A Matter of Perspective, Gallifrey Gals Get Warped! S3Ep14
Added 2021-02-02 18:00:03 +0000 UTCRiker is on trial, but is he this man or the one we know him to be. This season really pulls our heart strings as it makes us question the very nature of Riker's character! Join us as the Gallifrey Gals Get Warped in this weeks episode.
https://vimeo.com/807644821/b321e8b737
PAULA DEMING
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KATRINA ALYSHA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KatrinaAlysha
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/katrinaalysha
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8371578/
Intro Song by: Pixel Pig by Di Young https://youtu.be/TiC7_167hQ0
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Comments
Riker was basically Wesley's guidance councilor while his mother was gone in season 2. So its not surprising that he would support Riker. They must have had an entire relationship off screen. Meetings about Wesley's education and progress, advise given, ect ect.
Ashley
2023-12-04 21:58:33 +0000 UTCThis one does feel like Trek trying to be clever and thoughtful but then falling at the penultimate hurdle. The versions of events are just to dissimilar to work on the 'matter of perception' that the episode is hinging on. So when you get to the denouement, it falls apart. You can't reconcile that all versions of what has been presented can be remotely true, even accounting for grief, bias, misinterpretation, etc. There is no thread that hangs through all accounts that links them all together. Which is a shame as it does try to be different in that it doesn't want to portray a dupliticious, scheming wife or the spurned, jealous female assistant trope. It wants to be Agatha Christies 'Five Little Pigs' on a smaller scale and, sadly, falls short (but what doesn't when compared to the Queen of Crime). So check out this story to see how different perceptions can be portrayed and make you keep changing your mind with each new revelation, The David Suchet version is great and has a fantastic cast if you can stream that one.
David Shadwell
2023-12-01 10:54:59 +0000 UTCI like how O'Brien talks about nearly being caught in an exploding space station in the same tones as saying 'oh no you nearly missed the bus'. Much like how Crusher walks out so calmly when Worf alerts her that freaking deadly radiation was about to flood medical. I'd be like, "Bloody hell, s**t a brick! I'm outta here!" and peg it. Possibly shoving Wesley aside on the way to the nearest exit, George Costanza style. (Man, Beverley is so awesome.) Anyway this is a frustrating episode for me because I think it's five minutes and a rewrite from being a really good one. As it is, it's entertaining enough and there's some neat acting on offer here, but it's missing a critical coda. As far as the trial goes I can see how it's possible that a combination of perception, guilt, mourning for her husband and the flaws of memory could have Riker as a bit of a flirtatious creep who comes on to her too strong and his subsequent indignation at the accusation in a fast tussle with her husband could be terribly misconstrued. The issue I have with the episode is that it overplays it too much and the versions differ too much to be plausible, and not really enough time has passed for memory to play its tricks. I guess we have to chalk it up to Rashomon-drama shenanigans. We're in more interesting ground when it comes to Riker's testimony. To be honest if somebody told me that Riker started flirting inappropriately I wouldn't necessarily discount it. If I didn't know him well enough I wouldn't rule out him conducting an affair either, though after serving with him I'd know he wouldn't. Now it's a big leap for suspecting someone of indecent behaviour to murder, and ordinarily that wouldn't be a dramatic issue as the real meat is the concern over whether Riker did behave indecently in the events leading up. My issue is that Riker does have a bit of a problem, and not just in this episode. It's not a problem in the overall context of a fun, swashbuckling, space-adventure show but when you begin sizing up Riker's past behaviour there's something a bit irresponsible about his readiness to respond to most any flirtatious advance on an away-mission. If he wasn't a high-ranking Starfleet officer on a ship primarily designed to be a diplomatic and first-contact vessel, this wouldn't be so bad, but of necessity the people Riker meets on their planetary