mha%memory.UUCP@theory.TN.CORNELL.EDU (Mark H. Anbinder) (01/04/91)
Subject: Spoiler Synopsis - "The Loss" Date: 1/1/91 Spoiler Synopsis: "The Loss" -- Episode 184 WARNING: The following posting contains a complete synopsis of this week's TNG episode, "The Loss." If you have not yet seen the episode, it may spoil your enjoyment... and at the very least will spoil any surprises the authors may have wanted to catch you with. Proceed at your own risk. Tim Lynch would probably wish you a Happy New Year if he were here, but since I'm doing the synopsis for him, I'll wish you a Happy New Year myself. It's been a while since we've seen Counselor Troi counseling someone, but that's how this week's episode opens. She is speaking with Ensign Janet Brooks, whose husband died in an accident five months before. The woman has never really come to terms with her loss, simply denied its effect. She chastises herself for having insisted that all her husband's personal effects be taken away after his death, and when Troi produces one item that she'd saved, Brooks starts to break down and finally face the loss. On the bridge, Picard is suggesting that Riker try a wonderful new holodeck program, one that offers horseback riding in the Himalayas, something Riker feels may be beyond him. Picard suggests that they could program a docile steed, but Worf interrupts to report "a vast field of..." something, that appeared directly in their path but vanished as quickly. Meanwhile, Ensign Brooks is leaving Troi, but notices Troi wince. Troi brushes it off, saying she's just tired, but after the Ensign leaves, she stumbles back into her quarters, clearly more than tired. Data, on the bridge, reports that an "aggregate field of plane-polarized objects has just appeared... and disappeared." Picard calls a full stop to investigate, as Troi collapses in her quarters. Sensor diagnostics show nothing odd, and the anomaly has not shown itself again. Attempts to resume the original course to the destination, though, have no effect except a brief lurch. Moments later, the Ensign at Con reports that the ship is moving again... they're being pulled. Troi, in the meantime, calls a busy Dr. Crusher to say she's feeling very dizzy. Crusher tells her she'll be there as soon as she can, though she's getting calls from all over the ship. An attempt to break away from the slow one-tenth-impulse pull accomplishes nothing. When Crusher arrives, Troi's pain is gone, though she's feeling a bit foggy. Riker's voice over the intercom interrupts, calling for a Senior Staff meeting; the ladies head upstairs, though Troi gets a confused look on her face for a moment. At the staff meeting in the observation lounge, it is only when Picard asks Troi whether she senses a life form "out there" that she realizes she can't sense ANYTHING... anything at all, outside the ship or inside. Down in Sickbay, Crusher's diagnosis is brain damage, though she's not sure whether it can be treated. Troi comments that Betazed brains are very good at regenerating themselves, and that the condition might clear itself up. Crusher is less optimistic, saying that it might, but that Troi is, after all, half human, and she doesn't want to give her any false hopes. "It's just hope, Beverly, not false hope," says Troi. Riker wonders if Troi's problem might have anything to do with the anomaly, since it arrived at the same time as Troi's problem. Dr. Crusher suggests that Troi go to see one of the other people on board with a degree in Psychology... since she can't, as she usually would in such cases, recommend that the patient go see Counselor Troi. Later, Riker goes to visit Troi, who comments coldly that she's always noticed that people treat handicapped people differently... and that she does NOT want to be treated that way. She will adapt... or she won't. Up on the bridge, Geordi and Data are examining data being collected by a probe they've launched to examine the ship. Nothing unusual shows up until they overlay virtual particle trajectories on the display. The ship appears to be surrounded by a cloud of moving particles that Geordi comments reminds him of what he saw while skin-diving off some coral reefs on some planet or other. Troi is again conversing with Ensign Brooks, who reports that she feels like a new woman. Troi comments that one night of crying can't make up for months of denial, but Brooks tells her she's wrong. Data and Geordi report that the objects surrounding the ship exist in two dimensions... they have length and width, but no height, which is why the ship's sensors did not detect them, since they were being seen edge on. Only the probe, above the horizontal plane of the ship, could see them. Data says that they appear to be alive, but the only explanation as to why the ship is being dragged along is that the ship's graviton field is being polarized. Geordi says, "It's a shame we can't tell if they're sentient," which Troi takes as a personal insult. She storms out as soon as Picard adjourns the meeting. Troi goes down to Sickbay, and pleads with Crusher to DO SOMETHING. "How do you people live like this?!" She yells at the doctor, telling her she has no idea what such a loss feels like, and that she should have come to help Troi sooner, rather than wasting her time on skinned elbows. After going to her quarters to think, Troi goes up to the Captain's Ready Room to resign her position as Counselor, since she has no idea how to do her job without her empathic abilities. Picard tries to convince her that empathic awareness is not a requirement of the position, and that she'll be able to adjust. He adds that when humans lose a sense, as when a man becomes blind, the other senses grow stronger to compensate. Troi snaps back that this is a myth with no scientific basis, no doubt created by "normal" people who felt uncomfortable around the disabled. She is disabled, she says, and she can not perform her duties. Picard tries to tell her about a teacher at the Academy