From: JC924@uacsc2.albany.edu
Subject: Cost of Living
Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 15:52:28 EDT

In article <168818807.JC924@uacsc2.albany.edu> on
Thu, 15 Oct 92 09:40:16 EDT you write:
 
>>Now, I want to know what was so bad about "Cost of Living"?  I consider
>>my self a sophisticated and discriminating TV viewer and I have some
>>background in theater (amatuer).  I really enjoyed that episode.
>>I thought it made some good, although not very deep points about life,
>>especially life as it is portrayed on the Enterprise.  Everyone takes things
>>too seriously.  It also had a lot to say about Worf's problems as a Klingon
>>in a human society.  Finally, it had a lot to say about how adults relate to
>>children.  I had no problem with the actor who played Alexander.  He seemed
>>to show genuine conflict and a need for affection.  As usual, I loved
>>ajel Barrett's acting.  Could someone tell me what everyone hates about
>>this episode?
 
>I  can't speak for others, but the thing I disliked most about this episode
>was the characterization.  Worf was mauled for comic effect and Deanna
>didn't fare much better.  There's an early scene where an indignant Worf
>goes into Ten Forward to speak to Deanna about his impossible son.  As I
>watched it, I thought, "This is not Worf.  He's a very private person, yet
>we're supposed to believe that he'd come to a public place with Alexander
>in tow and interrupt a conversation between Deanna and her mother to discuss
>his parenting woes.  And he sounds like some little kid snitching on his
>brother.  Why is he doing this?"  This scene seems to be an excuse to bring
>Lwaxana and Alexander together, but that could have been done without
>making Worf behave oddly.
>
>Throughout the episode, Worf seems to be powerless for no discernible
>reason, and neither he nor Deanna make any serious attempt to tell Lwaxana
>to butt out.  The one scene where it looks like Deanna is going to take
>her mother to task quickly degenerates into a mob scene so Lwaxana and
>Alexander can make a comic exit.  Lwaxana is painted as the "good" free
>spirit and Worf is made into the "bad" stodgy father; this cliche is echoed
>with Lwaxana's prospective husband.  It would have been much more interesting
>if the husband-to-be had turned out to be a real nut case and Lwaxana had
>found herself in the "stodgy" seat for a change.
 
I appreciated your comments (did you realize that you sent me private e-mail
and not on the net?).  You have some points (which I don't necessarily agree
with) but I still don't see why that makes it the worst episode of TNG the way
some people say.  As far as Worf's behavior goes, I feel that it reflects his
problems in dealing with a child and especially a child in a human
environment.  I'm sure that in a Klingon environment, he would have had no
problem, but dealing with a child raised by humans and living in a human
environment, he was not able to cope.  His usual behavior style is not
appropriate and he was desperate.  That is why he was willing to
talk to Deanna in Ten-Forward.  Deanna was having the opposite problem.
she was trying to deal with a non-human relationship in human terms.  I think
the authors were trying to show that what Alexander needed was affection
not discipline and she missed that.  Laxwana was the only one who saw it.
I think this was a very good episode which touches on some unique 24th.
century child rearing problems.  My guess is that most of the people who
hated the episode are not parents.