First-Time Watch – Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episodes 22-24
We continue our first-time journey through Star Trek: The Next Generation with three episodes that offer very different takes on identity, culture, and control.
This week, we get:
Rituals and societal structure
A story we've seen before
Romulans
Half a Life
Lwaxana Troi returns, but this time she finds herself in the middle of a surprisingly serious story. After falling for Timicin, a scientist from Kaelon II, she discovers that his culture requires its citizens to voluntarily end their lives when they reach the age of 60.
What initially appears to present an easy moral answer becomes considerably more complicated as the episode explores cultural traditions, aging, individual autonomy, and the consequences of challenging a society’s deeply rooted beliefs.
Things we discussed:
An uncomfortable episode
Rituals and societal structure
Different cultural approaches to aging
Euthanasia
Nuance in a black and white decision
Knowing your days are numbered vs. knowing the number of your days
Life living you
A newfound appreciation for Lwaxana
Worf, not Woof!
The Host
Dr. Crusher falls in love with Federation mediator Odan, only to learn that the person she knows is actually a joined Trill — a symbiotic life-form whose identity can continue in a succession of different hosts.
There are some fascinating science-fiction questions buried in the premise, particularly about identity, attraction, and how much of a person is tied to the body we associate with them. But despite the potential, this was an episode we never felt much urgency to finish.
Things we discussed:
Men in Black
Could have been interesting
No rush to finish the episode
Amazing Race Season 7
Out of character actions and decisions
What happened to Riker's personality when he was the host?
What portion of our essence is tied to our bodies?
Bottle episodes
Missing Pulaski
The Mind’s Eye
Geordi is kidnapped by the Romulans and subjected to conditioning designed to turn him into an unwitting assassin, all while tensions are rising within the Klingon Empire.
It gives us a Geordi-focused episode, a Manchurian Candidate-style plot, and another example of why the Romulans have become one of our favorite recurring threats. Their involvement also shows how much TNG benefits from having established factions, political relationships, and continuity that can be brought back without needing to rebuild the entire premise every week.
Things we discussed:
Romulans are a great villain
A Geordi episode
What TNG does better than TOS
Episode Easter eggs
Copacetic? Or Friendly?
Who benefits from this conflict?
Good use of villains in the series
Manchurian Candidate
Final Thoughts
This is a pretty good example of the range TNG is capable of at this point in its run. “Half a Life” takes an uncomfortable cultural question and gives it more nuance than we initially expected. “The Host” has a premise full of interesting possibilities but doesn’t quite capitalize on them. And “The Mind’s Eye” benefits from the larger universe TNG has spent four seasons building, allowing the Romulans and Klingons to give a standalone story much more weight.
Where we are on our Trek:
Last week we covered:
Next week we will continue with:
If you want to see my journey from the very beginning, start here:
Also, be sure to check out Nate’s and my other podcast – The In Lap with Aaron and Nate – to listen to us discuss all things Formula 1 on race weekends, wherever you listen to your podcasts.