Ethics, as the title suggests, is an episode full of questions. And the answers aren’t always what you might expect. It is well-acted and emotional, in spite of the writing slightly missing the mark.

The premise centers on Worf, who has been permanently paralyzed from the waist down in an accident. In accordance with Klingon culture, Worf deems that his life as a warrior is at an end, and thus chooses ritual suicide. To do this, he enlists Riker to help him complete the ceremony.

Riker struggles with his duty to his friend and his own sense of ethics: that suicide is not an option. Riker’s dilemma is a plausible one. Unfortunately, he is never really forced to make a decision. He researches the ritual and learns that the honor of assisting Worf should fall to Worf’s son, Alexander. Riker then throws the whole mess back into Worf’s lap, and it is now Worf who must grapple with whether or not to have his young son witness the bloody rite.

Worf, too, is allowed to avoid the ultimate decision by way of Dr. Russell, a neurological specialist, who is on board the Enterprise to assist with Worf’s recovery. Dr. Russell takes great risks in the name of her research. And she proposes a wildly experimental procedure in which Worf’s spinal cord could be rebuilt. If successful, Worf would have a full recovery. It not, Worf would die. Worf chooses the procedure. Dr. Crusher questions the ethics of Dr. Russell’s methods and we get a parallel ethical struggle within the context of the story.

The episode handles all of these ethical questions fairly honestly and ultimately the answers are left open to interpretation by the viewer. My only criticism, in that respect, is that none of the characters are really forced to face the ultimate decision: that of suicide.

As far as characters are concerned, Dr. Russell is plausible as a driven woman who uses the ends to justify her means. Dr. Crusher handles her role as the defender of medical ethics rather well. And Riker is quite convincing in how he handles how own internal dilemma.

But where Worf is concerned, a few questions do arise. For starters, why did he ask Riker to assist in the ritual, if Picard was the one to stand at Worf’s side for the Discommendation in Sins of the Father? And Worf *says* that Troi has been helpful to Worf in dealing with Alexander. But in every scene shown to the audience, Troi has been highly critical of Worf, and not very supportive. So for Worf to choose Troi as a surrogate mother for Alexander is actually contrary to what we have actually seen transpire between characters. And what about Kurn? He wasn’t even mentioned in the episode.

Depending on individual perceptions, such questions may turn out to provide too much of a distraction for the episode. If so, the final sequences may miss their mark. If not, the surgical procedure, and its surrounding scenes, are very effective in pulling at the heartstrings.

Ethics is a good episode with a few miscues. On the whole, it represents the essential purpose of TNG: to explore our humanity. And the episode does so with an emotional pull that, if you can look past its flaws, works rather well.

Topics: Klingons
Filed under: TNG Reviews