Man of the People (⭑)

What we have here is a god-awful piece of trash. It would maybe be going a little too far to say that it feels like a first-season TNG episode that somehow got lost and wandered into season six (it is, at least, executed rather more skillfully than it would have been back in season one), but not by much. What the hell, writers? It’s not clear what anyone thought was worthwhile about this one, or what sort of thing they were even going for. In terms of my “story types” categorization scheme, I’ve reluctantly labeled it “high-concept sci-fi,” since the main focus seems to be the idea of someone using a telepathic link to attain unusual calm and focus by psychically assaulting someone else. There’s really not much to this as a story idea, and calling it “high-concept” feels awfully generous—but I guess this is what we were meant, at least, to find engaging here (?).

In its broad outlines, the plot of “Man of the People” feels like something we’ve seen numerous times before on TNG: there’s a skilled mediator who is trying to negotiate peace between some warring factions with the Enterprise‘s help, and it turns out that all is not as it seemed with regard to said mediator (“Too Short a Season,” “Loud as a Whisper,” “The Host”). Indeed, this episode is sort of like “The Host,” if the Trill symbiont ambassador from the latter had somehow used Riker as a host without his consent. (Or actually, an even more apt comparison: it’s like the episode “Sarek,” if Sarek’s mind-meld with the captain had been forced and non-consensual.) We aren’t quite explicitly told, this time, that the mediator at the center of the plot is absolutely the one and only person who could possibly conduct the peace negotiations successfully, but we might as well be. To be sure, his co-mediators act as though they are helpless without him, and seem to willingly turn a blind eye to his outrageously unethical bullshit. And, as usual, despite being apparently indispensable, he seems more or less unremarkable (that is, until it becomes clear that he’s actually an unscrupulous sociopath). There’s also the usual (and inherently weird) trope wherein he (brags?) about not knowing ahead of time how he’s going to proceed with the negotiations, claiming that his style is to “feel his way through them”—and, of course, there’s the inevitable romantic connection (of a sort?) with one of the show’s two female regulars. I guess the fact that this particular mediator’s “secret” is directly connected to what (supposedly) makes him so successful is a difference between him and his counterparts in other episodes, but this premise doesn’t really hold together for me. We’re supposed to understand that Alkar is a good negotiator because he’s not distracted by any negative emotions, since he offloads them all to someone else. And I mean, sure, being calm and focused seems like a good trait for a peace negotiator to have and all, but I just don’t buy that the lengths to which this asshole goes to achieve the said focus are remotely necessary. If this is supposed to be the big “idea” of the episode, it’s an awfully thin and watery big idea.

But if not that, then what else are we supposed to take away from this? As with many other bad episodes, this one focuses mainly on a guest character about whom there is nothing particularly interesting, and although the story certainly pairs him with Counselor Troi, it would be laughable to suggest that it does anything meaningful with her as a character. After all, she spends most of the episode under the influence of his weird power and behaving not at all like herself; then she and Riker laugh it off at the end. So clearly the experience has no important effect on her, nor do the events reveal anything about her to the audience. And like, kudos (I guess?) for not making Alkar creepy and off-putting, or just an obvious asshole, right from the start (like I said, we’re not quite in first-season territory here), but I still have no investment in him, so when he abruptly comes clean with Picard and reveals that he just straight-up intends to use Troi as a “receptacle” until it kills her, and offers his bullshit justification of this as necessary in order to save lives, I certainly don’t have any sympathy for him! I mean, another possible (non-Trek) comparison/inspiration for this story might be The Picture of Dorian Grey, except that our Dorian stand-in is not particularly introspective and is entirely convinced of his own righteousness, and the story isn’t interested in exploring the depths of his depravity or anything. So, like, so what? There’s just no “meat” here, character-wise. But also, it’s not as though the episode sets up some intriguing mystery about what’s going on that the regulars have to investigate and be clever to figure out, or presents any surprising or interesting twists along the way. In fact, once they do glom onto what Alkar is doing, the episode actually falls back on the tired trope of “kill the character and then revive her, in order to trick the antagonist and save her from him.” Yawn. (Also, what exactly was the plan there? They pay lip service to concern for his next victim, but what were they actually gonna do about freeing her from Alkar once they substituted her for Troi, if Alkar hadn’t conveniently solved the problem for them by spontaneously dying?) In short, then, there’s no fun plot cleverness here to make up for the lack of character and/or thematic depth. So, again…what’s the actual point of this episode? I mean, is it possible that simply maneuvering Troi into a weird sexy dress and having her behave like a total crazy person was, in itself, supposed to be the “meat”!?

Anyway, why does being used as a telepathic receptacle for this dude’s negative emotions make a woman (and it is, seemingly, always a woman) both super horny for him and irrationally possessive, paranoid, and jealous toward other women with regard to him? He actually declines Troi’s advances while she’s under his influence, so at least it’s not actually just a big convoluted rape scheme, I guess. In fact, her behavior while under his power actually seems extremely inconvenient for him, as does the behavior of his fake mother while she is his receptacle. It makes one wonder how he has managed never to be caught and held accountable for his crimes, really. But internal plot/premise logic aside, what story purpose is even served by making his telepathic link thing have these specific weird effects on his victims? Is it (again) really just all about having Troi be sexy and wig out? (It also gets used in another way that calls to mind the kind of inept writing that was typical of TNG’s first season: the absurd, awkward teaser hook. Troi goes to the transporter room to welcome the ambassador and his mother aboard the ship, and…a weirdly uncomfortable social interaction transpires! Cut to opening credits…)

Two final comments: First…I mean, do I even have to bother with calling out the absurdity of how, upon being released from the telepathic link and having Dr. Crusher medically “neutralize” the neurotransmitters in her brain or whatever, Troi’s face magically de-ages and the grey disappears from her hair, leaving her suddenly looking like her normal self again? And second… Anybody want to offer any theories as to why this episode is entitled “Man of the People”? Seems pretty random to me.

Weird, unfathomable, terrible episode.