Data's newest attempt at being human is a doozy. Now, to make his life more human, Data has decided to have a child! Of course he cannot procreate in the traditional sense, so he builds an android child! And, since it's an android, he allows it to choose its own gender and appearance. While this girl, Lal, looks more human than Data, she turns out to be amazingly slow compared to her 'father'. She cannot pick up on social queues as well, is clumsy and seems, at times, kind of stupid. Because of this, a bigoted Admiral is now pushing to have Lal raised by someone other than Data--and to be raised apart from Data. The WHY of this never really makes any sense--especially in light of an earlier episode which established Data's legal status as a sentient being. And, it makes little sense in light of the Federation's supposed attitude of tolerance and niceness--and this explains why I dropped the score just a bit.
As I mentioned above, in some ways this show is a bit like the story of Frankenstein--with Data creating a being like the doctor. However, unlike the irresponsible doctor, Data tries very hard to be a good father and not abandon her to some Federation jerk. Overall, this is a very good episode...and one that might surprise you with how sadly it ends. You might just want to have a box of Kleenex handy.
