubble, but then it collapsed before we could go."
Basically, they stalled out.
"Um, still moving," says the ensign at nav. "We're being pulled in a different direction."
Light dramatic music.
Troi has woken up, and calls Crusher. "Um, super dizzy here."
"Okay. I'm being called all over the ship. Lie down and breathe deeply, and I'll be right there as soon as I can."
On the bridge, the ensign (Allenby) reports that they're being dragged reeeaaalllly slowly, and Picard decides to break away, but maybe at less speed than warp six? They try a few things, like turning the ship, or trying to slide away at less than impulse, but when they get up to full impulse, the ship rocks again.
"Dunno what to tell you," calls Geordi. "Everything reads fine."
Crusher rushes into Troi's office, apologizing for the wait. Her sick bay is full. Troi tells her that she was feeling super-intense pain before, but it's mostly subsided, and she feels foggy now. Crusher recommends a series of brain tests while scanning Troi, but then Riker interrupts with an all-call for a senior staff meeting.
Crusher, a good doctor and friend, asks Troi if she's up to that. Troi agrees that she is. They both stand, and Troi's smile falters.
"What?" asks Crusher.
"Nothing," Troi answers after a moment. "I'm good."
They go to the meeting.
Riker asks the room at large if it's a tractor beam of some kind.
"No other ship out there," says Data.
Hey, has anyone tried looking out the window to see if might be a giant green hand?
Worf is at a loss. Geordi too. There's both something there and nothing, and all of the sensors are working perfectly fine.
"Is it a life-form?" Picard asks Troi.
"Um, I'm not getting anything," she says initially. Then she starts to panic. "I sense nothing. There's nothing."
"It's cool," says Picard reassuringly. "There may not be anything to sense."
Data, trying to be supportive, points out that there are many races that cannot be telepathically read, including the Ferengi and the Breen.
Riker looks at Troi with concern.
"No, you don't get it," argues Troi. "I don't sense anything in here, either. I've lost my abilities!"
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
Down in sick bay, Crusher has run her tests. She can't find evidence of a concussion, but there's some unexplained brain damage. She tells Troi she'll have to look into Betazoid brain stuff more, but right now there's nothing she can do.
"I feel fine," says Troi breezily. "And the Betazoid brain repairs itself fairly easily, so no probs."
"Yeah," says Crusher, "but you're half-human. That may change things."
They discuss the possibility of this being connected to Schrodinger's Space Anomaly outside, but Crusher isn't sure. At any rate, she doesn't want to give Troi false hope that this might get better, as it's fuzzy right now.
"If you were anyone else, I'd tell you to go talk to Counselor Troi," she smiles.
Sassy Troi Moment: "What a coincidence. I see her often."
Crusher suggests that she go talk to someone else on the ship. Quite a few other crew members have psychology degrees, and qualify as therapists. Troi balks. They argue.
"I wanna go back to work," says Troi stiffly.
Riker thinks this might not be a good idea, but she insists.
He and Crusher exchange worried looks as Troi stalks out of sick bay.
Riker goes to see Troi in her office. "Do you want to talk?"
"You know, one thing I talk about with my patients is how other people change when someone suffers a change like this. They treat the person delicately, and sometimes they avoid them altogether, because they don't know what to say. How about, don't do that, okay?" she scowls.
"Hey," he says quietly. "Imzadi -"
She scoffs. "Go away. I have patients to see soon."
"You are really scared."
"I'm fine. If I get better, I get better. If I don't, I'll adapt. Life goes on."
Okay, that's true, but -
"Fine, I'll go."
He leaves her alone.
In Engineering, Data and Geordi have launched a probe to look at the area of space they're being dragged through. They don't see anything interesting or weird until they tilt the view, and suddenly, a field of dots appears.
"The hell?" asks Geordi.
Back to Troi's office.
This shot is cool.
Janet is telling Troi that she is a new person, that she realized that Troi was right, and she spent all night crying over her husband's death.
Troi pauses, then reveals that she lost her empathic powers, and she isn't sure how Janet is feeling, and wanted her to know that going forward.
Janet expresses sympathy, and asks if Troi wants her to come back on a different day.
"No, it's fine. I'm missing an ability, but I have others. The thing is, one night of crying can't make up for months of denial."
Janet insists that Troi is wrong, that she feels better than she has in a long time.
Troi gives her a small smile.
A smallish meeting in the Obs Lounge. Geordi and Data tell Picard, Riker and Troi about the field of dots they found.
"It's flat," says Data, "like, length and width, but no height? That's why the sensors couldn't see it - we were looking at the edge."
"They affect the graviton field, and we got caught in the wave," says Geordi. "I think if we go to warp six, we can just break away from them."
Um, you tried that earlier, and it didn't work, remember?
"Are they alive?" asks Picard.
"We think so?" says Data.
"Wild," says Picard. "Okay, we'll break free of the graviton field, then stay to study it. Number One, tell the T'lli Betans, okay?"
Riker nods.
"Too bad we can't tell if it's a life-form," says Geordi off-handedly.
This rankles Troi. "I'm doing the best I can!"
Picard, who knows that that's not what Geordi meant, holds up a hand. "Nobody said you weren't."
He decides to do the warp jump, and asks Data to analyze the patterns the field makes when it moves. Then he turns to Troi, but she's already out the door.
Troi is on the rampage. She's frustrated and isn't sure what to do, so... she takes it out on her crewmates. She goes straight to sick bay.
