Chip Lucia is "Alkar", a Man of the People, an ambassador who seems just as apt as Howie Seago was in "loud as a whisper"..
But where the ambassador from "loud as a whisper" was a good and honest person who just happened to have a disability, Alkar is a cheater.
Alkar has his mother with him, who instantly and constantly accuses Counselor Troi of trying to hit on Alkar- which is partially true, she appeared to be attracted to him. And he to her, but after his mother dies suddenly, with arms outstretched in a hideous reach, he appears to tone down his interest.
He appears to be a concerned negotiator, and a good person. But then Counselor Troi starts undergoing some interesting changes. All we know is that she participated in some kind of funeral meditation with Alkar: which involved the use of two stones which were contained in an ironically coffin-shaped box.
This is interesting variation of "Dorian Gray"- whereas in that original story, the painting was the one that aged, in this rendition it is his "receptacle" that ages while he remains young and apparently free from stress.
Of course the enterprise crew can't figure out what the blazes is going on, but Dr. Crusher eventually pieces it together and discovers something about Alkar's mother that he was hiding.
This was a most interesting episode, and I can forgive the solution, where Troi De-Ages almost as quickly as she had aged- I don't think aging can be undone as easily as shown here, it would have been more correct for the healing to take several days. It did d make for some great special effects, though. The irony here was when Alkar had the tables turned on him, he ended up exactly as his "mother" had, with the same hideous grasping reach, arms outstretched as if demanding or pleading for something. Almost like a fish gasping for water, it was hideous and appropriate for Alkar.
Alkar seemed to have a unique ability, similar to Counselor Troi's, but in his case it was used to remove his undesired bad emotions from himself. Which would have been acceptable if he had a safe way of getting rid of those, but I would imagine that any form of self improvement that has a cost of trivializing or causing harm to another person, is not much of a self-improvement.
Look for Chip Lucia in the Voyager episode "Alliances", where he plays a similar character.
But where the ambassador from "loud as a whisper" was a good and honest person who just happened to have a disability, Alkar is a cheater.
Alkar has his mother with him, who instantly and constantly accuses Counselor Troi of trying to hit on Alkar- which is partially true, she appeared to be attracted to him. And he to her, but after his mother dies suddenly, with arms outstretched in a hideous reach, he appears to tone down his interest.
He appears to be a concerned negotiator, and a good person. But then Counselor Troi starts undergoing some interesting changes. All we know is that she participated in some kind of funeral meditation with Alkar: which involved the use of two stones which were contained in an ironically coffin-shaped box.
This is interesting variation of "Dorian Gray"- whereas in that original story, the painting was the one that aged, in this rendition it is his "receptacle" that ages while he remains young and apparently free from stress.
Of course the enterprise crew can't figure out what the blazes is going on, but Dr. Crusher eventually pieces it together and discovers something about Alkar's mother that he was hiding.
This was a most interesting episode, and I can forgive the solution, where Troi De-Ages almost as quickly as she had aged- I don't think aging can be undone as easily as shown here, it would have been more correct for the healing to take several days. It did d make for some great special effects, though. The irony here was when Alkar had the tables turned on him, he ended up exactly as his "mother" had, with the same hideous grasping reach, arms outstretched as if demanding or pleading for something. Almost like a fish gasping for water, it was hideous and appropriate for Alkar.
Alkar seemed to have a unique ability, similar to Counselor Troi's, but in his case it was used to remove his undesired bad emotions from himself. Which would have been acceptable if he had a safe way of getting rid of those, but I would imagine that any form of self improvement that has a cost of trivializing or causing harm to another person, is not much of a self-improvement.
Look for Chip Lucia in the Voyager episode "Alliances", where he plays a similar character.