The Bonding

During a seemingly routine away team mission to a planet long wiped out by some war, an away team member is accidentally killed by some ancient war device left behind. Lt. Marla Aster's death and its consequences are the subject of this episode. As for her son, Jeremy, he is very stoic and needs to react emotionally to her death. Because of this, Wesley is asked to talk to the boy about his own father's death. But it's not only him--Worf is also affected strongly. Because of his own issues as an orphan, Worf's planning on asking Jeremy to join him in the Ruus'tai ceremony--by which Klingons become blood brothers or sisters. However, what happens next...well THAT certainly wasn't expected!! To see what this is, try watching "The Bonding".

While this episode is all about death and is a serious downer, it is interesting and worth exploring this aspect of space exploration. Very emotional and it might just bring a tear to your eye as the characters discuss their own losses. Also, what happens to the boy is really strange...but in a very good way, as the planet feels bad about what has happened and tries, in a way, to make things better.

This strange episode begins when an away-team, lead by Worf, encounter a problem which leads to the death of one of the members, Lt. Marla Aster. She is killed leaving a young son, Jeremy Aster, to face the her death head-on. But while Jeremy is grieving his mother's death, she all of the sudden appears in his room stating her death was a big mistake and she want Jeremy to come live with her on the planet.

Jeremy is now torn between his mother alive and the crew of the Enterprise telling him that it's an alien presents that is acting like his mother. When the Enterprise takes action to remove the alien from the ship, it returns with a vengeance.

A very nice story that involves death and remembrance. We will learn that the alien's motive is respectable but misunderstood in human's perception. Some good emotional scenes with Wesley and another with Worf. Entertaining story that was enjoyable to watch and learn.

Interesting philosophical questions about loss and suffering and a different and moving dimension to the characters and acting of most episodes. It all seems a bit silly because any kid, even a Starfleet kid would just totally freak out at the events in this one. However, like most trek episodes, there is enough in the story to make a feature length movie. It stands to reason therefore, that a lot of potential character and story development has to be cut down to make it fit into 45 minutes. Understandably, it can seem a bit unrealistic at times. Still, great sci-fi provides insights into the human condition by exploring fantasy scenarios, which this episode does, if you can just suspend your disbelief.

An Enterprise crew member dies on an away mission.

This is a strong episode centred around bereavement and grief with a number of great character moments.

The plot starts off quite simple with the surviving family member being informed and helped through the tragedy by various members of the crew. These for me are the best moments. The sci-fi element kicks in later, which for me is okay, but unnecessary.

Given that the Enterprise is portrayed as a ship with families, I like the idea of looking at the fallout from a death suffered on an away mission. I love the depiction of crew members pulling together to help one in a tragic circumstance. After all the redshirts who died without much acknowledgement in the original series it feels badly needed.

Worf, Troi, Wesley and Picard make great contributions to the story and have some fairly memorable scenes that work not just for Jeremy's story but also for the ongoing arcs of both Wesley and Worf. It's a shame that the character of Jeremy is not followed up in other episodes in relation to his bonding with Worf. I also enjoyed the philosophical discussion between Data and Riker.

The sci-fi plot involving the alien species ties into the episode themes, but I think it could have worked just as well as a straight drama without this aspect. Whether or not Gabriel Damon could have pulled it off though as it probably would have required more emotional scenes.

All performances are excellent, particularly Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Patrick Stewart and Will Wheaton. Gabriel Damon was not really challenged with enough emotional scenes to really see what he could do.

Tragedy strikes the Enterprise when the ship's resident archaeologist Lt. Marla Aster is killed during an away mission, leaving behind her twelve-year-old son Jeremy alone on the Enterprise. While the crew attempt to help Jeremy adjust including a guilt-ridden Worf, an alien presence boards the Enterprise and adopts the guise of Marla.

Another episode that's very well written, dealing with themes of grief and loss for people of all ages. However, I never quite bought into Worf's subplot which isn't given enough to time to breathe on its own and the performance of Damon as the bereaved Jeremy feels far too wooden and forced. Other than that, a solid outing for the TNG crew.