After Dinner

THE MEASURE OF A CHAD: Star Trek is infamous for sneaking in double meanings in show titles and elsewhere, they loved that sort of thing. However, I think one that's often overlooked is Riker's Sacrifice. In this pinnacle episode of Star Trek the sentience of Data is questioned, forcing a trial to determine if he's a person or an object. It's an episode that has had grave philosophical ramifications throughout the years, not just for AI but for questions of Animal Rights, Pro-Life belief structure, and elsewhere. However, hidden in all that is Riker being required to perform an act of service that forces him to wear the black mask. He must argue for the enslavement, if not execution, of his friend, and if he pulls punches that horror is all but assured. You can see it in Riker's guilt and shame, the self exile at the end of the episode. He views himself as the villain of the story. Of course we don't, not until it's laid bare before us. This was Riker, charming, persuasive, too clever by half Riker in direct conflict with Picard for the very first time. Smugly turning off data, only to realize a moment later that this bit of theater may have ended his friend's life. And Picard is at a loss, head in hands by the time it's all done. It's only with the aid of Guinan, spurring Picard to one of the greatest speeches in Trek history, that Data is spared. Riker knows this. Everyone does. Knows how close he came. The episode is almost Tolkienesque in a way. Like Samwise Gamgee before him Riker doesn't quite connect that far from being the villain of the story, he is in fact the hero. Perhaps more than any other he is the man being measured in the opening title.