Synopsis: An alien race plots to take over the Federation by using an addictive, pleasure inducing device to control Starfleet officers.
This episode can be seen as a physical reenactment of what can happen to us when our rational conscious ego is lost in the power of the unconscious.
In “The Game” a female alien on Riza, seems to just innocently introduce Commander William Riker to a game for his amusement. Riker, here identifying with the Senex archetype, has no fear of it, and smitten by a beautiful woman, is intrigued to try it.
Also, interestingly it is the energy of the Puer and Puella archetypes in Ensign Wesley Crusher, on leave from Starfleet Academy and aboard the Enterprise, and Ensign Robin Lefler, that are able to save the ship. And that the senior officers, representing the Senex figures onboard, are the ones most easily manipulated. This might be explained because the Senex archetype is certain of its powers and believes itself impervious to such things. Whereas the Puer or Puella, the youthful questioning archetype, wants to know exactly what he or she might be linking to its psyche before engaging with it. The Enterprise, and perhaps the Federation, are saved because Wesley Crusher is able to repair Lt. Commander Data, the only officer immune to the device, who had been immobilized by the others who were under its influence.
This episode reveals just how fragile a one-sided rational state of being is when it is confronted by unconscious energy and how easily we can be seduced by the unconscious if we do not recognize it for what it is.
Original post created 29 September 2021
mydailysoultrek 