tours are people in influential, policy-making circles, and Riker's fast-and-loose flirty manner and willingness to leap into bed could have repercussions from even an innocent encounter. This is something of a hangover from Roddenberry's 'free-love and sexy short-skirts' vision of the future, and it's clear that Season One Riker was to be something more of a Kirk-like figure. (In fact I'd argue a more Kirk-than-Kirk when it comes to the ladies. On rewatching the original show I was surprised at how Kirk despite his rep was sometimes more about the responsibilities and the paperwork of his job than the women.) So I don't think Riker's version is completely accurate, and that he is unconsciously painting himself in a somewhat better light. Now the truth is way, way, way closer to Riker's version than anyone else's, but it could be a problem that needs addressing. I wish the script had the time and skill for a coda where Picard really, really comes down heavily on Riker and demands a more professional standard. We'd get an interesting flaw to Riker's character and a chance for Riker to reflect and adjust. Now saying all this, I love Riker. I think he's great and I'd be happy to serve in a starship run by him. (I just wouldn't necessarily want to use the holodeck directly after him.) He's a big damn hero with a beard of awesome and all his encounters have been eminently consensual, if a little eyebrow-raising. This is just an episode where I kind of wish they'd fully committed to revealing a possible flaw in Riker and working to address it, rather than leaving a bit of a queasy feeling with everyone dusting their hands at the end. P.S: The Apgar assistant version is legitimately hilarious. BIFF! POW! SOCK! "You're a dead man, Apgar, A DEAD MAN!"
Peter Evans
2021-03-02 23:03:32 +0000 UTCI found it wonderful how the episode did exactly _not_ feed the trope of women falsely claiming rape. Instead, even the title of the episode makes their point quite clear: Perspective changes quite a few things. If you look at Riker's behaviour _before_ this episode, he quite often tried to charm women he encountered. And if the women found him charming, it's welcome, if not, it's creepy. Let's be clear here, also: This isn't about rape in any way. At most, at least from one perspective, it's about an unwanted kiss. (I'm not saying that's not a transgression, I'm saying it's not rape by definition of the word.) In the case of this episode, the woman wasn't into Riker and felt his "charm" was creepy, and his lack of distance to be non-respectful of her personal space. Riker, on the other hand, had the feeling that she was coming on to him and felt uneasy about it, and he would never even try to get it on with her. The husband's perspective – according to the assistant – was that something was happening between the wife and Riker, and he felt like he was entering the room at a moment when something was happening between the two. Perspectives truly change perception. If you ever misinterpreted someone's intentions (doesn't necessarily have to be anything romantic or sexual), you know exactly, what I'm talking about. And, psychologically speaking, we do adapt our memories to conform with the conclusions we came to afterwards. It's a thing that happens. So if two people have an interesting conversation and only one of them gets romantic ideas, without anything further happening than an utterance of a romantic interest and a shutting it down from the other side, they'll have quite different ideas about the previous conversation a few days later. One is coloured by the rejection, hurt pride etc., the other is coloured by the idea, that the person with romantic interest maybe feinted interest in the subject matter of the conversation or exaggerated parts of the conversation etc.
Patrick Armbruster
2021-02-21 21:32:54 +0000 UTCThat’s all well and good when dealing with mostly normal stable people, unfortunately sometimes we find ourselves in intimate settings with people we don’t know very well, but seem normal on the surface, and maybe I’m in the minority, but when you’re all hot and bothered, you aren’t exactly trying to dissect the situation like a detective on a cold case. It’s a huge gamble for both sexes to be with the other for very different reasons, yet in the end, both reasons are ultimately about power and control.
Andrew Hogan
2021-02-06 14:54:44 +0000 UTCPretty cool to think they might be able to do these together in one room again by the next season.
