History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21Symbiosis

* ForcedAddiction: As the plot unfolds, it's revealed that the Brekkians created felicium to cure a virus affecting both races, but they realized that it also acts like an opioid. Now, they're keeping the Ornarans addicted to it by convincing them that the felicium is only holding the virus at bey when it was cured long ago and what they're actually suffering from is withdrawal. This leaves Picard with a test of the Prime Directive, which he solves by refusing to offer repairs to the Ornarans' ailing ships, which will eventually cause them to not be able to get felicium from the Brekkians and force the two races to deal with their situation on their own.

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** While some fans found the concept ridiculous of an entire species turning their economy to selling drugs, it has some precedent with the Opium Wars. The British Empire made virtually its entire import sales from dealing opium to China and actively did their best to enforce it on the public.
** The fact that real life medical corporations turned to selling addictive painkillers that were massively exploited is also a truth of the 21st century.

* BittersweetEnding: Almost to the point of being an outright DownerEnding; the Ornarans do manage to stave off more immediate suffering by getting their hands on the felicium, and there ''is'' the long-term hope that they'll break out of their addiction once their supply runs out, but no guarantee. The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' novels take this a step further by implying that while the Ornarans eventually did break their addiction, the Brekkians just started selling felicium to other races.

* PyrrhicVillainy: To tighten their grip on the Ornarans, the Brekkians have made felicium more potent and more addictive. As a result, the Ornarans cognitive functions have diminished to the point that they can’t repair their cargo ships. When the last ship inevitably breaks down, the addiction will break, and the Brekkians, who have no other industry and are completely dependent on the Ornarans, will lose their only customers.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: While some fans found the concept ridiculous of an entire species turning their economy to selling drugs, it has some precedent with the Opium Wars. The British Empire made virtually its entire import sales from dealing opium to China and actively did their best to enforce it on the public.

* GRatedDrug: Felicium apparently has an effect similar to opiods.

* SkewedPriorities: How the ''Enterprise'' crew sees the Ornarans beaming their cargo over before themselves when their ship is about to explode, as well as the surviving Ornarans caring more about the cargo than their deceased friends.

Picard tries to mediate a trade dispute between two neighboring planets, one of which is the sole supplier of a drug to treat the other's apparently fatal disease.

* HostageForMacGuffin: One of the Ornarians holds Riker hostage and threatens to kill him if Picard doesn't give them the medicine. Picard calls their bluff.
* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: The Ornarians have no idea how to repair their ships, which is quite the headache when Picard's attempts to help fall on people too stupid to implement them. Of course, it could be justified that [[FridgeBrilliance their addiction to Felicium has some side effects on their mental state]].

* PlanetOfHats: Brekka is a planet of drug dealers; Ornara is a planet of drug users.

* SmugSnake: The Brekkians in their interactions with the Ornarans and (once the truth about felicium comes out) the Enterprise crew, tend to be highly condescending and self-satisfied. Langor especially, who engages in outright EvilGloating... right up until Captain Picard [[OhCrap pulls the rug out]] from under the entire parasitic system.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Ornaran reaction to use of their "cure." InUniverse, even; it's their reaction that clues Dr. Crusher in on what's really going on.
** In a sense, their "symbiosis" is something akin to a toxic friendship: one friend has something, the other friend has to do stuff for that friend in order to get it.

* PlotHole: The freighter ''Sanction'' was carrying both the medicine and the payment for said medicine. Logically, the payment would be delivered to Brekka prior to loading the medicine for the return voyage to Ornara. The payment was on the freighter purely to involve the ''Enterprise'' crew in a dispute of ownership.

* SkewedPriorities: How the ''Enterprise'' crew sees the Ornarans beaming their cargo over before themselves when their ship is about to explode, as well as the surviving Ornarans caring more about said cargo than their deceased friends.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: You'd figure the Brekkians would be a little more concerned about going to a planet full of people that are bound to get through their withdrawal, realize that they have been exploited for generations, and take their outrage out on the only two Brekkians that are on their planet.

* MeaningfulName: "Felicium" sounds a lot like the Latin word ''felicitates'' and its Spanish derivative ''felicidad'', both of which mean "happiness". The name practically screams "happy drug."

* MeaningfulName: "Felicium" sounds a lot like the Latin word ''felicitates'' and its Spanish derivative ''felizidad'', both of which mean "happiness". The name practically screams "happy drug."

* MeaningfulName: "Felicium" sounds a lot like the Latin word ''felix'' and its Spanish derivative ''feliz'', both of which mean "happy." The name practically screams "happy drug."

* CripplingOverspecialization: It’s indicated that the inevitable breakdown of the system between the Ornarans and Brekkians will affect the latter far more severely, as their entire planetary economy is built around the production of felicium.

* SmugSnake: The Brekkians in their interactions with the Ornarans and (once the truth about felicium comes out) the Enterprise crew, tend to be highly condescending and self-satisfied.