3x08 The Price

[6.0/10] The “Journey to Babel” setup is almost always a winner for Star Trek. Throwing a bunch of different alien delegations aboard the Enterprise, having them engage in the cordialities of diplomacy while not-so-secretly competing and resenting one another, while cultural differences spill out, is a durable formula for the franchise.

“The Price” is no exception on that account. When it’s focusing on a veritable beauty contest between the Federation, the Ferengi, the Caldonians, and the Chrysalians to see who can win the rights to the Barzan II wormhole, it’s an engrossing episode. The various negotiating tactics, cultural hang-ups, and thinly-veiled rivalries in the would-be boardroom are intriguing and provide a good spine for the outing.

Unfortunately, the episode rarely foregrounds that story thread, or at least those elements of it. Instead, it mainly centers on Devinoni Ral, the manipulative negotiator working against the Federation who starts plying the same tactics against Counselor Troi. Writer Hannah Louise Shearer, who’s written some quality installments of TNG, also wrote the piddling “We’ll Always Have Paris”, and “The Price” follows in those unenviable footsteps as an abortive attempt to convey romance.

The biggest problem is that Ral takes up a great deal of oxygen for a character who’s not especially compelling, either as a romantic lead opposite Troi or as a foil for Riker at the negotiating table. He immediately seems like a predatory cad, so his efforts to show a rakish charm immediately fall flat, and instead quickly veer into unctuous creepiness. The episode needs him to be alluring, slick, and crafty, and when you can see through his act so easily, when he seems like a shady customer out of the gate, none of those characteristics click into place.

Now, in fairness to Shearer, I’d seen this episode previously, albeit a long time ago. I didn’t remember hardly anything about it, but maybe the nebulously creepy vibe I got from him was a product of half-remembered plot points dancing around in my head than his demeanor or presence. For another thing, I’m also not attracted to men, and so maybe there’s a handsomeness or magnetism to Matt McCoy’s portrayal that would otherwise elevate it but which doesn’t affect me.

Whatever the reason, Ral seems oily and manipulative from the jump, which leaves the later reveals in the episode feeling inert, and the show’s efforts at romance and sensuality with him and Troi feeling neutered at best and uncomfortable at worst. The root of the dalliance seems to hinge on Troi overcoming her infatuation after chalking it up to subterfuge, but it’s hard to buy the infatuation, or the tiresome scenes where they exchange pick up line-level banalities with one another.

Frankly, a lot of it is outright embarrassing. I’d forgotten that this is the episode with Troi and Dr. Crusher’s rightfully infamous “Let’s stretch in form-fitting workout clothing and dish about guys” scene. It’s fun to laugh at it in isolation, but in context it’s somehow worse, trying to deliver some emotional exposition about Troi’s mental state and instead hitting only the most superficial clichés.
It’s a shame, because despite the poor execution, there’s some tremendously fascinating ideas at the center of “The Price.” The conceit of an alien with empathic powers who uses them for less ethical purposes, at the negotiating table and the boudoir, has plenty of potential. This story realizes just a little of it, when Ral seizes on the different parties’ wants and vulnerabilities to tilt the discussions in his favor in creative (if obvious) ways that don’t come off nearly as slick as the episode seems to intend.

At the same time, the episode even delves into the moral complexities of what Ral’s doing. What is the line between reading your adversary’s body language and demeanor to help resolve a situation favorably versus using empathic abilities? Is it better or worse to use such powers in business negotiations, diplomatic incidents, or life and death scenarios? What are the moral guidelines for using them in your personal life, especially in a romantic relationship? Is it something you should disclose up front to a potential partner, in private life or in business?

These are all interesting questions, ones that “The Price” only grazes. Instead, we need more scenes where Ral manipulates people in ways that are fairly obvious to the audience, while Troi falls for him. Honestly, I assumed that he was doing more to Troi than just reading her thoughts -- using some kind of psychic suggestions on her -- because his advancements seemed so plainly creeptacular and inappropriate that she seems like a sucker to fall for it otherwise.

That is, I suppose, where Riker comes in. The best scene in the episode comes where Ral tries to put his negotiating adversary on his back foot by revealing that he’s schtupping Troi, only for Riker to no-sell his would-be romantic rival’s barb, wish Troi all the happiness in the world, and tell Ral that if he recognizes the person he’s wooing as something more than just a conquests, she may be the only one who could bring some meaning into his otherwise mercenary life. It’s a great tribute to Riker’s steeliness and intuition, and oddly, a better tribute to Troi than anything that she actually gets to do herself in the episode.

Her big moment comes when she spills the beans to the delegates as to Ral’s psychic powers and how he’s been using them to stack the deck. It’s not as dramatic or empowering as the show means for it to be, and the moment feels too contrived for her to legitimately see through Ral and the Ferengi’s masquerade. The negotiations end up taking a backseat to Troi’s romantic life and her dull, pretty gross suitor.

That’s particularly frustrating because the glimpses of cultural exchange and different people’s values and hopes are absorbing. The Barzan’s desire not to have to depend on others for support, the Caldonians’ devotion to pure research and abhorrence of administration, and the Ferengi’s usual venal obsequiousness make for a compelling tet-a-tet. Seeing outsiders slate the Federation for being in conflicts rather than neutral and peaceful societies, while Riker boasts about the Federation getting into fights because it’s a premier player in the galaxy, adds context to our typically Starfleet-centered point of view.

It’s those sorts of things that Star Trek does well, broadening our perspective by contrasting humanity with other species and traditions, finding ways to examine our morals and our principles in the process. Sadly, “The Price” attempts the same with a nigh-malevolent, definitely manipulative casanova instead, and the results are about as availing as his pick-up lines.

(As an aside, spoilers for another Star Trek show: If I remember correctly the two Ferengi who get stranded in the Delta Quadrant after refusing Geordi and Data’s help show up in Voyager eventually! This works as an unwitting prelude to that show. Hell, even the “unstable wormhole” business feels like an unwitting prelude to Deep Space 9. Any of these elements would have been more interesting than the manipulative misadventures of Ral.)