Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 20: “The Emissary”

Synopsis: Starfleet Special Emissary K’ehleyr has a special connection to Lt. Worf.

In “The Emissary” two individuals who are half human and half alien, Special Emissary K’ehleyr and Counselor Deanna Troi compare what it was like to grow up being half one thing and half another. They exhibit two opposite ways of perceiving this, K’ehleyr remarks that Troi must have felt trapped between two different cultures while Troi says that she tried to experience the richness and diversity of both worlds. In the following scene K’ehleyr also confides to Troi about her Klingon half, that “sometimes I feel there is a monster inside me.” Troi responds: “it gives you strength, it’s part of you” (Manning, et al., 1989). Both of Troi’s remarks echo Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s statement from a few episodes back, “Up the Long Ladder,” that: “it is the differences that have made us strong” (Snodgrass & Kolbe, 1989)

And all this also harkens back to the episode “The Enemy Within” from Star Trek: The Original Series and all the episodes since that one that deal with us acknowledging the darker parts of our personalities. This is what Carl (C. G.) Jung calls the shadow, and it is found in our unconscious. Jung also writes that the shadow is not necessarily negative, that some positive traits, such as artistic tendencies, that society deems inappropriate can also be found there. And by acknowledging our unconscious shadow and incorporating those different parts of ourselves into our conscious ego our psyches become stronger and more whole.

References:

Manning R. (Writer), Beimler, H. (Writer), & Bole, C. (Director). (1989, June 24). The emissary (Season 2, Episode 20) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry (Executive Producer), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.

Snodgrass, M. M. (Writer), & Kolbe, W. (Director). (1989, May 20). Up the long ladder (Season 2, Episode 18) [TV series episode]. In G. Roddenberry (Executive Producer), Star trek: The next generation. Paramount Television.

Original post created 16 July 2021