"Beverly, wth? I can't do my job! Fix this!"
"I'm sorry," says Crusher. "I'm trying. I cross-referenced your results with the database for Betazoid mental health, but everything is coming up inconclusive. I don't have any answers for you right now."
Crusher is hauling out her very best Friend and Bedside Manner skills for this, responding calmly and with sympathy to a woman yelling at her.
"How do you people live like this?" demands Troi.
Crusher gets it, and responds kinder than I would have. "Pretty well, actually. And so will you, if you need to."
"You don't know what this is like, losing something you never had! I feel fucking lost!"
Crusher tries to sympathize, telling her that she would probably feel the same way if their positions were reversed, but Troi has an answer for that as well.
"If our positions were reversed, I wouldn't have been down here tending to scraped elbows while you lay on your office floor in pain. I would have done something before this happened!"
Whoa, harsh.
She storms out, leaving Crusher to keep working on the problem.
Troi goes back to her quarters and has a small "oh shit" moment in the dark by herself.
Quiet, slightly dramatic music and commercial break.
Troi goes to the ready room to see Picard.
"I've been in denial about my condition," she says.
"Understandable," says Picard gently.
"Okay. I need to resign. I can't do my job."
This is not great news for Picard. He takes it in, but is determined to talk her around. "You know, I'm not ignorant of the fact that I have access to your abilities, where most other captains just have regular counselors. You don't have to be empathic to do your job."
"No, but I do."
"I'm sure you'll adjust." He's trying to be gentle, on her side, rather than patronizing. "They say when people lose one sense, the others sharpen. A blind man gains better hearing -"
"With all due respect, Captain -"
Ooh, what follows is never respectful.
" - you don't know what you're talking about."
Ouch.
"That's a thing that able-bodied people say when they don't know what to say to the disabled. It has no basis in science. I'm disabled, and I can't do my job."
Picard gets out of his chair and tries to talk her into staying, but he's switching over to anecdotes. "There's a teacher at the Academy who has been in a wheelchair her whole life -"
No. Do not haul out the inspo-porn.
"Just accept my resignation," she sighs.
Troi is pacing in her quarters alone when Riker comes in.
"I'd rather be alone."
"Too bad."
He slowly gives her a hug while she sobs.
"Is this how you solve all your personnel problems?" she sniffles.
Sassy Riker Moment: "Yes. You'd be surprised how far a hug goes with Geordi or Worf. You resigned?"
"I can't do my job."
"So you're gonna walk away from the people who care about you?"
"I feel so lost. Everyone is just a blank slate to me now. All surface, no depth. No one seems real."
"I'm real."
"No, you're not. I can't sense what you're feeling at all. It's terrifying."
He narrows his eyes at her a little. "Ah, I see. We're on equal footing now."
Dude.
"You always had an advantage over others," he goes on. "It's a very safe place to be."
DUDE.
"To be honest, you've... always been a little too aristocratic about your Betazoid heritage, like your human side wasn't enough for you."
Duuuude.
"That's not true," she says weakly.
Geordi calls Riker. "Hey, we're gonna do that controlled overjump to warp."
He tells Geordi he'll be there soon, then informs Troi that he'll check on her later.
"You don't have to," she says stubbornly.
He repeats his intention firmly before leaving. We've crossed into tough love territory.
They start out at impulse, then try to ramp it up to warp. The ship rocks.
"Hey," says Majel. "You're gonna rip the ship apart in about 15 seconds if you don't knock that shit off."
"Craaaap," says Picard. "Turn it off, Geordi."
Once the ship has stopped shaking, Picard asks what went wrong.
"The power we sent to the nacelles? The graviton wave absorbed it, and sent it back to us. Surprised we didn't get blown into space," says Geordi.
"Ooh, the graviton wave changed a tiny bit when we did that," says Data.
"Can you send that change to the universal translator?" asks Picard. "Maybe the movement is communication."
"Cool," says Data.
Troi is in Ten Forward, staring off into space. Guinan brings her another glass of tea and asks if she can sit down.
Ohhh, Troi. You're about to get tricked for the better by Guinan.
"You wanna talk about it?" asks Guinan.
"No." Troi is being a bit more easy-going about things at this point. She's probably not yelling because she realizes that people are still on her side. Or maybe that cry relived some of her tension. Either way.
"Good," says Guinan. "I don't really wanna hear about it. People come in here all the time to tell me their problems, cry on my shoulder."
"You'd make a good Counselor," smiles Troi.
"I do, too. That's why I'm gonna apply for your job."
"Sorry?" asks Troi.
"Well, yeah, You're leaving. Which means the line at the bar will be out the door. But your job has better hours and a nice office."
"Um, it's more than just letting people cry on your shoulder," says Troi.
Guinan makes light of the job, answering "I can do that" with a shrug, each time Troi points out that the job involves more. Troi starts to argue, then smiles.
"You don't actually want to be ship's Counselor."
"What makes you say that? Your abilities suddenly come back?"
"No, it's just instinct. I can tell you're not serious. And I can see what you're doing. You're pointing out that I have other abilities. But it took years to develop those."
"Uh-huh."
On the bridge, Data moves with concern from the science station to the conn. Seems he's found something else out there. Riker asks him to put it on the viewscreen.
"What's that?" asks Allenby.
"A cosmic string," says Riker. "More 2-D shit. It's only about as wide as a proton, but it has a gravitational pull like a black hole."
