Lame.

That’s the best way to describe Identity Crisis. This is an episode that just about fails on every measure imaginable. There is very little here redeem this episode and, ultimately, you can skip right over it and not miss anything except one very minor scene.

The premise starts off promisingly enough: Members of an Away Team mission investigating the disappearances of some colonists five years ago are starting now to disappear themselves. And LaForge was one of the Away Team members. It all falls apart from here on out. The reason for the disappearances is simply preposterous and to make matters worse, the episode poorly executes the very poor plot.

The only remaining member of LaForge’s Away Team is Lt. Cmdr. Susanna Leijten, and she just happens to be on board the Enterprise to assist in the investigation. Her past camaraderie with LaForge might have proven to be an engaging element of the episode if not for the very poor performance of Leijten. At best she is utterly forgettable and at worst, she is an exceptionally annoying character. This sours what could have been one of the only strong aspects of the storyline. And, to make matters worse, since the resolution of the problem rests on her friendship with LaForge, her performance even manages to sabotage the plot as well.

And speaking of plot …

That whole disappearance mystery? It’s some parasitic alien species that reproduces by implanting some sort of bug in a human’s thyroid gland which lays dormant for years then suddenly is triggered somehow, resulting in the sudden urge of the human to return to the original planet. Oh, and it rewrites the human’s DNA so that the human actually transforms into an alien species with photo-something-or-other skin that makes it look to our eyes like the Predator.

And guess what? LaForge is infected. And guess what else? He transforms into this alien species and transports to the planet surface and goes to live with the other aliens who all have severe cases of varicose veins (which only show up in blacklight). But guess what? Data manages to build a blacklight and they transport down and the sound of Leijten’s voice is enough to have LaForge hang on to his remaining humanity and accept their help. Personally, if I heard that voice, I’d have kept running.

And, of course, Dr. Crusher is able to remove the parasite from LaForge (Leijten also had the bug and had it removed after she transformed — only it happened to her before LaForge) and he makes a full recovery.

Of course, this begs the question: If LaForge was so much at risk, why didn’t they at least assign him a chaperone? So that when he exhibited symptoms he could be whisked away to safety before hand?

Meh.

On a technical note, the performances and camera angles were very poorly done — and quite reminiscent of seasons one and two. Additionally, the body suits used to simulate the veins were quite obviously body suits. It all added up to a very lame (there’s that word again) visual effect. The pacing was very poor and repetition of the sensor log made the episode drag out even longer.

As for the one positive? It’s a small scene involving Data and Dr. Crusher buried in the midst of the episode. And it’s the one true moment of any sort of character development. In it, Dr. Crusher mentions that Data seems “worried” about LaForge. Data quickly points out that he doesn’t have emotions. But after Dr. Crusher’s undeterred look, Data concedes that he is “strongly motivated” to help his friend. Even if Data doesn’t “feel” the emotions, he still exhibits the behaviors of them. It’s welcome continuation of the development of his character.

Identity Crisis is just a heartbeat away from abject failure. A solid (if all-too-brief) scene of character development from Data helps. As does the generally improved production quality of the fourth season. But really, this episode just isn’t worth watching.

Filed under: TNG Reviews