TNG Rewatch - 7x07: "Dark Page"

[Trekker4747]

Sigh.

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done one, busy around Thanksgiving and other life things going on, stuff like that.

But more-over. I couldn't do this episode. I couldn't bring myself to watch it, it's just not one I enjoy.

Lwaxanna Troi visits the ship in order to help some aliens learn vocal communication and during her interactions with the telepathic race, Mrs. Troi begins having a series of blackouts and odd behavior. Eventually, IIRC, going into a coma. Deanna Troi investigates what's happening and it turns out, Mrs. Troi's breakdowns are related to repressed emotional trauma over the death of Troi's younger sister -whom she never knew about. She helps Mrs. Troi deal with her repressed pain in order to recover.

For me the episode is dull and one of those episodes that stands out in what makes S7 so bad. I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes the episode not work for me, maybe it's just that it's not a very interesting story and reeks of cheap novel. (Oh, but wait. We'll get there!)

I generally like Mrs. Troi as a character and find her appearances fun; but here it's painful and Majel's acting here seems over-done and not entirely honed in well for the drama here. She's done good stuff before and had a good appearance(s?) on DS9 where she dealt with heavier stuff but here, I dunno. It feels forced and heavy.

Maybe less cheap novel and more Lifetime movie-of-the-week aired in a non-Sweeps month.

Next week (time), things perk-up a bit.

 

[tomalak301]

This is a guilty pleasure episode for me. Love learning about Lwaxana's past and this episode was sad. It did a good job making Lwaxana a more well rounded character rather than a comedic nutcase.

 

[Terok Nor]

I like this one. Lwaxana is known for being a lighthearted character but she had a lot of depth too. I think this episode is really sad not only because of the tragic backstory but because it's the last time Lwaxana and Deanna appeared together

 

[Trekker4747]

This is a guilty pleasure episode for me. Love learning about Lwaxana's past and this episode was sad. It did a good job making Lwaxana a more well rounded character rather than a comedic nutcase.

I dunno, I think "Half Life" did that job a lot better and it did it without being boring.

 

[MikeS]

This episode is brilliant. Haters must have no heart.

 

[Seven of Five]

Here we go. I thought that Trekker4747 had gone into a TNG S7 coma of some sort. Perhaps not too far off?

I don't think it's brilliant but I don't hate it either. I like that it looks at Lwaxana's serious side. It's a bit melodramatic here and there, and I like Half a Life and DS9's The Forsaken more, but it still has good bits to it.

 

[Scotchy]

I agree with Trekker 4747, I find it tedious and unwatchable. I've always found Troi's mother more of an irritant than anything else, lame comic relief. But this episode is her all time low.

 

[tomalak301]

This is a guilty pleasure episode for me. Love learning about Lwaxana's past and this episode was sad. It did a good job making Lwaxana a more well rounded character rather than a comedic nutcase.

I dunno, I think "Half Life" did that job a lot better and it did it without being boring.

Half a Life was great, but this one was much more personal, especially for Deanna. That's why I think I like this one a little more.

 

[Trekker4747]

Here we go. I thought that Trekker4747 had gone into a TNG S7 coma of some sort. Perhaps not too far off?

This season is going to break me. But we'll get through it. But it was just more other stuff going on the last couple of weeks that prevented me from doing the thread and when I has the time to watch it I couldn't bring myself to watch the episode because it's, really, one of those episodes I can't bring myself to watch unless I'm doing a serious watch-through where I generally watch several episodes in a sitting. Meaning that Dark Page would at least be flanked by stronger episodes that I can at least enjoy on some level.

But sitting down to watch this episode in one sitting? I couldn't bring myself to do it. This is one of the few episodes of TNG I feel this way about and, really, I can't see any other S7 episode breaking me. As absolutely stupid as "Sub Rosa" is and as painful as "Masks" is, both of those episodes I can at least watch and get some level of entertainment out of.

But, Dark Page? There's really no compelling reason I can think of to watch it by itself as it's not even entertaining to me as a bad episode.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

"Dark Page" is one of the best of TNG, a character piece exploring human tragedy and coping with it and a departure from the norm. Yes, it's human tragedy, not Betazoid tragedy. It also really ups the complexity of Lwaxana, in a good way (from the standpoint of character and drama). Troi isn't wasted either, which was unfortunately all too often the case for her.

 

[MikeS]

And don't forget we got Kirsten Dunst as a guest actor!

 

[Kevman7987]

And don't forget we got Kirsten Dunst as a guest actor!

I wonder what happened to her after this and Jumanji?

 

[Paradise City]

It's a strong episode I think but a tough one to watch and I don't know if it's episode that bears repeat viewing. I don't know either if "enjoying" it is the right word! but it is a strong episode in my view.

 

[suarezguy]

I liked this episode even though I'm generally not too fond of the Trois; both Deanna being determined to investigate, despite the risks, and what was discovered and how she and her mother reacted felt very real to me and a good example of diversity in the kinds of stories TNG could tell (the later "Homeward", that was very cheap and who cares). I thought it was as good as "Half a Life" and a good successor and both showed how Barrett could believably be the comedic character and then move into drama.

 

[The Old Mixer]

After the early implication that Troi's accent was from her father, I was pretty disappointed that they cast him as Fair-Haired Joe America.

 

[Granola Gwen]

Wow, I was just thinking about this one the other day. Yeah quite a sad and interesting one seeing how it was like one of the first episodes I ever saw if I recall. I still can't believe someone would hide something like that from their daughter though.