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

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One particular quirk that has come up often in our grand re-watch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is how the series loves to expand upon certain concepts over the course of several episodes. For example, season one featured a fascinating arc revolving around how far people and/or aliens are willing to go in order achieve a particular goal and more recently, season three took the time to dive into real world topics and put them on display in a wonderful and creative manner. And it just so happens that season four of this legendary series, is wasting zero time in offering up its own contribution to this particular concept/trend.

Because after taking the time to explore the benefits of family life and how it can help us in ways, we never thought possible, the writers’ room saw a grand opportunity to explore the darker side of family life. Specifically, the fact that fractures can and do exist in families, and that sometimes there is no repairing those divides when it comes to supremely toxic family members, regardless of how badly we want to see that frayed relationship improve. And it accomplished this particular storytelling feat by reuniting Lieutenant Commander Data with his estranged and supremely evil brother Lore, in the most unique way imaginable. For ‘Brothers’ saw Data lose control of his faculties in the opening moments of this tale, in order to bring him (and the Enterprise) to an unknown, out of the way planet.

All because, Dr. Noonien Soong was eager to see his son after all these years and provide him with a gift, an act that he failed to complete. Because unfortunately for both Data and Dr. Soong, Lore was also recalled by the same homing beacon that Soong used to bring Data home and his arrival brought about the exploration in question. For Lore truly made it clear that no apology or act of kindness would ever repair the rift that Data and Dr. Soong created in his mind, and despite Soong's best efforts to repair his relationship with his son, Lore continued to be Lore, and he even caused harm to his father after receiving the emotion chip that was meant for Data. Simply because evil is his jam, and he saw this reunion as a grand opportunity to stick it to the two men he believed hurt him the most. And really the whole point of this segment was to not only explore the notions we discussed above, but also to teach us that there comes a point where we can no longer coddle or indulge bad family members. Instead, we need to acknowledge they’re bad and remove their toxic drama from our lives.

Which makes it sound as though this episode was quite heavy handed in nature and free from any positivity, but it found a way to sneak that into the story as well. Because Soong’s decision to bring Data home was grounded in some particularly beautiful notions. In that, if both parties are willing and if the opportunity is there, it is never too late to repair broken family relationships and that we should definitely make efforts to do so. Since we never know how much time we have to make amends. A point that was hammered home by Soong’s admission that end of his life was near and that he wanted Data to have said emotion chip to aid him in his quest to become more human, and to show him that his father did indeed care about all those lost years between them. But what was truly unique about this message, is that it was emphasized twice in this tale, by way of another subplot aboard the Enterprise. Wherein a different pair of brothers at odds, came to realize after a health scare, just how important it is to cherish the family we have in our lives, and they quickly patched up their differences.

Which was something that was likely designed to engender hope for Data and Lore to reconcile since their true fates were up in the air at this point, and to continue to lighten the mood of a truly bleak episode at its core. Because Lore really is at his worst here, and the disdain he shows toward his father and his brother, really does hit home. Since we either have, or know of family members that see blood as an inconvenience and a nuisance and truly, this episode deserves some serious credit for exploring the other half of the family equation in this manner. Because this was raw and powerful and realistic as well, and it definitely gives the one pause in regard to the similar situations we’ve all run into when it comes to sour family members. If anything, this episode just goes to show that TNG ​was willing and able to examine any topic out there in a compelling manner, and it will be interesting to see what other concepts season four is going to explore in the weeks to come. Until next time.

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