It's almost a shame that Lwaxana's last appearance on TNG was more dramatic than the usual infusion of light-hearted humor, but it displays Barrett's acting range which is also important. I know Lwaxana isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love her and loved this moment of character development, late as it was in arriving. It also reminds the audience as the series draws to a close that the relationship between Lwaxana and Deanna is a healthy, loving, mother-daughter bond even though her presence has always been presented as a burden to Deanna for comic effect. So, it's a nice way to bring closure to this secondary character as well, even though she would return in DS9 (which, in my opinion, didn't have the same effect as her appearances on TNG.)
The Enterprise is entertaining a delegation of Cairn that want to join the federation. They have no spoken language, but communicate telepathically only. In effort to have a relationship with the Federation, they are learning how to use spoken languages, and they're being guided by Lwaxana Troi. This is actually pretty great. Lwaxana has always been portrayed as a diplomat and ambassador, but you never see her doing anything like official business. This is an excellent way of showing that she's more than just a feisty senior citizen who is constantly searching for a husband while she nags her grown daughter and I wish they'd have come up with the idea (for this part at least) a lot earlier in the series. She's animatedly discussing the Cairn's telepathic abilities with Picard . He's always overwhelmed by her and is delighted when she encourages him to try to start up conversations with them since they need the practice. But the audience can see right away that Lwaxana seems different... she's not dressed in vibrant colors, flamboyant gowns, or wearing flashy headdresses. She goes over to Geordi who is explaining his VISOR to one of the Cairn children. Her name is Hedril and she's the daughter of the leader of the delegation, Maques. Lwaxana introduces her as her star pupil because her grasp of spoken communication has come easily to her. She assures Worf and Riker that they can't read minds that aren't also telepathic and when she asks where Deanna is, she's overcome with what appears to be a dizzy spell. She claims that she's only tired after spending so much time communicating telepathically with the Cairn. Now the audience can see, if they hadn't noticed it before, just how tired and preoccupied she seems this time. Deanna arrives late and Lwaxana ushers her over to meet Maques, then leaves with Hedril rather abruptly. His manner of speaking isn't as fluid as Hedril's and after talking briefly about learning how to use words, Maques is anxious to inform Deanna that Lwaxana has told him of her need of a husband and mentions that he is in need of a wife not suspecting that Deanna isn't interested in this arrangement. So, even though Lwaxana isn't feeling well, her usual antics are in play. The next morning Lwaxana meets her daughter in a turbo lift to ask her how she likes the Cairn and promoting Maques as a potential mate for her again. Deanna is angry, as usual, at her mother's interfering in her personal life and is ready to argue about it once again as they leave the turbo lift when she turns to see her crying. She goes on for a moment about how precious Deanna is to her and how devastated she'd be if anything were to happen to her. This is a common maternal feeling, but this sudden emotional turn alarms Deanna slightly and she becomes gentle with her mother, offering to talk with her before she goes to work. But Lwaxana refuses, once again blaming the continual telepathy she's been using for making her hypersensitive.
Maques goes to apologize to Deanna the next day for the embarrassing situation that Lwaxana had put them in at the reception. They also discuss the telepathy of the Cairn since Lwaxana is the first to learn it. This part is interesting to me because, as I've pointed out before, not a lot of time was spent developing the science fiction of telepathy. They did more on this show than in TOS. Tin Man, Violations, and this episode were all great for giving telepathy a little depth instead of just the action sequences. Maques talks about how Lwaxana is different from the Cairn; how there are places in her mind that are dark and hidden from him. Deanna thinks he's talking about privacy and explains it to him as such. She most likely felt his concern though. Later on she's talking to Will about her mother's erratic behavior and subdued appearance. While they're talking Lwaxana barges in on them. She's looking more tired than ever and she's genuinely angry at Will, blaming him for Deanna not being married by now. She physically pulls them apart demanding that he leave her alone and Deanna firmly but gently leads her away leaving Riker nonplussed. Crusher examines her in sickbay. The neurotransmitters in her brain that are involved in telepathy are elevated to unusually high levels and Beverly recommends that she avoid using telepathy for a while. So it seems that she was right in thinking that the extended use of telepathy is causing her exhaustion. However, the audience knows this is odd since, in previous episodes, she's usually insistent on using telepathy exclusively. She initially refuses Beverly's recommendation since the Cairn still have much to learn, but Deanna jumps in and volunteers to work with them verbally. After a little more resistance, Lwaxana agrees to the arrangement. So, next we see Deanna leading a group of Cairn delegates around the Arboretum. Lwaxana is following along too, looking very sick and wan now. Hedril is doing well, but Deanna talks herself into a corner when trying to explain the concept of poetry. When Maques suddenly grasps what she's saying, she looks over to see that her mother used telepathy to help her and, seeing how awful she looks, recommends that she sit for a while. She continues the tour while Hedril runs off with some other children. The girl falls into a shallow pond and comes up laughing. Then Deanna looks over to see her mother has collapsed and calls sickbay.
