LogFAQs > #971926965

Damn thing purged on me. Should've bumped it. Got a holiday in a couple of weeks, so, ill catch up then. Back to back assignments and a suddenly expanded social life don't leave me with much time.

Episode 11: Hero Worship

Helping someone heal. No complaints with that sort of story.

Picard receives the damage reports with all due severity. The little pause and swallow before agreeing that Timothy's dad was probably sucked into space is brilliant. Handles Timothy as delicately as he can whilst still trying to get shit done.

Riker finds the cluster beautiful and he's not wrong. Quite like him listening to Data's plan without argument.

La Forge almost gets smacked by a beam. Has a brilliant moment when opening up about the fire story. The way he smiles, it's like he finds it slightly ridiculous.

Crusher is gently reassuring to Timothy. Seems to have a trace of her old distractedness when he goes into android mode.

Troi handles him with slightly more professional detachment. I'm not convinced that him building a sculpture in lieu of reading mythology quite merits that reaction, even with his "it's not finished" obviously flagging up as a result of trauma. Mind you, I behaved quite similarly in school and I didn't have the excuse of trauma. Reading Sirtis' facial expressions when she's processing Timothy's androidness is a treat. Starts with amusement, then concern, then the gears start turning as she thinks of a way to use this to help him heal. And I absolutely love her for championing this behaviour.

Data has to think for a second before remembering that reassuring a child in need of rescue is a good idea. Even with Spiner's blank looks, the attachment Timothy has to him is quite sweet. It's actually great that he goes to La Forge for advice. Seeing him twitch as he tries to process what Timothy needs in a given moment is amazing. Aside from being wonderful enough to engage in activities with him, it's brilliant that he takes time to ask questions and try to move the healing process along. Slyly manipulative with the "androids do not lie". Can't praise Spiner enough for his work in this one.

Timothy is a fine character. Pretty great child actor, too. Having him imitate Data is adorable and there's a few little touches like how he worms his way into still getting desert that are absolutely brilliant. His breakdown over the misplaced guilt is powerful and, all in all, he's probably the best kid we've had on this show.

The music has stepped up again. All epic and bombastic. Love a good ruined vessel. The brief shot of Timothy alone in a very wide corridor after Data leaves is pretty good. The montage of the two bonding is brilliant. I especially like how, after doing his hair, the shot of their reflection resembles a family portrait. Hamners home that he's basically a surrogate son. The reflected phasers is a cool shot.

Part of the reason I've down on a few Data focus stories is that, all too often, fealty to his unemotional nature gets in the way of the episode having a proper emotional hook. As a man who's proudly and openly a complete bleeding heart of an individual, communicating emotions is one of the primary things I go to art for, so, any time I feel that a sense of catharsis is inhibited, I immediately feel unsatisfied with whatever I've watched. The thing about Data is that, like Spock before him, it should be incredibly easy to create emotional hooks in his focus stories, yet far too many writers seem to get them slightly wrong. Let an unemotional man feel something and you've basically got half of the episode already written. It's entirely possible, of course, that my objection to, say, how Lal was treated at the end or Data's attempt at having a girlfriend, boils down to a different aesthetic taste than what those episodes were going for.

But seeing stuff like this makes me feel quite a bit more justified in my opinions because this is truly excellent. Aside from treating children like humans and having an obvious, but intelligent theme of healing from trauma, it allows Data to clearly demonstrate that he does have emotions of a sort, without betraying his android nature. I mentioned it in his own paragraph, but taking the time to process Timothy's current state and showing a slightly detached interest, but an interest nonetheless, gives him a type of empathy all his own that allows him to make a halfway decent therapist himself. The long view he takes of interpersonal connection lends itself to a much needed message of how attempting to seriously consider what someone needs in a given moment is a worthwhile goal in itself.

Cutting this slightly shorter than I would like due to time, but it truly is a fantastic Data story.

Gonna be some Violations tomorrow.