PATRON TAKES - TNG S7E7

A bit of a similarity to Season 5’s Violations - telepaths who may be targeting one of the Troi’s minds. Maques even resembles the villain, Jev, from that episode, but the episode subverts this and makes Maques benevolent.

It's kinda trippy how this episode tries to borrow some of the surrealness of the preceding episode. Sad episode, but not a bad one.

I half want to poo all over this episode. But the third act is REALLY good. I can't rate this one.

The reveal of the dead child and Lwaxana's deep guilt feels real, and hurts just to watch. Unfortunately the episode before the resolution feels slow and boring.

In season one I really kind of wanted them to throw the luaxanna troi character out and airlock. Fast-forward to season seven and now she’s got one of the best stories that they’ve done in terms of personal growth and experience of tragedy

My wife is a psychiatrist and said that the "dream like" portrayal of the pain Lwaxana feels is very Jungian and spot on in its dream metaphors such as the wolf, the empty void etc

Will they see in the credits that the young alien is played by Kirsten Dunst as a child actor

It's aight.

Wow, takes are all over on this one! Lwaxana episodes are good for that. Generally, I’m a Lwaxana fan (come at me). As for this episode… I think it’s fucking beautiful. No notes.

Not Great.

One of the Season 7 episodes I was most looking forward to us getting to. Alongside The Forsaken, this is one of Lwaxana's strongest episodes and damn, we get the emotions for the whole Troi family.

Can we take a moment to acknowledge how much better Troi’s hair looks?

With this episode, it’s fair to say that the theme of season 7 is family history.

I like whenever Lwaxana gets some drama to deal with, but I can't say I enjoy the terrible tragic stuff going on here. BUT one could argue that tragedy is what made her such a "free spirit" character. Maybe to hide the pain, or simply she wants to live life to the fullest because she knows what can happen.

There seems to be a recurring storytelling device of visions, dreams and memories so far this season. The next frontier is that of the mind, it seems.

The fact that Troi had a dead relatives’ episode that had multiple scenes with more emotion and poignancy so soon after Geordi’s in Interface really speaks to how they’ve let his character down. Troi remains winning. 🥇

Ah yes. The one with Kirsten Dunst. This episode would have worked better if something had been hinted at from the beginning

Meh. Skip.

I have a guilty confession to make. I haven't watched a single one of your Reactions to Season Seven so far (no offense). In fact, I haven't watched a Season Seven episode in years. I wonder if that speaks volumes to the nature of this phase of TNG. Anyways, enjoy the "writers" squeezing more trauma out of the Troi family~

Ah yes, the one with the dead sister we just made up This is NOT my favorite Season 7 episode

While everyone might wanna talk about Kirsten Dunst or Luxuana, I want to talk about that 300 year old ensign in the scene where Will Riker gets told the truth about ruining Deana’s life! And how both her parents have an American accent ?

You like Grief!? Here's grief! Lwaxana Grief!!! Oh hey, It's Kristen Dunst!

Not a Lwaxana fan (though I think Majel Barrett is a solid actress), but this is one of her better episode, as I don't knee jerk react to her being in it.

Easily my favorite Lwaxana episode. Psychologically, it explains alot of her over the top character since she has a repressed memory that she's trying to hide with a fake smile. MY HUGE COMPLAINT... Does every character have to have a sister, or brother, or duplicate that they didn't know about?

Too bad. They should’ve given Majel Barrett better scripts from the start. She can act when the script allows her.

Sorry, I despise this episode. I hate melodrama and I rank this as worse than "Code of Honor" from season 1.

This episode has all the elements to be an S but doesn’t tie them together well enough to meet the high bar of its premise. B for me, but can understand the higher grades.

Watching this episode now as a parent, this one gets me in the feels. However, retconning a never-before-mentioned child is logically problematic. That's a challenge with creating a science fiction series. You have a continuing cast of characters that you grow to care about, so that when you present Wacky Sci-Fi Premise, the audience cares about what's happening because they care about who it is happening to. The problem is that you can be prevented from telling an effective story if it violates or contradicts "THE LORE" that you've built up over several years.

The acting is top notch in this, such a heavy story. I’m so glad they let Marina show her off her superb acting ability in the later seasons.

Another one of my favourite episodes, it makes me cry every single time. Majel Barrett and Marina Sirtis have great performances here that really sell the emotional beats for me, and the score is also excellent. And best of all there is no technology or outside influence to get in the way. In the end, it just comes down to family loving and supporting each other and I find that quite heartwarming. S.

