72 – Ménage à Troi

Grade: C+

Summary

The Enterprise has been hosting a trade conference, and for the first time, the Ferengi have attended. One of the Ferengi in attendance has fallen for Lwaxana Troi, Deanna’s mother. When they go to Betazed for shore leave, DaiMon Tog kidnaps Troi, her mother, and Commander Riker.

Commentary

This is one of the more famous episodes of the third season, and I must admit, it has some funny moments in it, but it’s still not one of my personal favorites.

The storyline is a bit weak, and not all that compelling. Except for Picard’s attempt to “win back” Lwaxana Troi from DaiMon Tog, the acting isn’t terribly great. Majel Barrett seems to have been born to play the role of Deanna Troi’s mother, but the rest of the actors aren’t very good.

At the end of this episode, we see Picard make a fool of himself as he tries to “win back” Lwaxana Troi’s love. It’s obviously supposed to be a very silly scene. Patrick Stewart plays it well, and it’s actually very funny to see, but it still isn’t enough to overcome the overall weakness of the episode.

Of Note

At the beginning of the episode, there’s an alien who seems to look like Kolrami from the second season episode “Peak Performance.” I’m not sure it’s the same character, but it’s strange that he’d be there and not do anything within the storyline. So it’s probably just a different actor using the same costume as a cost-cutting measure.