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| Troi investigates a suicide. |
Lieutenant Daniel Kwan (Tim Lounibos) jumps into a plasma stream in Engineering's Nacelle Control, not only killing but obliterating himself. The crew is stunned. There was no indication Kwan was unhappy. He seemed pleased at his posting on the Enterprise, a ship he helped to build, and was very happy in his relationship with medical technician Calloway (Johanna McCloy).
Troi and Worf are assigned to investigate the suicide. When they visit Kwan's work area, Troi is overwhelmed by a sudden empathic impression. A second visit takes the impression further, as she gets a vision of a man and a woman laughing at an unknown person who walked in on them. She recognizes one man from the vision: Lieutenant Walter Pierce (Mark Rolston).
Pierce claims to know nothing about Kwan's suicide, but Troi can sense that he is hiding something. She resolves to return to Nacelle Control one more time, this time with a psychic inhibitor that will allow her more control over the visions. But as she begins to fall into a romance with Worf, she finds herself in a pattern all too similar to the one within the vision - a pattern which may make her an active participant!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: He's sent death notices to the families of many crew members over the years, but never before in a case of suicide. He assigns Worf and Troi to investigate because he wants to be able to tell Kwan's parents something beyond just the fact that he killed himself; he wants to be able to tell them why.
Troi: Did we really need another Troi-heavy episode? At least when Picard and Data were overused, there was consolation in that they were complex characters played by excellent actors. With Troi, neither of those applies, and Season Seven has shoved her front and center far too often. In any case, the latest adventure of our intrepid new commander (promoted over the heads of far more competent officers), we learn... absolutely nothing about her, though her empathic abilities allow her to sense the bad plot waiting for her (and us) in the engine room. She apparently senses Worf's attraction to her and is eager for him to just get on with it already. That and a jealous streak that isn't even really hers are the sum total of "character material" to be found.
Worf: Gets an amusing scene in Ten Forward. He seeks Riker out and attempts to subtly determine whether it would bother his friend and commander if he started dating his former lover. Subtlety not being Worf's strong point, Riker senses the tension and weirdness immediately, and Worf finally just flees the room. Michael Dorn conveys Worf's utter discomfort with the situation perfectly, and the result is the best scene in an otherwise lackluster episode.
THOUGHTS
There have certainly been worse TNG entries than this one. It has not been long since I subjected myself to Force of Nature and Sub Rosa, both of which easily outstrip this one for sheer stupidity. But in one respect, Eye of the Beholder is worse than those were: Those episodes were so bad, they carried a sort of fascination. This one is just boring.
I suppose there may be some interest in seeing the Worf/Troi relationship glimpsed in Parallels get some followup. Unfortunately, I just don't find that the two characters and/or actors work as a couple. Both have been paired far more convincingly: Troi with Riker, Worf first with K'Ehleyr in this series and then with Dax on DS9. Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis do their best with what they're given, and Rene Echevarria's atypically tepid script is doubtless part of the problem - but they just don't "fit" on screen, and I find myself unenthusiastic about seeing this running subplot carried further.
The mystery plot is weak, too. The idea of the crew trying to grapple with an inexplicable suicide has potential... but it's too clear too early that Kwan did not simply kill himself, leaving any treatment of the subject of suicide strictly superficial. What we're left with is the fairly thin idea that both Kwan and Troi have been overwhelmed by a psychic "ghost" imprint when Troi, at least, has often seemed hard-pressed to psychically sense the blindingly obvious. It's a thin basis for an episode, one that I might forgive if what sprang from it cracked along with any tension or even particular invention - but in the absence of those qualities, I'm less inclined to overlook it.
Salvaging things somewhat is the performance of the reliably creepy Mark Rolston, who manages to make prime suspect Lt. Pierce halfway memorable through sheer force of presence. When he enters the episode in the second half, he lends some noticeably energy to his (too few) scenes. But the rest of this just limps blandly along, until it finally reaches its weak conclusion.
Overall Rating: 3/10.
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