“Anbo-jyutsu! The ultimate evolution in the martial arts!”
One is called upon to wonder exactly what keeps Riker, a career Starfleet officer, out of the captain’s chair that is trotted out for him so regularly on Star Trek: The Next Generation. (IRL, we know the answer: the producers want to keep him on the show. Well, fine, but why pull out that command chair so frequently, and call upon us to wonder again, and again, and again, why Riker never seems to want to advance beyond his Commander rank?) “The Icarus Factor” is the second of three times in the run of TNG where we find Riker with the opportunity to receive a command of his own, and the second of three times he turns that command down. Further, we have no idea how many offers came and went in the years between “The Best of Both Worlds” and Star Trek: Nemesis, when Riker finally gives up his fanatical obsession with Number Oneness and accepts command of the Titan. Having watched Nemesis a couple of weeks ago for this blog, and watching “The Icarus Factor” now, I’ve sorted it out: Riker turned down all of those commands because of Deanna Troi.
“The Icarus Factor” is, in its way, the closest Star Trek: The Next Generation ever came to doing a genuine Riker/Troi romance episode, and that romance only plays in a couple of scenes in a show that is otherwise concerned with Riker’s relationship with his father. (Fair point, there.) Riker and Troi go on what seems to be a fuckbuddy honeymoon later on in “Menage a Troi,” and Deanna has a fling with Riker’s transporter clone in “Second Chances,” but otherwise, it’ll be a long dry spell all the way thru Star Trek: Insurrection (and with a detour for Deanna’s bloody odd romance with Lt. Worf) before we get the Riker/Troi nookie we long-suffering fans so richly deserve. And like I said, “Icarus” isn’t really about them, either; but there is one heart-churning scene where they say goodbye to one another as Riker is about to accept command of the Aries, and that was more than enough for 13-year-old me to declare that Will + Deanna = So In Love 4 Evr. And pay attention, now: the captain’s chair that Riker finally accepts, some fifteen years later, is the one where he gets to take Troi with him. My theory holds water.
“The Icarus Factor” is one of those episodes that basically shouldn’t work, and yet does. It’s a “below decks” style episode, of which I am a fan; I love the ones where the crew are just running around the ship dealing matters of no import, leaving time for them to sort out various personal items instead. It’s an opportunity to watch them behave; and if “The Icarus Factor” serves as the complete download of the backstory of William T. Riker (mother died; grew up in Alaska; father is an asshole), well, so be it.
Probably the most famous images from the show are Worf undergoing his anniversary Ascension ceremony, walking a gauntlet of holographic Klingon warriors who jab him intermittently with “Pain Sticks” – yep, no need for subtlety there – while Worf babbles his near-sexual urges in the area of eviscerating enemies. It’s frolicsome stuff, but I like the A-plot better, particularly in how it maneuvers the Rikers (Will and Kyle) around one another almost by exception, preferring instead to mediate their relationship by way of the women they each loved and lost – Deanna for Will, and Kate Pulaski for Kyle. When you piece out all the moving parts in “The Icarus Factor,” it’s surprisingly well-balanced for an episode where, ostensibly, nothing happens. All the pieces operate in coordination with one another, and every member of the crew has a part to play. Picard, particularly, gets to step outside his normal tenor, as what is nearly a goofy joy overcomes him in his conversations with Riker about accepting command. Perhaps in taking Riker on as an equal, Picard sees an opportunity to finally close the gap between them, and in so doing, mitigate some of his own loneliness? Regardless, Picard delivers a single line that is about as complete a précis of the lure of command as I’ve ever heard: “It will be your ship – and being who you are, it will soon be vibrant with your authority, your style… your vision.”
But it all returns to Deanna for me. Her scene with Kyle Riker is awesome, as Daddy cottons disturbingly quickly to the allure Deanna would hold for Will, and begins to subtly use it against her. Troi’s scenes with Pulaski are similarly rich, and Pulaski gets one of her best overall episodes of the season here, commenting on her three failed marriages (“They were all good men and we’re all still great friends”) and letting Riker in on some of his father’s hidden strengths with appropriate gravity. And it’s a credit to “The Icarus Factor” that as batshit lunatic as the Anbo-jyutsu finale is (and it really, really is), the scene actually plays, in spite of the day-glo hockey pads and blind staff-twirling. The only beat missing is some kind of a reaction from Deanna when Will finally announces that he will stay on the Enterprise. “Motivated self-interest,” Riker calls it – but I know exactly who he’s talking about.
Blogging The Next Generation runs every Tuesday as I work my way through every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation on blu-ray. Season 2 is available now.