The Next Generation 6x13 "Aquiel"

rating: **

the story: Geordi falls in love with a murder suspect.

similar to: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, "The Drumhead" (Next Generation), "Demon," "Course: Oblivion" (Voyager)

my thoughts: This latest hapless Geordi love story (the only other character as similarly hapless in franchise would be Voyager's Harry Kim, so of course he figures in the episode connections above) gets surprisingly complicated.  A lot of people will base their opinions of the episode on the performance of the actress playing the title character (which may not be for everyone, but it's not really that bad).

The first association you'll see listed is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which I make because it shares a Klingon murder mystery with "Aquiel."  The second also features a Klingon, but that's not the reason I link Next Generation's own "The Drumhead" to "Aquiel," but rather because both feature a more complicated investigation than it at first seems (there are other such episodes, but it's just funny to me that the series was willing to piggyback on such a singular episode with one that didn't really have near the ambition, which is fine, all things considered; at this point the season had more than amped up the quality score that was lagging early on, so it was due for some lighter material).

The third and forth come from Voyager, and by the time you reach the end of "Aquiel" you should know very well why the biomimetic shenanigans of "Demon" and "Course: Oblivion" are relevant.  All of this combines, if you managed the rather lengthy parenthetical comments above, for a fairly decent episode.  For  Geordi romance it's fairly straightforward, sadly enough!  If you include, say, "The Game" with Wesley and Ashley Judd, you'll see that romances do tend to end rather abruptly in this series, where careers (*cough* Riker) are so important (so it's equally unsurprising that the older, commanding officer Picard has been a bachelor all his life). 

For all that, it's a good mystery.  The series was surprisingly good for those.  And the little dog, too!  I'll keep it at recommendations for franchise and series fans, just to be on the safe side, which translate to a two-star review, a middle-of-the-road-but-still-worth-watching affair.  Sounds exactly like all Geordi's dates...

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential