SUDDENLY HUMAN This could almost be termed a schizophrenic episode: The first half was rather bad (though not an outright horror), and the second half was rather good (though not an overwhelming success). It certainly wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be, from the preview last week and discussion on this newsgroup! The bad half mainly stemmed from the oh-so-contrived dialogue and set-up. It was really embarassing to see Patrick Stewart try to explain to Troi why he didn't want to have to deal with Jono. Troi's rejoinder about how Picard is "cringing" at the prospect of having to take on parental duties was an utter crock. If Picard wanted to take on such responsibilities, he would have become a father! Speaking as someone who has absolutely NO interest in becoming a parent, I could really relate to Picard and I just wanted Troi to bugger off. And there was really a good reason for Picard to NOT take on Jono. First of all, he's NOT adept at dealing with children (or youths, perhaps, would be a better word here :-), and his distaste for the project makes him almost reflexively unfit to take on the chore. Riker would have been a much better choice, since we know he's used to dealing with children (we saw it in "Brothers") and he's second in command (as well as a former acting captain): Surely someone Jono would respect. Also, Jono hadn't really even MET Riker by the time of Picard's discussion with Troi. I found Troi's arguments entirely half-baked, and the whole scene, as I said, an embarassment. Troi's counselor role is getting increasingly irritating. I'd rather see her get shipped off the Enterprise and have her role taken over by Dr. Crusher (McFadden IMHO shows a better affinity for a counselor's role anyway). Her dialogue here was trite, and at times simply stupid ("I sense developing memories in Jono..." Ack! Does that mean emotions?). And then there are the plausibility questions: Could Jono, who was what, five?, when he was captured by the Telurians, have so fully adopted their culture, or, more precisely, have so fully forgotten the one he came from? It seems unlikely (my own memories start becoming more numerous and clear around age three, which is why I have a hard time believing this, and I'm twice as far chronologically from those memories as Jono was from his). The whole first half was a farce, and it didn't really need to be. The second half of the story, though, made a more than valiant effort to finish off what the first half started. Maybe I'm just biased because I think Picard made precisely the right decision in sending Jono back to his adoptive father (even though he'll have to explain to Jono's Admiral grandmother why he did so). Anyway... I felt Jono was well written here. In fact, I think he might be the best characterized child/youth on TNG, since he exhibited a well-balanced mixture of wanting his own way and respect for adults/authority (which had almost certainly been gained by the strongly stratified culture he grew up in). His reaction to his grandmother (a woman) being an admiral, and thus outranking Picard, was well written and well acted. I could have done without his "painful" (literally! Sheesh!) memories in the raquetball scene (which was otherwise pretty neat, what with the sound effects and all). I quite enjoyed the scene with the Banana Split and Wesley (Data's reaction was classic Data; I don't think I've ever seen him act so drolly ignorant! :-), and Jono's stabbing of Picard was well thought out both in motivation and in handling. The whole second half was good entertainment and was done well. And, as I said, I think the final solution to where Jono should be was the right one, both realistically and dramatically (and I'll be QUITE happy to explain how this fits into my personal moral code, which seems to have suddenly become a subject of debate on this newsgroup, should anyone care :-) For a TNG morality play, this was one of their better ones. Two more (small) kudos: The minimalizing of the "child abuse" angle, which was used only when it could reasonably have added to the story, and the rather nice definition of the Telurian culture in such a short span of time. (I do wonder how many large, starfaring cultures there are adjacent to the Federation which can actually give Starfleet a run for its defense budget, though. We have the Klingons, the Romulans, the Ferengi, the Telurians, the evolving lite-bulb people from "Transfigurations", and ghod knows who else.) To sum up: I hated the first half of the episode, but enjoyed the second half. Overall, it doesn't seem like more than an average Trek episode. Nothing to make one really sit up and notice, but nothing to make on really recoil in horror either. Grade: C SEASON FOUR TO DATE: The Best Of Both Worlds Part Two: C- Family: A- Brothers: B Suddenly Human: C --- Total: 2.583/4.000 = B-