Crusher can't understand what's causing her coma. Her neural activity is almost completely shut down except for the telepathic lobe of her brain. Since she'd communicated with Maques just before she passed out, they decide to go talk to him. He tries to explain that his communication isn't the problem, but he has trouble finding the words. The best he can do is tell them that bad thoughts from her dark place are hurting her. Finally he becomes frustrated and attempts to communicate telepathically with Deanna. Picard can see that it's an overwhelming experience as she closes her ears as if someone is shouting at her. She describes it as being bombarded with images when Picard orders him to stop. I think it's a nice, creative touch that not all telepathy is the same. It's not all just talking in thoughts. Maques asks if she understands now, but she's not sure. In sickbay, she tries to tell Picard and Crusher what Maques was conveying to her both telepathically and verbally from the day before when he first asked about the dark place in her mind. She tells them that she assumed that Maques had just stumbled across some thoughts that her mother just wanted to keep private, but now she thinks that he may have been talking about the part of the Betazoid psyche that blocks out traumatic experiences - their metaconscious. The Cairn's deep, probing telepathy would've broken through this barrier. However, she doesn't know of any trauma in her past that could cause her to react like this. She decides to try to reach her mother by telepathy herself. All she can hear are cries for help. Later, she's sleeping in sick bay to be close to her when Maques comes in and approaches Lwaxana. Naturally Deanna is frightened at this and stops him. But the next day he explains to them that he was trying to help her. Again, he can't find the words to describe what he was doing, so this time Deanna asks for him to talk to her telepathically this time. He thinks that her breakdown has caused her to retreat into her metaconscious mind so he was trying to access that part but he didn't understand the images he was seeing. He can also be a telepathic bridge between Deanna and Lwaxana so that she can see the images in her mother's mind and perhaps find out what happened to her. Deanna is willing to try, so they set it up in sickbay with Crusher to monitor and break it all up if it becomes dangerous.
When Deanna enters her mother's mind, the setting is the Enterprise and she hears her mother calling for help and she sets out to find her. She first runs into Picard who claims to be talking to her from sickbay and ordering her to sever her connection to Lwaxana. This doesn't make sense to her and she asks why he won't make Maques do it. Then she understands the Picard is a distraction from Lwaxana'a subconscious to keep her from finding her mother. Picard, with Lwaxana's voice, tells her to leave her alone. But she continues. She's then faced with other distractions. First, a distraction of fear - a vicious wolf that chases her down a corridor. Then a distraction of love - she escapes from the wolf into a room to find her father, Ian Troi, standing in their home on Betazed. He wants to talk to her and tell her all of things he never got to say to her. She's sorely tempted, but she knows that this too is just her mother trying to hide from her, so she leaves. She then sees Hedril in the corridor, but she's not a Cairn anymore with the smooth skin over her ears. She's a Betazoid child now with dark eyes. Deanna is puzzled but before she has time to react, an image of her mother storms up to her telling her to leave Hedril alone. She's aggressive like a protective mother and looks as though she'll become violent. The image scares Deanna awake.
