6x19 Lessons

[8.3/10] Metaphors and allegories are the stock and trade of Star Trek. Alien species stand-in for objects of cultural prejudice. Different planets represent different nations. Chances are, the latest science fiction problem of the week is probably a call-out to some real world problem we put into greater focus by seeing it from the new angle fiction provides.

But rarely does the franchise use metaphors for something like love. From the time of Kirk, romance was still a strong element in the twenty-third century and beyond. So the writers never needed to abstract it in the way they did clashes of civilization or social bigotry. And yet, it’s hard to imagine a more apt metaphor for two human beings coming to love one another than music.

A good artist, even an amateur, puts bits of themselves in what and how they play their instruments. We find someone else so inclined and, through trial and error, find both melody and harmony together. The different notes and styles compliment one another, complete one another, until the notion of any one player’s tunes standing alone becomes unthinkable. The music becomes inextricable, and in “Lessons”, so do the people playing it.

Which is to say that Jean-Luc’s romance with Lieutenant Commander Nella Daren, the new spatial science department head who comes aboard the Enterprise, works leagues better than any of Picard’s one-episode romances. Spare me Vash. Forget Kamala. And dear lord, don’t dare mention Anij. But Daren is Picard’s match, and the standard against which all of his non-Crusher romances are measured.

Some of the reasons are superficial. She’s closer in age to Picard. She has a (sometimes vague) British accent. She has the same regal bearing Jean-Luc does. And, not for nothing, she bears a certain resemblance to Dr. Crusher (particularly noticeable in the scene where Beverly treats her in sickbay), which subconsciously primes us to accept the pairing. And guest actor Wendy Hughes does a fantastic job of making her feel like a force to be reckoned with. The two make sense on screen together, which is something you hope for in casting, but can’t guarantee in writing.

And yet the writing is what puts this relationship over the top. Daren is Picard’s equal, in temperament if not quite in rank. She’s respectful, but not deferential. She’s good at her job, takes pride in it, and has the devotion to duty that Picard admires in himself and others. She is also, not for nothing, a big giant nerd, geeking out over spatial phenomena in the same way Picard does over archeology and the like. She makes sense as someone who’d appeal to Picard in her virtuosity and her professionalism. She’s enough like him for the couple to be compatible, but also strong-willed and self-possessed enough to treat Jean-Luc like a person, not a superior, and expect Picard to do the reverse for her.

Their courtship is adorable. The way the two playfully joust over him ruining a night’s work in stellar cartography, or fall into a lovefest over her piano playing is endlessly sweet. More to the point, I love the extended scene where they play music together. It works for the metaphor that provides a throughline for this story, but also works as text.

Picard is timid. He’s intimidated by Daren’s musical prowess. He thinks himself an amateur and dilettante. But she encourages him, with something simple at first, but ultimately more complex. And she joins him, forging a new, beautiful piece together once he comes out of his shell. It represents the way even the softer version of Jean-Luc who’s emerged over the last few seasons still has to be coaxed a little to show vulnerability and, more than that, to allow himself intimacy with another purpose. His flute-playing is an endearing extension of that, and Nella’s willingness to nudge him toward openness signals how she’s the right match for him.

Candidly, I’m over the moon at how “Lessons” builds on “The Inner Light”. It would be easy to let Picard’s “flute life” (as my wife termed it), to be something the show reflected on for one adventure and then left behind. Lord knows we’ve never heard more about Geordi’s Romulan brainwashing, or Dr. Crusher’s terrorist kidnapping, or Commander Riker’s alien orphan-induced faux-time jump. But this episode uses continuity in an indirect way, not making this one a sequel to a past story, but emphasizing how much the experience Picard had thanks to that probe affected him.

His willingness to open up to Nella about that, to explain his fascination with the Ressikan flute, signifies how close he’s grown in her. He’ll confide in her about why this means something to him, and she not only accepts it, but builds on it. She brings him to a harmonically perfect area of the ship and encourages him to play his music and let it reach his full sonic potential. They’re a couple who build on what’s important to one another, who support each other, provide a safe space to laugh and try things and admit the parts of your life that are important or sensitive without any fear of being judged or misunderstood. The story accomplishes so much in shorthand and feeling in such a brief time, and it’s downright lovely.

Of course, it would be too bold for an episodic television show to add a love interest for its “married to the job” main character in 1993, so Daren was destined to depart at some point. What I appreciate about “Lessons” is that, rather than making the return to the status quo a cheap inevitablity, let alone killing her off conveniently, the episode finds a good reason for why Jean-Luc and Nella wouldn’t work long term, that depends on, rather than disrupting, their feelings for one another.

