Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Liaisons"
Air date: 9/27/1993
Teleplay by Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci & Lisa Rich
Story by Roger Eschbacher & Jaq Greenspon
Directed by Cliff Bole
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Liaisons" is in the spirit of TOS-era alien encounters, where aliens behave strangely, our human characters do not understand, and then the story's lesson is revealed in a long soliloquy at the end that explains everything that came before. (For some reason that seems like a TOS template, anyway.) The problems are (1) I don't really buy the rationale after all is revealed, and (2) much of what comes before that is either forgettable or tedious — when it's not being laughable, of course.
The story doesn't show all its cards until the end, but for the sake of simplicity I will explain it up front — the Enterprise is being visited by two ambassadors who have been assigned to learn about concepts that do not exist in their society and they don't understand. To that end, they've paired up with Troi and Worf to learn from them the concepts of, respectively, pleasure (via foodstuffs, not sex, mind you) and antagonism. (I suppose they already know enough about both antagonism and Worf to make the assumption that he's the right candidate, which makes the whole experiment seem unnecessary, but whatever.) A third ambassador (played by the always reliable Eric Pierpoint of TNG's TV contemporary Alien Nation) takes Picard back to his world in a shuttle, which instead crashes on a desolate planet, thereby giving the writers of the then-forthcoming Voyager ideas for years to come.
On the planet surface, Picard is rescued by a woman named Anna (Barbara Williams), who also crashed there and has been stranded for seven years. Picard assures them they will figure out a way to escape the planet using technology from the shuttle to call for help, but Anna is a little ... off. The two of them sit and converse, Anna expresses her gratitude, and it slowly turns into a riff on Misery. She won't let him leave, comes up with excuses for why not, becomes infatuated with him, and then "accidentally" destroys the shuttle transceiver she's supposed to be retrieving. Serious question: Am I supposed to laugh when kooky Anna finally throws Picard to the ground and repeatedly demands "Love me!"? Because I did.
Aboard the Enterprise the two ambassadors drive Troi and Worf crazy, but mostly Worf (who gets the most entertaining iteration of this particular storyline), who has to deal with a guy who provokes him at every turn — as if he were doing it on purpose! (Because, plot twist: He is! But for a reason! Whoa!) This finally results in Worf kicking the guy's ass (after, yes, threatening him with disembowelment) when he cheats during a poker game. Somewhat funny: yes. Relevant storytelling: hardly.
Turns out "Anna" is actually the ambassador in disguise, who attempted to get Picard to fall in love with her/him in order to understand the concept of love. Their society first learned of the curious concept from the logs of two people who fell in love after being stranded in a similar crash/survival situation — so he decided he'd replicate the scenario to see if he could make Picard fall in love with him/her. I'd say his experiment's biggest flaw was that he expected it to succeed on the timeline of a typical TNG romance, which is to say, immediately.
So what we have here is story that obeys the Trekkian mantra of seeking out new cultures and trying to understand them (in this case, from the aliens' point of view), but does so in probably the most prosaic and forgettable ways possible.
Previous episode: Descent, Part II
Next episode: Interface
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54 comments on this post
Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 8:21pm (UTC -5)
In some ways this feels like an unofficial episode of Voyager.
Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 9:26pm (UTC -5)
And I did enjoy the WHOA! I was about to write "the ambassador's hangover" until I realized I had gotten that from Voyager. Shows how much they did mimic this!
Thu, Sep 20, 2012, 11:49pm (UTC -5)
I rarely felt TNG did fluff pieces that felt like pure filler but this is one of the few that I would categorize as such. It felt like it was spinning its wheels and was the first hint of TNG in S7 running on creative fumes. I didn't find any of the ship storylines the least bit interesting and the attempted humor with Worf was forced and stupid.
The Anna mystery lacked no sense of urgency or intrigue to make it the least bit compelling--the scenes were slow and dialog middling. The ultimate reveal was lacking and couldn't make what came before it in hindsight compelling with more context.
Fri, Sep 21, 2012, 9:17pm (UTC -5)
I think that was what I liked about it at first-- Picard slowly trying to figure out what was wrong with this seemingly tragic woman. I wish she had been a real stranded person.
