Finally, an episode of TNG where the female character takes the lead in carrying the story and it doesn't involve the predictable one-shot romance that goes nowhere and does nothing. Nothing can bring this episode down!
We open our episode with the Enterprise D arriving at a very familiar station where Beverly is awaiting the arrival of her long time friend Dalen Quaice. While escorting him to his quarters, the two reminiscent about those they have lost, with Dalen being his wife, and Crusher with her husband. This all culminates with Dalen ending the conversation with this.
Dalen: You know what the worst part of growing old is? So many of the people you've known all your life are gone and you realise you didn't take the time to appreciate them while you still could.
There's something about that line that doesn't work, but I can't figure out what it is... Bah, it's probably nothing.
Our episode continues with Wesley and Geordi in engineering where Geordi has developed a random hated of Wesley all of a sudden. I mean, he's really lashing out on him to get the engines back online, even to the point where he tells Wesley what would happen if Picard orders warp and the engines aren't ready yet. Yeah, because that kind of thing has never happened before. After feeling a bit empty with the previous conversation with her old friend, Beverly comes in to check and see how Wesley's doing. Wesley is about to do something when a certain flash occurs and Beverly is gone. Dun dun dun!
What comes next is pretty cool. We follow Beverly back to Dalen's quarters to check up on him, but he isn't there. When security looks into the situation, they find no records of Dalen ever coming aboard. Even O'Brien says that when Beverly was in the transporter room to greet him, all she did was say hi to O'Brien and leave. Well Beverly isn't going to take this mystery sitting down so she orders O'Brien to sickbay for further examination. It's here that she learns that her assistants are gone, along with a huge number of the crew. Unfortunately, every time she tries to tell someone this, their response is.... well, confusion. Everything that is going on appears to be the way it always was for the crew. Even when Worf goes missing, no one acknowledges that there ever was a Klingon crew member.
As the situation gets worse and worse, Beverly begs Picard to return to Starbase since she believes that's where the whole mess started. After some time passes, Beverly finds that Picard is the only crew member on the bridge, which leads to this exchange.
Beverly: It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all.
Picard: We've never needed a crew before.
Picard: We've never needed a crew before.
Welcome aboard the USS VENGEANCE D! It all makes sense now! Beverly isn't traveling through dimensions where everything and everyone are disappearing. She's simply phasing into the JJ Abrams Universe!
All kissing aside, Beverly tries to open up more towards Picard in order to get him to understand what she's going through, only to realize that the moment she looks away, he's gone. And it gets worse too. Not only is everyone gone, but everything outside the immediate area of the Enterprise is gone too.
It turns out that during Wesley's experiment in engineering, Beverly got stuck into the warp bubble which caused her sudden disappearance to Wesley, but not for herself. Wesley, along with the sudden arrival of the Traveller, devise a plan to try and get Beverly back.
This is where I give high points to this episode. Despite the scenes where Beverly is practically begging Wesley to save her, we do see her attempt to solve this mystery on her own, and to my utter surprise, actually figures it all out on her own! The Vortexes that were pulling her earlier were not trying to kill her, but bring her back to her dimension. So when Beverly figures out that the Vortex will most likely appear in engineering, she hurries along before the ship completely vanishes and makes it back.
We learn that the cause of everyone disappearing was because her emotional state on losing everyone was literally manifested in the Warp Bubble. It seems odd that such a thing could happen since... wait. Now I understand why that line from Dalen didn't work! Isn't Star Trek supposed to be set in this super optimistic future where humanity has accepted death as a part of life and NO ONE GRIEVES over one's passing? How did something like this get passed Gene Roddenberry's approval? Something else must have distracted him but I can't figure-
Traveller: It is time Wesley. Begin by letting go of your guilt, Wesley. Focus on the present. Now close your eyes. Trust yourself.
Wesley: I can't. I can't do it.
Traveller: When the time comes, you will, Wesley. You will. You must open yourself. Let it all go. There. There it is. We're moving into phase now. There's your warp bubble, Wesley.
Wesley: I can't. I can't do it.
Traveller: When the time comes, you will, Wesley. You will. You must open yourself. Let it all go. There. There it is. We're moving into phase now. There's your warp bubble, Wesley.
Well doesn't that just explain everything. I guess Gene's love of Wesley is more powerful than his insistence on portraying the future as a carefree society. I know I edited out some of the words from the dialogue that mentions mathematics and his mother, but come on. The Traveller's tone is so intimate sounding that it really comes off as the Traveller literally seducing Wesley, complete with lines from Wesley sounding so inexperienced.
CONCLUSION:
For a season that started out so heavily male oriented, it's great to finally see an episode where Beverly not only carries the story from beginning to end, but also show that she's capable of figuring out problems on her own. Despite the very creepy vibe of the Traveller, it was kind of cool to see a character return from Season One for the sole purpose of wanting to help out. The episode may have problems, but Beverly isn't one of them.
STINGER:
Then the "She's gone." line. After the commercial, what should pop up but a shot of the ship! It was all set up so well!
