‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Aquiel’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Something that is genuinely fascinating about television shows that enjoy a long and healthy run on the airwaves… is that they have a tendency to experiment with their storytelling as the years roll along. A decision that undoubtedly relates to the fact that writers and producers, love to challenge audiences and their characters, and one great way to do that is to shake things up and see what happens. And while this does indeed sound like a brilliant idea through and through, since it means the audience should be treated to something fresh and original… it is an experiment that tends to offer up a mixed bag of results more often than not. Because it tends to get taken too far on the creative side, and the audience knows what it likes and tunes in for that and wants different challenges to be injected into the standard formula, not to be thrown a curve ball.

But alas, the opposite happens regardless and one such show that was definitely eager to try new things in later seasons was Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for proof… look no further than its next episode. For ‘Aquiel’ is a story that basically fused together three genres, science fiction and mystery and romance, in order to tell a unique and ‘original’ tale and well… this is definitely an experiment that failed miserably. Which is a shame because the mystery portion of this story works well, since it features a quality investigation aboard a remote relay station and keeps us guessing through and through. But the romance angle of it and the twist ending really made this episode difficult to sit through. So, rather than go through all the plot points, let’s talk about those flaws… and how they could have been improved, starting with the romance angle of this tale.

Now, this is genuinely the roughest part of the story for one big reason. In that, it makes Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge, a lovesick idiot. Because every decision he makes in this story is grounded in his newfound desire and love for the mysterious Lieutenant Aquiel Uhnari. A woman he never knew of before this moment, and let’s be honest, seeing him fawn over her and her innocence in this desperate manner, is just weird. Because he’s a guy that’s always calm and cool and collect when it comes to any kind of grand mystery and seeing him in this forlorn and downright lustful light at times, just takes you out of the story and really, the best way to have fixed this problem… would have been to have eliminate the romance angle. Because then the goofy emotional slop is gone, and the story could instead have used Geordi’s brilliant mind to solve this crime.

One that quite, frankly, is the other issue in this tale. Because let’s be honest… having a shape shifting alien, one hiding within the confines of a cute dog be the culprit of this crime, is just a cop out through and through. Because it wipes away any depth and meaning to what came before that reveal and it is so easily defeated by Geordi, that it makes no sense how it survived this long. Which means that this twist ending, should have never been put to paper in the first place and instead… an actual murder should have taken place. Which is a really dark thing to type, fully understand that. But going that route would have brought about all kinds of intelligent and thoughtful storytelling about a problem that plagues us now. Plus, it would have brought forth questions about the nature of crime in the 24th Century and what would compel someone to commit murder in an era where peace and prosperity, and the hatred and fire that lurks behind murder… should have been eliminated. But alas, this one took the easy way out and such matters wouldn’t be touched upon in great detail until Voyager came along.

If anything, this episode simply featured missed opportunity after missed opportunity and that’s just odd for this series. Since at this point it had found its groove and knew how to tackle amazing concepts. But they can’t all be great, and we are indeed left with a failed experimental tale. One that wasn’t a complete and total loss, however. Simply because LeVar Burton is phenomenal in this episode and regardless of how out of character and goofy Geordi is here, his acting skills sell every moment and elicit an emotional response from the viewer. Which is undoubtedly, frustration, but he pulls it off none the less and well, now that this sloppy and strange experiment has come to its end… we can at least take solace in the fact that the next mission for this intrepid crew, will quickly wipe away any memory of this mess, courtesy of an interesting twist involving the Romulan Star Empire. Until next time.     

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