Synopsis: Counsellor Troi and Commander Riker are kidnapped along with Troi’s mother, Lwaxana Troi, who is desired by a Ferengi.
In “Ménage à Troi” there is an interesting relationship between the character of Lwaxana Troi, Counsellor Deanna Troi’s Betazoid mother, and the Ferengi, Daimon Tog. It can be seen as an illustration of the relationship between the Eros-driven irrational unconscious, and the Logos-driven conscious ego when a complex makes contents of the unconscious perceivable to it.
In the episode, the aggressively business savvy Ferengis can be seen as being the conscious ego, and the emotional Lwaxana Troi as the unconscious. Much to his first officer’s chagrin, after initially seeing Lwaxana Troi as a business acquisition, her telepathic abilities being a tool to make greater profit, Tog becomes infatuated with her. He wants to make her his, this was when he was in the throes of a complex. Lwaxana Troi on the other hand, is fully capable of using all her wiles to seek the safety of her daughter and herself.
Tog initially spoke to Lwaxana Tog in terms of the rational ego, of commerce, and she snubbed him. She then appealed to his unconscious desire. However, in the end Tog’s rational ego, and his well-honed conscious desire for preservation, took over his psyche when Captain Jean-Luc Picard feigned interest in Lwaxana Troi, and threatened to destroy Tog’s vessel. The unconscious material that had been made conscious for a time was then once more repressed, to come back at another time.
Original post created 19 August 2021
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