Star Trek the Next Generation Season 2 (The Child)

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**/****


 Oh, yes, the early seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That love it/hate it relationship continued until Season 3 really seemed to find the show's footing. The Child frustrates me. There is even cruelty in the writing where a life entity happens to be in space when the Enterprise is about to leave with dangerous cargo carrying a deadly plague held in a containment module designed by newly minted Chief Engineer, LaForge. This entity decides to go through a speedy birthing process using Counselor Troi as its human carrier, growing quite fast. Dr. Pulaski (Muldaur in her lone season, replacing Gates, whose Beverly Crusher was leading over Starfleet Medical) just sort of arrives, meets with Troi in Ten Forward (where Whoopi's Guinan is introduced as the bartender with a mythos that indicates she's quite old and wise), and tells Picard, who is not amused with how she boarded the ship and failed to meet him, of the "cosmic pregnancy". 

What bothered me is how the episode speeds through a very life-altering story arc for Troi, having her give birth to a life form that she has to bond with quickly and lose just as quickly. Why is this the first episode of the second season, too? It does offer a subplot on Wesley's decision to stay onboard the Enterprise if allowed, persuaded a bit by Guinan, who asks him if he should be selfish for once and do what he wants so badly (before he's ultimately jettisoned from the show, reappearing as a guest star from time to time).

Shouldn't a serious birth to a life form for Troi feel more important and have greater depth? It just feels like it served as a minor detail within the life of character Troi, a blip that comes and goes, with us having very little time with Ian before he departs the ship due to being the reason behind a growth in one of the plagues in the module, destined to destroy the Enterprise if not dealt with.

And what a cruel storyline for Troi. She has the child only to lose him within a matter of days. How are we supposed to get invested in something that pops in and out of Troi's life so fast?

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