This episode manages to be more than just okay for two reasons. One – the set up of Geordi interfacing with a probe on another ship, but it functioning as a virtual reality with his body (that we see) is enough of a baffling mindfucker to keep you nerdishly engrossed. It’s just very cool to watch. The other thing (and I hate to say this to poor Geordi) is that his mother dies and she stays dead. There’s a lot of death cheating on Trek. Most famously, Spock’s “remember” to Bones, but also the crew rescuing Data from Saul Rubinek when all signals pointed to him being dead. I know, Lt. Yar died, but that was six seasons ago. When it looked like Geordi was going to “find” his mother on that planet, there I was, hoping that he wouldn’t. And he didn’t. Well done team.
