The Loss

Following an encounter with an unknown entity, Counsellor Troi loses her empathetic ability.

This is mediocre episode that has more good aspects than bad, mainly due to some decent performances.

The plot has two distinct threads. It follows Deanna coping with the loss of her powers, whilst it presents a sci-fi angle with the bridge crew dealing with a 2D life form. Neither are particularly memorable but I prefer the scenes involving Deanna.

We see her fall apart after the loss of her powers. It is a bit frustrating to see her character written this way, but other characters who try to help are written well, such as Riker and Guinan. In doing so we have an interesting perspective on the level of control that her ability provide when dealing with people. I also like the notion of her considering her human-half to be inferior.

Visually there is nothing particularly memorable on display, but all performances are strong. Marina Sirtis is very good considering how many temper tantrums she has to throw and how annoying her character is written. Jonathan Frakes, Caryn Johnson, Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden and Brent Spiner support well.

This eposode grates. The only reason this gets up to a 5 for me is the half of the run time that doesn't feature Counsellor Troi is decent. My biggest problem is Troi resigns as soon as she is in trouble. Aren't Starfleet officers made of sterner stuff? The 'woe is me' narrative might be aiming for empathy, but fails miserably. Picard should have accepted Troi's resignation and dropped her at the nearest starbase.

In this episode Deanna became the most annoying person ! Also, is the funniest Star Trek TNG episode ever but for different reasons ! Look in youtube for a 27 seconds video with key words "Star trek fart" and you will understand ! Hahahaha ! :-D

After the barely watchable "Final Mission", TNG returns to form with "The Loss", the first episode in which Wesley Crusher is neither featured nor credited.

The episodes starts with Troi counseling a widow who never fully accepted her husband's death. Surely, Troi handing her her late husband's music box is iconic. As their counseling session completes, Troi loses her empathic powers, obviously due to some spacial anomaly (natch).

What follows is both Troi and her patient coming to terms with their respective losses—from denial to acceptance. The various members of the crew try to help Troi in their own way, but Guinan as usual is the most helpful.

The Enterprise is caught in a strange and powerful gravitational pull that it is unable to escape from. At the same time, Counsellor Troi suddenly loses her empathic abilities and struggles to adapt.

As allegories go, this episode is quite heavy-handed as it obviously deals with the impact and mentality of those experiencing disability. Sirtis' performance is solid but the narrative makes her come across as extremely arrogant and even unlikeable. The show also doesn't do a great job of explaining the strange two-dimensional creatures effecting the Enterprise or why their appearance should affect Troi the way it does. It's well intended but could benefit from smarter writing.