User Reviews

"Suddenly Human" is the third episode in a row that has the focal point of family. Here we have a fairly interesting topic that I don't think is executed well at all. A human boy was taken during a war by an alien race. This alien race has embraced him as one of their own and assimilated him so fully into the culture that he no longer identifies as an earthling. Only his repressed memories of his parents show any inkling of his remembrance of this former life. So is it right for the Enterprise to take him back to his people, even if he doesn't wish it?

I think where this episode misses is in tackling the issue of how young Jono comes to be Talerian in the first place. He's basically the spoils of war and Endar claims him as a tit-for-tat son since his own biological one was killed in a skirmish with some humans. The crew takes this line of reasoning as "well that's their culture" and shrugs. I'm all for accepting other cultures, but this one involves the kidnapping of young infants. Is the Federation just going to let this slide? This is never addressed.

Obviously the final decision should be up to Jono and he chooses to stay where he is comfortable, with the Talerians. This makes sense. Regardless of how he got to where he is, this is his home now. Picard was kind of silly to assume he'd just want to reassimilate into human culture because he's got a grandma he's never met. The culture clash is too great, especially for a rebellious teen like Jono.

While I enjoyed the chance to see an albeit reluctant Picard flexing his paternal muscles and they did a decent job of presenting this difficult dilemma, I think they made the wrong call in letting Joni/Jeremiah go back to his surrogate father.

I think they wanted us to look at this as an adoption issue wherein he had been adopted by the 'his captain/father' only to have his birth family try to wrench him away from the only home he knows. But let's be clear... his captain/father KILLED his parents. I don't think any court would side with a adoptive parent who participated in killing the biological parents. It's certainly complicated, but I really felt terrible for Jeremiah's grandparents who learned that their only grandchild who they thought was dead for 14 years is alive! ...and then they get the news that he's been given back to the same people who killed their children (Jeremiahs parents). It's horrific.

ST:TNG:76 - "Suddenly Human" (Stardate: 44143.7) - this is the 4th episode (to air) of the 4th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, though it is the 2nd episode to go into production.

Continuing in the tradition of family episodes (if you include "Family" and "Brothers" as airing before this episode), this one explores a human child, Jono (played by Chad Allen) who was adopted at a young age by a Talarian captain after his family was killed. When the child learns that he has family still living on his human side, he must decide whether he should go with his human relatives or his Talarian father. And it is up to Captain Picard to act as his mentor.

Trivia note: Picard reiterates that he isn't very comfortable with children (especially when Troi recommends that he be the one to spend time with Jono).

Captain Picard plays nurse-maid to a Talarian teenager who howls like a wolf and doesn't care much for women. He moves him into his quarters. It should be mentioned that Talarian's appear to have a little Klingon in their blood, as Jono's attitude to war and honor are not unlike Worf's. I am only surprised that Worf didn't say as much.

So, in this episode we get to examine Jean-Luc's parenting skills. Alba-ra Talarian music not withstanding, Jono makes himself at home. But it seems that Jono's real home was Galen IV and his parents were human. This story devolves into a custody battle between a Talarian Battle Cruiser and the Enterprise.

This wasn't a bad episode and was certainly watchable. It can certainly be agreed that Season Four has so far had the strongest collection of stories.

Other reviews will provide a synopsis of the episode, but my main comment here is mainly to say that it doesn't seem that realistic that Picard would not suggest to Jono that he could go back and visit his human family and still return to Endar, his Talerian father. With the two civilizations at peace, nothing would prevent him from keeping a foot in both worlds. I can't see the Enterprise crew failing to address that point, so therefore I thought the writing was a bit weak regarding that possibility.

I think it was a pretty ballsy ending to this episode.

This very easily could have had the starfleet happy family re-union ending with Jono's viewing Endar as a kidnapper.

Was Picard's decision correct? Well, that's up to personal interpretation. I like that in an morally/ethically nuanced episode ---- Tell the story and let me decide what the right decision is.

I enjoyed the performance of Endar. Captured that honorable warrior aspect perfectly for me. Is it cool to kidnap a child in front of his dead mother's corpse? Well, no. But that's my human morality speaking.

And I was pondering what is indeed best for Jono? Bring up all these buried emotional trauma's and attempt to re-wire his sense of self? Would he not end up a complete basket case? This is a complexed decision to make but I am with Picard on this one.

