5.20 — “Cost of Living”
Plot: Lwaxana Troi returns to the Enterprise to prepare for an arranged marriage to a man she’s only met online. She meets and befriends Worf’s son Alexander, in a way that manages to undermine her daughter’s authority as his counselor. Meanwhile, sparkles and goo threaten to eat the ship.
Thoughts: This episode was filmed in early 1992, not long after Gene Roddenberry’s death. This explains the overwrought close up and maudlin delivery of Lwaxana (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry)’s speech about how hard it is to be alone. She still manages to be charming in an episode that is not about very much expect passing some time with the characters and setting up Michael Dorn for moments of brilliant sly comedy.
I’m glad I don’t live on the planet with the dangly earlobes. It looks like they could get caught in stuff, or develop lobe cancer.
One recurring use of the Lwaxana is the trope of “funny nudity”–a cheap special effect to titilate audiences in an era before softcore cable dramas. Is it funny? Seems a little juvenile.
The story between Lwaxana and Alexander is sweet. While the writers still use Lwaxana as a set up for sex jokes, at least she is now established as a wise person, and not the trivial figure from the earliest seasons. So, while this episode is no “Half a Life,” at least it’s not “Ménage à Troi” (no one sexually assaults her for comedic yuks).
2.5 of 5 earlobes you might need to tie back before eating soup.
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