Another episode parked in the middle of the road, spiced up with a little bit of Romulans (although they don’t last very long).
So far Next Generation hasn’t ever done a fantastic job with any episode that’s centred around a guest star. The main cast have all got the hang of their jobs and positions quite nicely, and usually the guest stars can help build that. The problem happens when we have to suddenly care about the guest star, whether they live or die, their motivations, and so on. It’s difficult for most shows, but Star Trek seems to struggle more than most. This episode relies on us caring about the telepath, and there simply isn’t enough time for us to really get to know him enough.
Aside: Organic technology is a pretty silly idea. We’ve developed non-organic building technologies for a reason. There’s some good arguments on this in [this essay](http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/BrainBugs.html)
175 down, 562 to go.