So, last night I rewatched the episode THE INNER LIGHT of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. I remember doing it for the first time a couple of years ago, and being very hyped about it. I mean, it's the highest rated episode and usually considered as the best in the entire series. I was all like, better than Q WHO, THE ENEMY, THE DEFECTOR, YESTERDAY'S ENTERPRISE? Better than THE OFFSPRING and THE MEASURE OF A MAN? No way. And that's just counting some episodes before season 5.
SPOILERS ALERT
When I finally watched, I felt... underwhelmed. This second time, I was plain bored. I don't know what I expected, but certainly not that over sentimental stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great episode, but it's not only inconsistent, but deeply flawed. How did that people managed to create such a piece of technology when they barely started to launch missiles to the sky, for example?
Something that I feel it could've helped the episode a lot was to save the reveal of his return as a surprise ending, meaning, you only see what happens in the Enterprise after the planet collapses. Otherwise it's pretty obvious that he is living a lifetime in a matter of minutes, taking away the impact.
One of my main gripes is that the experience should've changed Picard completely, and yet they never even make a reference to it, except in another one where it barely matters. Not only that, but Picard wakes up and he's like "ok, I'm back being a captain now". Seriously? After a lifetime, you just go back? Come on.
Not to mention, it could've happened to anyone. Picard doesn't really act as Picard in this other life, you could've changed to Riker and nothing changes. Hell, it could happen in any sci fi or fantasy series or movie. It feels totally disconnected from the rest of the episodes, as if it were a standalone production.
I know this rant makes no sense, especially decades after it aired, but it's just bugs me.
tl;dr: THE INNER LIGHT from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is overrated.
Status quo was god with
Star Trek to the point that show runners had to fight to get the episode
Family made the way they wanted. Namely that Picard's assimilation by the Borg was something that was going to be with him for a very long time and he wasn't going to be all healed up by the next episode. Paramount didn't want that and just have Picard back in the center seat next episode like nothing happened. Fortunately the show runners stood their ground and we got to see Picard dealing with the effects of what the Borg did to him. Yeah, they didn't touch on the Borg all that much for the rest of the series but
First Contact and the new Picard series made it clear Picard was still suffering mental trauma from being assimilated decades after he was assimilated.
Unfortunately some of the other traumas that obviously would've taken more than one episode to heal from weren't addressed for Picard. Picard was tortured by the Cardassians but you never really heard mention of that after
Chain of Command. I agree that they didn't really explore the aftermath of what happened after
The Inner Light, and that even if the 20 years of life was lived in 20 minutes Picard should have been profoundly affected over the long term.
And it wasn't just with Picard. Worf, for example, had his spinal column replaced but was back to normal the following episode. Or on DS9 where Chief O'Brien had his own misadventures. Such as 20 simulated years of imprisonment. The trauma of that almost drove him to suicide but he was back to normal the next episode.
