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| Troi isn't quite herself... |
The Enterprise takes on a new passenger: Ves Alkar (Chip Lucia), ambassador for the Seronians. Alkar is on his way to mediate the long dispute between his people and the Rekags. Alkar has brought his 93-year-old mother (Susan French) along - and the old woman reacts with anger when she sees Troi, accusing her of lusting after Alkar and threatening to stop her.
Shortly after this, Alkar's mother dies. Troi agrees to assist the ambassador with a funeral rite. But after the ritual is finished, the counsellor begins behaving erratically, as all her most negative impulses begin to dominate...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: We once again see how strong a diplomat Picard is. When the Enterprise arrives at the site of the conflict, neither side is willing to agree to a meeting in the other's territory. Picard has already analyzed the situation and is able to effortlessly pinpoint a compromise site. We also see Picard as the Moral Center of the show again as he reacts to Alkar's actions toward Troi at the end.
Riker: A good friend to Troi when she reveals how disturbed she was by her encounter with Alkar's mother. He listens, provides light-hearted reassurance, and gets her focused on her work. There's also some very good nonverbal acting by Jonathan Frakes when he comes to Troi's quarters the following day. Seeing Troi dressed in a provocative outfit (well, for Star Trek, at least), he gives his familiar rogue's grin as he enters. Then he sees the young crewman she had brought back to her quarters and the grin fades. He tries to behave professionally after this, but is obviously disturbed and jealous - something not helped by Troi's nonstop needling through the rest of the scene.
Troi: As predictable as the story is, the episode still might have worked if we had a sense of Troi being confused and frightened by these new negative impulses. Even if we had the sense that this behavior rested in Troi's own hidden impulses, then it would have some interest. Instead, as Troi herself says at the end, it's "like watching a holodeck recreation. Of someone else." With no sense of this even being the same character we've been following for more than five seasons, it's impossible to become invested in what happens to her.
Dr. Crusher: Recognizes immediately that something is not right about the death of Alkar's mother. She is prevented from performing an autopsy for most of the episode, but continues to gather information in the ways that are available to her - enough information to convince Picard to allow the autopsy once Troi's condition becomes clear.
THOUGHTS
Troi has a flirtation with an ambassador on his way to mediate a long dispute. We've seen this episode before, haven't we? But no, this is different, in that this time Troi is psychically attacked by a guest on the Enterprise. She also displays erratic emotions after something strange happens to her. There's even a reference to ice cream sundaes - making this episodea grab bag of Counsellor Troi's Greatest Hits. I guessed where it was going within the first ten minutes, when Troi remarked on Alkar's incredible tranquility, and it stayed right on the course I'd predicted all the way to the end.
The predictability is already a problem. But there are plenty of predictable Trek episodes that still manage to be good entertainment. Good pacing or strong character moments can make up for a lot, after all. Man of the People just sits there, flat and dull and lifeless, for forty-five very long minutes. The ritual that connects Alkar to Troi happens at about the 15 minute mark. We then spend the next twenty minutes watching Troi behave out-of-character, kept free of any emotional investment by the lack of sense that this is Troi it's happening to. For the bulk of the episode, we're left to simply wait for the other characters to catch up with the plot and set things right again.
Which, of course, they do. Taking just long enough for Alkar to finish his negotiations, but quickly enough to prevent him from forging the same parasitic connection with someone else. In this way, the episode is able to end with no messiness and nothing sacrificed, just to make sure there is nothing interesting at all about any facet of the show.
SIDE NOTE
There is one amusing bit: One of the appointments Troi cancels at the start of Act Two is with an Ensign Janeway. So does this mean that all of Capt. Janeway's irrational behavior in Voyager was because she failed to get the help she needed back when she was just an ensign on the Enterprise? It's very sad that this bit of fannish speculation was more entertaining to me than anything in the actual story here...
Overall Rating: 2/10.
Previous Episode: Realm of Fear
Next Episode: Relics
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