A Guy Called Pi
2021-02-06 06:02:52 +0000 UTCI've tried to comment on the idea that there's no resolution to the wife and her accusations and frankly it's impossible to word properly. Can we just take it as understood that I believe we should always listen to the accusers, false rape accusations are indeed a rarity and consent is EVERYTHING? I've been called every type of soyboy, SJW and cuck under the sun when arguing with rightwing bellends. Please understand this is not even remotely a "women lie about rape" argument. Now to dance across the minefield that is this episode. I don't think there's anything that needs resolving in this episode. Other comments have mentioned Rashomon, and the trope of a single tale being told differently by each of its subjects was a firm trope by this point. It had been used in Happy Days and M*A*S*H* so it was firmly established. And this episode is just another version of that trope. Human memory is garbage. Every time we access a memory, we're in danger of changing it. We don't access some carved in stone record of what happened, we simply remember what we remember remembering. Our pasts are recordings of recordings, each one becoming a little bit less accurate. This was highlighted in the episode by the villainous declamations of Riker after he'd been knocked on his arse, or the creepy, almost comic overplaying of the rapacious Riker. Everyone is an unreliable narrator. We only notice it most for Riker because he's the person we know. If we were more familiar with Manua, we'd be more able to judge which version of her behaviour is more accurate. And it's also worth remembering that we're watcing versions of the story as interpretted by the computer and the holodeck. Copies of copies of copies. Troi says Manua isn't lying. And she isn't. Riker was probably putting on the charm, because that's what he does. And she misread it and acted accordingly. Let's not forget, we're dealing with a culture that's literally alien to ours. Sexual politics may be different. Mistakes can be made. So was an accusation of rape ignored or dismissed? I don't believe so. We're told this is a culture where everyone is guilty until proved innocent. And I think that needs to be taken into account when considering accusations of sexual assault. Manua describes Riker's behaviour and he is shown to be grabby and handsy. But if she'd actually accused him of anything, he would have been made to face that accusation. Their law already would have considered him guilty. I don't think it's an accusation being ignored, I think it's just an acceptance of a biased reporting. If SHE felt like a crime had been commited, she still had the opportunity to say so. It's not the case that she wasn't believed, but that she realised she may have misread things. It was, to coin a phrase, a matter of perspective. I've already waffled on for too long, but to cite my sources, I would recommend looking into an experiment that was carried out regarding the untrustworthy nature of memory. As a perfect example of the point the experiment proved, I have heard two different versions of what happened, so that's irony for you. It's the story of people visiting Disneyland and meeting Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny (depending on who's telling the story). It shows that people can be fed false memories with an ease that is frankly scary.
Steve
2021-02-05 00:27:37 +0000 UTCRiker’s my favorite character and I hate how they wrote him in this one. His conversation with Troi doesn’t make any sense. How they portrayed him here doesn’t match up with the rest of the series. I don’t hate this episode, but I hate that aspect of it.
trylikeafool
2021-02-04 04:10:16 +0000 UTCYeah, I’d expect him to flirt, but I also don’t think he’d ever sleep with a married lady. The writers did a poor job with his character on this one.
trylikeafool
2021-02-04 04:06:47 +0000 UTCThe weekly promo for this one totally spoiled it. It includes the shot from the final simulation of the beam bouncing off Riker's transport. As soon as they first showed the holodeck recreation of the station, I had the whole "whodunnit" aspect basically figured out. As to the confusion over Ron Moore, this was his first involvement after being hired on the writing staff. For his earlier scripts, "The Bonding" and "The Defector," he was still a freelancer.
Ken Quick
2021-02-03 15:50:43 +0000 UTCThis is the 2nd time in the space of a few episodes where Riker was left hanging at the end of story. I am specifically speaking of the vengeance factor where after being forced to kill Yuta to stop her from killing the gatherers leader. He was clearly traumatised and all that was done was the offer of some shore leave at a starbase and then left alone at the bar.
Colin 3of5
2021-02-03 06:42:57 +0000 UTCYou two mentioned you thought assault aside, Riker would have been interested in her. I think Riker would never knowingly trifle with a married woman, nor engage in innapropriate romance while on serious duty as an officer representative of the Enterprise.
