This episode is a mystery in which the audience knows who the culprit is but the characters do not. It begins with a group of telepathic historians that do their research by probing people for hidden memories. The Ullians are along for a ride while the Enterprise is on a mapping survey; three of them - Inad, Tarmin, and Tarmin's grown son Jev. It opens with Keiko consenting to a demonstration from Tarmin to try and remember what the significance is of a small cup that she'd always remembered, but never why. She's delighted to learn that it belonged to a family member that used it for Japanese water color painting. Tarmin is pleased and offers to read other people in the lounge, being particularly assertive with Dr. Crusher hinting that she's thinking of her first kiss, but his son Jev reminds him that they are not allowed to probe others without permission. He seems like he's just trying to reign in his father's exuberance. But even though Tarmin is being a little on the aggressive side, you get the idea from the start that Jev is going to be the real problem.
But not right away. They spend some more time setting things up, beginning with Geordi trying to explain repressed memories to Data since it's not a concept he understands, obviously. When they made this episode they filmed memories for most of the main characters including the fire that Geordi spoke of in the last episode when talking to Data of childhood traumas. Geordi's vignette didn't make it to the final cut because of time constraints. Later at dinner with the staff, they continue to misdirect the audience towardsTarmin as he explains that their personal mission is to create an archive of memories from different worlds. He's disappointed by the fact that everyone on board is unwilling to be probed and there is occasion to explain that not all Ullians read memories but that it's a learned occupation that requires a lot of commitment and dedication. He then annoys Jev by boasting about a situation in which he was able to retrieve memory faster than Jev. This immediately gives Jev and Troi something in common and even the audience can't deny that this relation ship between father and son is a lot like the relationship between Deanna and Lwaxana. Troi gives Jev words of encouragement about having an overbearing parent as he walks her back to his quarters.
But they don't leave you wondering about Jev's motives for long. In her quarters Deanna is getting ready for bed and is happily remembering a romantic moment with Riker but the memory turns bad as Riker begins to force himself on her. You then see that it's actually Jev forcing the sexual encounter. But she doesn't get the chance to tell anyone because the experience leaves her in a coma.
There appears to be no illness and Crusher can't revive her. She doesn't want to try anything else until she knows the cause. Riker questions Jev because he was the last person with her. Jev is defensive but agrees to an examination. After spending long hours in sick bay Riker returns exhausted to his own quarters and begins reliving a memory of being in engineering during a containment breech. His memory plays out as him giving an order to shut an ensign inside the affected area after closing an emergency door. Another person accuses him of killing her and that person turns into Jev. Riker falls into a coma as well.
Crusher is starting to see a pattern with the residue left in both Troi and Riker that seems like Iresine Syndrome. She, Worf, and Picard all suspect that the comas are caused by the Ullians, but they don't suspect any real malice. Tarmin is outraged, Inad agrees to any kind of monitoring necessary. Keiko remains unaffected and Geordi starts to search for things on the ship that may cause the residue. Later on Beverly is doing more research and is swept into the memory of going to a morgue to identify her husband's body. Picard is with her because that's how this story has been told a few times. I have to remark at how funny the hair is to indicate that it's the past. But this memory, bad to begin with, turns into a night mare as Picard turns to Jev and Jack Crusher's eyes open on the slab. Beverly is now comatose and what we see is the natural progression and panic of the sociopath Jev. He violates Troi's mind and then Riker's out of revenge for singling him out and now Beverly since she's on his trail. This episode is a fun little psychological thriller that I always enjoyed.
Picard orders Geordi and Data to start cross referencing the other planets the Ullians have visited and confines the Ullians to their quarters. Even Inad is bothered by this and offers to do a memory search on Troi to clear their names. Picard won't allow that since she's still in sick bay, but not long after she wakes up. She can't remember anything but consents to a memory probe which Jev conducts. Naturally since Jev is controlling the memory, she remembers that her rapist was Tarmin.
But Data and Geordi expanded their search from just cases of unexplained coma, to cases of misdiagnosed Iresine Syndrome. They find that the only Ullian in all the places was Jev. At the same time Jev, after assuring Picard that his father would be severly penalized since the Federation has no law for this sort of thing, goes to say goodby to Troi. But he can't resist trying to invade her mind one more time. Troi fights back and Worf arrives just in time to catch him in the act after learning of Geordi and Data's findings. Tarmin offers Ullian physicians to assist in the recovery of Troi, Riker, and Beverly, but warns that they may be out of practice since there hasn't been a case like this in 300 years and they take a moment to realize that a seed of violence remains in all peaceful races. I usually have fits of eye rolling when they talk about how Earth in this time has no more war and stuff like that, but I respect the fact that they're acknowledging that our dark sides do exist. It's why I think world peace can't realistically happen and admitting to humanity's natural propensity for evil was a step in the right direction for more complex storylines as evidenced with the evolution into DS9.
I think I'll do four and a half stars for this one. It's not one of the "great" episodes, but I've always liked it. The psychology is spot on and it's a situation where the characters are believably fooled for a change making it an exciting mystery.
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