How accurate was Russ' portrayal of a brain-injured person in "Riddles"?

[hxclespaulplayer]

I was close to someone after they had a stroke and it seemed quite accurate to me. What do you think?

 

[Refuge]

I actually think he captured the 'awareness' there had been a change in him and the bewilderment that goes with that. A recognition of the people around him feeling awkward and also confused. Moments of comfort in the innocent discovery of joy. I wonder if finding joy is a simplistic drive in us but we've over thought it all and in our sophistication are seeking intellectual enlightenment instead. I guess this happening to a Vulcan, proud of logic,made the story especially intense.

Knowing someone who has had brain damage, I think the depiction hit a few nerves.

 

[Sophie74656]

It depends on the type of brain injury.

 

[Triskelion]

For some reason I thought this thread was about Mulgrew's performance in Shattered. She went full...never mind.

I do wish they had come up with a more original riddle for bookending Riddles than that old Sunday pun.

I thought both Russ and Phillips did great in that one though. A kinder, gentler Tuvix.

But I don't think they properly addressed the dangers of having a Vulcan embrace his emotions. Just Neelix playing with bones at the cave entrances of life again.

 

[Refuge]

I'd never heard of the riddle before.. i liked the dates bit.

 

[Jayson1]

I liked it but i'm not sure it has much to say about who the character is deep down because you see so little of the real Tuvok which means his basic personality has been completely suppressed by the brain injury.
I think I like "Meld" better because you see him actually trying to apply logic to violence and let's his Vulcan arrogance fool himself into underestimating what is going on inside of Suder's mind.

Jason

 

[DamarsKanar]

I do find this episode interesting and effective - I thought the riddle ending was sweet though I do think it would have been nice for Tuvok to give a little more friendship to Neelix at the end. It came off slightly too cold...I especially wish that the Tuvix incident had actually been brought up in this episode. Combined, these episodes create a strange but extremely deep connection between these polar opposite characters. The terror of identity loss is present in both but also the potential benefits of integration of different aspects of the self/others. Is Neelix Tuvok's greatest fear, the obliteration of logic and self-sufficiency? But does he fear Neelix because the loving emotional Talaxian (for all his irritating behaviours) reminds him of the boy in 'Gravity' who compromised his Vulcan identity for love? And yet that is still a part of him - that integrated with Neelix in Tuvix and was experienced/exposed in Riddles.

 

[Six of Twelve]

He was playing a brain injured Vulcan, not a brain injured human, so it's hard to tell.

 

[JasonJ]

I thought that it was acted well, fairly accurate and believable. It was one of the better, more enjoyable episodes that had a more "human", a more serious plot that wasn't just aliens and phasers and temporary conflict meant to entertain.

 

[Refuge]

I do find this episode interesting and effective - I thought the riddle ending was sweet though I do think it would have been nice for Tuvok to give a little more friendship to Neelix at the end. It came off slightly too cold...I especially wish that the Tuvix incident had actually been brought up in this episode. Combined, these episodes create a strange but extremely deep connection between these polar opposite characters. The terror of identity loss is present in both but also the potential benefits of integration of different aspects of the self/others. Is Neelix Tuvok's greatest fear, the obliteration of logic and self-sufficiency? But does he fear Neelix because the loving emotional Talaxian (for all his irritating behaviours) reminds him of the boy in 'Gravity' who compromised his Vulcan identity for love? And yet that is still a part of him - that integrated with Neelix in Tuvix and was experienced/exposed in Riddles.

That affection or reaction that Neelix often sort from Tuvok was just a little out reach and then Tuvok would give of himself and though still remote, it was something.
Regards the Tuvix incident in light of what happened to Tuvok in 'Riddles'.. you're right. Loss of identity is something Tuvok and Neelix shared and shared together. It could've been a touchpoint here. And from my observations of those who have suffered injury of the brain there is a child like identity that mingles with the adult you still see. Neelix just in his own nature had that childlike wonder, (without injury!) he was like a child friend to Tuvok in Riddles.

I really liked the dynamic between Tuvok and Neelix