LogFAQs > #971955947

Episode 12: Violations

Was not expecting this show to tackle serial rapists.

Picard is sheepish about his memories. Always diplomatic as he can be. Nothing but gentle to Troi. Not too thrilled with speech about violence, since most normal people would never even come close to rape on their worst day.

I imagine Riker has more deeply private memories than most. Can sense there's something vaguely off about Jev almost immediately. Visibly fighting to pretend to be cheerful when talking to Troi. Quickly begins to break down. His reaction when his hallucinations start suggests that he himself believes that he's merely stressed. Has one hell of a thousand yard stare when the madness really starts.

La Forge is apparently a cat person. I wonder if Data picked it up from him? Has a very frustrating day at work.

Worf doesn't like having his brain picked at, either. Doesn't need Picard to say anything to know to go get Riker. Wouldn't have minded if he were more brutal with Jev.

Crusher's getting hit on by everyone these days. Tries to goad Picard into memory retrieval. Precisely as sweet as you'd expect to Riker. Her reaction to the hallucinations suggests utter despondency.

Troi doesn't need super empathy to tell when a conversation has become uncomfortable. Good on her for changing the subject. Decent to Jev, though she probably shouldn't have been. Still badmouthing her mother. She seemed more furious than anything at a few points during that weird rape scene. Glad she fought back, but I don't think raping her twice in one episode is the grandest idea the writers have had.

Data learns a bit about human memory. His tone of voice when La Forge hits on the idea to check explained comas indicates that he thinks he's an idiot.

Keiko's elation at recalling a childhood memory is adorable.

Tarmin seems like hed be fun at parties. Jev is a disgusting little freak. The other Ullian may as well not exist.

The blurriness of the memory scenes help support their apparent vividness. The rape scene has a similar effect, accompanied by off angle panning shots, with the sudden closeup of Jev making a very disgusting man seem all the more hideous: all details on his face highlighted far beyond good taste. Jev makes sure to give a long look at the camera so we know not to trust him. Some of the filters and effects in Riker's hallucination were a bit distracting, but the barrage of cuts kept the whole thing effective. I imagine it's just treatment for the incident that killed Jack, but memory Picard's little plate really does remind me of Locutus.

Rape is bad. And I'm glad the episode had enough balls to explicitly call what Jev is doing rape and that it, however briefly, demonstrated that the real drive for rapists is a desire for absolute control over someone. I dont actually know if this was bold for the 90s, but im going to assume it is. Removing the specifics of a memory, but leaving the emotional trauma is kind of the ideal for those disgusting monsters, so, props for taking this to its logical endpoint. But does Troi really need another two rape scenes? Having her (and Crusher) being primarily defined as victims, to the point that Troi's fight scene is more accurately described as impotent flailing, feels like the writers aren't quite getting the point they're trying to convey. Even if this is bold for the 90s, it's still a bit too simplistic a treatment for my taste. The brief mentions of rape culture are too brief to say much beyond the obvious. And I utterly detest the final suggestion that the seed of sexual violence exists in everyone. Because it flatly doesn't. It may be difficult to see if you spend too much time around uber nerds (how many posters on this very board are a big yikes?) but most people were raised with a basic standard of empathy.

Production wise, it's average and that, along with slightly dropping the ball on its subject matter and still being noticebly sexist at times, means its probably going on the bottom of the pile at the end.

Off to The Masterpiece Society tomorrow.