The episode, Relics, was originally supposed to be filmed in this slot, but James Doohan's schedule conflicted, so this episode took its place. It's not the best episode, but it's not bad for being slapped together at the last minute. It delves more into the darker uses of telepathic powers like the episode, Violations, but with a touch of Dorian Gray to it as well.
The Enterprise is drawn into a conflict on a planet that's threatening to escalate into a civil war. I liked it that they took a moment to write in the Federation's interest in the matter instead of just making the Enterprise the do-gooder diplomats. If this planet were to descend into war, it would harm Federation trade routes. I just appreciate a little reality mixed in for a change - everyone has their own interests to look after. So, they're responding to a transport ship that's carrying the diplomat assigned to make peace between the factions on the planet. The transport ship is being attacked by one of the parties and the Enterprise scares them away since it has more fire power. They transport the ambassador over with a companion from his ship, the Dorian (reaffirming the connection with that classic novel.) Picard tells Troi to greet them; a sensible job for the ship's counselor. The ambassador is Ves Alkar and he has an elderly woman with him who he introduces as his mother, Sev Maylor. The mother is immediately aggressive and hostile towards Troi, accusing her of being attracted to Alkar and jealously claiming him for herself. She's nearly hysterical and has to be escorted away by a security guard. Alkar apologizes and Troi graciously accepts. After all, it's not overly strange to see an overly possessive mother like this who appears to be in charge of his life and career. He doesn't want to stay on the Enterprise because a big armed ship looks like it may have its own agenda, but after conferring with Picard and an admiral, he's convinced to stay for his own protection.
Troi invites Alkar to one of Worf's martial art classes and afterwards as they return to his quarters we learn that his species is telepathic, but only with members of his own species. So, he can't sense Troi the way she can sense him and she's impressed with his calmness and tranquility, noting it's advantage in negotiating. He can see the value of sensing others' feelings as well and invites her to join him on the planet. She happily accepts and it's appears that they will have a strong working relationship. When they reach Alkar's room, his mother is waiting at the door, livid that he's late and asking Troi if she's slept with him yet. Overstepping what seemed at first like typical rantings of an obsessive parent, it turns into a very weird and uncomfortable moment to show the audience that something is wrong with their arrangement. Later on when Troi and Riker are looking over crew evaluations she confides to him the malevolent and evil feelings she was sensing from Maylor, in stark contrast to Alkar's natural serenity. Riker chalks it up to her being very old and possibly a little demented. Troi isn't as sure. But there's not much time to think about it. There soon comes a message from Worf of an emergency in Alkar's quarters. Not specified as a medical emergency, Riker and Troi rush over there along with Crusher, which puts Troi on the scene when the old woman is declared dead. She can sense that Alkar is upset and offers to help. He wishes to initiate a Lumarian funeral rite for his mother and asks Troi to take part. He produces two crystallized rocks and says some ritualistic words and taps his glowing rock to Troi's. The glow of his rock transfers to Troi's and you see her look up in shock and fear. Alkar thanks Troi without explaining what happened, but he's wearing a very good evil smile on his face, so we know something's up.
And one would assume that, like in Violations, Alkar's intent is sexual. Troi starts becoming irritated and then sensual. Her appearance seems darker in general. She goes to seduce Alkar, but he rejects this act explaining that they have to remain friends. So she develops cougar-like designs on a young ensign and takes him back to her quarters with her. Riker interrupts that little encounter, much to her displeasure. Later we see her sweetly patronizing and then just excoriating another ensign that has come to her to talk about a supervisor who she feels is being unfair to her... she was mentally abusing the woman that she was supposed to be counseling and even though it's not a funny situation (none of these situations are) it's actually pretty hysterical. I liked all of these scenes because it's fun to watch someone play out a part that's the opposite of their normal character. And everyone wants to be a bad guy, so I just know Sirtis was enjoying this as well. It's plain now that the effects of that funeral rite effected her telepathically, but it's not like the usual telepathic possession that went on in the episodes Power Play and Clues. She's still herself but it's like a long, suppressed, dark side of her personality is emerging and taking over all of her self control and turning her, effectively, into a total bitch. Really, it makes the whole episode worth the watch.