JXTN
2021-02-03 05:17:50 +0000 UTCI'm sorry. First, I complete understand where you're coming from on the idea of the false accusation and how they used it in this story especially the idea of just leaving it hanging... so this comment isn't about that. Outside of those issues (which are real and I get), you suggested that some of that behavior is something that you would expect from Riker. And, I'm sorry, but no. Certainly you weren't saying that he would force himself on someone, I know that. You made that clear during the video. But you should go a little further. Riker has never disrespected his position of representation of the Enterprise or Picard nor has he done anything to suggest he would be so flippant or brazen in regards to hitting on another mans wife. ESPECIALLY right in front of him. Riker is a flirt, for sure. He could even be described as a womanizer (though I don't know how I'd feel about that). But he is not disrespectful. And, to my knowledge, he's not an adulterer.
Brandon Scott
2021-02-03 04:26:54 +0000 UTCI can hardly wait for the one after that! 😁😁
Amy Chlebus
2021-02-03 03:01:58 +0000 UTCNEXT EPISODE CAN'T WAIT!
Christine Ester
2021-02-03 01:04:35 +0000 UTCThis episode is just an OK one for me. Like you Paula and Kat, I have a problem with the plot point you are talking about after the episode. As a survivor of rape, I never find it easy to watch anything to do with that.
Amy Chlebus
2021-02-02 23:38:33 +0000 UTCI think the most controversial aspect of this episode was poorly handled. Unless they were trying to say that members of this species are WAY more sensitive to sexual undertones than humans (which doesn't seem to be the case), there's no way that the scientist's wife could have mistaken what would have been a flirty interest at most from Riker as attempted rape. The suggestion that her version of events is the way she really saw Riker's interactions with her is so absurd that I think it badly undermines the quality of an otherwise okay episode. Without that element, I might have given this episode a 6 out of 10. With it? 4.
Jeff Seely
2021-02-02 23:09:58 +0000 UTCHaving said that about the Riker Manua sub-plot, I did just read a youtube comment that shifted my own perspective a bit, in that her version of events was so strongly staged that it muddles the "open to interpretation" message. That's not to say there couldn't be a number of other unsaid things shaping that view, but yes, I agree that Riker acting THAT aggressively does harm the episode. As an actor and director or writer, I would've reworked that scene to take a few steps back, and have it fit more thematically with the show.
Nolan
2021-02-02 22:30:10 +0000 UTCThat X-Files episode is my favorite of the entire series.
Dave Hampton
2021-02-02 22:20:28 +0000 UTCSoo... this is probably my favorite "average" Star Trek episode, simply for Frakes delivery of "You're a dead man Apgar! A dead Man!" It's so over the top and hammy. As for the rest, I absolutely love the message behind this episode about how murky communication and interaction is. Actions and intent and interpretation. There are a LOT of factors or variables that go into simply TALKING to one an other, nevermind when physical attraction gets involved. Every single conversation on that station has 3 perpectives, each imbuing every moment with 3 meanings. The last moment had Riker trying to be reassuring, but Apgar, worried about being found out hearing an accusation and taking that as the cue for a desperate act, for example. Another thing to point out is how similar each scenario was, but how all the smaller details and blocking and staging was different in ways. Actions one person recalled were different or absent in another's recollection because we all make note of or disregard different things. Whose to say things don't get left out entirely? Because I think it's important to point out, and it's why Troi is there; no one is lying. Their memory and interpretation of events have created the narrative of their life. It's like that saying of, everyone is the hero of their own story. The best we can do is try not to be the villain of someone else's. As for that plot thread left dangling... I think as an example of the message of the way intent and interpretation mingle in communication, it's an effective, dramatic, and real showcase for that. It's only let down by the lack of resolution. Which is not to say I think there should be a scene proving one or the other was in the wrong, as the truth is likely somewhere in between, but perhaps a scene of communication between the two, to try and clear the matter up and admit from both that somewhere in those events, one or both messed up and created that unfortunate situation. On the other hand, having lost her husband and feeling uncomfortable enough to go to the planet, Manua may not be ready