Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 4, Episode 25
Original Air Date: June 3, 1991
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| via Memory Beta |
Data has a girlfriend. Lt. Jenna D'Sora (Michele Scarabelli) has taken a shine to our favorite android. While Data has had sex before, this is his first attempt at a deeper relationship. While it can be more than a little uncomfortable to watch the two of them stumble through the inevitable awkwardness, we learn a lot about Data in this adventure. We also learn a lot about his shipmates' varying attitudes towards romance as he seeks out their advice. Unfortunately for Jenna, Data's eagerness to please her can't make up for the impossibility of a genuinely reciprocal relationship.
It's not a bad episode but certainly not a great one. It was Patrick Stewart's first turn in the director's chair and given the basic simplicity of the story and the opportunity to work with Brent Spiner in a new context, the experience was gratifying for him. There's a mostly forgettable subplot about a nebula encounter. It feels tacked on and, interestingly, the writers themselves thought so, too. They knew they needed one to meet TNG's expected A-B plot format but didn't feel it actually added anything.
Acting Notes
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| via Memory Alpha |
Michele Scarabelli was born April 11, 1955 in Montreal. She is best known for the role of Susan Francisco in the Alien Nation franchise. Other television work has included Airwolf, Dallas and Superman & Lois. Big screen credits include The Hotel New Hampshire and Perfect Timing. Her most prominent voice-over work has been with The Journeyman Project video games.
I do like this episode because you really are rooting for her but when she realizes he can never give her the feelings she deserves she leaves. Without thinking, Data pets his cat showing affection. I love that bit.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can see she's crestfallen when he says he'll delete the program - it's the whole problem in one line.
DeleteIt’s a misfire for me. She clearly never really understood him.
ReplyDeleteSure. But that's realistic, isn't it?
DeleteI suppose. It’s one of those things where I can’t separate the viewing experience from what it might be like to live aboard the Enterprise with Data around all the time. As a viewer it’s pretty obvious what his limitations are. Although the funny thing is that this was a whole series of characters who were generally terrible at relationships (except Riker, unless you count the failed Troi romance).
DeleteBut it happens all the time. A person enters a relationship, perhaps even with a friend they know well, seeing only the positives. And you can see how, on the surface, a relationship with Data could be appealing. He asks nothing, gives everything - to a point. Eventually, reality sets in. At least they're able to end it amicably.
DeleteI would argue Riker really isn't very good at relationships. Sure, he has plenty of them but he is also limited in his capacity to give over completely.
Here's the deeper question: is it the people or is it the situation? Unless it's a guest just passing through, it would be difficult to meet anyone aboard the Enterprise who isn't a colleague. That's an automatic complication in a new relationship. It's not necessarily a deal breaker but it's complicating, especially given the power structure. For Riker, apart from the captain, anyone is a subordinate. That's complicating. Even in a slash fiction scenario between Picard and Riker, that would be a complication.
Plus, how much permanence is there in that career path? How sure can one be of even being on the same posting with anyone for very long?
Romance is far more important on DS9.
At my job I see careers complicating relationships all the time, but in large part these families make it work anyway. Something’s only a problem if you make it one, or let it. A lot of how TNG played out in this regard was absolutely also a response to Kirk. “We’re not that.” So in the next two series we have two prominent weddings happen. In the third, a relationship plays out across four seasons and kind of the whole point is to set up Spock’s background, the marriage of a human and Vulcan, which even at that point in Star Trek history seems like an anomaly (and is another thing represented in that second wedding).
DeleteBut another perspective on “Relationship Data,” the big cheat in this episode is also introducing even to the viewer how many things he processes at a time. It would have probably been a good thing to have as part of his character, even from this point onward, as part of his quest for humanity (along with idioms, jokes, music) learning discretion. It’s not even what he does but how he doesn’t realize he’s being overly honest about it. Although, again, the scenario feels like a cheat. Clearly Data and La Forge have a real friendship. In the movies Data and Picard develop a bond (which becomes all the more important in Picard).
If anything, it’s not that Data and this lady work together, but that they clearly don’t work enough together. He’s really just a novelty to her. If this had been a La Forge episode you’d have the same objections about it as you did with Leah Brahms.
No, I still think La Forge/Brahms is different. There's an uncomfortable presumption involved in that one. In this case, both parties are genuinely invested. It just doesn't work out.
DeleteIt offers an interesting perspective on love, really. There's a big difference between giving and sharing. A good relationship is largely based on the second and Data can't quite management.
You make a good point about his ability to develop meaningful friendships. In both cases, he has the advantage of time. The friendships develop over a slow simmer. One doesn't always have the same luxury with romantic relationships.
I think what really puts her off is that he decides to stop being himself, which, I don’t know, feels like another of the episode’s cheats. It’s not like he downloads something to become command material. (He’s not the Doctor! Although Saru kind of does the same thing later in Discovery…) He doesn’t even do that to figure out humor, or…any other aspect of his quest for humanity. He doesn’t even install the emotion chip immediately!
DeleteAnd yeah, I do get that relationships are fraught with discovering unfortunate things about the other person. For me it’s a misfire because it’s forced all the way through.
I agree with "forced." That, more than any creative choices, is why I find it uncomfortable to watch. The story tries to be funny and poignant at the same time and ends up being neither.
DeleteWhich doesn't mean it doesn't leave one with questions to ponder. Obviously.
For me just about any Star Trek episode that tries to delve deep into some interesting facet of artificial intelligence fails. A single, 42-minute episode just can't do the storyline justice.
ReplyDeleteThe one exception being the episode with Data's daughter.
But for me this episode fails completely. My first thought after seeing this episode for the first time was that I hoped next week's was better.
Along those lines there were a couple of Star Trek novels involving a post-Nemesis resurrected Data and how he fell in love with another android. They were quite good but they ultimately ended on a sad note.
Love often ends sadly.
DeleteI remember this one fondly, even if it's a bit clunky. Different writers treated Data's "personality" differently... did he just adopt templates, like here, or did he manage to weave his influences into a holistic whole?
ReplyDeleteThe B-plot may have been tacked on, but the first time I saw it, that scene with the female crewmember being sliced in half by the deck was honestly shocking.
Actually, everyone seems to agree that's the one part of the B-plot that's good. Definitely memorable!
DeleteSometimes trying to meet expectations is a mistake.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when you're not 100% clear on which expectations to follow.
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