This episode plays out in the style of an episode from the first two seasons, but it's better constructed to make a better show.
The content is more sad stuff as in The Survivors and employs some of the same motivation in the end, however more people can relate to losing a parent(s) so the perspective isn't as unusual. While exploring a seemingly uninhabited planet an archeologist on the away team is killed by an unexploded mine and is survived only by her 12-year-old son. The father had died when he was younger, so now he's an orphan. They spend a lot of time on the feels in this episode but not too much time like the previous seasons and the time they do spend on it isn't just space filler.
The boy, Jeremy, has to be told of course. I can say this was all well thought out and believable for a change. Jeremy puts up a strong front and tries to be brave about it. And they devote this dialogue time to discuss valid points about the the Enterprise having entire families aboard and things like that. This is the sort of the things fans would discuss on their own. But they don't just use up the time with random philosophical ramblings. They also find a way to interject brief notes of character development such as Data speaking to Riker, trying to understand why Marla Aster's death affects people differently based on whether or not they knew her personally. Data's perspective is unique because he has no feelings, so it's a good scene.
They interject a little Klingon culture in there too. Worf led the away team and since Marla Aster's death isn't the kind of death he can avenge or work out in his own mind in a satisfactory manner, he wants to move on to the next step which is to bond with the dead crewman's son as is common with Klingon tradition. Naturally, Troi advises him to go slow which is understandable. This all works it's way back to Wesley whose own story of his father's death on an away team mission is nearly a mirror of Jeremy's situation. Dr. Crusher asks him to talk to Jeremy and this part is actually excellent - Wesley says he will but puts it off because he's not comfortable doing it. This is realistic. If it'd been in the previous seasons Wesley would've marched down to see Jeremy with all the right things to say. No, in real life these things are awkward, especially for children and teenagers, even when the right thing to do is clear. This was a good use of Wesley.
As already noted, they don't spend too much time on these things. They know when to wrap it up and get to the "action." There's a surge of power from the planet and Marla Aster appears to be in Jeremy's quarters with him which begins to instantly disrupt the natural process of loss and grieving.
The crew is aware of the intruder and they do their best they can to try and ease Jeremy away from her while she piles on the illusion by recreating their home on Earth, Jeremy's pet, and everything that makes him happy and comfortable. They manage to shut the energy production down once or twice which makes her and her fantasy images disappear, adding to the boy's confusion. The back and forth is tense and makes for good conflict. I don't think the kid is an especially good actor, but that doesn't really affect things.
When the Marla Aster being begins making moves to take Jeremy to the surface they finally force the confrontation to find out why she's doing this. What follows is a kind of variation on the theme of The Survivors. The planet had both immortal energy beings and physical beings at one time. The physical beings destroyed themselves in a war (ugh... such sparsely populated planets to be able to wipe out entire populations with war... I won't get into the politics on this one though.) The energy beings opted not to interfere in this war in the same way Kevin from The Survivors was a pacifist because of his powers. Once again, the powerful beings felt guilt, in this case because they felt they could've prevented the extinction of the physical beings of the planet if they'd been involved. So the motives are heartfelt - the energy beings don't want to see anyone hurt by the war again, so they're determined to take care of Jeremy always. Adopt him, as it were. Take him to the planet and lavish him with everything his heart desires in order to take away the pain caused by the war that hurt so many others. This works into the "lesson" of the episode regarding the natural course grieving when mortal beings have to deal with death. It's relevant and intelligent and, once again, best watched with friends and family and the best part of the episode.
I complained a lot over the last two seasons about the way they'd wait until the last 10 minutes of the episode to get to the point, and although I've said that this episode is the same style, it's also improved like all the other episodes in the third season so far. The conflict starts halfway through instead of two-thirds. The filler space, as noted above, wasn't just directionless pondering of the existential, but instead was a measured build up that tied in all the relevant dialogue with the climax as well as creating a common denominator with Wesley to help underscore all of the points they were trying to make the Marla Aster image understand. I can't help but think it's kind of a stretch to suppose that Jeremy would naturally be angry with Worf in the exact same way that Wesley was angry with Picard - after all everyone is different and even these circumstances have marked differences (Wesley still had another parent, for example.) This is quite obviously convenient to the story, but it's one hundred percent forgivable and it's a rare, great Wesley moment because it pairs him with Picard and develops both of their characters, adding even more layers to the captain that Stewart so wonderfully incorporated into the character throughout the show.
In the end Jeremy chooses to go through the Klingon bonding ceremony with Worf and accept this different kind of adoption than the one the energy beings of the planet offered which is more healthy in the long run. It's never followed up on and I don't think the bonding ritual is ever referred back to, but it's more Klingon culture that adds depth to Worf and is so popular with all fans, including me.
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