246. AquielFORMULA: The Man Trap + Booby Trap + Identity Crisis
WHY WE LIKE IT: TNG does CSI.
WHY WE DON'T: Stop jerking us around!
REVIEW: Here's another episode that is directly related to my dislike of Geordi. Dude just isn't professional. And like Troi, he's a character that hasn't been given enough interests (and I don't just mean love interests). So the same way Troi is always eating chocolate as if it were "character development", Geordi is falling in love with a recording. Again. Didn't learn his lesson with Leah Brahms, I guess. But for this creepy stalker romance to work, we need to fall for Aquiel ourselves. I'm afraid we can't. She's just not that interesting or endearing.
Once she shows up, the show becomes all about red herrings and jerking the audience around. They make her look like she's guilty (impeding an investigation should have scored her a court-martial, in my opinion), and then make it seem like she's the coalescent organism, but once we know the truth (if we didn't guess it for ourselves), it seems like obvious manipulation. I know Geordi is lonely and pathetic, but when the evidence against her stacks up, he should have put some distance, NOT done the telepathic dirty with her and told Riker off. One interesting thing about the relationship is that, well, is it still going on? She "bonds" with Geordi (because she really likes him, or because she needs to influence an officer to stay in Starfleet?) and then, they're separated by their jobs. But is Geordi in a long distance relationship since then?
Despite the unbelievable instant love affair, the episode started out well enough, with an intriguing mystery and Klingon involvement. Plus: Beverly's creepy disembodied hand! Oh, and Troi really is back in uniform for good. Seems like everyone gets a nice moment except Mr. Nepotism, Geordi La Forge, and the episode focuses on him.
LESSON: Picard is a shameless name-dropper.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-Low: Picard intimidating a Klingon governor, Riker being a buttinsky but so right, Crusher and Worf as Grissom and Willows... There are some ok moments here, but the A-plot is a manipulative romance between unlikable characters. It will NOT make you respect Geordi.
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