135. Sensitive New Age Terrorist (TNG 3.12)

As our unofficial Festival of Beverly continues, Anika and Liz hang out in some caves and have very earnest discussions about terrorism. Yes, we're discussing "The High Ground"! Star Trek: Picard spoilers from 00:00 to 00:59 We are deeply unqualified to talk about the Troubles. Of course, so were the TNG writers… (Book credits: Just Another Kid by Torey Hayden and Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. If you want a review of "The High Ground" from an actual Irish person, please see this post by the always excellent Darren Mooney.) As a character study of Beverly Crusher, "The High Ground" is amazing. As an episode with something to say about terrorism, it … exists. Melinda Snodgrass was particularly good at including female characters in roles that otherwise tended to default male, and not worrying about whether or not they were "likeable". When Finn talks about the moral cowardice of the Federation, he probably just watched "Lift Us Up Where Suffering Cannot Reach". "The High Ground" does avoid the common American trope of romanticising the IRA. Yes, Beverly and Deanna are both in feminised "caring" professions, but, um, how many female CMOs have been regulars in Trek?  The nameless boy who becomes Beverly's apprentice Picard spoilers from 31:28 to 32:16 The Beverly/Picard shippiness in this episode is OFF THE CHARTS Finn feels like a first draft of Chakotay Just gonna put this out there: the Prime Directive is bad, actually Picard spoilers again from 41:11 to 44:30