167: Violations (5.12)

Synopsis:  An Ullian decides to have his way with Riker, Beverly, and Troi.  But Troi was asking for it–she was showing off her psilosynines.

Memory Alpha Summary:  Come on, you know you want it

Review:  An entire episode dedicated to telepathic rape could have been great.  But when the obvious rapist is so obviously evil the whole episode, it’s just laughable that not a single person on the crew is suspicious of him.  Then when the rapist implicates his own father–who has been acting like a very non-evil dude–they immediately arrest him.  Then the rapist, who has somehow gotten away with his rapes and his general dickery (as he has on multiple planets already), decides to rape Troi some more.   Finally, he physically assaults her just in case the evidence against him wasn’t damning enough.  Thankfully, Data and LaForge have found common sense a paper trail that implicates the obvious rapist, saving Troi and a bunch of would be victims.

However, the truly offensive scene is when Picard proclaims that the Federation has no laws against mental rape.  Seriously, o diplomatic one.  He has allegedly caused direct mental anguish to several of your crew and put them into comas.  I’m sure the legal experts of the Federation could still find a way to prosecute him, so perhaps you shouldn’t extradite him quite so quickly. The severe lack of anything resembling an intelligent or empathetic look into the subject matter is embarrassing.

At least Worf got to remind everyone that Klingons do not allow themselves to be…probed.  Michael Dorn—you deserve every penny you’ve made for being able to deliver that line with a straight face.

8 thoughts on “167: Violations (5.12)”

  1. I feel like you should just group all Troi-centric episodes that don’t feature her mother and say “these are all equally bad and besmirch the otherwise good name of TNG.”

    But yeah, this one is awful. I’m looking forward to reading about the good ones.

Leave a reply to Randy Sorrell Cancel reply