Headscratchers / Star Trek: The Next Generation S3E21 "Hollow Pursuits"

• Given what we were shown of the extremely selective Starfleet entrance exam in "Coming of Age", one wonders how somebody as neurotic as Barclay got through.
  • The exacting standards of entrance are clearly a matter of Early-Installment Weirdness. Even then, La Forge wonders aloud how Barclay ever got through Starfleet Academy.
    • In Real Life, neurodivergent people, including autistic people and those with ADHD or mental illnesses, especially ones who are also quite intelligent, frequently make it a long way down the path to a career without the support and care that would be suitable for their needs, relying on their intelligence and other strengths as a buffer. However, especially on entering an environment where more autonomy is expected of them, the strain can become more than they can handle, and their ability to cope breaks down, resulting in seemingly becoming more impaired than they were before and having a difficult path to reestablish themselves. Autistic burnout is an example. Barclay may have made it into the Academy, and perhaps all or most of the way through it, with flying colours before being overwhelmed by the pressure of actually working in the unpredictable environment of a starship and being forced to manage interacting and socializing with the crew. As Guinan alludes to, rejection-sensitive dysphoria from his awareness of what they already think of him may have been an added source of stress.
  • Another possibility, is that the exacting standards are often lowered for patients in more settled areas, where they are sure of other skills. The exacting ENTRANCE standards were on a planet that was sending its first candidate ever.
  • The problem may be the ship he's serving on. Serving on the USS Zhukov might have been a nice low-key position that he could handle fairly well, without too much expectation riding on him. But now he's on the USS Enterprise-D, flagship of Starfleet and scion of a historic legacy, crewed by legends and leading lights of the Federation. I imagine anyone would feel a little intimidated under such circumstances.
    • Riker even tells Barclay that there's a higher standard to be held when serving on the Enterprise.
• Barclay's holographic recreations probably should have included more of his fellow engineering crew and fewer of the senior staff - how often would he have had cause to interact with Captain Picard or Commander Riker at this point? Meanwhile, guys like Duffy would be part of his day to day work life. But, you know, the guys in the main cast need their paycheck.
  • Data's inclusion in the group is especially strange, given that the only interaction we see Barclay have with him up to this point is when Data generously gives credit to Barclay for a recent breakthrough.
  • Given the escapist nature of Barclay's fantasies, it's not unreasonable that he'd choose scenarios where he gets to interact with the most important people on the ship as opposed to the more mundane people he sees every day. The senior staff are kind of celebrities on the ship who, in the real world, Barclay can barely talk to. It seems quite reasonable that he'd choose fantasies where he gets to interact with them and be confident and cool, as opposed to just interacting with his normal work colleagues who he probably finds easier to talk to. As to Data's inclusion, his portrayal wasn't particularly malicious. Whereas Riker was a comical fool, all the other musketeers were, while less cool than Barclay, skilled swordsmen and portraying popular fictional characters (characters that, given Barclay's familiarity with the source material, he probably likes). While clearly Wesley's inclusion was because he didn't like him, Troi and Crusher's portrayals were quite positive. We also don't know when the musketeers may have been first programmed, so even if for some reason we assumption that Barclay's inclusion of Data was somehow malicious, there's no reason to assume that it couldn't have been because of something that happened weeks or months earlier (and while Data is not given to being impolite intentionally, it's quite possible he accidentally said something that upset Barclay).
• Data is also Geordi's best friend. There's the two officers he is annoyed at, the two women on the ship who are most nurturing, his Captain, and then a couple of people to round out the bunch. Consider it's the THREE musketeers, he may have just included Data to fill things out.