‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Birthright, Part II’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

There comes a point for each of us in our lives, where the past becomes quite important to us. For we are creatures of curiosity, and we like to know what came before us and this is precisely why we reach out to our parents and ask them to inform us of our family’s history in great detail. So, we understand where our family has been and what our heritage looks like and how we can honor it, and this is a big day in our lives for certain. Since it teaches us so much and helps to shape our future and what we want out of life. But this day isn’t always available to everyone. Because some kids, simply don’t have access to their parents or knowledge of their past and that makes their push to learn more about who they are a touch more difficult.

To the point where they have to great creative to understand their lineage and their history, and it just so happens, that this particular struggle to understanding our past, served as the focal theme of the next episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A feat that ‘Birthright, Part II’ accomplishes, by putting Worf in quite the difficult situation. For he is basically trapped on the isolated world he discovered in the last episode, when we catch up with him, here, and he is being forced to acclimate to a world where Romulans and Klingons live side by side and shun the old ways and that… is something he simply cannot do. For he is a Klingon and knows what will bring him joy and it doesn’t take long for his love of his heritage to cause trouble in this place.

Because the Klingon children in this colony, some of whom are part Romulan as well, quickly find themselves attracted to Worf’s actions and teachings and understandably so. For their parents have denied them an understanding of their Klingon heritage and in doing so, have robbed them of a chance to really learn about themselves. Which of course, brings about conflict in the camp since some of these young minds are eager to embrace the way of the warrior, to the point where some are wondering if the time has come to leave this place and explore the galaxy and their home world on their own. A move that brings about great concern from the leaders of this colony, since they truly believe their way is the only way forward and worry that their exit would reveal the truth about this colony. But a tense standoff and wise words from a loving mother, allows for them to quietly leave and for the secret of this place to remain safe.

But what matters more, is that this story really does a phenomenal job of hammering home the difficulties that come with not understanding our heritage and our family’s past. Because it truly disconnects people from the world and leaves them listless since those little tidbits about our forefathers really do guide us in ways, we never thought possible, and give us a powerful connection to humanity, and it is just wonderful that this episode not only points out the importance of uncovering it… but encourages those who don’t know… to find out everything they can about their lineage. So that they can finally find the peace and understanding they crave and really, in the end that examination makes this another unique and bold episode. Since this is another topic, we don’t discuss all that often in our modern world.

However, we should, since we generalize the structure of the family unit far too often and leave people that aren’t in a traditional family unit behind, and that’s not right. If anything, this two-parter and its unique commentary on family and what defines us, really was ahead of its time for certain and in many ways still is, since its discussions still haven’t hit the mainstream in the slightest. But when they do, this is a story that will stand as a pioneer on such matters and its wonder extends beyond this analysis. Since it also spoke to the importance of unity, by way of the colony's structure. and it also let Michael Dorn shine. Because he turned in a wonderful performance here for certain and well, now that this cerebral journey has come to a close, the time has come to turn our attention to a story that could be considered to be something of a palate cleanser. Until next time.

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