or comfortable for that either. Riker probably isn't sure how to handle it either. If only there were an empath around to help. In the light of Me Too this episode does hit weird, because so many awful stories have come out. I honestly think that really upended a lot of the perspectives of men. I know it did for me. Especially in light of the really heinous examples brought to light of guys that just didn't care in a lot of stories. But also because of the ways it showed a lot of aspects our male perspective never showed us. Power imbalances, societal pressures, media portrayals of how "relationships" or sex is supposed to look. Heck, the idea that most men feel safe taking a late-night stroll versus most women finding that a dangerous prospect was even an example of vastly different perspectives. That's also why when I see Twitter mobs forming I take a leery watchful position rather than jumping in. I wait to let my own perspective get shaped and molded as best it can by a variety of factors before making any judgements, even internal, about a situation, because IMO deciding on viewing something a certain way and sticking to it despite any alternative interpretations of subjective events is very unhelpful, if not counter-productive. I am always willing to admit that there is something I may have missed. Truth is not absolute, but it does explain. And that's how this episode ties into the season's theme of escapism; the dangers of escaping into a limited perspective. The narratives we build around ourselves may help us cope with events, but they might blind us to the impacts we have on others, or events, and keep us from realizing the reality beyond what we see. At least, that's my perspective on things. 😅 (Another thing my male perspective kept from me, apparently rolled up sleeves and bared forearms are a big turn on for ladies, or so a female twitterer I follow says... I did note how Katrina was compelled to point out Picard's attractiveness as he painted... with rolled up sleeves. LOL🤣)
Nolan
2021-02-02 22:12:45 +0000 UTCYes we are all excited about the introduction of Cetacean Ops, and for no other reason!
EricH86
2021-02-02 19:33:40 +0000 UTCYeah, I’m going to be as diplomatic as possible here. I have known a few instances where this type of situation has happened and can be quite devastating. Victim shaming can go both ways depending on who you view being the victim. I think the fact that it’s left open ended is perfect because as usual, or at least most of the time, the only people who really know what happened are the ones that were there.
Andrew Hogan
2021-02-02 19:23:22 +0000 UTCYou're so right about the unresolved issue with the wife's version of events. Even with Riker exonerated of the murder, her version of events still show Riker may have acted inappropriately and be subject to reprisal by both Starfleet and possibly Tanuga law. Excellent PSA! Consent is sexy. Communication has to go both ways, and I'm so glad Paula made the comment about role playing. "No" means "no." Don't be playing hard to get or acting like you should be pursued if that isn't understood up front. Mixed signals are bad for everyone. And have a safe word, even if you don't think you're doing anything where it would be needed. The best safe word is "Meatloaf," because it means I would do anything for love, but I won't do that.
John
2021-02-02 19:12:05 +0000 UTCThere's some interesting scientific studies that are reflected in this episode about memory. People that witness or are part of the same event often recall the events quite differently. It's becoming a big deal with court cases which is why I first heard about it. https://neurosciencenews.com/same-event-different-memory-10405/ The episode should definitely not have left the threads open like you mentioned.
Josh G
2021-02-02 19:02:51 +0000 UTCYep, this is 500% my least favorite episode of the season, and it's because of that unresolved plot point and pushing the narrative that women who report sexual assault may be just as likely to be lying and ruining a Good Man's Life. Bleh, no good. Within the Rashomon structure, I think they were playing with film noir tropes, including the femme fatale. But, ye gads did this one faceplant. I appreciated y'all's discussion and I'm glad y'all enjoyed it for the most part.
Joshua Gosdin
2021-02-02 19:01:35 +0000 UTCOther "Rashomon" episodes include Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" (X-Files) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751147/ The Rashomon Job (Leverage) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1705615/
michael mccafferty
2021-02-02 18:08:44 +0000 UTCJust as an FYI you guys have titled it S214 instead of S3. You probably already noticed. :p
Josh G
2021-02-02 18:06:25 +0000 UTCAnd the countdown to next week is on!
David Brown
2021-02-02 18:04:27 +0000 UTC
