TNG S4E3 "Brothers" Review By AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

Not only does the Enterprise allow children to live on board with their parents (in spite of the fact that it puts their lives in serious danger about once a week), but apparently it also serves as a babysitter when you're on a mission elsewhere. And who will look after your little ones while you're away? None other than male nanny Commander Riker! That's right, he's your Number One au pair. And if he's not available, no worries; the emotionless robot Data will nurture them. Except...they're kind of busy so maybe while visiting a strange planet your son will sneak off after being tricked and eat a poison berry. You know, the poison berries that are right next to the arcade and that will kill you unless you get the antidote that they don't bother to keep on the same planet as the berries. And even though the berries are just lying around in the open, if you eat them, you'll need to be quarantined. But don't worry, if one of your kids is poisoned, they'll be sure to guilt your other kid over it even though it's totally not his fault. All of this makes sense, right?

Speaking of Data, this episode also portrays reason number 537 why having an android serve as an officer on a starship is a bad idea: whoever made the android probably built in an override where the android will obey him over all else. I mean, I would. That's exactly what happens when Dr. Noonien Soong summons Data to come see him. Data cleverly takes over the ship in a matter of moments. It's actually a fantastic series of scenes, where we get to see how badass an alternate Data that doesn't follow orders can be. He programs force fields all around himself. He locks out security codes using Picard's voice. He gets everyone out of his way by disabling life support on the bridge. He uses long periods of screen time by setting insanely long passwords. Basically, a rogue Data cannot be stopped. It's pretty awesome.

I know what you're thinking. You think that Soong is dead, having been destroyed by the giant snow flake on the colonized planet where Data was found. But no, he prefers to leave an escape route open just in case something like that happens. He also never rescues anyone with him. Or shows his face again. Or even bothers to go back later and get his stuff, including an entire disassembled android that he says he was going to fix some day. Anyway, Soong calls up Data because Soong is dying, and he wants to give Data the perfected emotions chip that he's been working on. Except, he also inadvertently summoned Lore, who is apparently no longer drifting in space. Lore pulls his usual stunt of impersonating Data, and makes off with the chip, which Soong insists isn't designed for him and won't work. We leave Soong dying but not dead, and Lore back out there somewhere. Very open-ended.

This is an important story for Data. He learns that he is not a less perfect version of Lore, which seemed blatantly obvious to me, but is a revelation for him. He also learns that Lore lied, and the colonists were not jealous of how perfect Lore was. I'm sure there's no way he could have known that, I mean it's not like he has the memories of all of the colonists stored in his brain or something. But more importantly, he meets his dad, and has a chance to explore his origins, as well as say a proper goodbye. And I will admit to getting a smidge choked up when Picard gives the order to "bring him home," and then we see Worf carrying Data in his ams.

However, "Brothers" is merely an Adequate episode. Honestly, I only like the part where Data is besting Star Fleet's brightest by taking control of the ship. I would watch an entire episode of that. But much like most of Data's backstory, the details of the relationship with his father and brother just don't make much sense.

Oh and the poisoned kid lives, despite Crusher's extremely creepy bedside manner.

Published December 1, 2018