"The graviton field is being pulled into the cosmic string," says Data.
"And us along with it," says Riker.
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
Picard's Log 44359.5: "We got dragged into this wave thing, and it was interesting before, but in seven hours, we're gonna be dragged into a cosmic string along with it, and that's Bad News Bears."
Data reports that he doesn't think the 2-D wave thing is aware of the cosmic string or the impending danger.
"I think we should blow them up with photon torpedoes," says Worf.
Picard sighs, because Worf sounds like scratched vinyl. He always wants to blow shit up. "Do we really have to kill them to save us?"
Data shrugs. "We don't know what photon torpedoes will do to 2-D beings."
"Maybe we don't have to shoot them," suggests Geordi. "We can fire across the bow. A warning might make them change course."
"Yeah, do that," says Picard, and Worf gives Geordi such side-eye for ruining his fun.
So they fire a warning shot, and guess what doesn't work? Of course it doesn't. There's still twelve and a half minutes left in this episode for them to try other things that don't work.
"Eh, go ahead and fire at them, Worf," says Picard.
Worf gives Geordi more fucking attitude in the background.
It doesn't work either.
Troi is in her office gathering stuff when Ensign Brooks comes in.
"Crap," says Troi. "Meant to cancel our appointment. I'm resigning. It was pretty obvious yesterday that I can't do my job now, because I couldn't sense what you were feeling."
"No," insists Brooks. "You were right. I was trying to convince both of us that one night of crying had made me a new person. I was doing the same thing as before, complete denial. You didn't need to know how I was feeling, because you already knew the answer. You still helped me, even if it was a different way than you're used to working."
Troi is summoned to the ready room.
"So we hit a wall," says Picard. "Data has tried every technical way he can to feed the movements of the wave through the universal translator, and we're not getting anything. We need to know about the psychology of the wave. The thing is, even without your empathic abilities, you're still the most qualified person on board to figure that shit out. Work with Data, okay?"
She opens her mouth to refuse, and he tells her point-blank that they need her.
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
So Troi is resigning, but can't leave the ship because they're essentially being pulled into a skinny black hole. So they could die before she's able to resign. And she's not doing anything in the meantime, and she's being asked to put information from her area of expertise to good use in an effort to save everyone, including herself.
Don't see the need for the dramatic music, honestly.
"As long as you're not doing anything else right now, could you help us save the ship?"
Picard's Log, supplemental: "Gonna be toast in about an hour."
Data and Troi are working in the Obs Lounge, and Data is explaining what he's tried so far, with Troi asking questions to get caught up. He tells her he has no idea if the wave beings are actually intelligent, or if they're figuring out that Data is trying to communicate at all.
Troi is all, "Oh... okay." Then she admits that she's a bit lost here, flying blind with no powers.
"I'm trying to rely on human instinct, but I don't have a lot of experience."
Data Moment that could be Sassy, but is kind: "I'm sorry, Counselor. I cannot help you there, as I am not human and have none myself."
Troi compares herself to the graviton wave beings, in the universe but not perceiving it. She gets an idea. "What if they're surviving on instinct?"
They bat ideas back and forth, with Data wondering why the beings would go toward a destructive force on their own, and Troi points out that moths go straight for flames, so maybe this wave is heading for the string rather than being pulled toward it.
They go to the others on the bridge.
"We want to project a simulation of the cosmic string behind the wave, hoping they'll go for that, and let us go in the process."
"Yeah, but... we can't simulate the pull of a black hole," protests Riker.
"No, we just need to fake the vibration," answers Data.
"Hell yeah!" Geordi practically hops over the bridge partition. "I could totally do that with (science)!"
Worf checks the math. "You got like, twenty minutes."
There's a brief scene here that's either a time-filler, a scene that shows them working on the problem, or both. Basically, science.
There's for minutes left until (dun dun DUN) certain death, and the ship starts shaking because of the gravitational field of the cosmic string. It's fucking up the ship's ability to fake a new string, so they ramp up the shocks.
But the wave is not going for the bait. Data turns up the volume. This time the wave slows down enough that the E is able to break away.
They shut the fake string off, the wave goes back to the real string, and suddenly Troi stands up and announces that her powers came back, and that all is well, because the graviton wave beings are home.
She says that the cosmic string was where the beings most wanted to be, and that they're home and happy now.
Later, Troi, Guinan, Crusher and Riker are in Ten Forward, and she tells them that the graviton wave beings created so much emotional energy that it basically shorted her out.
"Oh, Beverly -" she starts.
Sassy Crusher Moment: "Apology accepted. Therapists suck as patients. Doctors too."
Crusher leaves, and Troi admits that she had been super shitty to Beverly earlier. She tells them that being a plain ol' human was harder than she anticipated.
"Your job still open?" asks Guinan. "Hours are still better."
"Nope," smiles Troi.
Guinan leaves, and Troi thanks Riker for being an asshole to her when she needed him to be.
"It was tough not being in control more."
He leans for a kiss, but she stops him.
Sassy Troi Moment: "About you fucking calling me aristocratic..."
-write-up:
Sooo... this episode is not my favorite. It took me a while to figure out why. Was it the Troi-loses-her-powers plot? The cosmic string B-plot? No and no. The story is fine. Did I not relate to Troi's loss? Most people relate to her loss in some way, myself included. Did I have a problem with her yelling at people in response to said loss? No, that's kind of normal.