Hated this episode as a kid, instant skip for it and The Wounded. Similar to that ep I have come around it more with each watch. Barrett just breaks me here

They seemed to go down a dark road with Lwaxana after Gene died, which is fine. But, after a while, you start to miss crazy Lwaxana.

Definitely an episode a apprentice more as an adult than I did as a child. I still don't "love it" but episodes that make you sad aren't meant to loved

Second episode in a row featuring a dream sequence with distorted-vision Enterprise corridors! Somebody went completely nuts! (with that lens)

Question: Does trauma equal good character development?

This episode never fails to make me cry. I love it. Is it perfect? No. I don't care. S.

This is very likely the worst Lwaxana episode, and that's too bad because it's also one of the more serious ones. It tries to address a real world issue like Half a Life, but Half a Life just does it in a way that is engaging, thought provoking, and powerful while this one just sort of makes me go back and forth between yawning and groaning.

11 year old Kirsten Dunst makes a guest appearance here just over a year before her breakthrough role in Interview With The Vampire.

I have no memory of this episode. Looking forward to watching it with the boys.

This is one where I find Lwaxana tolerable, and it's decent enough. What takes me out of the episode is that someone could have a child for seven years and have her identity completely scrubbed. Did not one person mention Kerstra by accident over the course of 40 years? Does the daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed not have her own wikipedia page? Are there no public records to google? Was there not a birth announcement in the newspaper? (I know, public records were much more difficult to access in 1994 and today's internet was hard to foresee)

I love this episode. I had an older sibling who died before I was born so I've always really related to Deanna here. I was always really curious about him but didn't want to risk upsetting my parents by asking questions, and also felt a strange sort of guilt for not feeling as sad as they did. There's a lot in this episode that I relate to, and Majel Barrett's performance is excellent.

With "Dark Page" it feels like someone said, "Let's make Lwaxana deep". But she already was deep. She already was the kind of woman who would stand with a man as he accepts death. And her frivolity isn't somehow enhanced because she was hiding a secret pain behind it. It's a great performance from Majel, no doubt. But give me the slutty Lwaxana. Give me the Lwaxana who gets everyone in a mud bath. Give me the daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed, who is, now and forever, 100% that bitch.

My mind was blown as much as Deanna's when it was revealed she had an older sister that she never new existed. Losing a child like that has got to be rough. I don't know how Luxana kept that buried in her mind for so long before cracking. It lesvs one to wonder how did Deanna get her accent from her father. Said accent slowly disappeared as time went by. It was a sore spot for Marena.

Such a bummer of a backstory reveal here for Lwaxana Troi. I just felt terrible for her. Majel Barrett was great as usual.

Many moons ago I was having a drink in a bar with Majel Barrett and a couple other folks. I made a point of complimenting her on her performance in this episode. She was flattered and thanked me but then said, “It was a good episode but it wasn’t Star Trek. Gene wouldn’t have approved it.” I found that very interesting.

This is my favorite Lwaxana episode, love the vibes of the episode.

MARYYYY JAAAANE!!! Man, when they roll out the trauma for Lwaxana, they don't fool around. This is a very good episode. Great stuff for the Trois. Is it better than "Half a Life?" Hard to tell.

I found it always interesting that Lwaxana episodes are either goofy, silly fun or they tackle some really deep and depressing subject matters. This one is definetly the latter and it’s great.

This is an episode I respect more than I like. I like a downer ending as much as anybody, but this is just too sad for me to really enjoy.

I preferred Kirsten Dunst in Spider Man! But as kids go she was pretty good. It’s a nice episode, Majel Barrett was awesome, but again not one that blows my socks off.

Kinda following on from The Foresaken in being a good sympathetic portrait for Lwxanna. This is a genuinely good one but maybe should have aired later and not so soon after Phantasms.

My favorite Lwaxana performance in TNG

There’s only so many tng episodes left for lwaxanna to appear in, so if this is the last time what a performance for a send off 🫡

This is the one Lwaxana episode I can stand. I think Majel Barrett does a great performance here. I can only imagine what it would feel like to lose a child in such a way, both grief and guilt, and she portrays it well, nicely complemented with the scifi telepathy element.

I know Majel performed amazingly in The Forsaken, but do you think this is an even greater performance of depth? Did this story add a reason why Deanna may have unconsciously chose a profession of comforting people and helping them through trauma?