TNG: “Family”

Date: April 9, 2020

Season 4, Episode 2

Musical Accompaniment: Top 30 Piano Covers of Popular Songs (says 2020, but these are not from 2020)

Interstellar News: A lot has changed in a month, none of it good.

Favorite Quote:

Picard: You were asking for it, you know.

Robert: Yes, but you needed it. You have been terribly hard on yourself.

Picard: You don’t know, Robert. You don’t know. They took everything I was. They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn’t stop them. I should have been able to stop them! I tried. I tried so hard, but I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough. I should have been able to stop them. I should! I should!

Robert: So, my brother is a human being after all. This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time. You have to learn to live with it. You have a simple choice now. Live with it below the sea with Louis, or above the clouds with the Enterprise.

Picard: You know, I think you were right after all. I think I did come back so that you could help me.

Robert: You know what? I still don’t like you, Jean-Luc.

Oh brotherly love.

The Enterprise is getting repairs and a rare stop at home, Earth. I get the best news ever, THIS IS THE EPISODE WHERE I GET TO MEET WORF’S ADOPTIVE PARENTS!  O’Brien and Worf have a cute discussion about family and then Worf’s super adorable Russian parents beam aboard. As they tour the ship they tell embarrassing stories about Worf to his crew mates, tell him how proud they are of him, and his dad tells anyone who will listen about how he has the schematics of the Enterprise at home. They spend some time with La Forge, Guinan, and even run into Picard as he gets back on board.

Picard heads to France to visit with his older brother, sister-in-law, and young nephew. Picard’s brother Robert tends to grapes and makes wine, of course, and is not a great lover of technology. He and Picard have a tenuous relationship, but after a brotherly brawl, a heart-to-heart, and a little wine they kiss and make up. I’m highly surprised Marie didn’t kill them both for making such a mess in her house, but maybe the French are more reserved then the Italians.

Dr. Crusher pulls out some stuff from storage from her husband and it turns out Jack recorded something for Wesley. It’s not as adorable as Worf’s parents, nor as cathartic as Picard’s visit, but it’s something for Wesley as he is getting older and figuring out what it means to become an adult and wear the uniform.

THIS was what I wanted the conclusion of “The Best of Both Worlds” to be, but we had to have the middle part to get here. I guess if you look at all three episodes as part of a trilogy, the beginning and end are usually the best but the journey is what got us that far. This was such an amazing episode on different types of families and how every family is different, but in the end still the same. Sometimes it is the family we are born into, and sometimes it’s the family we choose, but no matter how you define family it’s those we love that help us through the hardest times and celebrate with us during the best times.

As someone who hopes to adopt a tiny human some day, I hope that I am as awesome as Worf’s parents. His parents are everything I think a parent should be: proud, embarrassing, worried, and present for the ups and the downs. The banter between Worf’s parents reminds my husband a bit of my dad and stepmom, and I admit I see that a little. There may have not been much in the way of science fiction in this episode, but it was an amazing look into the lives of the crew as they interact with those they don’t get to see often. It was good to see Picard unpack some of his trauma in a space he felt safe to do so, and I hope he gets more opportunity in the future. It was nice to see Wesley have a tender moment with the father he never really knew. It was a little confusing why everything went back to normal after all that happened, but sometimes a little “normal” is what you need to get you back on track.

Another perfect 10 and an update to the Rankings page for a Seasons and Episodes updated list. Oh and happy 100th post to me!

TA Out!