No, my problem with this episode is that it gives me compassion fatigue. If you're not familiar with this term, it refers to people who help other people or animals in distress. The helper becomes overwhelmed by the other person's distress while trying to help, and now both people are stressed. So the stressed-out helper isn't being very helpful. In this case, Troi's reactions to her loss were overwhelming to not only her friends, but to myself as the viewer. I wanted to back away and watch this episode in bits so that it was easier to digest. It didn't help any that Troi cycles through Kuebler-Ross like Lance Armstrong on a steroid drip. She ran through the stages of grief within the space of about a day. It's a lot to take in. But kudos to her friends for being supportive as she screamed at them. Those people are keepers, and I'm certainly glad she apologized to Crusher for treating her like crap.
Especially after that "tending to scraped elbows" line. I mean, I get it, Troi. You're pissed. You're allowed to be pissed. But neither you nor Crusher knew that you feeling poorly was going to result in you losing your empathic abilities, so your argument holds no water.
However, there were some points that I wanted to talk about specifically.
Awesomeness:
- The mirroring of hugs. Troi hugs Janet Brooks at the beginning of the episode when Janet has suffered a loss and requires comforting. Later, when Troi is in the same position, Riker hugs her. I also liked that Troi's loss of one of her senses is compared and contrasted with Janet Brooks losing her husband. Similar, but not so much that you'd call BS on the same kind of loss happening twice. Both are losses that require heavy adjustments in life.
- Guinan brings Troi tea, and Troi is startled. "I'm getting used to it." It happens when Riker rings the door chime as well. Troi, who senses other people's feelings, probably gets whispers of the presence of others before they actually approach her. Lacking this ability, she is suddenly startled by everyone, as she is not yet used to having others approach her without that warning. It's a nice touch, especially because we haven't really talked about that on the show previously. It's the little things that would change in her life that go along with the major change, and I like that attention to detail.
Something I wanted to touch on:
Picard talks about sensory compensation, and Troi cuts him off.
"That's a thing that able-bodied people say when they don't know what to say to the disabled. It has no basis in science."
Eh, that's both true and not true. Sensory compensation has been confirmed, but it's not like you get super hearing if you go blind. Your brain just makes changes so you can still process information at the same level. I have no idea how Troi's brain would compensate for her lack of empathic powers.
However, do I believe that able-bodied people say that to the disabled to help them feel batter? Yes. Does it? My guess is no.
This episode does have its merits. Disabled people approached Marina Sirtis and thanked her for making this episode because they felt it accurately portrayed at least some of their experiences. And that's fantastic. The more accurately we portray someone's story, the better we understand.
My reaction to it was really the only thing I didn't like, which made it hard to watch, and why I don't pick this one out of the line-up to watch randomly when I want to take in some Trek.
- Fun Facts:
- Rick Berman pushed for this episode every season, because he liked the idea of exploring what would happen if Troi lost a power that no one around her had. The premise was likened to "if you were the only sighted person in a blind colony, and you lost your sight, the others would say so what?" According to Michael Pillar, the story was finally picked up because they needed a Troi-based episode.
- The writing staff considered making Troi's loss of ability permanent.
- The B-plot with the graviton wave was written by writing intern Hilary J Bader. She named the T'lli Beta system after her grandmother, Tillie Bader.
- This is the first time the Breen are mentioned.
- While Rick Berman was excited about the idea of doing a show where someone loses an ability that no one else was familiar with, Michael Pillar said that it was difficult to get people to relate to the loss because... again... no one is familiar with it.
- Troi wears all of her current costumes in this episode, the lavender jumpsuit, the maroon one, and the teal dress with the asymmetrical neckline.
Red deaths: 0
To date: 0
Gold deaths: 0
To date: 0
Air Order: 10
Stardate: 44356.9
Original Air Date: December 31, 1990
Ensign Janet Brooks is sitting in Troi's office, naming off all of her accomplishments in the last five months. It sounds kind of like the sort of bragging that one does at high school reunions, trying to convince themselves as much as others that their life is going great. Problem is, the thing she's trying to convince herself of is that she's fine after the death of her husband.
"Some people are just better at dealing with death than others," she says, as though people who grieve are not as evolved as she is.
Troi gets real with her. "And some people don't deal with it at all." She reminds Janet that today is her husband's 38th birthday.
Janet admits that she had a dream the night before about celebrating her husband's birthday with him, but she woke up alone, and faced the full situation that he was dead. "I looked around for anything that was his, but remembered that I told them to take it all away after he died. Why did I do that?"
Troi gets up and fetches a music box from a closed cabinet, telling Janet that she snagged this from all of the things she sent away.
Janet sobs and clutches the music box, while Troi hugs her.
Picard and Riker enter the bridge. Picard is trying to talk Riker into a buddy date that involves horseback riding in the Himalayas, and actually uses the phrase "fresh holodeck air."
I really hope that, by the 24th century, air quality on starships has improved beyond the stale crap that gets recycled on airplanes. ("Sir, has someone been smoking in the holojohn?")
Worf interrupts them. "Hey, there's like a -- it disappeared."
"What?" asks Picard.
"Like a big, interstellar thing in front of us."
The ensign sitting at navigation confirms that she caught something on sensors too, but Data says he's got nothing.
Outside Troi's office, Janet says she will come back tomorrow.
(I wonder if it's changed since now, when the doctor says they'd like to see you next week and the receptionist says they can't fit you in for another six months.)