I found it interesting that the most empathetic crew members (Troi/Crusher) are completely against the idea of giving Jono back to Endar. Their opinion is pretty clear ---- This kid has been victimized. This is one of those glorious small picture versus big picture episodes.

A lot to talk about and debate here. That means this is an excellent trek episode.

Season 4 contains the 80th episode of The Next Generation, at which point it surpassed the output of the Original Series. A number of extended themes played out during this season delving into both the political backdrop and the personal lives of the crew. These continuing storylines proved extremely popular, however they did not detract from the use of Science Fiction to tell interesting stories. Senior Trekker continues to score every episode with a 5.

Suddenly Human was an attempt to do a message story that went horribly wrong. We can make excuses and say that the output required of the series at the time put enormous pressure upon everyone including the writing teams but the outcome of this story cannot be justified. Mistakes have been made over the years but this was one of the worst.

Basically a story of a child who was adopted by his parents' killers after a bloody conflict and brought up into a violent warrior culture. The conflict arises when the Enterprise stumbles upon this situation and find he does not want to be rescued and re-united with his still-living grandparents but actually idolises his adoptive father. They leave him behind.

International law on child abduction may have been less developed in the 1990s but I'm pretty sure that this was as wrong at the time as it is now. Anyone who thinks that the best interest of Jono was served by him staying with his captors should:

(a) watch the multi-award winning film "Beasts of No Nation" about child soldiers in Africa and

(b) read about the indefatigable "Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo" and other campaigners who worked to reunite stolen babies with their families after the Dirty War in Argentina.

Continuing the 'family' feeling of this season so far we see the USS Enterprise finding a damaged Talarian training vessel and on board a training crew injured. The Medical crew are astonished to find a teenage boy on board. The injured crew are transported to Sickbay and Doctor Crusher treats them. They are a very honor bound race and insist upon several traditions... The human boy is identified and his family are traced. His grandmother is a Starfleet Admiral Rossa who eventually speaks to him. Later, the boy, Jono or Jeremiah Rossa, is angered by Admiral Rossa outranking Picard as this never could happen in Talarian society, a woman outranking a man! Talarian Captain Endar eventually arrives and claims Jono is his son. Picard is angered because Jono is Human! Interestingly, Talarian law allows a child of an adversary to be claimed as their own! Eventually, Jono attempts to kill Picard, in Sickbay Picard asks Jono why and he explains he wanted to return home to Endar and by killing Picard he would gladly accept death for attempting to kill Picard. Watch Patrick Stewart in this scene as he finally gets the point. Picard then admits his mistake and returns Jono to Endar, and to the father he loves

Answering a distress signal from a Talarian space vessel, the Enterprise encounters five injured members of that crew, and surprisingly, one of them is a human. When young Jono (Chad Allen) revives in the Enterprise's sick bay, his only request is to return to his adoptive father, Captain Endar of the Talarians. This sets up an emotional conflict with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), who is virtually browbeaten by Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) to act as the teen's surrogate father until some semblance of rescue occurs. His task becomes more difficult when Dr. Crusher's (Gates McFadden) medical scans suggest that Jono had been abused by his father, who had led the assault on a human colony on Galen IV in which the boy's parents were killed.

I doubt I would have been as understanding as Captain Picard if after making some headway with the kid, he had stabbed me in the sternum! However, the Captain's diplomatic skills allowed for some fruitful discussion with Talarian Commander Endar (Sherman Howard) regarding the boy's upbringing and a reasonable explanation for Jono's history of cracked ribs and a broken arm. The resolution to this story probably went counter to most viewers' expectations, especially after the teen's viewscreen meeting with his paternal grandmother, a Starfleet Admiral (Barbara Townsend). It kind of caught me off guard as well, with the boy deciding to return to his Talarian father. Left unresolved was the expectation of his only surviving human family with no further contact, unusual because someone, that is Picard, would have had to answer to Starfleet. Maybe that's why Picard's (nervous?) habit of adjusting his shirt occurred more times in this episode than any other one I've seen so far.

This kid was kidnapped by his parents' murderers and indoctrinated into their way of life. He has a relative still alive who outranks Picard and Picard really makes no effort to deliver the kid to Admiral Grandma.

How the Federation was not overrun by other species during Picard's time, I'll never know. Picard always takes the path of least resistance.

Picard doesn't know how to be a father? Never knew how to be a kid? Then let Riker take him under his wing. We know he can be a decent father. We saw that in Future Imperfect.

I will never understand why people love Picard. TNG would have been much better focusing on Riker.