"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Lessons (1993)

Director:

Robert Wiemer

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator)
Ronald Wilkerson (writer) ...

TV Series:

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)

Original Air Date:

3 April 1993 (Season 6, Episode 19)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Picard falls for the new head of the stellar science services department, but has feelings of misgivings when he's forced to assign her to a dangerous mission.

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Security | Mother Son Relationship | Space Shuttle | Outer Space

Cast

Patrick Stewart	...	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Commander William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lieutenant Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Commander Data
Wendy Hughes	...	Lt. Cmdr. Nella Daren
Majel Barrett	...	Enterprise Computer (voice)

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

Picard's flute is a non-playable prop.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The second time Picard visits Nella Daren in her lab, a crewman enters through the doors behind them. Watch the doors carefully and you'll see that they don't close all the way; they jam and leave about a 6' gap between them.

Quotes:

[Picard tells Lt. Cmdr. Daren of his life on Kataan from "The Inner Light"]
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: ...And when I woke, all that I had left of that life... was the flute that I'd taught myself to play.
Lt. Cmdr. Nella Daren: Why are you telling me this?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Because I want you to understand what my music means to me... and what it means for me to be able to share it with someone.

Gah...the plot oversight is almost utter death

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Let me state this upfront. I despise "relationship" episodes in Trek. They tend to be so banal, so uninspired, so pandering. If I wanted to watch actors get paid to make googly eyes at each other, I'd watch whatever cr*p was playing on the CW or whatever. This is especially true for long-term continuing ones, like the Dax/Worf pairing on DS9 and Paris/Torres on VOY. At least the one-shot deals, like the one shown here in "Lessons," are condensed into 45 minutes. If you're not in the mood for this sort of affair, you can just hit skip on your DVD remote. But I digress.

Ever since my time in the military, I can't watch this episode with a straight face. A CO getting involved with one of his subordinates is a direct violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (think Kelli Flynn from the mid '90s). All of the issues (i.e., dramatic constructs) that arise in this episode, the conflict between Darren and Riker, Picard's tete-a-tete with Troi, Picard's tortured "decision" to keep Darren on the danger planet, etc., are not new issues, have no sci-fi slant to give them any sort of Trek-specific relevance, and have been dealt with in the US military ever since women have been in service. Romantic relationships utterly destroy the command structure, so, for the entire plot structure to rest on these conflicts is a difficult pill to swallow. Specifically, Picard's line, "I know there are no Starfleet regulations governing relationships with subordinates," strikes me as a bit of throwaway plotting that could have only been conceived of by the most naive and ignorant of writers. I get similar feelings watching Worf struggle with his emotions in DS9's "Change Of Heart." But hey, this isn't the US military, it's Starfleet, and the conventions of its universe exist only in the minds of its writers. Despite the issues with plotting, thankfully, the rest of the episode is produced well, with Darren portrayed as a confident, intelligent, accomplished officer who is not afraid to speak her mind. There's a certain unimpeachable logic for the key to Picard's private life to revolve around his music (a nice touch of continuity from season 5's "The Inner Light"). Beverly's simmering jealousy, exposed when Darren describes her private time with the Captain, is also a great bit of drama.

That Patrick Stewart is the primary actor in this particular episode, that he has the acting chops to make this believable, is the icing on the cake.

So, if I was stranded on a desert island, with only "Lessons" and "Shades of Grey" to watch, sure, I'd watch "Lessons," and use the tape for "Shades of Grey" to kill for food. But if I had even a copy of, say, "The Big Goodbye," well, then, I'd just have to give a big goodbye to "Lessons."