Troi cringes and touches her forehead, but when Janet expresses concern, Troi shrugs it off and says she's just tired. They agree to meet the next day and Janet leaves, at which point, Troi practically collapses on the floor in pain.
Dramatic music!
The next few scenes are interspersed: the bridge tries to figure out what keeps appearing on the sensors in front of the ship and disappearing; and Troi stumbling in her office, trying to deal with what looks like a gnarly migraine.
More dramatic music!
Troi passes out.
Biggest swell of dramatic music! Opening credits break!
Picard's Log 44356.9: "So we're heading for the T'lli Beta system when we ran into something that's both there and not there. All of our diagnostic tests have come up blank, sooo... shrug?"
"We lost some time," says Riker. "Data, how long until we hit T'lli Beta?"
"Six days, thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes."
Sassy Riker Moment: "What, no seconds?"
"People get annoyed when I calculate to seconds," replies Data. "You want seconds?"
Riker grins. "Naw, I'm good."
"Let's get out of here at warp six," says Picard.
But when they try, they lurch to the side and minor injuries start being reported all over the ship.
Picard calls Geordi in Engineering to find out what happened.
"We did the warp bubble, but then it collapsed before we could go."
Basically, they stalled out.
"Um, still moving," says the ensign at nav. "We're being pulled in a different direction."
Light dramatic music.
 |
| I like Riker's stance here. He looks like he's posing for an art class. |
Troi has woken up, and calls Crusher. "Um, super dizzy here."
"Okay. I'm being called all over the ship. Lie down and breathe deeply, and I'll be right there as soon as I can."
On the bridge, the ensign (Allenby) reports that they're being dragged reeeaaalllly slowly, and Picard decides to break away, but maybe at less speed than warp six? They try a few things, like turning the ship, or trying to slide away at less than impulse, but when they get up to full impulse, the ship rocks again.
"Dunno what to tell you," calls Geordi. "Everything reads fine."
 |
| This is a cool shot. They filmed LeVar Burton from behind the glass partition so they cold get the reflection of the warp core in there. |
Crusher rushes into Troi's office, apologizing for the wait. Her sick bay is full. Troi tells her that she was feeling super-intense pain before, but it's mostly subsided, and she feels foggy now. Crusher recommends a series of brain tests while scanning Troi, but then Riker interrupts with an all-call for a senior staff meeting.
Crusher, a good doctor and friend, asks Troi if she's up to that. Troi agrees that she is. They both stand, and Troi's smile falters.
"What?" asks Crusher.
"Nothing," Troi answers after a moment. "I'm good."
They go to the meeting.
Riker asks the room at large if it's a tractor beam of some kind.
"No other ship out there," says Data.
Hey, has anyone tried looking out the window to see if might be a giant green hand?
Worf is at a loss. Geordi too. There's both something there and nothing, and all of the sensors are working perfectly fine.
"Is it a life-form?" Picard asks Troi.
"Um, I'm not getting anything," she says initially. Then she starts to panic. "I sense nothing. There's nothing."
"It's cool," says Picard reassuringly. "There may not be anything to sense."
Data, trying to be supportive, points out that there are many races that cannot be telepathically read, including the Ferengi and the Breen.
Riker looks at Troi with concern.
"No, you don't get it," argues Troi. "I don't sense anything in here, either. I've lost my abilities!"
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
Down in sick bay, Crusher has run her tests. She can't find evidence of a concussion, but there's some unexplained brain damage. She tells Troi she'll have to look into Betazoid brain stuff more, but right now there's nothing she can do.
"I feel fine," says Troi breezily. "And the Betazoid brain repairs itself fairly easily, so no probs."
"Yeah," says Crusher, "but you're half-human. That may change things."
They discuss the possibility of this being connected to Schrodinger's Space Anomaly outside, but Crusher isn't sure. At any rate, she doesn't want to give Troi false hope that this might get better, as it's fuzzy right now.
"If you were anyone else, I'd tell you to go talk to Counselor Troi," she smiles.
Sassy Troi Moment: "What a coincidence. I see her often."
Crusher suggests that she go talk to someone else on the ship. Quite a few other crew members have psychology degrees, and qualify as therapists. Troi balks. They argue.
"I wanna go back to work," says Troi stiffly.
Riker thinks this might not be a good idea, but she insists.
He and Crusher exchange worried looks as Troi stalks out of sick bay.
Riker goes to see Troi in her office. "Do you want to talk?"
"You know, one thing I talk about with my patients is how other people change when someone suffers a change like this. They treat the person delicately, and sometimes they avoid them altogether, because they don't know what to say. How about, don't do that, okay?" she scowls.
"Hey," he says quietly. "Imzadi -"
She scoffs. "Go away. I have patients to see soon."
"You are really scared."
"I'm fine. If I get better, I get better. If I don't, I'll adapt. Life goes on."
Okay, that's true, but -
"Fine, I'll go."
He leaves her alone.
In Engineering, Data and Geordi have launched a probe to look at the area of space they're being dragged through. They don't see anything interesting or weird until they tilt the view, and suddenly, a field of dots appears.
"The hell?" asks Geordi.
Back to Troi's office.
This shot is cool.
 |
| Y'all, look at that sectional |
Janet is telling Troi that she is a new person, that she realized that Troi was right, and she spent all night crying over her husband's death.
