Excellent episode. Love Lwaxana of course, and then they finally give her character a little depth by making her more than just a flirt for Picard and a nag for Deanna.
Troi does the opening log entry stating apprehensively that her mother is on board. Also apprehensive is Picard. So it seems like it's business as usual as far as Lwaxana is concerned. He's trying to sneak around, but she tracks him down and is her natural bubbly self.
Picard is on the way to welcome a guest on board and attempts to tell Lwaxana graciously that her presence isn't required but she pushes her way in anyway and, with the arrival of Dr. Timicin, finds a new man to focus on. She whisks him away for a tour of the ship while another log entry informs us why he's here. The people on his planet are trying to revitalize their dying sun. Timicin is the expert in this field and the Enterprise, as always, is there to assist with their high tech wizardry.
It continues on with Lwaxana bothering everyone in her irresistible fashion and meeting Timicin on the bridge again. After she leaves you see that Timicin can't help but remark to Deanna how vibrant she seems. The vibrancy that exhausts Deanna appears to impress Timicin. It seems that Lwaxana has finally fixated on someone who could appreciate her exuberant personality and it's sweet to watch. Senior romance stories are difficult to pull off. Later in engineering they're preparing to launch some torpedoes into a star in an empty solar system which have been modified to carry the means within that would help revive Timicin's sun. Mrs. Troi interrupts for an impromptu picnic right on the console. She can't persuade him to come into her quarters for a night cap, but she doesn't see it as a deterrent, and why would she?
The next day the torpedo experiment fails and they have to warp away quickly. Lwaxana tries to comfort Timicin and then we learn that this was his last chance to preform his work because he has to go back to his world to die. His people commit ritual suicide at the age of 60. It's called The Resolution and it would normally be something he would look forward too if he'd not met her and been swept away with her vivacity and charm. I won't rant about the Obama death panels and how this is a socialist fantasy because it's actually quite an old sci-fi concept that's been around for a long time. Asimov himself made up a dystopic Earth future (Pebbles In The Sky) where humans were required to die at age 60 as well. The Twilight Zone, which was very close to Star Trek with ideas and concepts, wrote but never filmed an episode where people were executed at 60. Logan's Run had a similar idea but with the age being much younger. It's not a pleasant fantasy but one a writer can get a lot of mileage out of and they do a fantastic job in this episode. Lwaxana, though experienced in life has always had an innocence about her that allows her to love so fast and so hard, and she's crushed. She barges in on a staff meeting where the Kaelon II Minister of Science is explaining to Picard that the Enterprise can continue to help out but that Timicin has "obligations at home." After freaking out at everyone in the room she runs to the transporter to try to go to his world personally to rage and force them to listen to reason. The transporter operator doesn't cooperate and Deanna comes in to try to calm her mother. It's the first of many dialogues in this show that center on aging, clinging to life while a person is still able, and death drawing closer with each year. It's moving and it gave Majel Barrett room to stretch her acting abilities. I admit, I tear up.
Other dialogues occur between Timicin and Lwaxana before and after they give in to their passion which is tastefully done. Like I said, it's difficult with seniors to make the audience comfortable with sexuality in people well over 50 who aren't buttressed up by heavy makeup, plastic surgery, or nowadays CGI. Oddly enough, David Ogden Stiers is only 50 in this episode although Timicin is 60. Anyway this is where I always have to say that it's a better episode to watch rather than read a review of as it would take forever to delve into all the very good points made by Lwaxana about respecting elderly generations and caring for them and the contrasting points made by Timicin about getting out of the way for younger generations and not being a burden to them. I realize some people see older people like that but I'm not one. I love old people and I think it's sad when they aren't able to function very well anymore, but I don't think I could advocate a ritual suicide for the sake of not having to care for them. This is a great conversation-piece episode.
Timicin also realizes, bitterly, that it wouldn't take much more work to make his project successful if he only had a little more time. I'm assuming that he wouldn't be able to confer with the next person who is scheduled to take up his work and pass on these ideas so he's frustrated that his Resolution will ultimately cause a set back in the progress. Because of his devotion for his home world and his new intoxicating love for Lwaxana, he asks Picard for asylum aboard the Enterprise. This causes a diplomatic incident and Kaelon is ready to start a war over it. That's probably a little dramatic, but a stand off regarding cultural differences like this can be believable.
It also gives the opportunity to introduce Timicin's daughter, Dara, played by Michelle Forbes who would come back to play Ensign Ro on a regular basis. (Oh my God, the hair in this one though...) I've loved this woman since she was in Guiding Light as Sonni/ Solita and she's a terrific actress. She meets with both Timicin and Lwaxana and you then see the Resolution from the point of view of the younger generation. And in this world there is no malice such as the desire to be free of the burden of an aging parent. From the daughter's perspective you see things like a concern for burial rituals and what amounts to almost religious traditions that most people can relate to at any age.
This, of course, melts Timicin's heart and he decides ultimately to go back home and end his life with The Resolution. As he's about to beam down, Lwaxana appears and Picard is afraid of trouble, but as it turns out she's decided to go as a guest and witness to the ceremony in support of the this man that she's fallen in love with. Tough, tough, what would you do? type of moment.
Wonderful episode. Wonderful Lwaxana moments. I think it also finally severs her school girl fascination with Picard for good even though she always remains the high spirited, flirty type. It's one of my favorite episodes and even though it's a one-off I think most people can make a deep connection with it. Unless they don't like Lwaxana. My ratings always skew high in her favor, lol. I'll give it four and a half stars.
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