I don’t know what this episode’s about! But! We’re watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on the 31st anniversary of it premiering on network TV! Whee!
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Bitchy Picard (which is wholly distinct from Grumpy Picard) is AWESOME!
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This was excellent! A whole planet of drug addicts (who don’t know they’re addicts and actually think the drug is a medicine for a plague they used to have), being serviced by a whole planet of drug dealers (who totally know they’re drug dealers), and the Enterprise, Picard and Crusher especially, are stuck in the middle. At first, I thought this was just gonna be a Very Special Episode, especially after the talk between Tasha Yar and The Boy about why people take drugs (holy shit am I happy she’s getting killed off in the next episode), but it turned out to be an episode about the Prime Directive and how it sometimes ties the Federation’s hands for both good and ill. I was, and am, on Team Crusher all the way, as she wanted to tell the addicts about their addiction and then use the Enterprise’s advanced medical technology to ween them off the drug, but Picard invoked the Prime Directive, and shut that down. He did eventually figure out a way to help the addicts, but in a very roundabout way that will ensure they suffer greatly before they get better.
I can understand Picard’s thinking, but man do I not agree with it. This isn’t a case of giving technology to a wholly primitive world. Like, they have space travel and transporters and such. And this also isn’t a case of imposing Federation beliefs on a society. This is a humanitarian crisis on a literal global scale, and Picard basically turned his back on that because of a “philosophy” (his word).
Still, this is what Star Trek is about, man. Big questions without easy answers, that make people think about the things going on right now. Best episode of the season so far, and with only five episodes left, it might very well stay on top.
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