Sub Rosa

I thoroughly hated "Sub Rosa" and feel it's among the most embarrassing and stupid episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". My wife didn't hate it quite as much as me, but she thought the show was indeed inferior.

Beverly Crusher goes home to a colony where she grew up in order to attend her grandmother's funeral. Here, you learn she's of Scottish descent--which is odd as it was never mentioned before or after. It all seemed very contrived as soon she was caught up in what was a Gothic Scottish romance combined with a paranormal story. While this combination MIGHT work, putting it in outer space and on this series was awfully bad. What follows is a ghost-like story along with LOTS of heaving bosoms and perplexing romance. All in all, it was just god- awful and Gates McFadden didn't do much to help this story.

UPDATE: By the way, it isn't just me who hated this episode. At the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, this was voted as one of the 10 worst of all episodes from every Trek franchise! That is some ignoble designation!

I've heard plenty about 'Sub Rosa', most of it negative; but there's still the possibility of something being so-bad-it's-good, right? Sadly, that doesn't really apply here . . .

It all starts off well enough with a solemn eulogy, eventually blossoming into a trashy romance novel. Throw in the brainwashing angle, and it just gets worse. Maybe it played differently pre-"Twilight", but that's out of my hands.

You have to credit Gates McFadden for making the best of it. How often does a Beverly episode come along - and here it is, complete with green vapor sex scene. It has a decent closing scene makes some of this worth while, but will I ever revisit this episode in the future? Probably not.

4/10

At first this episode comes off as a romance novel with mysterious candles, ghosts, a gothic yet picturesque Scottish setting, and an exploration of sex from a female perspective. This last element is the most interesting, the rest is actually rather stupid and more 3/10 territory, especially a rather tacky resurrection sequence. The first thirty minutes or so will have you thinking "there is no plot here", and that is sort of true, apart from an 800 year old "ghost" trying to seduce Beverly Crusher, nothing actually happens apart from some whacky weather. The romance elements are rather predictable in all honesty and the idea of combining the genre with space opera is really a matter of personal taste, which might be why so many people find this thing plain awful. What salvages the episode is its treatment of female sexuality, utilizing Crusher and to a lesser extent her conversations with Troi. Although I found myself at times laughing at the episode rather than with it, this isn't a terrible episode. B-.

Whether or not they meant it, Anne Rice did this story about Lasher, who became a spirit in 12th century Scotland and attached himself to a woman, then her daughter, then her daughter...etc. He brought them gifts, wealth, protection and also lots of trouble and heartache. He also knew how they liked to be touched and could only take form briefly, with effort. He loved each one of them, too. The similarities are too much for me to believe that book didn't influence this episode.

Fans of classic V will enjoy Duncan Regehr, as long as they don't mind doing so with jaws agape in disbelief. If you know someone who loves NEXT GEN but hasn't seen this one, i guarantee they will absolutely not believe that it isn't some practical joke created by a fan with too much time on his hands last Thursday. The only way for it to have been any bizarrer would have been for Beverly to get on a motorbike, jump a tank of naked Evel Knievels, and land in a threesome with Pinky and Leather Tuscadero. Note the "McFly" on the Scottish tombstone. I swear to you, if Ellen Dow (THE WEDDING SINGER) had started rapping from within her coffin, it would have fit right in.