The Game is one minor subplot from being a complete and utter failure. Indeed, considering how bad the episode is, I have a difficult time rating it anything other than “Failure.” But the subplot is enough, just enough, to provide a measure of entertainment.

And that subplot? Wesley Crusher, on break from Starfleet Academy, returns to the Enterprise. On board, he meets up with a young Engineer named Robin Leffler (Ashley Judd). Their budding relationship is actually, and surprisingly, enjoyable. It isn’t great drama or romance, but it is plausible and entertaining enough to be a satisfactory, carefree subplot for an episode that has a more sinister main plot.

Ahhh, but the main plot of The Game is about as implausible, preposterous of a contrivance as you could possibly imagine. Taking all seven seasons into account, you would be hard pressed to find a worse premise than this one. Riker, on vacation at Risa, is introduced to a virtual reality video game that uses your eyes to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. (By the way, the introductory scene between Riker and the woman who introduces him to the game is easily the worst “teaser” of the series. It’s cringe-worthy, ridiculous, and just painful to watch.)

Upon returning to the Enterprise, Riker introduces the game to the entire crew – who become addicted to it – so that some aliens can take over the ship – and then later all of Starfleet. I can understand Riker being taken unawares by a strange, exotic game while on holiday on Risa. But the entire crew? Including Picard? Ridiculous.

If it was that easy to take over the Enterprise, why bother with the Borg? Or the methodical machinations uncovered in Conspiracy? And seriously, even if the game was more addictive than any current drug we know of, on board a ship of thousands, would every one of them really get hooked? Wouldn’t someone, at some point, just outright refuse? Especially once the addicts got all creepy with their irrational insistence on playing the game.

Yeah, they get rid of Data by deactivating him (when will Data learn to protect his off button with a bit more care?). But what about LaForge? Is the episode really implying that the same system that works on our eyes would work through LaForge’s VISOR? I suppose it’s possible, but wouldn’t that require at least some attempt at a contrived explanation? The episode simply doesn’t even try.

If that wasn’t bad enough, you have the physical manifestations of the game itself. The entire crew walks around in a never ending state of what can only be called arousal – a perpetual series of “highs” that occur whenever they play the game (which they do even while walking, zombie-like, around the ship). Particularly embarrassing is the scene between Nurse Ogawa and Wesley in the turbolift. It’s a sad, sorry performance that you can only blame on the boneheaded writers. (I’ll give Brannon Braga credit for taking chances. But when such chances fail, they fail miserably. And this episode is about as miserable as you can get.)

Ultimately, and predictably, Wesley saves the day. He manages to reactivate Data and then run around the ship long enough to give Data a chance to figure out how to undo the subliminal messages from the game. But of course, the episode didn’t even show Wesley fixing Data, let alone their collaboration. And it did so simply for a cheap “surprise” of having Data miraculously appear just after Wesley is forced to play the game, and all hope seems lost. It’s an insulting contrivance that underscores just how atrocious this episode is.

And lastly. If the game was *that* addictive, how is the entire crew suddenly able to choose not to play the game? Absolutely nothing is said about rehab for the crew. Let alone the psychological recovery involved after literally being programmed by an outside influence. We at least saw evidence of this in The Mind’s Eye and Family. But here, it is simply ignored.

The Game is very nearly a complete failure. When a minor subplot about Wesley Crusher romance is the only legitimate aspect of your episode, you know you’re in trouble. Once again, Wesley saves the day – and this time, it’s the episode itself that he saves from utter ruin.

Filed under: TNG Reviews