God, Troi was such a bitch in this episode.
"The Loss"
- Thread starter Trekker4747
- Start date
I'll remind you of this when you are suddenly blinded and starting bitching about it.
I thought the same thing at one point, but I've calmed on this episode a bit. It's like what if you suddenly lost your hearing or sight out of the blue. I know if that happened to me, that would scare the shit out of me and I probably would understand what Troi was going through. Still, despite that, it does show a weakness in Sirtis' acting ability, which much improved since. it was a little cringe-inducing at points throughout the episode.
I’ve always felt it was an often overlooked and underappreciated TNG episode. It isn’t a heavy-hitter like BoBW, Remember Me, Family or The Mind’s Eye but it is certainly a reasonably done and effective disability story headlining Troi. I enjoyed seeing the vulnerable and frightened side of her. I know many seem to view her as a pathetic whiny bitch and there is some of that but that is part of the point. TNG has often been criticized as being too perfect something I don’t agree with and episodes like this, “The Enemy” and “The Host” prove that. I think anyone who loses a sense would be angry and wallowing in self-pity. So how Troi behaves in this context works.
Troi is usually the one helping others the way she is now placed in the unenviable role of facing her own personal crisis directly is quite interesting. She is having to practice essentially what she preaches and I thought Marina did a good job first in her counseling sessions with Ensign Brooks which was a nice tie to the episode’s theme of loss and then in her own situation.
I thought it did a pretty decent job at getting across how frustrating & frightening such a loss can be and how it affects relationships. Troi’s anger at Beverly seemed like a realistic reaction even though misdirected. Usually these two are the best of friends so this was a contrast. And then of course Riker/Troi had their tribulations in some rather nice scenes that further cemented what great chemistry both the actors & characters have. And of course Guinan is always a pleasure. I really really liked that scene with Troi in Ten-Forward. I think both are counselors in their own right but have completely different ways of dispensing advice. That is why I never really felt Guinan took anything away from Troi’s role as counselor. There is room for both. Troi/Data’s teamwork paid off again and they work pretty well together.
The episode boasted some nice visuals with the Enterprise at an angle being pulled by the creature as well as the computer graphics.
Troi is usually the one helping others the way she is now placed in the unenviable role of facing her own personal crisis directly is quite interesting. She is having to practice essentially what she preaches and I thought Marina did a good job first in her counseling sessions with Ensign Brooks which was a nice tie to the episode’s theme of loss and then in her own situation.
I thought it did a pretty decent job at getting across how frustrating & frightening such a loss can be and how it affects relationships. Troi’s anger at Beverly seemed like a realistic reaction even though misdirected. Usually these two are the best of friends so this was a contrast. And then of course Riker/Troi had their tribulations in some rather nice scenes that further cemented what great chemistry both the actors & characters have. And of course Guinan is always a pleasure. I really really liked that scene with Troi in Ten-Forward. I think both are counselors in their own right but have completely different ways of dispensing advice. That is why I never really felt Guinan took anything away from Troi’s role as counselor. There is room for both. Troi/Data’s teamwork paid off again and they work pretty well together.
The episode boasted some nice visuals with the Enterprise at an angle being pulled by the creature as well as the computer graphics.
Well, she was a bitch. But so what? People are often horrible when they are grieving, and you can grieve over the loss of an ability just as much as the loss over another person. Sometimes even more so. A relative of mine went blind, and contrary to the "Disabiled people are so noble" myth, it did NOT have a good effect on her. She didn't turn into a bitch, but golly, was she ever whiny. It was understandable why she found it so difficult to live with, she was still a wonderful person deep down, and anyway we loved her so we found a way to cope, but that didn't make her or her new-found whininess easy to live with.
I'm not sure Siritis did the best job possible with it (I saw part of this episode a short while ago but it's been a while since I saw the entire thing), but she did OK, and I thought that Troi's bitchiness was perfectly appropriate. Not everybody can be Helen Keller or even Mary on Little House on the Prairie, you know.
I'm not sure Siritis did the best job possible with it (I saw part of this episode a short while ago but it's been a while since I saw the entire thing), but she did OK, and I thought that Troi's bitchiness was perfectly appropriate. Not everybody can be Helen Keller or even Mary on Little House on the Prairie, you know.
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As I wrote in my review of this episode, the problems all stem from:
Troi’s reactions to her “loss” are nothing short of purely selfish, arrogant, and pretentious. As first suggested in The Price, Troi’s use of her empathic powers to the advantage of her ship and crew isn’t precisely moral or ethical. In The Loss, we learn that Troi uses her empathic abilities to maintain a sense of superiority over the crew itself. When Riker tells her that there is something “aristocratic” about her Betazoid abilities, he is being too kind. And Troi’s outbursts toward anyone who shows even the slightest inclination of care and concern about her as a person are nails-on-chalkboard grating and only reinforce her self-serving air of superiority.
All of this could have served a purpose had Troi been knocked down a few pegs as a result of these events. But, true to TNG form, the problems are all solved in the end: the Enterprise manages to find its way out of the field of 2-dimensional creatures and, the moment it does, Troi’s abilities return.
Unfortunately, Troi is hardly contrite and the crew is altogether too accepting of her belligerent treatment of them. True, Troi does apologize to Dr. Crusher, but she absolutely rejects Riker’s “aristocratic” statement — which was, in point of fact, an absolutely correct assessment of Troi as a person. Which means, Troi didn’t really learn from her experiences. And that makes the whole exercise of this episode almost entirely pointless.
Worse still, we are shown Troi’s true character as being both selfish and arrogant. As such, from here on out, it is much more difficult to accept her as genuinely compassionate toward others.
All of this could have served a purpose had Troi been knocked down a few pegs as a result of these events. But, true to TNG form, the problems are all solved in the end: the Enterprise manages to find its way out of the field of 2-dimensional creatures and, the moment it does, Troi’s abilities return.
Unfortunately, Troi is hardly contrite and the crew is altogether too accepting of her belligerent treatment of them. True, Troi does apologize to Dr. Crusher, but she absolutely rejects Riker’s “aristocratic” statement — which was, in point of fact, an absolutely correct assessment of Troi as a person. Which means, Troi didn’t really learn from her experiences. And that makes the whole exercise of this episode almost entirely pointless.
Worse still, we are shown Troi’s true character as being both selfish and arrogant. As such, from here on out, it is much more difficult to accept her as genuinely compassionate toward others.
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