Star Trek: The Next Generation — 6x13 — Aquiel

Aired 1993-02-01

SpaceOpera.com rating:1

Average reader rating:4.11

Synopsis

Geordi falls in love with an alien murder suspect.

Remarkable scenes

Picard intimidating Morag with his influence over Gowron.
Aquiel showing up on the Enterprise.
Crusher's hand showing up in the gunk.
Geordi phasering the shape shifting life form.

Review

An absolutely dull episode and sad in a way. Another tragic LaForge romance in which we watch him spend virtually the whole episode trying to land a girl only to be turned down in the end. The murder plot is confusing right up until the last moment at which point LaForge employs Texas justice, murdering the murderer. It's a little absurd that he never once called for security despite the fact that he had plenty of time to, and could easily outrun the shape shifting blob. I'm a big fan of LaForge and all, but frankly, this has got to be one of his worst episodes.

7 reader comments

In one of her personal logs, Unari yearns for a glass of real muskin seed punch, the kind her mother used to make. She doesn't think the replicator does a very good job. Later, Geordi brings her a glass of muskin seed punch in Ten-Forward and Unari acts like it is wonderful. Is Unari just trying to make Geordi feel good or did Geordi get into Guinan's personal supply?
This coalescent being is either not very smart or it made a bad mistake. Crusher states that it probably has to change bodies every few days. The episode supports this by saying that the coalesced officer arrived at the relay station several days before the incident with Unari. Supposedly he attacked Unari because he needed the food. But the episode's dialogue indicates that the station assignment lasts for a year. What was the being going to do after it consumed Unari and her dog? The station is out in the middle of nowhere. If the being absorbed the officer before he arrived at the station, why would he go somewhere with such a limited supply of nutrition?
Someone made a mistake in the sound effects department. During the last scene between Geordi and Unari, they sit together in Ten-Forward. At one point, the "boop" sound effect for a companel page momentarily interrupts their conversation. Strangely, no one pages Geordi or Unari, and the scene continues as if nothing happened!
by DSOmo | 12/01/2007 at 7:27 am

was the dog a berger picard (dog breed) ?
by sarah | 07/20/2008 at 11:45 pm

I agree. This one is "absolutely dull and sad." Geordi can't get a break with the ladies to save his life. What is it about Engineers and women? Scottie had this kind of luck as well.
Apart from that, the saddest thing is that a pretty cool idea gets completely wasted here. I love the idea of the coalescent being, but the way it's executed here is just boring. The plot just sort of plods along and then explodes at the very end with the dog attaching LaForge.
Think for a second how shitty an assignment Aquiel has in the first place. She's stuck on a remote outpost for at least a year with only one other person for company, but she's listening to everybody's communication. It would have driven her crazy even if her new partner hadn't been a homicidal blob of ectoplasm. Now that's something that could have been explored a little better. But, alas, this episode squanders it all. I bump it up a point for at least having an interesting premise, so it's a 2.
by JRPoole | 09/19/2008 at 3:03 pm

I'm having problems recreating the murder scene here. Rocha/Blob attacks Uhnari in order to absorb her. Does it succeed a bit (Geordi suggests an initiation of coalescence may have been responsible for her loss of memory) ? Uhnari phasers the blob down to scrap DNA - interfering with the absorption process ?? Uhnari flees to shuttlecraft having interrupted absorption ??? Bits of blob (missed by the phaser meltdown of Rocha ????) then absorb the pooch ????? Or something. Sheesh what a mess.
I know - who cares, get a life.
by Jeremy Reffin | 08/03/2009 at 5:20 am

Hey, at least this chick was real and not some computer generated fantasy.
by thaibites | 07/05/2012 at 1:53 am

The episode isn't just dull, it's idiotic as well.
Uhnari confesses to Geordi that she deleted the logs because she "was afraid that if they found the letter they'd blame [her] for the murder". This directly contradicts her earlier statement: if she had no memory of a murder, then she had no reason to get rid of the evidence! Or memory of having removed the logs at all, for that matter. Did she delete the logs AFTER she came to the Enterprise? If so, what kind of incompetence would allow a bloody murder suspect to teleport off the damn ship?
Crusher, Picard, Riker and Worf are all aware of the shape-shifting organism. Not ONE of them thinks of the dog. Riker even has a conversation with Geordi while PETTING it - even the Red Dwarf crew would have noticed! Everyone's holding the Stupid ball today. One can only assume the senior staff are still concussed from their previous adventure.
by Arianwen | 01/02/2013 at 12:40 pm

By far the worst episode of Season 6. I agree that Aquiel's story never adds up even after her "memory drain" is explained and her fight with Lieutenant Blobcha. The entire Klingon thing turns out to be a red herring. La Forge spends a big chunk of the episode getting to know this woman only to have it go absolutely nowhere. And, after all of that, his skirmish with the coalescent being is painful to watch.
At least they brought Leah Brahms-the real one-back for some continuity and development of Geordi's character. Aquiel gets an episode named after her, makes quite an impression on the Chief Engineer, and then disappears for good.
by Mike L. Jackson | 04/23/2017 at 10:30 pm