7.14 Sub Rosa

Rating: 2

The Enterprise visits Caldos, a world terraformed in the likeness of the Scottish highlands, to attend the memorial service of Beverly Crusher’s grandmother. A mysterious man leaves a red camilla on her grave, and it is later revealed that he was her lover. He is a ‘ghost’, a lover to a long succession of women in Crusher’s family, able to take corporeal form from time to time, and dependent on the flame from a special heirloom candle, passed down from generation to generation.

Comments

This episode was written by Brannan Braga, from a story by Jeri Taylor, and is directed by Jonathan Frakes.

Unfortunately, after the dismal failures of every other Trek episode featuring Irish or Scottish charicatures (for example, the NextGen episode Up the Long Ladder, or the VOY episode spirit folk, I got the creeps early on when a character started spouting off in a supposed Scottish accent.

One of the gravestones in the cemetary bears the name ‘McFly’, which could be a tribute to the Back to the Future movie trilogy.

Nits

Beverly asks Troi to accompany her to the house, and Troi agrees. Together, they walk out of scene. In the next scene, as Picard talks to the governor, Troi appears in the background, talking to a villager. Did she change her mind?

Early on in the piece, a man who knew Crusher’s grandmother and appeared to have some knowledge of what befell her bursts into the house without knocking and, when confronted by Crusher, proceeds to aggressively yell at her that she should douse the candle. Of course, faced with this assault, Crusher kicks him out. If he really wanted to share some knowledge, why would he take such an adversarial approach? Why not attempt to make friends first, then sit down and in calmer tones, impart his knowledge? I know why: because he is following the goofy script, and it would be a short show if he didn’t!

Memorable Moments

•    Crusher’s weird solo sex scenes

Quotable Quotes

"I’m not seeing anybody. I met someone, that’s all."
- Crusher to Troi