6.3 — “Man of the People”

6.3 — “Man of the People”

Plot: Ambassador Ves Alkar boards the Enterprise with his elderly mother to be escorted to a diplomatic conference. After Troi trusts the ambassador enough to share a cultural ritual, she find herself having extreme histrionic mood swings and personality changes. What’s going on?

Thoughts: The usual Internet sources point out that the name of Alkar’s ship, the Dorian, is a reference to Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray which inspired the plot of this episode.

Is it good? I guess it’s okay. My first thought is, isn’t this familiar. We have already seen Troi in a romance with a shady diplomat in TNG 3.8 “The Price.” We saw her fall victim to another predator in TNG 5.12 “Violations.” The trope for Troi seems to be that she is a victim, which is sexist. See also “Ménage à Troi,” “The Child,” and “Haven.” And while television always has the tendency to exploit the sex appeal of its young stars, the wardrobe plot for this episode could be described as “make sure that Marina Sirtis never wears a bra.”

Not that I’m complaining about that evening gown. Wow.

But there is also a passable science fiction premise with literary roots and a moral dilemma as to whether the ends justify the means in the peace negotiation. It’s too bad that the antagonist is portrayed as a mustache-twirling supervillain. He doesn’t seem to make much effort to keep his secret a secret. Also, the writers just won’t cut Worf a break. Our fearsome Klingon warrior is subdued noiselessly and instantaneously by two lightly armed human security guards.

So, 3 of 5 funeral meditations. Season Six isn’t off to a very distinguished start.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Man_of_the_People