LIAISONS "Liaisons" was interesting mainly for one reason: It puts forth an intriguing idea AS A RESULT OF the story it tells; however, said story in no way adequately tackles that idea. To wit: I think that Picard's observation in the final scene that it's refreshing to encounter a race which lives aspects of life to their extremes *is* an interesting SF idea. Maybe one which has been explored elsewhere before, but nonetheless, an interesting idea. Especially since the Federation as depicted in TNG *is* very, very moderate in experiencing ALL aspects of existence. However, as I said, "Liaisons" doesn't actually deal with any of this issue in an interesting way. In fact, I can't really tell WHAT this episode is dealing with. It seems like just another dull "Aliens experiment on the Enterprise crew" story, albeit a less brutal one than Classic Trek's "The Empath" was. The biggest problem with this episode is that we're presented with "Yet Another Alien Culture With Vaguely-Defined Differences From Humanity" as the linchpin of the story. Apparently the concepts of pleasure, aggression and love are alien to these beings. Okay, I can theoretically buy this. However, that's the only way we CAN buy this idea, because the story gives us no PRACTICAL information to explain how this alien culture differs on a day-to-day level from the Federation's as a result of these omissions. Are they a bunch of Borg-like robots? Did the writers have something more imaginative in mind? (I wonder what DRIVES these people - other than a simple survival instinct - without those feelings.) There's no way to tell. This is made even harder to swallow because the two ambassadors on the Enterprise seemed perfectly able to mimick pleasure and aggression. It doesn't seem like these concepts are THAT alien to them. Or, if they are, then exactly what are these ambassadors learning as a result of these experiments, given that their mimickry is so spot-on? It makes no sense to me. The Picard/Anna thread was somewhat more successful, but only because the ambassador there clearly wasn't as fluent in 'love' as his counterparts on the Enterprise were in their respective feelings. But I'm still left rather baffled by the episode; it seems empty of theme and soul, a story just going through the motions. By the way, I had a few small problems with the Anna bit: First, I was tipped off pretty early that the ambassador was masquerading as Anna; certainly by the time he showed up at the cargo ship, it seemed all too convenient to be true. Also, I presume that the amulet he wore was how he disguised himself. (Presumably not a simple illusion device, since otherwise Picard would have noticed that Anna didn't feel right - literally speaking - to be a human female.) I guess it had a delayed wearing-off period, since after "Anna" lost the amulet she retained her shape for a while thereafter. On the other hand, maybe the ambassador used some other device to accomplish the feat. No big deal, though. On a storytelling level, I think that the story might have greatly benefitted from, say, Picard actually being SHOWN some of the tapes of the stranded couple in the cargo ships, rather than being filled in with exposition. Maybe even being shown their graves or something along those lines. "Liaisons" was a pretty inconsequential episodes, I thought; another bit of handwaving so they don't have to tell a REAL fatal attraction story and have to put REAL emotions into the character of Anna. A nice, clean, short, sterile story, which is TNG's stock-in-trade. Some interesting ideas spun off from the central theme-less story, but all around pretty much a yawner. Grade: D Disclaimer: Yes, I now own a VCR. However, I *still* only watch each episode a single time before reviewing it. :-) TNG SEASON SEVEN TO DATE: Descent, Part II: C- Liaisons: D Total Points (2 episodes): 2 2/3 Season Average: 1.333 ( D+ )