Synopsis: Captain Picard is kidnapped by an alien race interested in observing human morality.
In “Allegiance” Captain Jean-Luc Picard is suddenly dropped into a cell with three individuals unlike himself, in order to test his reactions to them and their reactions to him. This experiment is brought about by an unidentified alien race to try to understand the nature of human behavior as regards to leadership and authority.
The individuals that Picard is imprisoned with, Miteno Haro, a first year Starfleet Cadet who is Bolian, Kova Tholl of Mizar II, and Esoqq from the planet Chalna, all have different reactions to Picard. Haro obeys his orders without question, Tholl, who is from a race that values peace above all else fears antagonizing their captors, and Esoqq, who’s name means fighter, does not believe in any laws and is suspicious of everyone. Picard and the others also represent different typologies, or personality types, as described by Carl Gustav (C. G.) Jung and has been furthered by the Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator. Jung tells us that no type is preferable over the others, and that we each have all of the eight types in either our conscious or unconscious part of our psyches, and each of us has a natural preference for some functions over others. Also sometimes it is the processes that are less preferred by our conscious egos that are the ones that save the day.
In the episode, Esoqq the fighter who is unwilling to submit, is suspicious of everyone, and believes that one of the captors is in the cell with them. And while this may seem combative, in actuality, his suspicions trigger Picard to be suspicious of the others as well, and to detect who in the cell is actually the captor. By using a less familiar function Picard and the others are released.
Reference:
Bremmer, J. N. (2000). Scapegoat rituals in ancient Greece. In R. Buxton (Ed.), Oxford readings in Greek religion (pp. 271-293). Oxford University Press.
Original post created 12 August 2021
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