It’s impossible to do any sort of second season, or indeed, TNG retrospective without revisiting “Measure of a Man.” The story centers around the idea of a trial, but it goes without saying that the episode, and indeed Star Trek generally, treats the law badly. For one, Phillippa Louvois is a member of the Judge Advocate General, and as such her sole grant of authority is over matters appropriate to a military tribunal. Data’s personhood falls well outside the scope of that grant as not even Commander Maddox argues that Data has breached Starfleet’s regulations. The court therefore lacks subject matter jurisdiction.

The precedential weight of the Acts of the Cumberland that she references should also be in doubt; it is true that common law jurisdictions can and do look to authority from governments outside their own. American law students do still read Hadley v. Baxendale. However, that authority is influential in nature rather than mandatory. In the case of Hadley, the English rule is adopted by the American court, and the adoption thereof renders the rule mandatory authority, not the existence of the case itself. The Acts of the Cumberland predate the founding of the Federation by a good hundred years or so, so the idea that they would serve as mandatory authority is somewhat ludicrous.

The science, too, is lacking. The smarmy Commander Maddox waltzes into the Enterprise conference room and informs Picard, Riker, and Data that he is going to disassemble Data in order to determine how he functions, performing in effect a cross between an autopsy and a vivisection. As Data is, at this point, the only known functioning Soong-type android (Lore having been beamed into space last season) the idea of potentially damaging him would have most real scientists clutching at their pearls in horror. Moreover, that Maddox has yet to establish control protocols for his effort would certainly have the funding committee gently suggesting that he go back and think very, very hard about what he wants to do.

However, this episode isn’t really about the law, no matter that Louvois comments that she’s out on the frontier to create good law, nor is the episode about science. The central question is what makes a man, and the episode goes to great lengths to debate that question. We know that Maddox is going to be the bad guy when he persists in referring to Data as an “it.” Brian Brophy is very probably a nice enough person in reality, but Maddox is perfectly terrible. I would argue that he is not, in fact, an actual character so much as an oppositional force against which the story will bang itself to shake out its point about our biases and our own ugly history. The episode forces us to confront issues of ethics not only in how we treat other people, as Data reminds Picard, but also in how we treat non-humans. For this reason, “Measure of a Man” has been regarded as one of TNG‘s strongest episodes and one of the best episodes franchise-wide.

Using Commander Riker as the prosecutor is an inspired choice because it serves as a gut punch for the audience when Riker miserably shuts off Commander Data, which is something we already know Data finds uncomfortable. Frakes lets us see Riker’s misery at betraying his friend, and I remember the very first time I watched the episode. The moment that Brent Spiner slumps in his seat was, as Captain Picard observes, devastating. Everyone in that courtroom has an emotional stake in the outcome, and the script does not flinch at dragging us, the viewers, into the drama.

Adding Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan to the second season is an astute move, and the subtext of having her point out to Picard that the debate over whether Data constitutes property really boils down to the question of disposable people is obvious. Goldberg’s screentime in this episode is short, but she makes the most of it, aided by Robert Scheerer’s judicious use of a close-up. Goldberg herself has admitted to being a lifelong fan of Star Trek and inspired by Nichelle Nichols’ turn as Uhura because as she explained, Uhura was a black lady on television who wasn’t a maid. That she, a Black woman, has to explain to a white man that should he fail, he will condemn any future androids to slavery smacks more than a bit of the trope of having the Black woman perform the emotional labor of explaining the situation to the white man. Her frustration is written clearly across Goldberg’s face.

The foregoing is clearly Picard’s strongest argument, and Louvois rules in Data’s favor precisely to avoid that outcome. She clearly intends for her decision to have precedential weight throughout the Federation, but like most actual cases, even a landmark decision such as hers will be revisited. In “The Offspring,” Starfleet will try and take Lal, Data’s daughter, on the premise that two Soong-type androids should not be on the same ship. In Voyager’s “Author, Author,” Starfleet seems to have made the wrong choice by relegating the EMH Mark I’s to servitude in Federation mining colonies too dangerous for more corporeal beings.

Starfleet does not come off particularly well in this episode. From Admiral Nakamura’s casual wave at Picard to transfer Data to Maddox’s custody to Commander Maddox himself, the casual disregard for Data’s personhood seems to run all the way up the chain of command. The same will be true in “The Offspring” as Admiral Haftel will try and take Lal by force. Phillippa Louvois, as a character, is all over the place, and as a JAG, she’s fairly ineffectual. The weird attraction that the episode tries to convince us exists between Picard and Louvois fails both from the ridiculousness of it and from the absolute lack of chemistry between Amanda McBroom and Patrick Stewart. When viewed from this angle, there are clearly issues in San Franscisco that need addressing and not just because they’re still recovering from last season’s creepy bugs.

What really makes the episode work, beyond the solid performances by Stewart and Frakes, is Data. Spiner manages to strike a balance between Data’s clear intelligence and his inherent goodness that never once feels cloying. Rather, that goodness renders even asking the question of whether Data should be considered property all the more repulsive. The episode ends with Data forgiving Riker for stepping into the role of Judas, and while Frakes isn’t at his best here, Spiner’s Data commands the scene. He shows us the best of ourselves in our own creation, and it gives us hope that we can one day reach that best.

Rating: Five of Five cups of Earl Grey Tea

Stray Thoughts from the Couch:

1. I really rather dislike the way this episode vilifies Louvois for wanting to be good at her job. I understand that there are novels that give her backstory as something awful, but I don’t particularly care for how she gets treated by the script.
2. We know from Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home that the Federation doesn’t use money. Picard also explains that mankind has moved past the need for financial compensation for work, so I guess they’re playing poker for the love of the game? Also, I love Data’s little visor.
3. It’s good to see Colm Meany again.
4. Picard barks at Louvois that there will be dinner. I get that this weird, abrasiveness is their thing, but that doesn’t seem like an invitation I would accept. That said, I do love that she calls him a pompous ass. Early Picard really is a pompous ass.
5. I’m choosing to ignore the possibility that Louvois found Data’s sexual relationship with Tasha Yar to be a significant factor in her decision. It’s awkward. Moving on.