Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise loses its memory after an encounter with an alien vessel.
This episode, in which the crew loses its memory and keeps acting as it knows how to do, but not knowing why, can be seen as an analogy as to how the rational conscious ego feels when it is confronted with unconscious material through a complex.
In “Conundrum” an alien race is controlling the rational consciousness of the Enterprise’s crew. They do not know why they are doing what they do, yet they cannot stop themselves. They recognize their actions, but not themselves. This is what it can feel like when one is in the throes of a complex. As Carl (C. G.) Jung would say, we know we are dealing with a complex when we cannot help our actions and feel somewhat unlike ourselves.
However, as seen in this episode, at some point, when we become aware that something is not right, we can change how we react to the complex. Here, although his memories are gone and he has orders that do not make sense, Captain Jean-Luc Picard refuses to do something that he knows is not right. This causes the alien to over-react and be exposed for what he is. Picard, like our conscious ego acknowledged that something was wrong and did something about it. He also acknowledged the wrong that he had done while under the influence of the alien. Although he is remorseful now, Picard, and the rest of the crew will become stronger from the experience and if the same thing should happen again, hopefully, he will not succumb to it. But if he does, as Picard told Counselor Deanna Troi in the last episode, it is human to make mistakes, and nobody is perfect.
Original post created 9 October 2021
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