Troi pauses, then reveals that she lost her empathic powers, and she isn't sure how Janet is feeling, and wanted her to know that going forward.
Janet expresses sympathy, and asks if Troi wants her to come back on a different day.
"No, it's fine. I'm missing an ability, but I have others. The thing is, one night of crying can't make up for months of denial."
Janet insists that Troi is wrong, that she feels better than she has in a long time.
Troi gives her a small smile.
 |
| Dammit, Janet |
A smallish meeting in the Obs Lounge. Geordi and Data tell Picard, Riker and Troi about the field of dots they found.
"It's flat," says Data, "like, length and width, but no height? That's why the sensors couldn't see it - we were looking at the edge."
"They affect the graviton field, and we got caught in the wave," says Geordi. "I think if we go to warp six, we can just break away from them."
Um, you tried that earlier, and it didn't work, remember?
"Are they alive?" asks Picard.
"We think so?" says Data.
"Wild," says Picard. "Okay, we'll break free of the graviton field, then stay to study it. Number One, tell the T'lli Betans, okay?"
Riker nods.
"Too bad we can't tell if it's a life-form," says Geordi off-handedly.
This rankles Troi. "I'm doing the best I can!"
Picard, who knows that that's not what Geordi meant, holds up a hand. "Nobody said you weren't."
He decides to do the warp jump, and asks Data to analyze the patterns the field makes when it moves. Then he turns to Troi, but she's already out the door.
Troi is on the rampage. She's frustrated and isn't sure what to do, so... she takes it out on her crewmates. She goes straight to sick bay.
"Beverly, wth? I can't do my job! Fix this!"
"I'm sorry," says Crusher. "I'm trying. I cross-referenced your results with the database for Betazoid mental health, but everything is coming up inconclusive. I don't have any answers for you right now."
Crusher is hauling out her very best Friend and Bedside Manner skills for this, responding calmly and with sympathy to a woman yelling at her.
"How do you people live like this?" demands Troi.
Crusher gets it, and responds kinder than I would have. "Pretty well, actually. And so will you, if you need to."
"You don't know what this is like, losing something you never had! I feel fucking lost!"
Crusher tries to sympathize, telling her that she would probably feel the same way if their positions were reversed, but Troi has an answer for that as well.
"If our positions were reversed, I wouldn't have been down here tending to scraped elbows while you lay on your office floor in pain. I would have done something before this happened!"
Whoa, harsh.
She storms out, leaving Crusher to keep working on the problem.
Troi goes back to her quarters and has a small "oh shit" moment in the dark by herself.
Quiet, slightly dramatic music and commercial break.
Troi goes to the ready room to see Picard.
"I've been in denial about my condition," she says.
"Understandable," says Picard gently.
"Okay. I need to resign. I can't do my job."
This is not great news for Picard. He takes it in, but is determined to talk her around. "You know, I'm not ignorant of the fact that I have access to your abilities, where most other captains just have regular counselors. You don't have to be empathic to do your job."
"No, but I do."
"I'm sure you'll adjust." He's trying to be gentle, on her side, rather than patronizing. "They say when people lose one sense, the others sharpen. A blind man gains better hearing -"
"With all due respect, Captain -"
Ooh, what follows is never respectful.
" - you don't know what you're talking about."
Ouch.
"That's a thing that able-bodied people say when they don't know what to say to the disabled. It has no basis in science. I'm disabled, and I can't do my job."
Picard gets out of his chair and tries to talk her into staying, but he's switching over to anecdotes. "There's a teacher at the Academy who has been in a wheelchair her whole life -"
No. Do not haul out the inspo-porn.
"Just accept my resignation," she sighs.
Troi is pacing in her quarters alone when Riker comes in.
"I'd rather be alone."
"Too bad."
He slowly gives her a hug while she sobs.
"Is this how you solve all your personnel problems?" she sniffles.
Sassy Riker Moment: "Yes. You'd be surprised how far a hug goes with Geordi or Worf. You resigned?"
"I can't do my job."
"So you're gonna walk away from the people who care about you?"
"I feel so lost. Everyone is just a blank slate to me now. All surface, no depth. No one seems real."
"I'm real."
"No, you're not. I can't sense what you're feeling at all. It's terrifying."
He narrows his eyes at her a little. "Ah, I see. We're on equal footing now."
Dude.
"You always had an advantage over others," he goes on. "It's a very safe place to be."
DUDE.
"To be honest, you've... always been a little too aristocratic about your Betazoid heritage, like your human side wasn't enough for you."
Duuuude.
"That's not true," she says weakly.
Geordi calls Riker. "Hey, we're gonna do that controlled overjump to warp."
He tells Geordi he'll be there soon, then informs Troi that he'll check on her later.
"You don't have to," she says stubbornly.
He repeats his intention firmly before leaving. We've crossed into tough love territory.
They start out at impulse, then try to ramp it up to warp. The ship rocks.
"Hey," says Majel. "You're gonna rip the ship apart in about 15 seconds if you don't knock that shit off."
"Craaaap," says Picard. "Turn it off, Geordi."
Once the ship has stopped shaking, Picard asks what went wrong.
"The power we sent to the nacelles? The graviton wave absorbed it, and sent it back to us. Surprised we didn't get blown into space," says Geordi.
"Ooh, the graviton wave changed a tiny bit when we did that," says Data.
"Can you send that change to the universal translator?" asks Picard. "Maybe the movement is communication."
