Thursday, July 21, 2011

TNG Ep. 36: The Dauphin

Summary: The Enterprise transports future world ruler, Salia, and of course, things can never be easy. First they run into problems with Salia's protector, who is, well, very protective. Secondly, Wesley tries to convince Salia to stay on the Enterprise because he loves her. He kisses her and they flirt. Then it turns out that both Salia and her protector are both powerful shapeshifters, which complicates matters. It also turns out that Salia has a duty to her people, and so she decides not to stay on the Enterprise. Wesley is shocked and disappointed. Every one goes home sad.

This is the episode that explains to me what some people don't like about Wesley's character. Now, that's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, but when I try to single out it's merits, I come up basically empty-handed. It's a typical boy-meets-girl, only with a shapesifter thrown in as the girl.

It's nice to be reminded that Wesley is old enough to kiss, but his character is so naive that it hurts. Specifically, his 6-year-old-like resentment of the fact that she is a shapeshifter. And this from the dude who's best friend is blue and can't breathe our air. You'd think he'd be a little more tolerant. Heck, he could even be thrilled to have kissed a super-powerful being.

It also made me roll my eyes that he felt so betrayed that she was leaving. I was never convinced that he should believe there was a good chance of her staying, especially after Riker told him to forget about it. (Thank you, Riker. That made me laugh). Come to think of it, the most entertaining part of this episode is the banter between Riker and

I mean, Wesley asking the adults for dating advice? Sure. Even adults ask other adults about that stuff. Acting like a baby because she's a shapeshifter?

Meh. I guess not every episode can be "Riker lives with Klingons."

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