Sat, Sep 22, 2012, 5:00am (UTC -5)
Sat, Oct 6, 2012, 11:49am (UTC -5)
Fri, Dec 28, 2012, 8:16am (UTC -5)
Anyway, Liaisons is an episode I remember from it's first run and I found it interesting all the way through. From the shuttle crash to the electrical discharges on the surface, to the crashed freighter. I was definitely disturbed by the thought of jumping off the cliff and the revelation that the woman was actually a man. I really enjoyed the moments of Worf just barely containing his anger with that prick ambassador.
Sure, as an adult this episode is pretty silly and could easily have fit into the run of Voyager or Enterprise with it's plot-holes and leaps in logic. Still, simply being TNG, and tied to my nostalgia, I give this episode a pass and can always enjoy watching it. I guess I'm just able to put myself back into my 7-year-old mindset.
Sun, Jul 7, 2013, 2:38am (UTC -5)
Sun, Jul 7, 2013, 3:33am (UTC -5)
Fri, Jul 26, 2013, 1:48am (UTC -5)
Fri, Oct 4, 2013, 2:24am (UTC -5)
TROI [after talking about how her guy likes dessert]: I admit he's testing even my limits.
WORF: YOU SEE? THEY ARE INSANE!
Haha. But no, watching Worf try to keep his cool when someone piles on and tries to get him riled up both demonstrates how far he's come and how much he's still a hot-tempered guy, and is generally quite funny.
Anyway, this is an episode where I mostly applaud the idea -- aliens have their own style of cultural exchange, what seems to be a difficult situation has a purpose -- but the execution is flat and as Jammer says the rationale makes little sense. In particular, Troi's guy's search for the true meaning of pleasure means eating dessert after dessert, which is, uh, not the only kind of pleasure humans experience. (I was thinking about the pleasure of watching a great play! Get your mind out of the gutter!) 1.5 stars for decent intentions and for the Worf plot.
Sun, Jan 26, 2014, 9:20pm (UTC -5)
Worf's arc was the most entertaining. Had me in stitches throughout.
Troi's arch was actually played out in the food transition; it wasfun for about two scenes but quickly became bland.
Once I saw the reaction of the ambassador, to the fight Worf gave him, I immediately realised that Picard was also being tested and correctly surmised that 'crazy Anna' was in fact his male traveling companion.
Seemed strange that Troi was talking as if Betazoids and humans were the same species, as she explained human procreation.
Sun, Feb 2, 2014, 7:47am (UTC -5)
Sun, Feb 23, 2014, 8:59am (UTC -5)
The subplot that Braga wrote for the Enterprise was top notch entertainment though. Many classic Worf moments in this episode!
Sat, Mar 22, 2014, 8:38am (UTC -5)
Sun, May 24, 2015, 7:29am (UTC -5)
Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 9:28am (UTC -5)
At least there was a nice twist when it was revealed that "Love me, Picard! Love me!" Anna was actually a dude. Who says STNG had no conception of non-straight relationships?
Despite the Misery mimicry, I thought the episode could have been a decent one apart from the Worf plot. Seriously, what ambassador could possibly be that rude without being called on it? The main characteristic of diplomats is DIPLOMACY. I just couldn't accept that Riker, as Worf's superior officer, told Worf to keep being patient rather than at least trying to directly confront the unbelievably hostile ambassador and questioning him about the motive for his actions.
As for the third ambassador, the insatiable junkfood junkie -- that was just hilarious.
Thu, Oct 8, 2015, 7:47am (UTC -5)
And yet, I wasn't scared away and still managed to become a die-hard Trek fan. For all you atheists out there - if that isn't proof that God exists and that miracles do happen, I don't know what is. :P
However, despite the fact that "Liaisons" should probably hold something of a nostalgic place in my heart, it doesn't - because this episode is BORING! Aside from a few humorous moments from the Worf and the asshole ambassador plot, what is there, really, to say? The Troi plot is just absurd - her ambassador wants to experience the concept of pleasure and all he can think to do is eat desserts? Um, you know there are other forms of pleasure, right writers? And yes, I'm talking about sex (I'm perfectly happy to have my mind in the gutter, thank you very much! :P). The Picard plot is about as dull as you can get, most likely due to the fact that the actress playing Anna is about as convincing as.... well, I don't even know how to describe it. And yet, I can't even blame her. She's playing a character that has no idea what love is and yet is attempting to get someone to fall in love with her. How exactly was she supposed to play that? I blame the rather odd idea, or perhaps the writing, instead of her. If you want to see something like this done properly, just watch "Misery."
