84 – The Loss

Grade: C

Summary

An unknown force pulls on the Enterprise and prevents it from getting away. Meanwhile, Counselor Troi loses her ability to read other people’s emotions.

Commentary

Aside from the episodes featuring Tasha Yar, some of my least favorite episodes revolve around Counselor Troi. In this case, it isn’t because Marina Sirtis is that bad of an actor. It’s because the writers usually have her character over-react to situations and circumstances. This episode is definitely no exception. Here, Troi deals with losing her abilities, but it’s so over the top that it’s really hard to watch or take seriously. Again, I don’t fault the actress, or the basic premise of the storyline. It’s the script and director that stink.

Aside from that, the episode is just a “trap” story where the ship is trapped in some kind of spatial anomaly, and they have to find a way to get out. There’s nothing terribly remarkable about that, actually. This kind of story takes place all the time. But the focus of the story is dealing with a sudden disability. I think it was an important story, but I wish it hadn’t been so melodramatic.

One thing I did like was when Riker told Troi that she was now just like everyone else. And it was also very nice to see Guinan motivate Troi into doing her job. She told Troi that she wanted to apply for the open position of ship’s counselor.

Overall, though, it was hard for me to really enjoy this episode. It was a nice effort, but just too over the top for me.

Of Note

I loved it when Data gave an arrival estimate but did not include the seconds because, as he said, he has found out that humans don’t really need that much accuracy.