3.8 — “The Price”
Plot: The discovery of a wormhole leading to the Gamma Quadrant leads the Federation into negotiations with the Caldonians, Chrysalians, and Ferengi. The Barzani hope that the discovery of a wormhole within their space will allow them to prosper. Meanwhile, the human negotiator for the Chrysalians, Devioni Ral, falls hard for Troi and they begin a passionate affair. When Troi discovers information about Ral that may affect the negotiations, she is forced to make a choice between Ral and the interests of the Federation.
Thoughts: Gender issues run thick on this episode. My feelings are complicated. I detest the character of Devioni Ral. The romance between him and Troi seems terribly contrived. The seduction scene is awful, and makes it seem like the same unenlightened misogynists are still in charge of the show. After that the epsiode gets better and even redeems itself a bit, although I would not blame someone who had already given up by that point.
In this episode we learn that Troi and Crusher’s calisthenics are very different from Riker and Worf’s. It’s a complicated moment. Is it good that the female characters are shown having a life outside their jobs and supporting each other? Or does the scene just serve to gender them by depicting them engaging in girl talk (about men, exclusively) and doing a feminine activity (aerobics instead of, say, playing handball or pumping iron). Either way, the fabrics they wear seem unlikely for workout costumes. Is that wool?
Speaking of fabrics, I would not want to sleep on Troi’s shiny pillowcases.
But the episode makes it reasonably clear that Troi accepts Ral because she wants to, despite and not because of his aggressive romancing and uninvited hair-touching. From that point on, it’s a fairly good episode for Troi. Still, the only Troi-centered episodes we ever get involve her getting involved with a man, receiving a visit from her mother, or both.
I cringed when Ral bragged to Riker that he was going to claim Troi and take her with him like a commodity. To his credit, however, Riker doesn’t play along with this Neanderthal perspective and points out that Troi can do whatever she wants. I don’t know why negotiation between these two men has to involve a pissing contest. That’s not the way I was trained to negotiate.
It would be easier to buy the argument that it’s unethical to negotiate without disclosing an empathic ability were it not for “Loud as a Whisper,” which lionized another empathic diplomat. If empathy is such an advantage, I would assume that all diplomatic positions in the future would be taken up by empaths. Then it would just be like fielding a basketball team full of players that are freakishly tall. Unfair? Maybe, but expected. Is Troi advocating that all empaths should be registered like the telepaths on Bablyon 5? I guess I can see that point, but we’ve been given to understand that empathic abilities are fairly common in the Star Trek universe, and Troi’s powers never seem to be of much use, so maybe it’s not that special.
I would think a wormhole of the sort that the Betazi believe they have found would be almost literally priceless. Too good to be true, I guess. Memory Alpha points out that the discovery of a stable wormhole becomes part of the premise of DS9.
The Ferengi are depicted as full-on comic relief at this point. I have to admit that the bit with the chair at the beginning was pretty funny.
It’s not as bad as “Angel One.” 2 of 5 bolts of shiny space fabrics.
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