Synopsis: While the U.S.S. Titan and her crew are being pursued by the Shrike, Admiral Picard confronts Dr. Crusher about Jack Crusher.
This episode can be seen as illustration of what Carl (C. G.) Jung called the Great Mother complex. A complex, in Jung’s teachings, being one of the ways in which unconscious material is made accessible to the conscious ego.
In “Seventeen Seconds,” while the U.S.S. Titan is being pursued by the Shrike, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard confronts Dr. Beverly Crusher about why she never told him that he had a son. Dr. Crusher tells him that she knew he loved Starfleet and that he had told her in the past that he never wanted a family, because he was afraid of being like his father. Picard in turn, tells her that she took away his choice about being a father, and that things may have been different. Dr. Crusher responds that she lost the rest of her family already and while she knew that she could protect her son’s life, she did not know if she could also protect Picard’s. Meanwhile on M’talas Prime, Commander Raffaela (Raffi) Musiker regains consciousness and learns that she was rescued by her handler, Worf. Together they track Titus Rikka and interrogate him, and discover that he is a changeling.
In this episode, the scene between Picard and Dr. Crusher can be seen as an illustration of the Great Mother complex. Dr. Crusher cannot help herself in protecting her son’s life, putting his safety above all others, which to her meant to keep his identity as Picard’s son hidden. This situation, as in the last episode’s scenarios, can be interpreted as illustrations of action compelled by feeling-toned complexes, because one cannot help but act in a certain way when one’s ego is overwhelmed by a bit of unconscious material. But Jung also felt that complexes were a way to gain self-knowledge, and when acknowledged and integrated into the conscious ego, the ego is made stronger and the psyche more whole.
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