Troi/Riker Telepathy In-Universe Explanations

[Mojochi]

Or Lwaxana was telling the truth and Picard was in denial or she wanted to mess with his head and it worked! lol
Based on his attitude he was never offended when much younger women found him attractive but when its a woman closer to his age, he gets all riled up!

I'd say he was pretty uncomfortable with any woman showing affection toward him on board, Kamala, Vash, Nella, & certainly the overbearing mother of one of his subordinates.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Or Lwaxana was telling the truth and Picard was in denial or she wanted to mess with his head and it worked! lol
Based on his attitude he was never offended when much younger women found him attractive but when its a woman closer to his age, he gets all riled up!

My impression was that Picard really did think Lwaxana was hot but of course he'd never act on it. She read that he was attracted and ran with it.

And ran and ran.

 

[Mojochi]

My impression was that Picard really did think Lwaxana was hot but of course he'd never act on it. She read that he was attracted and ran with it.

And ran and ran.

Maybe he'd think she's attractive... There's no reason why he shouldn't, but she made it out like he was actively fantasizing about sexual acts with her right then, which is certainly not the case, & I have to think that's her way of trying to gain an advantage on people, by undermining their authority, with trumped up claims, that some people might take as true... just because she's a telepath... & frankly, I'm not cool with that, even though we're meant to interpret her behavior as harmless, impish playing

I'd think that if you were a telepath, one of the most fundamental codes of conduct you should value, is being truthful about what you read. Even Devinoni Ral was truthful about what he read. He used it opportunistically to his benefit, which is pretty uncool, but at least he didn't lie... or in Lwaxana's case, mess with people by bullshitting a little bit

 

[galad2003]

Or Lwaxana was telling the truth and Picard was in denial or she wanted to mess with his head and it worked! lol
Based on his attitude he was never offended when much younger women found him attractive but when its a woman closer to his age, he gets all riled up!

Same. The whole Lwaxana/Picard thing takes on a whole new meaning if she is telling the truth. I figure that he checked her out when she came on board, she read his mind and wouldn't drop it. We all might have a passing thought now and again and but her being who she is couldn't take it as a passing thought and Picard being so stuffy and uptight wouldn't admit what he thought.

 

[Marynator]

Lwaxana Troi is almost a perfect copy of my mother. I could imagine that she reads her own thoughts more often than others' these days, but sincerely thinks they belong to the other person.