"Cool," says Data.
Troi is in Ten Forward, staring off into space. Guinan brings her another glass of tea and asks if she can sit down.
Ohhh, Troi. You're about to get tricked for the better by Guinan.
"You wanna talk about it?" asks Guinan.
"No." Troi is being a bit more easy-going about things at this point. She's probably not yelling because she realizes that people are still on her side. Or maybe that cry relived some of her tension. Either way.
"Good," says Guinan. "I don't really wanna hear about it. People come in here all the time to tell me their problems, cry on my shoulder."
"You'd make a good Counselor," smiles Troi.
"I do, too. That's why I'm gonna apply for your job."
"Sorry?" asks Troi.
"Well, yeah, You're leaving. Which means the line at the bar will be out the door. But your job has better hours and a nice office."
"Um, it's more than just letting people cry on your shoulder," says Troi.
Guinan makes light of the job, answering "I can do that" with a shrug, each time Troi points out that the job involves more. Troi starts to argue, then smiles.
"You don't actually want to be ship's Counselor."
"What makes you say that? Your abilities suddenly come back?"
"No, it's just instinct. I can tell you're not serious. And I can see what you're doing. You're pointing out that I have other abilities. But it took years to develop those."
"Uh-huh."
On the bridge, Data moves with concern from the science station to the conn. Seems he's found something else out there. Riker asks him to put it on the viewscreen.
"What's that?" asks Allenby.
"A cosmic string," says Riker. "More 2-D shit. It's only about as wide as a proton, but it has a gravitational pull like a black hole."
"The graviton field is being pulled into the cosmic string," says Data.
"And us along with it," says Riker.
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
Picard's Log 44359.5: "We got dragged into this wave thing, and it was interesting before, but in seven hours, we're gonna be dragged into a cosmic string along with it, and that's Bad News Bears."
Data reports that he doesn't think the 2-D wave thing is aware of the cosmic string or the impending danger.
"I think we should blow them up with photon torpedoes," says Worf.
Picard sighs, because Worf sounds like scratched vinyl. He always wants to blow shit up. "Do we really have to kill them to save us?"
Data shrugs. "We don't know what photon torpedoes will do to 2-D beings."
"Maybe we don't have to shoot them," suggests Geordi. "We can fire across the bow. A warning might make them change course."
"Yeah, do that," says Picard, and Worf gives Geordi such side-eye for ruining his fun.
So they fire a warning shot, and guess what doesn't work? Of course it doesn't. There's still twelve and a half minutes left in this episode for them to try other things that don't work.
"Eh, go ahead and fire at them, Worf," says Picard.
Worf gives Geordi more fucking attitude in the background.
It doesn't work either.
Troi is in her office gathering stuff when Ensign Brooks comes in.
"Crap," says Troi. "Meant to cancel our appointment. I'm resigning. It was pretty obvious yesterday that I can't do my job now, because I couldn't sense what you were feeling."
"No," insists Brooks. "You were right. I was trying to convince both of us that one night of crying had made me a new person. I was doing the same thing as before, complete denial. You didn't need to know how I was feeling, because you already knew the answer. You still helped me, even if it was a different way than you're used to working."
Troi is summoned to the ready room.
"So we hit a wall," says Picard. "Data has tried every technical way he can to feed the movements of the wave through the universal translator, and we're not getting anything. We need to know about the psychology of the wave. The thing is, even without your empathic abilities, you're still the most qualified person on board to figure that shit out. Work with Data, okay?"
She opens her mouth to refuse, and he tells her point-blank that they need her.
Dramatic music! Commercial break!
So Troi is resigning, but can't leave the ship because they're essentially being pulled into a skinny black hole. So they could die before she's able to resign. And she's not doing anything in the meantime, and she's being asked to put information from her area of expertise to good use in an effort to save everyone, including herself.
Don't see the need for the dramatic music, honestly.
"As long as you're not doing anything else right now, could you help us save the ship?"
Picard's Log, supplemental: "Gonna be toast in about an hour."
Data and Troi are working in the Obs Lounge, and Data is explaining what he's tried so far, with Troi asking questions to get caught up. He tells her he has no idea if the wave beings are actually intelligent, or if they're figuring out that Data is trying to communicate at all.
Troi is all, "Oh... okay." Then she admits that she's a bit lost here, flying blind with no powers.
"I'm trying to rely on human instinct, but I don't have a lot of experience."
Data Moment that could be Sassy, but is kind: "I'm sorry, Counselor. I cannot help you there, as I am not human and have none myself."
Troi compares herself to the graviton wave beings, in the universe but not perceiving it. She gets an idea. "What if they're surviving on instinct?"
They bat ideas back and forth, with Data wondering why the beings would go toward a destructive force on their own, and Troi points out that moths go straight for flames, so maybe this wave is heading for the string rather than being pulled toward it.
They go to the others on the bridge.
"We want to project a simulation of the cosmic string behind the wave, hoping they'll go for that, and let us go in the process."
"Yeah, but... we can't simulate the pull of a black hole," protests Riker.
"No, we just need to fake the vibration," answers Data.
"Hell yeah!" Geordi practically hops over the bridge partition. "I could totally do that with (science)!"
Worf checks the math. "You got like, twenty minutes."
There's a brief scene here that's either a time-filler, a scene that shows them working on the problem, or both. Basically, science.
