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| Q and his new, would-be protege (Olivia d'Abo) |
The Enterprise takes on a new intern: Amanda Rogers (Olivia d'Abo), a young orphan who has studied several medical fields and who has been accepted into Starfleet Academy. Amanda seems smart, sincere, and fundamentally ordinary... That is, until she is able to stop a warp core breach with the power of her mind.
That's when Q (John de Lancie) appears, to inform the command staff that Amanda is actually the daughter of two Q who died while visiting Earth in human form. The Q have been keeping an eye on her, to see if she will manifest powers. Now that she has, Q tells the crew that his mission is to train her and bring her back to the Continuum.
But as ever, he isn't telling the full truth. When the Continuum contacts Q for a status update, he stalls for more time, ominously adding: "It may not be necessary to terminate the girl."
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Knows Q is withholding information, and presses Data to investigate Amanda's background to fill in the gaps. He also knows that he cannot stop Q from contacting Amanda, so he instead creates ground rules. He and Q will not argue in front of her, he insists, adding that they must appear civil. Patrick Stewart gets in a hilarious bit of physical comedy, grimacing with equal parts discomfort and distaste when Q grabs him tightly around the shoulders to announce them as "pals."
Riker: The subject of a crush by Amanda. He deals well with this, particularly when she uses her Q powers to whisk him away for a romantic encounter. He doesn't get angry with her. Instead, while deflecting her advances, he patiently tells her that she can't treat people like toys, snatching them into her fantasies, and expect them to respond.
Dr. Crusher: "Dr. Crusher gets more shrill with each passing year." Q's assessment is dead-on. As was the case in Ethics, the script wants to emphasize her strong moral center - but instead ends up highlighting her aggressive self-righteousness. The best moment of the episode is when Crusher, in the midst of chewing Q out, is momentarily (hilariously) transformed into a yapping dog and back again, entirely oblivious to what has occurred during her rant.
Hot Space Babe of the Week: Amanda Rogers (Olivia d'Abo) is the real focus of the episode. All other elements of the show exist to fuel her decision about where she belongs. Though d'Abo really isn't the most expressive of actresses, she is both appealing and sympathetic, enough so to keep us on her side as Amanda wrestles with her plight.
Q: "With unlimited power comes responsibility." When we last saw Q, it was at his most frivolous. Here, we see him at the opposite extreme, weighed down with a grave decision. He still plays at being carefree and flippant, but it's an act. His every word and action is focused on one goal: Get Amanda to the Q Continuum. This explains his first interaction with Amanda, in which he attempts to abduct her, and all his attempts to get her to take "a quick trip" to see the Q. As we learn more of his full mission late in the episode, his near-desperation to make Amanda strive to be fully Q make more sense - and actually makes for one of the most positive characterizations of him to date.
THOUGHTS
Season Five was the only season of TNG that did not feature a Q episode. It could be argued this was a mixed blessing, given that Season Four's Qpid was a mildly amusing yet empty romp. Still, even weak Q episodes benefit from John de Lancie's deft comic timing, and I had to aknowledge in my Season Five overview that he had been missed.
True Q sees his welcome return. It's an episode that at first looks like filler. The guest star of the week has powers and a crush on Riker - elements for an exercise in dreariness. But the crush on Riker is a subsidiary plot element, not a driving force. The episode's focus, on Amanda's quest for identity, is strong, with some very good character scenes for Q and for the regulars.
We've seen this basic story before, in Season One's Hide and Q. But it's done much better here. Q and Picard have both developed substantially as characters, and the actors have reached the point of truly inhabiting them, making them more convincingly able to stand for the best of their respective species. Amanda is sympathetic enough for us to care about her plight, and the focus on her identity issues (effectively a "nature vs. nurture" conundrum) provides a foundation for the story.
Enjoyable, well-acted, and with a handful of thoughtful moments. By no means spectacular, True Q is nevertheless a solid episode - and a big improvement over Q's previous appearance.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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