I saw the thumbnail for this episode and was like, "aw shit, a kid." TNG episodes about children are usually some of the worst episodes, but this one is surprisingly good. Part of it is the role of the child actor, while central to the story, mostly involves seeing the look on his face as events unfold around him. Also I really enjoy seeing an alien presence dealt with in a way other than pure technobabble. The central focus on the captain is always a good call, but there are solid performances from Worf and even Wesley to help tie it all together.
The episode begins with an away team exploring the ruins of a dead civilization. Everything seems to be going well until Troi suddenly calls out that they are in trouble. Moments later Worf calls up from the surface, there has been an explosion and they need medical assistance. They are beamed directly to sickbay, but Lt. Aster, ships archaeologist, dies of her injuries. Troi arrives and informs the Captain that Lt. Aster has a son on board and that his father died several years earlier so he is now an orphan. Picard orders Geordi to the surface to find out what happened and heads to Asters quarters to inform her son Jeremy. He is devastated, but holds himself together. Picard manages to do a really good job despite his supposed hatred of children.
Troi tries to get Worf to talk about why he is so mad about the whole thing and he won't discuss it. However he does ask what Troi thinks of him performing a Klingon bonding ritual with Jeremy since they are both orphans. Troi tells him to be cautious, but that is is worth a try. Worf goes to Jeremy's quarters and finds him grieving. It doesn't go great, but it could have been worse and Worf leaves without incident. Suddenly Data detects an energy surge on the planet. They can't figure out what it is but suddenly Lt. Aster appears in her quarters with Jeremy and starts comforting him. He doesn't trust her at first but after feeling her warm touch he accepts her. She tells him they need to go to the planets surface to start their new life when Worf stops by to check in. He tells the captain what is going on and Picard tells him not to interfere. Picard catches up with them in the transporter room and after a confrontation the entity pretending to be Lt. Aster disappears.
Jeremy returns to his quarters but the entity is back. It changes the quarters into their old house and even makes a cat, but Troi arrives and isn't pleased. She tries to convince Jeremy this is an illusion, but it is a pretty good on and he ignores her. Geordi manages to adjust the shields to block the entity and the illusion drops, but it flies up from the planet and right through their shields and starts it right back up. Another entity starts rooting around in engineering trying to figure out how to make the transporters work. Picard arrives and has Worf bring Wesley in as well. Picard talks to the entity and it admits it is one of the creatures from the dead planet below. There were once two races, one energy and the other flesh, but the physical beings wiped themselves out in a war and the energy beings are determined to not let them cause any more suffering. Picard gives a really touching speech and Wesley arrives and talks about how mad he felt at the Captain for surviving the encounter where his own father was killed. The entity sees that they are going to support Jeremy and leaves on its own. Jeremy and Worf have a cool candle lighting ritual at the end making them Klingon brothers.
Review: This is one of the better TNG character driven episodes so far and despite the lack of action and presence of children works very well. It shows the crew working together both to keep the ship running, but also to support each other. There is a scene I left out above with Riker and Data in Ten Forward discussing how grieving works for humans that is a nice accent.
8 out of 10
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