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Sad thing is that this is a very bold idea to try and explore, although Star Trek is not foreign to exploring darker aspects of life and mourning. However, the execution was really sub-par and I don't think this kind of story deserved that. Lwaxana Troi is seen by many as a very annoying character, so to have her lead this story about trauma wasn't exactly the best idea. I wish I could say better things about this episode but it really didn't work for me or many people. Still, a highlight is Deanna getting emotional at the end, probably one of her better performances in the series. Would've also worked if Deanna was a better written character overall. It also seems that many episode about this kind of family stuff: e.g. Beverly's grandmother and La Forge's mom, even Data's brother or Worf's son, doesn't really work usually. The exception would be Picard's brother and his family, probably one of the best episodes regarding family in Star Trek TNG (worf's parents were also good). Anyways, most of the episode doesn't even tie into the reveal at the end, like what does this have to do with the Cairn at all?

The low rating for this one is confusing. It's the best Lwaxana Troi episode by far-- most of the shows that feature her are insufferably annoying. Story-wise, it was a great way for Majel Barrett to close out this character on this show (she reappeared in "Deep Space Nine"), and she is at her best-acting wise as well. It's also much better than almost all of the GOOFY and tedious episodes that I've seen in this season so far.

It has great depth, and it shows the bond between Troi and her mother-- a bond that we will never witness again in Trek history. RIP, Majel Barrett.

There could have been another way they approached this to make it a better episode, rather than using "random alien telepaths with really annoying voices", but still the ending of the episode is great. It's a very emotional episode and one that I'm sure anyone who has been through something similar could relate to. The first 15 minutes of the episode gives this a lower rating, but the end makes it much better. I'm also not sure why this situation was going to cause her to die, I guess something to do with Betazoid physiology, but instead of spending time on the aliens they could have instead investigated this part of the story more.

Well, I´m reviewing TNG, now that I´m 38 years old, first seen at the age of 14. So far, this was the only episode that deeply touched my heart, and I´ve ended up crying, tears don´t come out easily to me. I´ve always found Lwaxana as a bit of annoying character, but not on this episode. Star Trek was never about FX, Space Exploration nor Alien races... it was always about human complexity, and this episode explores one of the darkest fears. I´d probably fallen asleep with this episode when I was 14 years old... but not now.

This was a truly beautiful episode about pain and how people try to bury it.

The acting in this episode was one of the finest I'd seen in a while on Star trek TNG. Majel Barret's performance broke my heart. I had no idea she was capable of such phenomenal dramatic acting. Truly one of her best performances on star trek TNG. This episode definitely deserves a much higher rating.