Dark Page

ST:TNG:159 - "Dark Page" (Stardate: 47254.1) - this is the 7th episode of the 7th and last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This episode deals Lwaxana Troi coming onboard the Enterprise to act as interpretor to a new telepathic species, the Cairn, who has no concept of a spoken language. However, one of the delegate's little girl, Hedril (played by a very young Kirsten Dunst) makes Lwaxana very sad. Soon, she falls unconscious, having retreated into her mind. Troi tries to go into her mother's mind to find out what's happening - it has to do with her past and it all has everything to do with Hedril.

Definitely the saddest of the Lwaxana episodes, where she is usually very comedic, but it's nice to see this side of Lwaxana.

Trivia note: Worf mentions he does not like telepaths. We see the arboretum again too. We see Troi's father too. Data also refers to his dream analysis (from "Birthright" and "Phantasms"). Mr. Homn is also mentioned (though doesn't appear in this episode).

The final season of this series seems beset with the implications of telepathy and personal angst. The characters begin to reveal their inner selves more than at any other time. In this one Lwaxana Troi comes on board with representatives of a race, the Cairn, who communicate only through telepathy. Using technology, they are learning to speak, but it is a hard road to travel. From the beginning Mrs. Troi seems ill. She does her usual annoying judgmental stuff with Deanna (not being married and not getting any younger). She is subject to mood swings and anger. On board is a little Cairn girl played by Kirsten Dunst. She is a free spirit and embraced by the crew. One day, they are in a garden when this little girl falls into a pond. She jumps right out but Lwaxana collapses and the rest of the episode has to do with getting into her comatose subconscious. There is something there that is being repressed. The Cairn leader, who is attracted to Deanna and the father of the little girl, is used to send Deanna into Lwaxana's deep dream world. There is some sort of secret that must be rooted out. This is a really provocative episode, well acted and satisfying in its scope.

Season 7 was certainly the most introspective season of this series, with several visits to the subconscious of the major characters. Dark Page explores the consequences of psychic trauma - in this case, for Lwaxana Troi. In Majel Barrett's final appearance on Next Generation, she gave what was probably the finest performance of her career. It's a shame this new depth of character never had a chance to be built on in later episodes. Lwaxana's crisis was clearly a turning point in her relationship with Deanna, and might have led to some interesting future episodes. It's interesting that I watch the episode and wonder why Majel Barrett wasn't nominated for an Emmy Award, and another review thought she was terrible. To each his own, I guess...

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.

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.