Lessons is a quiet, thoughtful, almost graceful episode. The risks it runs, however, are being overly thoughtful to the point of being pondering, and being overly purposeful to the point of boredom. It is a fine line on the either side of which a number of viewers may find themselves. For me, I like the episode. It works.

This is, essentially, a love story between Captain Picard and a new crew member, Lt. Commander Daren — head of the stellar cartography department. Their initial 3 a.m. meeting is quaint and quirky, but amusing nonetheless. After learning that both the food dispensers and the 24th century equivalent of the internet are offline because extra resources have temporarily allocated to a late night stellar cartography study, Picard heads off to investigate.

Right from the beginning, there is a natural chemistry between Daren and Picard — even if Daren’s character seems a bit too blasé for a cardboard cutout, let alone Picard. And if there is a main criticism I have of the episode, it is that though her character’s interests and assertiveness would be appealing to Picard, the way she presents her personality seems too bland for the captain.

Nevertheless, the two are drawn to each other, particularly around the subject of music. Lessons is, among other things, a connection to (and a continuation from) The Inner Light. As we have seen in other episodes, A Fistful of Datas, for example, Picard has continued practicing his craft with the flute. Clearly the events of The Inner Light have affected him greatly.

But because of the isolated nature of his “history” with his flute, Picard has never really shared his music with others. To Daren’s credit as a character, she manages to connect to Picard in such a way that he, finally, is able to share his music with her. And as his trust in her as a person, and as a partner, grows, the two quite literally make beautiful music together — including one enjoyable scene in which their music carries throughout the ship as far as Engineering where LaForge hears it (minds out of the gutters now).

The conflict between Daren and Picard stems from their working relationship between themselves and others. As Troi says, Picard’s friends are happy for him. But as Riker is meant to demonstrate, Picard’s relationship creates unease among the crew. When Daren presses Riker for a favor, Riker immediately feels pressured. It’s a plausible enough scenario, however, it once again shows Riker in a poor light, needing to have his ego stroked by his commanding officer.

Struggling to find a measure of comfort in the workplace with their newfound love, Picard and Daren face a deadly mission.  A remote outpost is threatened by a massive firestorm and Daren, being one of the most knowledgeable crewmembers for the mission, heads off to help rescue the colonists.  Predictably, the firestorm is stronger and faster than anticipated, prompting Picard to tell all of the rescue teams to hold their positions until the colonists are safely on aboard.  And, predictably, the firestorm reaches Darne’s position before she is able to beam out.

What follows is an achingly melancholy  sequence in which Picard, silently, contemplates his life without Daren — and without the music that they had begun to share.  It’s touching.  But it’s also rather understated, so I am sure there may be a few viewers who  won’t buy into the scene.

Of course, Daren survives — a plausible explanation is actually given — but she and Picard are left to confront the realities of their love and their circumstances.  It seems that neither feels strongly enough about the other to give up their careers.  And truly, that is the second biggest criticism I have of the episode.

It’s   not that I’m criticizing the choice to follow a career instead of love, rather, for the episode to work, viewers had to buy into the fact that the feelings were genuine between the two.  So for them to give up on their love so quickly and easily seems a bit counter to the rest of the story.

Lessons is a solid episode that is just a cut above most of the pack.  It doesn’t provide any huge revelations, nor does it challenge the audience or the characters in any particular way.  But if there is a lesson to be learned, it is that in order to fully experience the joy of anything — in this case music — one has to be willing to take the deeply personal risk of sharing are innermost hopes, desires, and dreams.

Filed under: TNG Reviews