Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: The Loss

TNG "The Loss"

Back to TNG, and we skip ahead three seasons. The difference between where the show is in "The Loss" and where it was in the pilot is clear. The show has calmed down. The aesthetic is more locked down and frankly more beige. In a way, the tone has traded campiness for dignity. These changes are what secured the show's success, but the evidence of only "The Loss" is that of a show on autopilot. Come up with a technical threat, and tie it in with character stuff for one of the regulars (Deanna Troi in this case), and spend as little money as possible.

The technical threat is a pretty esoteric SF concept: two-dimensional sentient beings unwittingly trapping the Enterprise in their wake. And as the Enterprise reckons with an almost literal abstraction, a cosmic anomaly robs Deanna of her empathic abilities. At one point, the parallel between plots is made explicit: Deanna fears that without her powers, she feels as two-dimensional as the new life-forms.

I said earlier that the tone of TNG on display here is that of restraint. Still, Deanna is having a total emotional meltdown over losing her abilities, snapping particularly at Beverly Crusher. The drama of the episode comes from Deanna trying and very much failing to adjust to life without sensing emotions, with the teleplay making a connection between her situation and disability. (Of course, by episode's end, she gets the powers back.)

At one point Deanna resigns as Counselor. This leads to some halfway-there character material. For instance, it's sage bartender Guinan who finally gets Deanna to see that she can still read emotions in others like non-empaths do, which is exactly the logical thing to show Deanna. But the teleplay characterizes that phenomenon as a "human instinct". While there's truth to that, it seems to me that for a trained, elite psychiatrist, there's much more to it than only "instinct". What about picking up on social cues? Micro-expressions? Tone of voice? Reading between the lines of what patients say? And most of all, regular human empathy? What did Deanna learn at the Academy if she's lost without her Betazoid abilities?

The cosmic side of the episode is weighed down by technobabble, which will likely prove a common theme in a lot of TV Trek coming up on the Randomizer. "The Loss" feels like the result of a cheap "Build a TNG episode" kit, given a bottle show budget. 3/10.