Saturday, June 08, 2013

TNG Flashback: The Price

Poor Counselor Troi. The third season writers at Star Trek: The Next Generation were really figuring out a lot about the show, but never quite seemed to know what to do with her character. After the early third season misfire "The Survivors," they tried again to build a story around her -- with roughly the same results.

A technologically limited race has discovered a stable wormhole in their space. Lacking the means to exploit the resource, they open negotiations for control of it, hosted aboard the Enterprise. One of the alien delegations is represented by "gun-for-hire" negotiator Devinoni Ral, a morally flexible human who hides his one-quarter Betazoid lineage and his empathic abilities to gain an upper hand at the bargaining table. Troi is swept up in a whirlwind love affair with him. As negotiations grow tense with the arrival of the Ferengi, Data and Geordi are sent to explore the far side of the wormhole, where they learn it may not be exactly what it seems to be.

There are some good things going on in this episode, but first let's start with the bad: basically everything about the Counselor Troi storyline. Showrunner Michael Piller acknowledged in interviews that this wasn't a strong episode, but he maintained that they had a strong script that serviced Troi's character well. I strongly disagree; I think it does great disservice to both the character and the actress.

It starts with Troi falling so instantly in love, abandoning any professionalism or good judgment, that she puts out on the first date with a total stranger. And not at the end of the date, either. Ral shows up at her quarters, they decide to skip dinner, he literally sweeps her off her feet, and they're off to bed. Troi comments that her "human physical response" must be interfering with her Betazoid senses, but it's a lame excuse for her to neither realize that her new man has empathic powers, nor sense that he's a rather morally bankrupt individual.

Each act brings an indignanty on Troi worse that the act before. Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden are forced to suit up in leotards and thongs to gossip about boys during a pre-workout stretch. Troi then gets walloped thoroughly in a moral argument against Devinoni Ral; her character is given absolutely no compelling points to argue against anything he says to her. And to cap off the show, Troi "outs" him in front of everyone. Ral has decided to hide the fact that he's an empath from people, and Troi blurts it out to everyone even though it will probably damage his career. The negotiations have already closed at this point too; it's not like they can say "oh, we didn't know you were an empath, so these negotiations are null and void." Nope, she just drags him out of the "empathic closet" apparently just because she's mad she lost an argument to him.

Even setting aside all that, it's simply not a steamy romance. Between some unpolished writing and a terrible performance from guest actor Matt McCoy, Devinoni Ral doesn't at all come off as the suave and seductive character he's meant to be. He comes off creepy, off-putting, and smarmy. Whenever Troi asks for a moment to slow things down, he chastises her for it with a kind of a date rape vibe. And he seems way too transparent in the moments where he's supposed to be a persuasive negotiator. basically, he's really a huge jerk.

And hard though it is to believe now, this relationship actually got a lot of press leading up to the original premiere of the episode in 1989. This episode actually contained the first "bed scene" shown in any incarnation of Star Trek. (Hard to believe, given Kirk's reputation, but remember he was hooking up with every woman in the cosmos during the 1960s.) The advance word that these scenes were coming -- and that they were super steamy -- had some people in a tizzy. I have a hard time believing this was steamy even by 1980s television standards; even at the time, it must have completely fallen flat.

Fortunately, while the Troi storyline may be just short of a disaster, there are good elements working in the rest of the episode. The Ferengi are back in the mix, and this is the first time they're being used deliberately for comedic effect. It really works, and it feeds an atmosphere where the main cast gets to cut loose just a bit too. Patrick Stewart does some great "takes" as Picard. Riker delivers the wonderfully deadpan line: "Poker. Is that a game of some sort?" Data gets a great comedic line too, "comforting" Geordi about the possibility of being stranded together in a shuttle 80 years from home.

And actually, you could say that this episode inspired two entire Star Trek series that followed. Deep Space Nine would revolve around a stable wormhole, while Voyager would deal with a ship that got trapped across the galaxy (as happens to a Ferengi shuttle in this episode; Voyager even did a sequel to this episode by following up on what happened to them).

Other observations:
  • This is the first episode establishing Troi's love of chocolate.
  • In a totally "ahead of its time" moment for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Troi essentially Googles Devinoni Ral after meeting him, when she wants to know more about him.
  • There's a goofy line where Riker says Geordi has been in "continuous visual contact" with the wormhole since the Enterprise arrived. So, what, he's just been staring out a window somewhere for 12 hours?
  • Troi gets quite defensive when it's suggested that she and Riker are a couple. It's an interesting bit of psychology, when you consider that the two do end up getting married in the movies. She seems right now to think they can't be together while they work together, so her mind isn't even letting her entertain the possibility.
  • The actor who plays Arridor seemingly couldn't talk around his false Ferengi teeth very well. All his dialogue appears to have been re-recorded after the original performance.
  • Troi claims that she can sense DaiMon Goss is lying in this episode; this is before it was established in a later episode that Betazoids can't read the Ferengi.
  • The tall alien Leyor is played by Kevin Peter Hall, who made a career of playing tall creatures -- most notably the Predator.
Despite the terrible romance storyline, there's enough worthwhile material in this episode to keep it from falling into the cellar. I give "The Price" a C-.

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