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

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we last settled in to discuss season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we unfortunately had to break down quite the sour episode. Because ‘Up the Long Ladder’ was another stereotype laden episode that offered up more embarrassment than anything else. And while normally, that kind of story would and should make a fan trepidatious to continue the journey because more awful episodes might lie ahead, the good news when it comes to TNG; is that it always knew how to rebound from a rough story. And in this particular instance, the show rebounded from this particularly ugly faux pas by injecting a boatload of humor into the next episode of this storied franchise.
​
Because ‘Manhunt’ saw the return of Lwaxana Troi, seemingly for diplomatic reasons. For she was expected to represent Betazed at an upcoming conference that the Enterprise was transporting delegates to. But it didn’t take long for Jean-Luc and the entire crew to realize that the senior Troi was here for far more personal reasons. Because Lwaxana was undergoing the Betazoid equivalent of menopause and thanks to that, she was looking for a future husband on her way to the conference, and she settled upon Captain Jean-Luc Picard as the prime candidate to become the future Mr. Troi. An honor that the captain clearly did not want and on that he did everything to avoid, which led to the humor in question. 

Because he even went so far as to indulge Commander Data’s proclivity to discuss all technical things in the universe, simply to cool the mood down when Lwaxana invited Picard to dinner and put the moves on him and this was… an utter delight to watch. Simply because we came to learn that Data is the greatest cooler ever since he perfectly spoiled the dinner for all the right reasons, and while it was hilarious to watch this play out, it was only the beginning when it comes to the fun. Because Lwaxana was undeterred by Data’s attempts to slow things down and she continued making advances against the captain. To the point where he decided the only way to avoid this mess, was to hide, and he opted to immerse himself within a Dixon Hill holo novel in order to steer clear of Ms. Troi, and for a time that worked. 

But eventually, she sniffed him out and came to realize that no one on this ship was going to be her husband. Not even Commander Riker, despite her best efforts to steal away her daughter’s Imzadi. But while it seems as though this entire episode was designed to make Lwaxana the butt of all of the jokes, she did in fact, serve quite the important purpose in this tale. Because once the Antedians (the other delegates aboard the 1701-D) get close to Ms. Troi, she’s able to detect their thoughts and uncovers a plot to blow up the entire conference for reasons that are not revealed. But they don’t need to be, because she saves the day and no one is harmed in the end, allowing for this particular tale wrap up in a neat and happy fashion, since the conference goes on as planned, and no one gets trapped in a marriage they want no part of.

In the end however, this really was quite the pleasant palate cleanser when all is said and done. Because every ugly trace of that other episode is forgotten the instant, we learn of Lwaxana’s intentions and the comedy here really is something quite special, because this episode just features laugh after laugh. Heck, even the side characters get in on the comedy since Mr. Homn’s love of alcohol and synthehol leads to some quirky moments as well. If anything, this is what season two has definitely needed a little more of and it is nice to find some joy and fun at the end of year two and hopefully, what comes next continues to work to make the audience happy. Because we are going to need all the joy we can find, in order to mentally survive the painfully weak season two finale.

---