TNG Flashback: Sarek

Although there were many worse episodes during the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Naked Now" was generally perceived by the producers to have been a failure. It seemed to frighten them away from making any references to the original Star Trek series... until late in the third season, when they finally decided to bring us "Sarek."

Famed Vulcan ambassador Sarek comes aboard the Enterprise, to be transported to one last important diplomatic negotiation before retirement. But at more than 200 years of age, he is slipping into a cruel senility called Bendii Syndrome, an incurable condition which breaks down the emotional barriers Vulcans traditionally keep in place. Sarek's lack of control is causing him to telepathically project intense negative emotions onto others around him, and the chaos that ensues is threatening the negotiations that will crown his esteemed career.

The original germ of this story came from an outside writer's pitch about an alien diplomat who succumbed to mental problems during a negotiation. The writing staff developed this concept themselves, hitting on the idea to focus on old age and senility. Lacking the sci-fi element they felt was necessary to fit the story to the Star Trek universe, the idea then came to make the diplomat a Vulcan -- a character with telepathy whose condition could inflict consequences on the Enterprise crew. From there, the final piece fell into place: make it Sarek, an honored Vulcan that some of the audience would already know.

Head writer Michael Piller would note in a later interview that this plot came out very much like a metaphor for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Though Roddenberry would live another year-and-a-half beyond this, he'd already stepped away from day-to-day involvement with the series. His health was already deteriorating, to such a degree that even though Piller had only met him less than a year earlier, even he could see the difference. This episode was thus a very emotional one for the writers, because the fiction they were depicting so closely matched the reality they were seeing.

Although the episode is heavily focused on the guest star, most of the main cast is given at least one good scene to play. In most cases, its an emotional outburst inflicted by Sarek's condition, affording the actors a rare occasion to yell at each other in anger. They seem to rip into this rare morsel with relish. From Wesley's scathing insults to Geordi (which shrewdly mock his holodeck dating history) to Beverly slapping her own son (followed by a bewildered counseling session with Troi) to a shouting match between Riker and Picard, everyone cuts loose in a fun way. Even emotionless Data gets good scenes to play, from his imitative violin concert performance to his very astute and logical appeal to Sarek's Vulcan assistant Sakkath.

But of course the real showcase here is for Patrick Stewart. The scene in which Picard confronts Sarek about his condition is outstanding. Picard has to walk on eggshells to protect a great man's reputation, and yet must make his point. The writing is perfect, as Picard susses out the right moments to push with either logic or emotion to persuade Sarek of the truth.

And yet an even greater scene follows. Logically speaking, it's an odd conceit that Sarek would choose to mindmeld with Picard and not his own wife or a member of his staff. But it's a necessary conceit to put one of the main characters front and center, and an utterly forgivable conceit when you see the amazing performance Patrick Stewart gives as Picard suffers the avalanche of Sarek's emotions. With apologies to Marina Sirtis, this is the type of scene Troi is often forced into, expressing a litany of emotions while attempting to convincingly experience them. But this is what you get when an actor as skilled as Patrick Stewart does it. It's an unusually long scene, yet contains only two camera cuts; Stewart plays long passages in a single take, and is stunning. And though this is the scene that brings Picard to tears, it's actually a later scene that is arguably even more moving for the audience; Picard expresses the love to Sarek's human wife Perrin that the Vulcan himself would never voice, and pays Sarek a profound compliment before bidding him farewell.

Guest star Mark Lenard is quite strong in this episode as well. He perfectly modulates Sarek's angry outbursts, letting us know early on that something is out of the ordinary without quite giving the game away. His complete crumbling under Picard's interrogation is excellent. The only weak moment for him in the episode is the tear Sarek sheds at the Mozart concert. Either Lenard was unable to produce an actual tear on camera for the scene, or the producers foolishly decided in advance to use a visual effect for the scene; in any case, the obviously animated tear that rolls from Sarek's eye is shocking in its false appearance, but unfortunately not as much in the emotional context of the scene itself.

Other observations:

• There's strong foreshadowing in this episode. There's a moment in the first act where Picard is wistful about not having had the opportunity to speak with Sarek and share his thoughts and memories. By the end of the episode, he will have had that opportunity in a far more literal and intimate way than he ever imagined.

• Writer Ira Steven Behr (who did an uncredited rewrite of this script with Ronald Moore) has said that it was a real fight to get as many original series references into the episode as there are. Riker mentions the events of the classic episode "Journey to Babel." Sarek's first human wife is mentioned. And in the mindmeld monologue, Picard calls Spock and Amanda both by name. According to Behr, the mention of Spock was a battle against the producers over several days.

• Speaking of the Spock reference, it's interesting that both he and Amanda are mentioned in the past tense, unlike Sarek's current wife Perrin. This could be interpreted as establishing that Spock is dead in the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, though this would be dramatically contradicted in the fifth season. (But since Sarek and Spock have had periods of estrangement in their lives, one could also assume that another one has occurred. This is indeed what is depicted in Spock's later appearance on the show.)

• The piece at the Mozart concert that moves Sarek to tears is actually by Brahms. It also is a composition for a sextet, though we see only four musicians performing.

• In the mindmeld sequence in Picard's quarters, the tapestry he received from the Mintakans is draped over the back of his chair.

• Though Patrick Stewart is amazing in the mindmeld sequence, it's worth noting that Gates McFadden also does well. She has to be supportive, sympathetic but strong, with very few words -- and she has to follow the sweeping, emotional monologue. It's an unenviable task.

My one minor complaint about the episode would be that the ways in which the main characters are incorporated into what is really the guest star's story don't always make perfect sense. The end results are great, but the basic "A to B" logic of it is just a touch strained. Still, this is a powerful episode that I give an A-.