I do want to point out that this is the first, and probably only, time that Trek has attempted to portray female on male rape seriously. And that is exactly what the scene is when Anna throws Picard to the ground and attempts to force herself on him. Usually Trek, for whatever deluded reason, likes to play that concept for laughs (as in "First Contact" and later in ENT: "Unexpected"). Given that it happens in real life a whole lot more than most people are even willing to admit, it's nice to see them at least trying to treat it like the serious issue it is. However, like Jammer, I found the scene unintentional funny because Barbara Williams played the part so damn kooky and unconvincingly. But, again, that's not her fault. How else could you portray a possible rape scene when the script demands that you say asinine things like "You should love me now" or "I know more about you" and "Love me!"?
If it wasn't for those few glimpses of humor in the Worf plot (Data telling Worf that he's "demanding, temperamental and rude" and "You see? You see? They are insane!") I would give this one a below average rating.
5/10
Thu, Oct 8, 2015, 8:03am (UTC -5)
Thu, Oct 8, 2015, 9:04am (UTC -5)
Sun, Nov 1, 2015, 7:11am (UTC -5)
"Excruciating" indeed. 1.5 stars.
Sun, May 8, 2016, 11:31am (UTC -5)
Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 9:04am (UTC -5)
Tue, Nov 22, 2016, 11:30pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Dec 9, 2016, 2:24pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 2:29am (UTC -5)
Fri, Feb 17, 2017, 1:36pm (UTC -5)
So okay. "Liaisons" doesn't offer the freshest strawberries in the patch, but I appreciate episodes that, despite all the weaknesses, still shine through. Like William B, I too have a soft spot for Worf, and he's hilarious here; his antagonist is also terrific because he's instantly loathsome! The food-addicted ambassador is a hoot as well, and he and his surly colleague make quite the comic pair. I laughed out loud as one scene ended with Mr. Loathsome insulting Worf, and then another scene started with Mr. All-You-Can Eat, accompanied by Troi, sipping a fruity drink from a giant Hurricane glass the size of a small vase.
I agree with others that if the Ana storyline had been treated in earnest, some real drama could have been generated. I love "Liaisons" portrays Ana (initially, at least, before she gets kooky) as deeply scarred and beyond lonely. She has lost some of her speech, and cannot gauge how much time has passed, mistaking her seven years marooned on the planet as "only one or two." Yikes! I felt for her; I really did.
But such drama wouldn't have matched well with Laurel and Hardy/Abbot and Costello/C-3PO and R2-D2 back on board the Enterprise (honestly, pick your thin/fat comedic duo of choice with which to compare Mr. Loathsome and Mr. All-You-Can-Eat!).
So there's that. Comedy--and just an overall sense of fun--thrives in this episode, at least for me. I also like Picard's comments near the end, where he admits that even though human ways are more "balanced," he does find it "nice" to see a culture take its curiosity to the "furthest extreme." I agree with Picard. The basic material of "Liaisons" might sound at first like a sleepy, familiar tune, but it's jazzed up with enough idiosyncratic grace notes that I was thoroughly engaged.
Engage!
Thu, May 4, 2017, 11:31pm (UTC -5)
I actually didn't mind this episode too much, it was mildly entertaining. I don't mind occasional fluff as long as it's with characters I like, and there were some funny moments.
