Synopsis: A young girl’s imaginary friend turns out to be an alien entity that threatens the Enterprise and her crew.
In this episode we can see how our unconscious can be perceived as our invisible imaginary friend. When Clara Sutton first imagines her friend, Isabella, Isabella does just as Clara wishes. But when Isabella becomes a concrete entity, albeit an entity that very few adults are able to see, she becomes independent, and does as she pleases. And when her wants and needs are not met, Isabella becomes hostile and tries to hurt both Clara and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise.
This is metaphor of what happens when bits of one’s unconscious become perceptible to the conscious ego through a complex. When ignored by our consciousness, here symbolized by the crew of the Enterprise, it becomes more and more powerful, until a time when it must be confronted in order to go on.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, here analogous to the conscious rational ego, addresses Isabella in a way to acknowledge her existence and ascertain what she needs. In “Imaginary Friend” what the entity appearing to be Isabella really wants is an energy source, and Picard makes a compromise with the energy source, that if it leaves the Enterprise intact, he will give it what it needs. This worked out for the benefit of all concerned and is an illustration of how when we acknowledge and integrate bits of our unconscious material that raise to consciousness through a complex, we can become stronger and more whole.
Original post created 19 October 2021
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