In "Man of the People" a diplomat charged with ending a civil war on a planet on an important Federation trade route uses Troi's body as a waste receptacle for all of his distracting, hateful, lustful, and violent emotions so that he can focus on the duty at hand. This causes Troi to age rapidly, exhibit mood swings, and start to wither away before the crew's eyes. Picard & Co. must figure out a way to reverse these affects before it is too late.
I can kind of see where they were going with this one with the Dorian Gray analog but there are too many issues here in the script. I know that they had to scramble just to get this thing finished so I guess I can forgive them for that... But the focus on Troi's lustful antics is pretty gross. There's nothing wrong with having sexual urges, yet the script shames Troi for her behavior. I hate it. They could have easily focused on her anger or her less-than-great advice she's giving as counselor; instead they just use her character as a sexual object. It's awful. It really shows the values of some of these sci-fi writers...
I can kind of see where they were going with this one with the Dorian Gray analog but there are too many issues here in the script. I know that they had to scramble just to get this thing finished so I guess I can forgive them for that... But the focus on Troi's lustful antics is pretty gross. There's nothing wrong with having sexual urges, yet the script shames Troi for her behavior. I hate it. They could have easily focused on her anger or her less-than-great advice she's giving as counselor; instead they just use her character as a sexual object. It's awful. It really shows the values of some of these sci-fi writers...