Amac Productions

I have to admit, this episode confused me.

Or at least the very beginning of it did. Because I thought Data was an intentional thing. You know?

Not that I mean he wasn’t, but he wasn’t.

Okay, let me explain what I’m thinking. Like I thought he was made by Starfleet or at least his construction was commissioned from Starfleet. I thought they knew about him and where he came from or where he was made.

What I did not expect was for not only Starfleet to be confused about his origins but for Data as well.

Like that’s wild.

You’re an android and you’ve got a bunch of people’s memories, but then Starfleet happened upon you when they went looking for the colonists there. And you were the only thing they found.

Weird.

Also, it suggests that Data actually has some form of free will.

Like Starfleet didn’t just build him to serve them or be a perfect officer. He decided to be a Starfleet officer. Something alluded or directly result of what he said about how he became a Starfleet officer. There was training and time. It wasn’t just an overnight thing.

I really love that.

Because it also speaks to why Data is the way he is.

He wasn’t built by someone on Earth. He was built to look human, yes. But he was purposely built to be less human, so he wasn’t as nuts or manipulative as Lore. However, he was built with a curious nature.

He wants to understand the people he looks like.

He wants to understand what it is to be human. Is it more than circuity? Is it emotion? Is it more than programming? Or are we all basically programs?

As Picard puts it when they are trying to reassemble Lore to discover more about him, it felt awkward to ask Data personal questions. But it should be no different than trying to understand the human body. It’s nothing to feel uncomfortable about.

I also love that Picard corrects himself as well when Data wonders if they’re referring to Lore as an ‘it’ means he qualifies as the same.

Picard doesn’t disregard the moment. He merely corrects himself and understands that to him, Data is alive and well. Lore hadn’t come alive to him yet. But he course corrects and calls Lore a him as well, because you can understand that Picard doesn’t view Data as an object.

Even when he’s getting on his nerves.

Even when he’s trying to learn and understand human behavior.

Which speaks to what I was saying earlier about being built by a human but not around the things we take for granted knowing about. He knows of mystery stories but doesn’t know of Sherlock or Dixon Hills until recently.

He wants to sneeze. Understand how a Chinese finger cuff works. Human emotions. Sayings. Other things he never really learned or experienced until he was around people.

Data is a real person.

Regardless of the circuits and strange brain created by Soong.

He’s got flaws. Like the fact that he can never shut up and read the room. He worries about things. Like not wanting anyone to know where his off button is. He longs for an understanding of humanity. He’s curious about his origins. He’s human.

Even freaking Lore is human.

He’s spiteful and vengeful. Quick to anger and become jealous. He’s imperfect. Smart and cunning. He feels like any normal person would. Which also, I do not blame them for taking him apart and leaving him in pieces. Especially considering he caused the end of the colony and tried to kill everyone on the Enterprise because he’s made friends with a large crystal thing.

Also because people upset him.

Or he feels they’re beneath him.

You know what? Lore might be the most human of them all. Showcasing every single one of our worst traits in one quick little episode.

Lore getting ejected into space is better than he deserves honestly.

Because there’s a problem with that. Unless we drop him into the sun. A volcano. A black hole. Something that will destroy him once and for all. Or at least eject him across the galaxy hoping he’ll run out of battery or something, this ass is going to come back.

Isn’t he?

I’m doing my best not to look ahead or find anything out before I get to it in series. So this is my best guess right now, based on the current information. Lore will be back and I’m going to be as happy to see him as I was to see Q like two episodes ago.

Good villain, but damn it, I hate them!

Lore did make an excellent villain. Showcasing how easily Data could be a villain. Except his desire to be more human and understanding of humanity allows him to be a good person. Which is odd because he isn’t.

By all accounts, he could be a mere logical being like the Vulcans so desperately wish to be all the time. Except he’s a fairly compassionate and understanding individual. With plenty of emotions.

He trusted Beverly to tell her the truth. To keep it a secret for him.

He was suspicious of Lore. Curious about his past. About another being like himself that could be considered family for him. An understanding of their father.

Loyal to Starfleet and Picard.

This showed Data is far more than a simple machine.

I really enjoyed this episode and getting to dig deeper into Data and what he represents. While also demonstrating that Data is a good person. Not just because of programming, but because he tries to be. Being human is more than blood and bone. It’s heart too.

Something that we can’t quite replicate in a machine, but that the machine itself can learn.

Facsinating.

Still don’t want AI. But I’ll take a Data!

Not Lore. You can keep Lore.

Other crazy things in this episode. Freaking Wesley.

It’s the first time I wanted everyone to listen to Wesley and it’s the first time when everyone treats him exactly like they should have been at the start. Instead, it’s wildly out of character for both Picard and Riker to dismiss him since they’ve been listening to him all season.

This reaction at the start of the series would have made more sense to me.

However, we couldn’t resolve the problem too quickly so apparently we decided to plop in this reaction that really didn’t make sense.

And combine it with two “Shut up, Wesleys’ from Picard and Beverly. Each more surprising than the last.

Yeesh.

Wesley was not wrong in what he said, but since they’ve listened to him so much when they shouldn’t. Not that he’s been wrong, it’s just that he’s a child involved in such huge things before this moment. That whether or not Data is himself felt like small potatoes.

Considering he could have erased the captain from existence like an episode ago.

But sure, let’s ignore him now for the sake of plot. And make him feel like a disrespected kid for plot instead of doing that the entire time.

Since you know, that would have made freaking sense to me. Then grow into Wesley being integrated into the bridge instead of plopping him in. I feel like there was a much better way to handle his character and none of what’s happened is it.

Nor is nice to hurt Riker and Picard’s characters by making them dismiss him so casually.

And Beverly as well.

Did not like that.

I would have been wondering if both of them had been body swapped as well.

Overall, I did enjoy the episode just for exploring Data’s character a bit more as well as his origins. But I’m not really a fan of what occurred around them. Worf was beaten too easily. I’m really shocked that no one listened to Wesley or took so long to notice that Lore was pretending to be Data. Those things were a bit disappointing to me.

Not enough to ruin the episode, just enough to give me pause. Still headed to watch the next episode and mark my words, I’m sure we’ll see Lore again.

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