I have to express my discomfort with the Picard segment a little more, however. "Anna" was pretty horrifying. She fitted Picard with a device to keep him in pain/unable to escape, locked him inside, and sabotaged their means of escape. Then she tried to rape him, and threatened suicide when she failed. I know people tend to dismiss cases of abuse of men by women, but how is this behavior given a pass? I just can't get over this disturbing sequence of events to enjoy the corniness of it. The "twist" at the end where it turned out "Anna" was the ambassador all along was initially a relief but in retrospect deeply troubling. On the one hand the thoroughly deranged "Anna" wasn't a real person, but on the other hand the ambassador didn't seem to think his actions were wrong at all. I'd leave these guys off the list of potential future federation members if I were you, Picard.
Is it just me or is Picard less horrified by all the stuff "Anna" did to him and the fact that the ambassador did/staged it all than he is by the fact that the ambassador's ostensibly a dude? What a time to be alive.
Mon, Jun 26, 2017, 4:47pm (UTC -5)
Here's a thought: when I first saw 'Ambassador Chocolate's' hedonistic pleasure in eating dessert, I first thought he might be a child in a man's body. He later tells Troi that his species are 'born' in fully adult form.
Is it possible that 'Ambassador Chocolate' is simply a kid? For that matter, is it possible that the three aliens are, in fact, rather young--hence the naive manner in which they approach learning of culture in Starfleet? (Perhaps this offers too much of a smoke screen to a story that lacks internal coherence.)
Mon, Aug 14, 2017, 9:03pm (UTC -5)
The planet-side part with "Anna" was indeed tedious in the extreme. However, I must say that the second-to-last scene between The Ambassador and Picard was extremely well done... I think it was the combination of the eerie wind/sound effects, the rather effective music (some interesting melodic detail actually snuck through the usual background dirge of latter seasons!), and the excellent acting by both Stewart and Pierpoint.
Sat, Aug 26, 2017, 3:15pm (UTC -5)
We can probably explain-away the Picard act as simply a poorly-written creepy story, poorly written by some creep. (Remember Deanna and Lloyd Braun in "The Price"?!!!)
The rest of the episode was quite interesting, and even legitimately funny.
Tue, Nov 21, 2017, 6:13pm (UTC -5)
Seemed a major stretch for Picard to go all by himself with one of the aliens in the shuttle. I think the Enterprise needs to re-think how it gets acquainted with a new species -- I assume there's some research done ahead of this bizarre first encounter.
Picard and the Enterprise crew take the unusual tactics from the aliens pretty well -- the one guy doesn't understand what a crime is. Of course, in the spirit of mutual friendship, they don't hold the aliens' bullshit against them.
Picard's situation was the most interesting (Worf's was annoying for me as was Troi's) -- as it reminded me of "All Our Yesterdays" with Zarabeth wanting Spock to stay in the frozen wasteland she was trapped in. That interaction (with McCoy's help) was miles better than this. Picard did a fine job acting as usual, but the Anna character was written/acted pretty poorly.
1.5 stars for "Liaisons" -- forgettable episode, fluff, inconsequential etc. Seems like a mishmash of elements from other Trek episodes to generate some kind of lead-up to a big reveal that doesn't deliver at all. The alien race looked stupid as well - some facial prosthetics in a 1-piece grey sweat suit.
Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 2:22pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:22pm (UTC -5)
And by the time the ambassador tried to put her clothes back on it would be too late, because by then he would have *seen everything* :)
Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 8:34pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 12:35am (UTC -5)
Thu, May 9, 2019, 8:09pm (UTC -5)
They know nothing about each other (e.g procreation) and send Picard with one of them and let two on board.
Its funny I remembered that sweet tooth ambassador taking the entire plate of cupcakes or whatever they were to the table.
Then there is "deranged woman ".
I could barely finish watching it.
4/10
Sun, Aug 11, 2019, 9:27am (UTC -5)
Worf's scenes are priceless! If this were purely a Worf episode, I would highly recommend it. Alas, the rest of the episode is meh, at best.
Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:53am (UTC -5)
It may have helped if Anna had called Picard a 'naughty bird' before smashing his legs with a sledgehammer and given him a novel to write.
'Love Me,LOVE ME!' -OMG,that was unintentionally hilarious wasn't it?
No stars, 3 ion storms from me.
Tue, Oct 29, 2019, 6:36pm (UTC -5)
Perhaps the biggest issue lies in the fact that we're meant to buy into the idea that this alien species doesn't understand things like love, anger and pleasure, but is somehow able to perfectly mimick them, based on little more than a diary left on an abandoned spaceship.
