The Most Toys leaves the viewers with perhaps one of the most profound, and difficult to answer, moral questions of the series. Along the way, it evokes a wide variety of powerful emotions. And its two central characters, Data and his captor, Kivas Fajo, become locked in a battle of wills that has deadly consequences.

When Fajo stages Data’s death in a shuttle accident, with the intent of making Data part of his vast collection of unique and priceless artifacts, the story diverges along two very different, yet equally emotional lines. The first being the story of Data’s captivity, the second focusing on how the crew grieves the apparent loss of their comrade and dear friend.

The Enterprise based story is notable for doing the things Skin of Evil failed to do: evoke a deep emotions of loss and frustration at an apparently senseless death. As LaForge and Wesley divide Data’s possessions, we see the same items that Data packed during The Measure of a Man. Seeing them displayed, as a remembrance, is powerful. Worf must deal with filling in for Data just as he took over for Yar. And LaForge’s outrage at being unable to explain the accident ultimately leads the crew to realize: Data isn’t gone, but is instead held captive.

That Data’s captivity is exceptionally compelling is made possible by the performance of Fajo. He is completely without conscience or regret, he elicits extreme moral outrage — and yet he does so in a way that makes his scenes worth watching. His personal shield is enough to keep Data’s physical prowess at bay, which means that the only means Data has of resisting is his will.

Fajo’s attempts to use psychological ploys as a means of coercion are as sinister as they are inventive. The last of which, the threat of using a “vicious” disruptor against a bystander, is particularly perverse. But it is the discussion of whether or not Data would ever use deadly force that sets the stage for the episode’s provocative moral question.

The height of their battle of wits comes in the episode’s climactic moment. After just committing murder himself, Fajo taunts Data who, earlier in the episode had said, “I would not participate in murder.” Data is programmed to use deadly force for the sake of self-preservation. But as he holds Fajo a gunpoint, Data utters “this cannot be allowed to continue.” Data is not immediately in danger and yet he makes the explicit decision to fire the weapon, and kill Fajo. That Data does not commit murder is due to the timely arrival of the Enterprise which transports Data off the ship just as he fires the weapon.

When Data returns to the Enterprise, Riker remarks that the weapon had been discharged. What happens next begins the real debate of the episode. Instead of explaining what had happened, Data explicitly deceives Riker, stating, “Perhaps something happened during transport.”

If Data truly believed his decision to kill Fajo was Just, why wouldn’t he be entirely forthcoming with Riker? Did Data actually begin to feel a measure of outrage? And was Data’s decision to kill Fajo the right thing to do … for Data?

The main criticism of this episode is that it leaves these explorations a bit too open-ended. Data has a final scene with Fajo, who is being held in the brig on the Enterprise. Data actually uses sarcasm toward Fajo, but to what end? We get no insight into Data’s thoughts here, none at all. It was an opportunity to provide the audience with a clearer framework for exploring these questions. I certainly and appreciate the open-ended question, but the ending is just too ambiguous.

The Most Toys is an excellent episode that falls just short of greatness. Instead of providing the audience with a clear framework to explore its moral dilemmas, the episode sacrificed a good deal of substance for a little bit of style.

Filed under: TNG Reviews