I remember a lot of people suggesting that Geordie was a complete creep in this episode, and always dismissed it as hypersensitivity, but after watching the episode again, they're right. Geordie departs from his usual likeability in this episode to be completely inappropriate with Dr. Brahms.
The issue stems from a hologram of Dr. Brahms created in a previous episode. Geordie was attempting to make modifications to the engines, and asked the computer to create a hologram of the woman who designed the engines as a means of simulating working with an actual person. When he requests that the computer add a personality based on available data about Dr. Brahms to the hologram, he starts to develop a romantic interest in the created personality. This creates a relatively innocent origin for what would otherwise be a super creepy holographic creation.
This episode builds on that, but instead of Geordie approaching the situation reasonably, his interest is turned up to eleven and he almost immediately treats Dr. Brahms with an unprofessional familiarity, and it's revealed that he has spent time researching more about her. He invites her back to his quarters for a professional discussion of their work, with no indication that his true intent is a romantic evening. He's then shown setting mood lighting and trying to find the perfect music. Brahms handles his advances extremely politely and informs him that she's married. The arc reaches its climax when Brahms discovers the hologram of herself reciting the creepiest line of dialogue from the previous episode. She confronts Geordie and he responds by yelling at her. He claims that all he did was offer her friendship (which is inaccurate), and she in response was cold and harsh (which is a huge exaggeration). They manage to work together and their story ends with Brahms apologizing to Geordie for overreacting. Geordie never apologizes for the hologram, or his obsessive interest in Dr. Brahms, or his unprofessional behavior toward her. This episode is devastating to an otherwise beloved character. Geordie went from an engineer that could solve any problem to a creep that can't treat women with even the most basic respect.
Also there's a space baby or something...
The issue stems from a hologram of Dr. Brahms created in a previous episode. Geordie was attempting to make modifications to the engines, and asked the computer to create a hologram of the woman who designed the engines as a means of simulating working with an actual person. When he requests that the computer add a personality based on available data about Dr. Brahms to the hologram, he starts to develop a romantic interest in the created personality. This creates a relatively innocent origin for what would otherwise be a super creepy holographic creation.
This episode builds on that, but instead of Geordie approaching the situation reasonably, his interest is turned up to eleven and he almost immediately treats Dr. Brahms with an unprofessional familiarity, and it's revealed that he has spent time researching more about her. He invites her back to his quarters for a professional discussion of their work, with no indication that his true intent is a romantic evening. He's then shown setting mood lighting and trying to find the perfect music. Brahms handles his advances extremely politely and informs him that she's married. The arc reaches its climax when Brahms discovers the hologram of herself reciting the creepiest line of dialogue from the previous episode. She confronts Geordie and he responds by yelling at her. He claims that all he did was offer her friendship (which is inaccurate), and she in response was cold and harsh (which is a huge exaggeration). They manage to work together and their story ends with Brahms apologizing to Geordie for overreacting. Geordie never apologizes for the hologram, or his obsessive interest in Dr. Brahms, or his unprofessional behavior toward her. This episode is devastating to an otherwise beloved character. Geordie went from an engineer that could solve any problem to a creep that can't treat women with even the most basic respect.
Also there's a space baby or something...