who'd been confined to a wheelchair from birth, but Troi interrupts, saying, "Captain, spare me the inspirational anecdote, and just accept my resignation." Riker goes down to Troi's quarters to talk to her. When she says she'd really rather be alone, he answers, "Too bad." As she starts to cry, he hugs her. She asks, "Is this how you handle all your personnel problems?" "Sure," Riker responds. "You'd be surprised how far a hug goes with Geordi... or Worf." Troi complains about the hollowness around her... how the people around her, including Riker, seem to have no more substance than characters on the holodeck. Riker comments that this puts her on equal footing with him... that she'd always acted aristocratic, as though her human half weren't good enough for her. He is interrupted by Geordi, who reports via Commlink that they are ready to try another breakaway attempt. The attempt again fails; they are lucky, Geordi says, that the hull is still in one piece. Data reports that the movement pattern of the cluster changed for an instant during their attempt, but then immediately returned to its previous dynamic. Picard suggests that they filter the reaction through the Universal Translator to see whether the creatures might be trying to communicate. In Ten Forward, Guinan surprises Troi, who clearly is not used to having people be able to sneak up behind her. Guinan off-handedly comments that she's going to talk to Picard about the position of Counselor, now that it's open. Troi tries to tell Guinan that the position involves more than letting people cry on her shoulder, but Guinan thinks she can handle it. Troi realizes that Guinan isn't being serious... and realizes that even without her empathic abilities, her instincts were able to "read" Guinan's feelings. On the bridge, Data notices a new phenomenon. It turns out to be a "cosmic string fragment," 107 km long, no wider than a proton, but with gravitational fields as strong as those around a black hole. The two-dimensional beings, Data notes, are heading right for the string fragment, the Enterprise in tow. Only seven hours remain until the Enterprise will reach the cosmic string fragment, and the two-dimensional beings have shown no indication that they are aware of the danger. Worf suggests firing a spread of photon torpedoes into the field of creatures, but Picard, hesitant to risk hurting them, opts for Geordi's suggestion... a spread of torpedoes in their path instead. This has no effect, so Picard decides to try the torpedoes in the middle of the graviton field. This, too, accomplishes nothing. Down in Troi's quarters, Brooks arrives for her appointment. Troi apologizes for forgetting to cancel their appointment, that clearly she can be of no help to her any more. Brooks says that this is nonsense, that Troi had been right... that she was STILL hiding from the pain of her husband's death. Troi might not have been able to sense her feelings, but she helped. Picard calls Troi to his office, and tells her that, with the situation critical, she is the best-qualified person on board, empathic abilities or no, to help Data try to communicate with the entities, to warn them of their impending destruction. It's an hour until the ship's destruction, and Troi joins Data. While telling him how little help she'll be to him without her empathic abilities, not knowing how to draw on her human instinct, she realizes that the entities might be acting instinctively, following their inherent, inborn forces. If they can discover what drives this species, they may be able to find a solution. The only evidence is the brief change in course and speed when the Enterprise tried to break away... perhaps this will provide a clue. If the entities have chosen a course towards the string fragment, a simple, instinctive stimulus response like a moth driven to a flame, then, Data hypothesizes, a cosmic string fragment simulated BEHIND the cluster might draw the entities away from the cosmic string. They won't be able to simulate the gravitational equivalent of a hundred stars, but they can simulate the string's vibrational frequencies, with Geordi controlling the ship's parabolic dish. When they increase the intensity beyond that of the cosmic string, the graviton field collapses, and the ship is able to move away. Troi suddenly smiles, and announces that the creatures are all right, even though they've entered the gravitational effect of the cosmic string fragment; they're home. The cosmic string was "the one place in the galaxy they most wanted to be," rather than a danger. Yes, Troi responds to Riker's unvoiced question... she SENSED it. In Ten Forward, Troi explains that the overwhelming intensity of emotion of the cluster of entities must have short-circuited her empathy's ability to process emotion. Crusher accepts Troi's attempt to apologize, interrupting it, and commenting that therapists usually make the worst patients... "except for doctors, of course." Troi tells Guinan that she'd never fully appreciated how difficult and rewarding it is to be human... but she had a lot of help. She thanks Riker for making her face her other half... and comments that he was right that there's something to be learned by not being in control of every situation. Riker welcomes her to the human race, and leans in to kiss her. She dodges, and says, "By the way, the next time you call me aristocratic..." -- Next time, on "Data's Day," O'Brien gets married, and Data tries to find his place in the universe. "Will he ever feel life's most cherished emotions?" Stay tuned for the return of Lynch's Spoiler Synopsis... next time, on Star Trek: The Next Generation. -- Mark H. Anbinder STARNET - The International Star Trek Fan Network 1063 Warren Road #6 Memory Alpha BBS Ithaca, NY 14850 mha@memory.uucp 607-257-5822 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith - the official scapegoat for r.a.s.i. Email submissions to trek-info@dweeb.fx.com, and questions to trek-info-request@dweeb.fx.com