5-10. New Ground

Worf must deal with his troubled son.

THE PLOT

Worf's human mother (Georgia Brown) visits the Enterprise, bringing Worf's son Alexander (Brian Bonsall) with her. Worf believes this is just a short visit, but his mother has other news for him: She has brought Alexander to stay. "Alexander has been having difficulties," she explains to Worf. She and Worf's father are too old to keep up with the boy and his needs. "He needs his father," she adds - and with that, she is gone, leaving Worf with the son he barely knows.

It's a major adjustment for Worf, made more difficult by Alexander's issues. As his mother warned, the boy lies frequently. He takes things that belong to others and behaves like a bully in class, starting fights and then blaming others for his misbehavior. Worf reacts badly to this rebellious behavior, insisting that he will enroll the boy in a Klingon school - but his feelings for his son come to the fore when the boy wanders into the wrong part of the ship during a dangerous mission, putting his own life in danger!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Recognizes Worf's difficulty in balancing his duties with being a new parent and gives Worf leeway to take care of his son. When Alexander is in jeopardy at the end, the one and only good part of the ensuing scene is this: While Picard will give Worf and Riker as much time as possible to rescue the boy, he will ultimately fire the ship's photon torpedoes and condemn Alexander (and possibly his two officers) to death if necessary.

Worf: In his own way, he is as bad at dealing with emotions as Data is. He has a strict code of honor, and believes that it should provide the answer to every problem. He tries applying this to his own son's petty thievery and lying. Honestly, his initial speech about the importance of honor isn't bad, and would have a reasonable chance of working with a young adult. But children don't respond to reason the same way adults do, and Alexander's acting on emotion frustrates Worf even as his pride stops him from seeking help. In an episode that is, at best, flawed, Michael Dorn's performance anchors the character material for Worf, giving these predictable proceedings more value than they actually deserve.


THOUGHTS

"Alexander has been having difficulties."

As soon as I heard that one sentence, I cringed. I remember finding the Alexander episodes interminable when watching the show with my father back in the 1990's, and I find that I'm rarely enthralled by the purely "interpersonal" episodes of TNG even now.

That said, the first 30 minutes or so of New Ground isn't that bad. It's trite, to be sure, particularly when Counsellor Troi starts babbling cliches about Worf and his son exploring their feelings... together (I actually started laughing a bit at that point). But Michael Dorn does a reasonably good job at showing Worf out of his depth in a situation in which simple physical courage isn't necessarily enough. At the 30-minute mark, the episode was at least on track to receive a "4" - not exactly good, but far from horrible.

Then the ending happened.

You can see from a mile away that, when things go wrong with Dr. Latex-Mask's science project, Alexander will end up being in danger and Worf will have to save him. That's not a surprise, and it's not necessarily even a problem. But the way in which it plays out is so hackneyed and downright silly, it just becomes impossible to keep a straight face.

Alexander is pinned beneath some cheap-looking "wreckage" props that are too heavy for Worf to move. Then the boy pipes up something about how his leg hurts, and Worf suddenly eats his spinach, develops Popeye muscles, and moves the wreckage prop with ease... and, apparently, no harm to himself afterward. Just when things can't get any sillier, Alexander (despite an injured leg and smoke inhalation) makes Riker rescue a cage with some bad finger puppets inside because "They'll die!" The final shot has Riker clutching the two finger puppets while Worf holds Alexander and dramatic music swells.

A tag scene, in which Worf rescinds his prior edict to send Alexander to a Klingon school and instead allows the boy to stay with him, just adds one more eyeroll to the mix. The good news is that Alexander can now disappear into the "irritating characters" drawer again, with no need to even mention him until the next time Worf needs to deal with his annoying son's issues.


Overall Rating: 3/10.

Previous Episode: A Matter of Time

Next Episode: Hero Worship

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