In the meantime Picard is blissfully unaware of all of this. He denies Crusher's request for an autopsy of Maylor since it was against Alkar's wishes and her death didn't appear to be a threat to the crew at the time. And he moves on to using his own diplomatic influence to arrange for a neutral meeting place on the planet for negotiations. But Crusher, thankfully, isn't satisfied and goes to Geordi so she can get a look at Maylor's biofilter record from the transporter. The quick deterioration of her body from the time she arrived to the time she died gives Crusher cause for concern. Still, there's nothing that can be done, and Troi is no longer content to sit in her room. She bursts into Ten Forward looking like an evil, Disney queen and proceeds to jealously threaten Alkar's young, female aide, Liva, in the same manner that Alkar's "mother" had threatened her. It causes a public scene and Riker tactfully leads her away. When he doesn't respond favorably to a seduction attempt, Troi scratches him. Later, we see that Troi is aging rapidly when she goes to Alkar expecting to go with him to the planet. He leaves her screaming in rage when he tells her no. I always found it odd that Riker didn't inform Picard of her behavior right after the Ten Forward incident, and I'd have to call that one of the biggest flaw in the episode.
However, Riker does tell Beverly while he's getting his scratches looked at and they set out to look for her. But poor Picard has to find out the hard way. When Alkar is preparing to transport down with his lovely young aide, Liva, Troi appears in a jealous rage and tries to stab him. She ends up stabbing Picard when he moves to restrain her. Alkar transports down with a feeling of mild (very mild) regret while Troi is taken to sick bay. There, Crusher notices the same elevated levels of neurotransmitters that were in Maylor's body. This is enough of a connection to ask Picard for permission to preform an autopsy again. He tries to contact Alkar on the planet to formally obtain his permission, but he's not answering. So, Picard gives permission anyway since Troi's situation is deteriorating quickly. Crusher finds out that she's not related to Alkar in any way and that her organs are those of a 30 year old woman. Now, it's obvious that something similar is happening to Troi, but they still want an explanation from Alkar because they don't understand why it's happening or how to reverse it. Alkar still isn't answering, so Picard beams down with Worf. Alkar assumes the moral high ground throughout the whole conversation, first incensed that they autopsied Maylor against his wishes and then as he explains that in order to keep a calm demeanor and be the perfect diplomat, he uses other people as receptacles to transfer all of his negative feelings into. Just like the Dorian Gray's picture absorbed all of his sins which marred his soul and aged for him. I've always liked variants of this story, like Quentin's painting in Dark Shadows. I guess that's why I've never minded this episode much even though it's not as good as what we'd come to expect from the end of season five. I also personally think this could've been explored further since jealousy and perversions aren't the only negative feelings that people are naturally inclined to, but it's only an hour show. The point is that Alkar thinks that the ends - being the perfect, non-profiting negotiator - justifies the means. Maylor's death was unexpected, but he makes no apologies for using Troi and can't understand why Picard doesn't see the bigger picture. Picard rightly calls him a coward for not even trying to exercise self control over his dark side like everyone else has to do. He demands that he release Troi, but he has no sway on the planet. Alkar has his own guards disarm Worf and send them packing.
The only way to reduce the process that's ravaging Troi's body is to break the link between her and Alkar, but they can't beam Alkar back unwillingly and Picard tells Crusher that he intends to use her up in the exact same way as the other woman. So Crusher decides that they can artificially break the link by giving her a strong sedative that simulates death. Riker's worried, but Crusher explains that they've got time to revive her and in that time Alkar would probably move onto another person, most likely Liva. They don't want to see her used either, so they make arrangements to try and save both women. After the negotiations, Alkar suffers a little dizziness and is contacted by the Enterprise to be informed that Troi is dying. He is beamed over in time to see Beverly declaring her dead. He sends Liva away before expressing the fact that he still feels no guilt, rather that Troi had the honor of being involved in bringing peace to the planet. He then seeks out his aide to perform the transferal ritual. Picard sets Worf up to follow their movements and locks a transporter onto Liva to have her transported away. They begin to revive Troi as Alkar is speaking to his rock and making it glow. When Deanna awakes and Crusher begins to treat her neurotransmitter levels, Alkar's body is shocked. He collapses in pain and begins to grab for Liva who is understandably scared. They beam her out of his quarters (presumably because Worf was outside listening for signs of a struggle so they were able to know when to take her) and by the time they get there, Alkar has aged rapidly to his death since all of his negative feelings were thrust back to him at once with no place to channel them. A fitting ending.
Troi's treatment causes her appearance to normalize... she even gets her perm back! And she and Riker have a time of friendly bonding at the end .
Okay, so that ending of Troi aging backwards is the silly side of science fiction. I'm well aware of it. I know it seems like a slip in standards, but I'm still inclined to overlook this silliness as well as the predictability and simplicity of the underlying story. And it's because the actors give convincing performances. They create the tension that I couldn't help but feel even though I could pretty well guess what was coming, almost from scene to scene... copied from classics much like the early episodes and stories from TOS. But the quality seems much higher in these latter seasons, so it's hard to find things to complain about. Like the previous episode, part of me realizes that it should probably have a merit rating of three and a half stars, but it just doesn't rub me wrong the way other episodes that I've scored at three and a half have. I'm going to rate it at four.
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