Not one worthy of watching twice!
Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 1:15am (UTC -5)
Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 2:02am (UTC -5)
You'd think by season 7 they'd be able to hire an actual wardrobe person but, no, the producer's cat lady aunt is still dressing everybody. Just as well, this feels like a season 1 episode, so I guess nothing is out of place.
I love the look the kid gives his mother (or whoever it is) when the alien is manhandling him. Also loved the glutinous alien contentedly munching away as his masochistic co-worker and Worf slug it out.
Sat, Jun 6, 2020, 4:27pm (UTC -5)
The ambassador assign to Worf seemed to know how to fight, so I'm not sure what he wanted to get out of Worf. Surely he had to spar with someone to get to the level that he was. Or maybe he just watched Jackie Chan movies like Lenina Huxley said she did in Demolition Man?
Mon, Aug 24, 2020, 4:49pm (UTC -5)
The ambassadors plan would had worked on Picard if they used the right bait to get him to fall in love with him. Had he took the form of the Perfect Mate, Kamala (Famke Janssen), Picard would had been all over her.
Not sure what the other one who liked food as pleasure. He could had had Door Dash deliver everything off the Enterprise replicator menu, and stayed on his home world. I didn't see a single thing he learned from Troi. The one that Worf had seemed lacking too. It was obvious he already knew how to fight, so what did he need Worf for? He and the "Love Me" guy could had fought it out trying to get the other to submit.
All they all did was bring their own preconceived notions with them. Neither of them experienced anything except what they wanted to see happen. Why wait for love to develop naturally when you can just rape someone? And egging someone on to whip your butt isn't antagonism, its just pissing someone off. And lastly, coming aboard the ship and eating like a pig isn't pleasure. He should had either gone to Risa, or DS9 and visited a Halo suite.
Mon, Nov 9, 2020, 1:04pm (UTC -5)
Some really funny moments as well - Worf losing his temper in the card game and the ambassador's subsequent reaction, Data's comments to him about the personality traits they have in common. The other ambassador's obsession with dessert.
I recognised the breast gropee woman from Thief of Hearts immediately, though I don't think I've seen her in anything else. But then again I've watched that Thief of Hearts scene a few dozen times. I should have been an actor. I'd have insisted on a few dozen rehearsals, just to make sure I got it right.
Er.. anyway I must admit I groaned when there turned out to be, as usual, a handy M class planet when the shuttlecraft experienced its disaster. There aren't actually that many of them (Earth-like planets) in real life. But since it turned out to be contrived I can forgive it.
Noticed that Deanna is starting to look a bit middle-aged by the seventh series.
Anyway - thoroughly entertaining. Reminiscent of the original series, especially in the twist at the end. Very good.
Thu, Nov 26, 2020, 8:01am (UTC -5)
Sun, May 23, 2021, 9:37am (UTC -5)
Also - I need to keep this episode's opening in mind when people bitch about STD being too 'woke' or SJW - as though that is something new for a Trek show.
Sun, May 23, 2021, 10:53pm (UTC -5)
You do realize that this scene was played for laughs, right?
Fri, May 28, 2021, 1:49pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Aug 6, 2021, 8:37pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 3:03am (UTC -5)
Some amusing moments. Troi meets a bigger chocoholic than herself. Worf has to keep his temper in the face of extreme provocation. All this so that an alien species can study certain human emotions without having to explain why until the plot demands that the viewer must understand they have been duped for the previous 40 minutes. (Oh, and how do we know they are aliens? Because they have a few ridges and spots on their foreheads of course, while otherwise looking exactly like humans.)
A rather tiresome episode that is “TNG by numbers”. It is redeemed by a few humorous moments, and the nostalgia of seeing the Galileo Seven set once again…. Yeah, 2 stars seems just about right.
Wed, May 11, 2022, 12:42am (UTC -5)
Mon, Jun 20, 2022, 2:25pm (UTC -5)
This is way more than two stars; three at least and easily more.
Mon, Oct 31, 2022, 6:58pm (UTC -5)
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