Synopsis: After being struck by a power surge from an alien probe, Lt. Barclay obtains superhuman mental acuity.
As the title to this episode suggests, “The Nth Degree” can be interpreted in depth psychological terms as an illustration of inflation, that is identifying too closely with the god-like power that one can feel when one feels one is embodying an archetype.
In this episode, after being struck unconscious by a power surge from an alien probe, Lt. Reginald Barclay, who up until this point was portrayed as being rather shy and unsure of himself, becomes so powerful in his thoughts that he connects himself to the Enterprise’s computer system. He physically manifests the idea of the conscious ego inflating because it feels the power of the god of the archetype. This is not in and of itself a bad thing, we all at some point in time feel that feeling of inner oneness and sense of purpose, or nothing would get done. It is only in staying too long in this state when things go awry in our psyche. But as it turned out, Barclay was possessed by powers not of his own, but of an alien race, the Cytherians, who needed to activate somebody in order to bring the Enterprise to them. After the Enterprise arrived at this destination, Barclay’s superhuman powers disappeared, yet he still was touched by the experience and will be forever changed.
Another interesting depth psychological idea present in this episode, at the very end, is the difference between an introverted personality or social culture, and an extroverted one. When the Enterprise finally arrives in the system of the Cytherians, they realize, or Barclay explains to them, that the Cytherians are just like the crew of the Enterprise, explorers. But unlike Starfleet, they do not go out into the galaxy to explore, they bring the galaxy to them. That they can harness a force to do that makes it clear that introverts are just as powerful as extroverts are.
Original post created 14 September 2021
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