TNG - "Lonely Among Us"

This is certainly a weird one. Captain Picard gets possessed by/merged with a non-corporeal life form, beamed into space as pure energy, then floats his way back and crawls into the Enterprise computer, only to be re-materialized and remember nothing. Well that's certainly ridiculous.

What's more bothersome about this episode is that it starts out focusing on a conflict between two alien races, but that conflict is never shown to be resolved. The conflict even turns lethal at the end, but, in light of the apparently-greater threat posed by the non-corporeal being, is treated like a joke.

Here's the thing: stories in TNG follow the "A Plot / B Plot" system. You have the more important A plot which the main story focuses on, and the B plot which is usually rather insignificant. The B plot is often character-focused and/or humorous (such as Data learning some new human trait in a slightly comical fashion). The problem with the way "Lonely Among Us" handles the A and B plots is that it switches them without telling us. We're led to believe at the beginning that the conflict between the Antica and the Selay is the A plot, and the unusual electrical phenomena are the B plot. Because the electrical phenomena are the real physical threat to the crew, however, one would logically assume that it can only be so important if it is in fact somehow related to the main story of the episode, which we have been led to believe is the alien plot. It's not as if you need to be trained in the intricate art of story analysis to realize this; it's something you pick up subconsciously. We're told initially that the Selay/Antica plot is very important, but later that plot is dumped, and we're left with a feeling of unresolved tension. As with much of early TNG, even the most casual of TV viewers could tell that the writers and directors had no bloody idea what they were doing.

As for the actual sci-fi plot, it's just stupid. We've seen the "strange phenomena is actually a life form that just wants to get home" story over and over again in Star Trek. The way it's handled here is just stupid. The idea that Picard can retain sentience in energy form, possess locomotive ability, and be able to travel through the Enterprise computer at will is simply ludicrous. Despite the fact that both Trek fans and haters poke fun at the "technobabble" the show uses to solve complex problems, it does in fact have a kind of internal logic that works. However, this episode ignores that logic.

We do get Data as Sherlock Holmes, which is cool. But that can't save this one.