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| Young Timothy (Joshua Harris) mimics Data. |
THE PLOT
The Enterprise is sent to find the Vico, a research ship that disappeared inside a black cluster. They find the ship quite quickly - wrecked, with no apparent life signs aboard. Picard sends an Away Team to investigate. To their surprise, the officers discover there is a survivor: Timothy (Joshua Harris), whose life sign readings were masked by the debris he was trapped beneath. He is rescued by Data, whose physical strength allows him to lift the debris so that the boy can be transported to safety.
Timothy tells the crew that their ship was attacked. He also tells of a landing party wearing purple helmets - something Geordi finds unlikely, given the lack of traces that would be left by either a transporter or a physical breach. When it becomes apparent that Timothy has formed an attachment to Data, Picard grants Troi's request that the android spend time with the boy, in hopes that Timothy may tell Data the truth. What no one expects is that Timothy will decide to be Data, proclaiming himself an emotionless android in an attempt to hide from his own trauma!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: In Season One, it would have been difficult to imagine "Grumpy Picard, the Child Hater" responding to a child who is clearly lying about something with this much patience. Picard gives Troi leeway to use Data to help the boy, and is steady and non-judgmental in his few direct dealings with Timothy. The ending also shows how much trust he places in Data's judgment, as he confirms a seemingly bizarre order by Data with only a moment's hesitation. By this time, he knows that he can trust Data (at least, when the android isn't being controlled by an outside influence).
Data: The first time Data approaches Timothy, the scene is centered around a model of a mythological temple the boy is attempting to assemble. The boy's attempt is chaotic, much like his own mental state. He fails to secure one level before putting a piece on the one above, causing it to collapse. Data effortlessly assembles a perfect model in seconds. While this has little to do with Data's lack of emotions, it combines with Data's inability to feel sadness to make "android" seem attractive to Timothy. At Troi's urging, Data indulges the boy's fantasy. But when the time comes, he picks a perfect illustration of some of the negatives. While sharing a dessert, he explains to Timothy his inability to appreciate flavor. He can analyze a dessert, but he can't truly taste it, he can't like or dislike it. "I would gladly risk feeling bad at times," Data explains, "if it also meant that I could taste my dessert."
Troi: An episode involving a victim of emotional trauma, in which part of that victim's healing comes through a shared dessert... and Troi is on the sidelines? Much as I prefer Data-centric episodes to Troi-centric ones, she surely should be more involved in Timothy's healing than simply giving Data advice about how to deal with the boy. Still, Troi is reasonably well-used here. Her observations about Timothy's emotional state are apt, and her guidance to Data is steady without being controlling. Marina Sirtis' acting has also come a long way by this point, and she gives a confident and likable performance.
THOUGHTS
I'm mystified. By this point, the writing staff on the show has long since proved itself to be capable of structuring a season. So whether you love or loathe this episode and New Ground, it still begs the question: How did they not notice that they had two extremely similar episodes airing one right after the other? Wouldn't simple common sense dictate that if a season has two "troubled child" episodes (which is at least one too many to start with), then those two episodes should at least occur at different points in the season?
The issue of season placement aside, Hero Worship is a substantially better episode than New Ground. Joe Menosky's script paints Timothy's issues in a way that feels both layered and convincing, while Patrick Stewart's directing manages to be highly visual in a way that doesn't distract from what is, at heart, a character drama. It also helps that Joshua Harris is a much better child actor than Brian Bonsall. Harris gives an above-average performance for a television child actor. The scenes between Data and Timothy are both written and performed with sensitivity and intelligence, which goes a long way toward making what could have been a dreadful episode into a surprisingly good one.
Joe Menosky's script deserves a lot of credit. What is essentially a piece about survivor's guilt is turned into an effective mystery. For most of the episode's running time, we are led to believe one thing about what happened to the Vico. This generates a fair amount of tension as the Enterprise explores the black cluster, particularly when the ship's sensors start going crazy, insisting another ship is there to port - no, starboard - no, port. The transition between the Timothy scenes and the bridge scenes are well-handled, while the final third does an effective job in bringing all of the plot threads together.
Less good is the tag scene, which is meant to reassure us that Timothy is "fine" now. A couple conversations with Troi and his interactions with Data may have helped him, certainly. But what happened to him is more complex than that. The tag could just as easily have been written to show that Timothy, while progressing, is going to have some difficult times ahead - hopeful, without trying to put a shiny ribbon on top of his newfound orphan status. As it stands, the simplistic "Everything's going to be OK, mmm'kay" ending is an unwelcome reminder of Trek's usual desire to sweep complexities under the carpet.
Still a surprisingly good episode, much better than Star Trek "child episodes" usually turn out.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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