There's for minutes left until (dun dun DUN) certain death, and the ship starts shaking because of the gravitational field of the cosmic string. It's fucking up the ship's ability to fake a new string, so they ramp up the shocks.
But the wave is not going for the bait. Data turns up the volume. This time the wave slows down enough that the E is able to break away.
They shut the fake string off, the wave goes back to the real string, and suddenly Troi stands up and announces that her powers came back, and that all is well, because the graviton wave beings are home.
She says that the cosmic string was where the beings most wanted to be, and that they're home and happy now.
Later, Troi, Guinan, Crusher and Riker are in Ten Forward, and she tells them that the graviton wave beings created so much emotional energy that it basically shorted her out.
"Oh, Beverly -" she starts.
Sassy Crusher Moment: "Apology accepted. Therapists suck as patients. Doctors too."
Crusher leaves, and Troi admits that she had been super shitty to Beverly earlier. She tells them that being a plain ol' human was harder than she anticipated.
"Your job still open?" asks Guinan. "Hours are still better."
"Nope," smiles Troi.
Guinan leaves, and Troi thanks Riker for being an asshole to her when she needed him to be.
"It was tough not being in control more."
He leans for a kiss, but she stops him.
Sassy Troi Moment: "About you fucking calling me aristocratic..."
-write-up:
Sooo... this episode is not my favorite. It took me a while to figure out why. Was it the Troi-loses-her-powers plot? The cosmic string B-plot? No and no. The story is fine. Did I not relate to Troi's loss? Most people relate to her loss in some way, myself included. Did I have a problem with her yelling at people in response to said loss? No, that's kind of normal.
No, my problem with this episode is that it gives me compassion fatigue. If you're not familiar with this term, it refers to people who help other people or animals in distress. The helper becomes overwhelmed by the other person's distress while trying to help, and now both people are stressed. So the stressed-out helper isn't being very helpful. In this case, Troi's reactions to her loss were overwhelming to not only her friends, but to myself as the viewer. I wanted to back away and watch this episode in bits so that it was easier to digest. It didn't help any that Troi cycles through Kuebler-Ross like Lance Armstrong on a steroid drip. She ran through the stages of grief within the space of about a day. It's a lot to take in. But kudos to her friends for being supportive as she screamed at them. Those people are keepers, and I'm certainly glad she apologized to Crusher for treating her like crap.
Especially after that "tending to scraped elbows" line. I mean, I get it, Troi. You're pissed. You're allowed to be pissed. But neither you nor Crusher knew that you feeling poorly was going to result in you losing your empathic abilities, so your argument holds no water.
However, there were some points that I wanted to talk about specifically.
Awesomeness:
- The mirroring of hugs. Troi hugs Janet Brooks at the beginning of the episode when Janet has suffered a loss and requires comforting. Later, when Troi is in the same position, Riker hugs her. I also liked that Troi's loss of one of her senses is compared and contrasted with Janet Brooks losing her husband. Similar, but not so much that you'd call BS on the same kind of loss happening twice. Both are losses that require heavy adjustments in life.
- Guinan brings Troi tea, and Troi is startled. "I'm getting used to it." It happens when Riker rings the door chime as well. Troi, who senses other people's feelings, probably gets whispers of the presence of others before they actually approach her. Lacking this ability, she is suddenly startled by everyone, as she is not yet used to having others approach her without that warning. It's a nice touch, especially because we haven't really talked about that on the show previously. It's the little things that would change in her life that go along with the major change, and I like that attention to detail.
Something I wanted to touch on:
Picard talks about sensory compensation, and Troi cuts him off.
"That's a thing that able-bodied people say when they don't know what to say to the disabled. It has no basis in science."
Eh, that's both true and not true. Sensory compensation has been confirmed, but it's not like you get super hearing if you go blind. Your brain just makes changes so you can still process information at the same level. I have no idea how Troi's brain would compensate for her lack of empathic powers.
However, do I believe that able-bodied people say that to the disabled to help them feel batter? Yes. Does it? My guess is no.
This episode does have its merits. Disabled people approached Marina Sirtis and thanked her for making this episode because they felt it accurately portrayed at least some of their experiences. And that's fantastic. The more accurately we portray someone's story, the better we understand.
My reaction to it was really the only thing I didn't like, which made it hard to watch, and why I don't pick this one out of the line-up to watch randomly when I want to take in some Trek.
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| Retro episode poster designed by Juan Ortiz |
- Fun Facts:
- Rick Berman pushed for this episode every season, because he liked the idea of exploring what would happen if Troi lost a power that no one around her had. The premise was likened to "if you were the only sighted person in a blind colony, and you lost your sight, the others would say so what?" According to Michael Pillar, the story was finally picked up because they needed a Troi-based episode.
- The writing staff considered making Troi's loss of ability permanent.
- The B-plot with the graviton wave was written by writing intern Hilary J Bader. She named the T'lli Beta system after her grandmother, Tillie Bader.
- This is the first time the Breen are mentioned.
- While Rick Berman was excited about the idea of doing a show where someone loses an ability that no one else was familiar with, Michael Pillar said that it was difficult to get people to relate to the loss because... again... no one is familiar with it.
- Troi wears all of her current costumes in this episode, the lavender jumpsuit, the maroon one, and the teal dress with the asymmetrical neckline.
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| "Soooo, two kittens were left outside a laundromat with a "free to good home" note. Can you house them tonight?" *sigh* "Like I'm gonna say no." #RescuerProblems |
