Synopsis: The Enterprise hosts an auction of sorts for control of a wormhole and Counselor Troi is pursued by one of the negotiators.
This episode illustrates the depth psychological concept of “projection.” The idea that we see our idealized inner opposite on others when we fall in love at first sight. And what happens when the person that the projection is placed upon does not live up to this.
In “The Price” we see Ship’s Counselor Deanna Troi instantly drawn to a negotiator visiting the Enterprise, Devinoni Ral. From her reaction to him in the episode, we believe that Troi thinks that she has found her own inner ideal opposite, a human man who is able to understand her. Troi even confides to her close friend, Dr. Beverly Crusher, that she is afraid she will lose herself in the relationship, because she is so taken by him. This illustrates exactly the depth of attraction and excitement felt when one finds someone who is able to hold the projection we place upon them.
But then Ral lets her know in confidence that he is not all human, that he is ¼ Betazoid, and therefore empathic. This gives him an advantage in his negotiations because he is able to read the emotions of those he is in business with. This makes Troi feel betrayed, even more so that she was so infatuated with him that she did not realize his ability herself – her human emotions, or in depth psychological terms, her Eros-driven unconscious, blocked her rational ego. Troi is than appalled by Ral secretly using his empathic skills to give him an edge in his business dealings. Ral confronts her, saying that Troi does the same thing, only when she uses her skills to protect the ship and the crew, it is life and death; when he uses his skills nobody dies.
Troi, deeply disappointed in Ral, and probably not happy to have the mirror turned upon her, reveals Ral’s abilities to Captain Jean-Luc Picard. And even though Ral has been calculating in his dealings with Troi, it seems that Ral also projected his own inner ideal opposite upon her. That her disclosing what he had been doing, could actually be what he would have wanted a mate to do. This is evidenced because at the end of the episode, he again asks Troi to run away with him. He tries to manipulate her emotions by claiming that she can help him learn to behave more morally. But for Troi, Ral no longer is identified with her inner ideal other, and she says goodbye to him. The real Ral is no longer able to hold her projection and the infatuation is over.
Original post created 31 July 2021
mydailysoultrek 