2x19 Manhunt

[6.3/10] I know a lot of Star Trek fans don’t care for Lwaxana Troi, but I’ve always liked her. Gene Roddenberry himself once described her as the Auntie Mame of the galaxy, and it’s a fun vibe to add to the show from time to time. She is an agent of chaos aboard the Enterprise, one who isn’t a threat in the sense of the Romulans or even fellow trouble-maker Q, but just as someone who disrupts business as usual on the ship, which can be just as troublesome in its way.

There’s a particular contrast between the free-spirited, arguably tactless ways of Lwaxana with the ever-polished and professional members of the crew. Lwaxana is used to getting her way, and has little concern for any custom or norm that isn’t her own, leading to plenty of raised eyebrows and unexpected intrusions. Seeing the typically staid Starfleet Officers flustered by the harmless but undaunted nuisance adds a different dynamic and, for me, at least brings the laughs.

That’s especially true when The Next Generation pairs her with Captain Picard. It’s hard to imagine two characters more different from one another. Picard is the measure diplomat and statesman, ever-dignified, ever-proper, ever-willing to prioritize his ship and his crew over his own oft-stuffy pursuits. Lwaxana, on the other hand, never let propriety get in the way of a good time, and isn’t above using her position or her abilities to do and say things that decorum would never allow her Starfleet counterparts to.

The best parts of “Manhunt”, then, come when Lwaxana has set her sights on the captain and aims to ensnare him in a romantic entanglement. I’ll confess to continuing to get laughs out of the running gag that continues here from Mama Troi’s last appearance on the show. She’s constantly claiming that Jean-Luc harbors, shall we say, provocative thoughts about her, while he maintains a stiff upper lip through it all.

But there’s more to it than that. I loved Captain Picard getting inveigled into a private romantic dinner than he mistook for a diplomatic function. Lwaxana offering any number of come-ons to try to allure the good captain, with Jean-Luc pretending not to notice or tastefully eliding her suggestions makes for an amusing dinner party scene. Picard is half-bemused and half quietly awkward about the whole thing, which makes for a good dynamic with the ever-extroverted Mrs. Troi.

I also like him fighting fire with ice. He tries to neutralize Lwaxna’s attempts at dinner date seduction by inviting Data to the party to basically bore her into submission. His efforts to make Data’s tales of calculating distances and using sensors to detect chemicals seem “spellbinding” in an effort to get out of any more thinly-veiled enticements is a hoot. If this whole episode were just a cat and mouse game between him and Lwaxana, I think I’d be the rare viewer on board with it.

But it isn’t. The catch for Lwaxana, and any character really, is that you have to give her something worthwhile to do. While there’s plenty of mileage to be gained out of her pursuing Picard and him politely declining her requests, the show basically quits on it after the first eighteen minutes of the episode.

From there, “Manhunt” transitions into two separate storylines, one of which is dull as hell, and the other of which is borderline offensive. The former sees Picard trying to evade Lwaxana’s affections by hiding out in the holodeck, and the latter sees Lwaxana measuring up every male on the ship while dealing with some pre-menopausal man-craziness.

I have to tell you, I’ve never really enjoyed the Dixon Hill material on this show, and this episode is no exception. Nothing of any interest happens while Jean-Luc is trying to sidestep his would-be suitor. He just toys around with different antagonists (one of whom voices Harvey Bullock in Batman: The Animated Series and could pass as the character in live action!) and then boringly has a drink at a local holographic watering hole.

I honestly can’t tell what TNG is going for with this. It seems like maybe it’s supposed to be funny when Picard can’t quite calibrate the computer program right to get a non-violent adventure. Maybe it’s supposed to be setup for Lwaxana eventually becoming enamored with the holographic bartender. But mostly it just seems like filler, neither serving to entertain nor advance the plot of the episode in any meaningful way.

But given Lwaxana’s material, I might prefer another dose of “almost like watching paint dry” Dixon Hill adventures. Deanna Troi reveals that her mother is, in fact, about to hit Betazed menopause, and because of that has not only quadrupled her sex drive but is desperate to find a man. It’s a pretty insulting setup for Lwaxana, even in a comic episode, made all the worse by Deanna and Dr. Pulaski de facto laughing at her over it in private.

Worse yet, none of Lwaxana’s other escapades are even really amusing. Her comments about Wesley and Worf are both a little creepy. Her efforts to declare a marriage to Commander Riker are weird, and not in a funny way. And her settling on a bartender hologram, one she’s enchanted with on the basis that she can’t read his mind, is a decent enough gag, but feels mean when Jean-Luc and company make a fool out of her by letting her indulge in the romance rather than telling her about what’s really going on. It’s a waste of Majel Barrett’s considerable talents, and loses the comic force of pairing her with the captain.

The only other detail of note is the B-story (arguably C-story) where a bunch of hibernating aquatic delegates beam aboard for travel to a diplomatic conference (also Lwaxana’s excuse for boarding the ship). There’s some decent humor about Worf finding them to be a “handsome race” while everyone else is repulsed, and the borderline grotesque costumes and look of them eating a barrel full of brined cantaloupe is impressive from an effects standpoint. Lwaxana using her psychic abilities to discern that they’re assassins makes for a neat trick and adds some stakes, if only in hindsight, to her experience on the ship, but mostly this one ends with a whimper.

It’s a shame, because in the right hands, and with the right scene partners, Lwaxana can be a delightful presence on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She’s certainly far from being a reasonable person, but that can be entertaining when she’s surrounded by people who are reasonable to a fault. Her transgressive, self-focused ways make for a change of pace, and a different energy on the Enterprise. But it’s the better episodes that figure out how to channel that energy, and who with.