Plot Synopsis: Data meets Juliana Tainer, former wife of Dr. Noonian Soong and Data’s “mother,” but she holds a shocking secret that even she doesn’t know she carries.
Plot A and B Analysis: In the teaser we learn the Enterprise is at a planet to help re-liquify its cooling core before it becomes uninhabitable. To Data’s surprise he learns Dr. Juliana Tanger, a human on this planet, was married to Dr. Noonien Soong and is sort of Data’s mom. Plot A is about “mother” and son, plot B is about the planet. Data is suspicious of her story and finds some corroborating evidence, so he gets to know his long-lost mommy. There’s a bit of an emotional punch when Juliana confesses that there was actually room on the shuttle she and Noonien took escaping the colony, but she persuaded him to leave Data behind due to fear he would become like Lore. He asks a question that must’ve hit like a hammer: “If I had been your biological offspring, would you have left me behind?” She actually gives a great answer, I was surprised. The shocker comes in the 32nd minute, when she and Data jump off a cliff and we see that her arm is disconnected–she’s an android! After a conversation with his holographic dad he learns his mom was injured and was comatose. After she died he created her, she doesn’t know she is an android, and Data has a decision to make: to tell her or not to tell her. He makes his decision, the planet gets fixed, and the episode ends. This is not a fast-paced episode, but I wouldn’t call it slow either.
Favorite Scenes: There are a couple of amusing moments in Data’s quarters when his mother compliments him and he gives her a look that says “you’re just saying that because you’re my mom.” To my surprise, seeing the painting of Lal brought up some emotion for me.
Use of Cast/Characters: There is quite a bit of development for Data here, for those interested. We learn Juliana wanted a female android but Noonien insisted on a son; Data didn’t originally care about social niceties, he would walk around naked because he didn’t see the point of clothing, it was her idea for him to be programmed with creativity, etc. As usual, Brent does a great job of acting. Picard, Riker and Worf (who has only two lines) are all place holders, and other than one scene Geordi is as well. Beverly doesn’t do much but she is somewhat involved. Deanna is useless for most of the episode, but toward the end she gives the most persuasive argument for not telling Juliana: “… by telling her, you’re robbing her of the one thing you’ve wanted all your life–to be human.” Fionnula Flanagan plays Juliana, and gives a convincing performance.
Blu Ray Version: The orbital shot of the planet Atrea IV is flat-out superior to the original. There are four deleted scenes to be found. This was when Juliana was telling Data about how Noonien was trying to get Data ‘right’ and he insisted on giving Data hiccups until she talked him out of it. The second deleted scene is when Data goes to counselor Troi–Data talks a bit more about being a dad to Lal, and it is a nice little scene, I like it. The third scene occurs right before she tells him she left him behind on Omicron Theta, it’s just a few lines about how she feels guilt, nothing worth watching. The fourth scene occurs right after he and Juliana’s recital, and it’s a few lines of people congratulated them, also unnecessary.
Nitpicks: The title of this episode is a bit ambiguous, couldn’t they think of something better?
Overall Impression: I have two impressions of this episode. On the one hand, give me a break, we’re all the way down to Data’s “mom”? It reminds me of Interface in that way, which was a bad TNG entry. On the other hand, having just watched the episode I realize it’s not really that terrible; it’s ok, similar to my experience with Rightful Heir. Did we need an episode about Data’s mom? No. Is it a particularly memorable episode? No. At the end of the day though, it’s decent. I rate this episode 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Behind the Scenes/Trivia: Interestingly, we learn there were three prototypes before Lore was created, which does lend some credence to B4’s appearance on Nemesis. However she says they all died, because they were unstable. There are references to practically every major Data episode in the series, which I really enjoyed. Soong’s hologram talking about transferring his wife’s memories into an android hearkens way back to The Schizoid Man in season two. Fionnula had previously appeared on the DS9 episode Dax, and she must have done a pretty good job. This painting of Lal does appear in the Generations film is you pay attention. If you think this is the last episode about a relative of a crew member that nobody cares about, though, you’re going to be disappointed.
Missable/Unmissable? Missable. Thankfully the next two episodes are miles better than the last two.