It delves into the complications of a relationship between a leader and someone who is subordinate to him. Admittedly, this is the one part of the episode that makes me furrow my brow a bit. “Lessons” takes a pretty blasé attitude about whether it’s right for a captain to date someone he could, if he so chose, order around. There is, in principle, a power imbalance here.

Now we’ve seen Nella and Jean-Luc’s romance develop on equal terms, so we know that’s not affecting this situation. But the way Deanna writes off the concern is low-key problematic. It’s especially uncomfortable given reports of producers across multiple Star Trek series propositioning, sexually harassing, and even sexually assaulting young actresses whose jobs were in their hands.

But the other side of the coin is that it comes up. Picard feels uncomfortable about being seen canoodling with another officer. Riker feels uncomfortable when the Captain’s girlfriend is asking him to make personnel decisions that would benefit her. Nella doesn’t want to be hindered from doing her job the way she would anyway just because of who she’s seeing.

Again, the episode’s answer here isn’t fully satisfying, with Picard basically telling both Riker and Daren “I trust you both to do your jobs as you would normally, and this clearly won’t be a continuing issue whatsoever!” Nevertheless, I appreciate the show addressing it and making things not all sunshine and roses given the situation.

What can’t be resolved, however, is when a dangerous mission takes place and Picard has to choose between his duty and his heart. One of the things I like about “Lessons” is that, in contrast to most episodes of the show, there’s little in the way of major threats or ticking clocks. It makes time to let Jean-Luc and Nella just be together, rather than cramming in some Romulan plot of deadly supernova. That means there’s plenty of room to let their relationship develop naturally, gradually, and convincingly.

But it can’t last forever. Eventually, there’s a forest fire or something on a nearby planet, and sure enough, Daren’s gotta go down there to help protect the locals from it during an evacuation. Of course, there’s complications, crewmembers whose lives are lost, and for a moment, it seems like hers was too.

I’ll confess, I remembered the end of this episode from watching it many years ago, but the moment where Picard waits and wonders if the woman he’s in love with has perished on a mission her ordered her to undertake still works like gangbusters. The show delivers exposition on Picard’s emotional state after the fact, but thanks to Stewart’s acting, you don’t really need it. You can read it on the Captain’s face. His terror, his guilt, his crestfallen, anxious gait through it all. It’s as clear a sign as any that he can’t be objective when it comes to Daren, that either his command is going to mess with his relationship or his relationship is going to mess with his command.

What I appreciate most is that they’re all so damned adult about it. They have a frank conversation about what each felt and realized from the incident. They joke about resigning commissions, but each cares too much about the careers they’ve built to really do that. They acknowledge the realities of the situation, ruefully of course, but accept them. There’s no big drama or arguments or tears. Just two reasonable adults dealing with a sad situation in a mature manner. It’s incredibly refreshing, and incredibly sad at the same time.

And yet, there is beauty and warmth in the tale. This, more than any other episode, confirmed that Picard was unlikely to ever find love so long as he remained captain of the Enterprise. He’s too invested in his ship, too committed to doing the job objectively and to the best of his abilities, to let his judgment become clouded by the chance a command decision will put someone he loves at risk. This is one of those sacrifices he talked to Wesley and even Kamala about, the sublime comforts and joys in life he gives up because he feels they would keep him from his responsibilities.

Despite all that, we see a different side of him here. We know that he can love. He is not a cold or unfeeling man, or one who’d rather enjoy the pages of a good book than the affections of a true partner. He can open himself up to someone who pushes him out of his professionally-built shell. There is someone out there for him, someone who, under different circumstances, could make him happy with him doing the same for her. That is huge, even if the laws of television in 1993 mean it was destined not to work out here.

The failure of the relationship doesn't come from melodrama, or contrived romantic entanglements, or a convenient demise. It comes from Picard’s realization that, once he’s heard that harmony, he couldn’t bear to be the one whose actions silence it forever. There is a truth in that, something that marks both the rapturous joy of what they had and the unignorable fear of not being able to let it go.

God only knows if where Star Trek: Picard will land on Jean-Luc’s romantic life. (And sadly, Hughes passed away a number of years ago.) But even as Picard lives and loves again after “Lessons”, I’d like to think that Nella Daren’s melody will remain in the back of his mind forever.