They bring Hedril into the observation lounge to find out if she knows why Lwaxana has been sad. Of course, she has no idea and after they assure her that she's not to blame and send her away, Picard reckons that they're taking her presence in her mother's mind too literally and asks if Lwaxana keeps a journal. She does and Deanna says that she's send a message to Mr. Homn to transmit it. Later, Picard goes to Deanna to update her on her mother's condition which is getting worse and asks if she's found anything. She's found nothing in the last five years worth of entries as well as inquiries into her medical records and the Betazed government. Picard suggests they go back further than five years, so Deanna goes back to when she was first married to her father since that's when her journal started. After scrolling through some entries they find a seven year gap where Lwaxana didn't write anything. This interests Deanna greatly since her mother was devoted to writing in her journal and never missed a day. But she didn't miss these years - the files were deleted. Deanna knows she has to go back into her mother's mind to find out what it all means. When she's back in the trance induced by Maques, she sees the Betazoid Hedril again in the corridor petting the wolf. She calls her "Hedril" and tells her to be careful. But the girl asks who Hedril is. She and the wolf leave and they disappear around a corner as Deanna is following them. The corridor ends in a door that appears to open into the void of space. She knows it's another distraction, but is still apprehensive as she walks over and jumps into the void. She finally finds her mother in a darkened Arboretum. Lwaxana begs her to go away, but Deanna stays and asks her about the journal and who Hedril represents. When she asks if Hedril is supposed to be her as a child, Lwaxana relents a little and promises that she'd never let anything like that happen to her. Like what? Lwaxana doesn't want to think about it, but Deanna tells her that she has to face it and that they can face it together.
After begging to not have to relive it, the memory starts playing out in Lwaxana's mind and she falls right back into her place in it. Deanna watches in wonder as she and her father are having a picnic by a lake on Betazed (represented by the Enterprise Arboretum) with two girls. She calls Hedril "Kestra" and is telling her not to let the dog run off before turning to the baby, Deanna, who was crying because she was teething. There's a pause, where Lwaxana draws back, not wanting the memory to continue, but Deanna insists. Lwaxana then continues lavishing attention on baby Deanna while Kestra allows the dog to get away and chases after him. She ends up drowning in lake. Deanna is horrified as she learns how her mother and father lost their first child, a sister she never knew she had. Naturally Lwaxana blamed herself and the guilt crushed her to the point that she repressed the memory in her metaconscious. Deanna helps her to face Kestra again and to embrace her memory by talking to her. Hedril-Kestra walks up to the two of them to say goodbye one last time. Lwaxana refers to her as her "precious one" like she refers to Deanna as "little one" and apologizes. Kestra is not angry with her.
They are holding hands as they both wake up. Lwaxana will now have to heal naturally, as she did from her husband's death. In Lwaxana's quarters, Deanna shows her a picture of both her and Kestra with their father before the accident. Mr. Homn had saved it in case she ever wanted to remember her again one day. As you can see, Kestra was a dark-haired girl like Deanna and Hedril's presence with the Cairn telepathy triggered Lwaxana's traumatic memory. She remembers when the picture was taken and they begin the grieving process together.
This was a wonderful episode. I suppose I do have a couple of complaints. First is one of perspective. The setting of the Arboretum wasn't very good for the flashback. One would have to assume that Kestra had gotten so far away from her parents that they were unable to reach her in time to save her, but in the scene it seems like she's close enough that the accident was easily preventable (and neither of them tried to swim out to her?) so it ends up making Lwaxana and Ian look very incompetent and irresponsible. But, I suspect that in addition to not wanting to use a different set they probably also didn't have the time to shoot a more detailed version of the memory than this. Second, I think the Kestra that says goodbye to Lwaxana at the end should've been a different, dark-haired girl - the real Kestra - to give the closure of the memory a more realistic feel. But the episode is solid otherwise and I've always loved it. I guess it's more of a story for the women of the audience, but the concept of the unique telepathy of the Cairn and the mystery of Lwaxana's illness appeals to all. Four and a half stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment