History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E10TheLoss

Realizing that the ship has only seven hours before it's torn apart in the cosmic string, Picard summons Troi and orders to work with Data to figure out a way to communicate with the particles using her skills as a counselor regardless of her lack of empathy. Troi works through her disability to realize that the particles might be intentionally moving toward the anomaly instinct, so they should create another stimulus that will instinctively drive them away from it long enough to escape their clutches.

Deanna Troi is counselling a widow, Janet Brooks, about her grief over the death of her husband. Janet regrets getting rid of all of her husband's possessions to avoid confronting her grief, but Troi reveals that she saved her husband's music box. Janet tearfully thanks her. At the end of their session, Troi becomes distracted and starts suffering intense pain.

On the bridge, the crew puzzle over some strange readings in surrounding space, but decide to resume course. The ship lurches and fails to engage. Instead, the ship is pulled in a seemingly random direction by an unknown force. Crewmen around the ship report injuries and headaches from the lurch. By the time Crusher gets around to seeing Troi, the counsellor is feeling better. When Troi arrives for a meeting on the observation deck about their current predicament, however, she realizes to her horror that her empathic abilities are gone.

Troi continues trying to act as counsellor. In her next appointment with Janet, her patient claims to have turned over a new leaf. Troi is frustrated that she can't use her abilities to analyze Janet's purported recovery, but still expresses doubt that Janet's good mood is genuine. Troi becomes increasingly upset about living in a empty world of surfaces. She lashes out at others when they try to help, saying that they cannot possibly understand what she's lost.

Meanwhile, Data has discovered that the ship is caught in the flow of strange particles that only exist in two dimensions, which is why they escaped notice until now. The crew don't know if these particles are alive or sentient, and Troi is no help now. They realize that that particles are dragging them into a [[NegativeSpaceWedgie cosmic string]], a sort of two-dimensional black hole. They try firing torpedos in the particles' path as a warning, then fire directly at the particles, but nothing has any effect.

Troi tenders her resignation as counsellor, believing that she's of no use anymore. In Ten-Forward, Guinan tells Troi that she might take the job for herself, as it's essentially the same as her job as a bartender. A frustrated Troi explains that the job involves a lot of additional knowledge and intuition than just listening to people. Guinan points out that this exact intuition had led Troi to doubt that Janet's recovery is sincere. Troi takes her point, but does not change her mind. Later, Janet returns for her next appointment. When Troi tells her that she's no longer seeing patients, Janet reveals that Troi had been right about her false recovery.

Realizing that the ship has only seven hours before it's torn apart in the cosmic string, Picard summons Troi and orders to work with Data to figure out a way to communicate with the particles using her skills as a counsellor regardless of her lack of empathy. Troi works through her disability to realize that the particles might be intentionally moving toward the anomaly instinct, so they should create another stimulus that will instinctively drive them away from it long enough to escape their clutches.

The ship mimics the vibrations of the cosmic string in the opposite direction, causing the particles to shift and change direction long enough for the ship to break free. At the same moment, Troi feels her empathic abilities return to her. They were in fact, simply overloaded by the particles rather than lost. She informs everyone that she will return to her job as ship's counsellor.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Once again, Troi's counselling sessions seem to be public knowledge, and she herself confirms that someone is receiving treatment from her. In the real world, revealing the medical information of patients is considered a major breach of ethics and could result in a medical professional being penalized in a lawsuit.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Guinan notes that the ship's counsellor position has "better hours" than manning Ten-Forward. This comes very close to acknowledging how Guinan seems to ''always'' be there whenever a scene needs her to be.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Once again, Troi's counselling sessions seem to be public knowledge, and she herself confirms that someone is receiving treatment from her. In the real world, revealing the medical information of patients is considered a major breach of ethics and could result in a medial professional being penalized in a lawsuit.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Once again, Troi's counselling sessions seem to be public knowledge, and she herself confirms that someone is receiving treatment from her. In the real world, revealing the medical information of patients is considered a major breach of ethics.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Once again, Troi's counselling sessions seem to be public knowledge. In the real world, revealing the medical information of patients is considered a major breach of ethics. (Although it's certainly ''plausible'' that on a self-contained environment like a starship, people would guess a woman who recently lost her husband is going to the ship's counselor, said counselor should under no circumstances ''confirm'' this.)