Headscratchers / Star Trek: The Next Generation S5E10 "New Ground"

• Worf getting repeatedly interrupted with messages about Alexander makes the general The Law of Conservation of Detail about communicator chatter more obvious. You'd think that we'd more often see officers getting updates or questions about matters unrelated to the current scene or plot.
  • The fact that Worf got a couple of messages in a row doesn't mean people are getting communicator messages all the time. Having a communicator is rather similar to having a mobile phone. You will sometimes get interrupted by a phone call when you're talking to someone. You very commonly don't get interrupted. There's no evidence that people are getting constant communicator messages throughout the day normally so there's no reason we should think it strange if people manage to frequently have conversations without getting interrupted. An example of another time when a character got interrupted by a communicator from outside the scene was in the episode "Ethics" when Crusher was arguing with Doctor Russell after Russell had told Worf about genetronic replication and Picard ended up interrupting the conversation. So it's not like it never happens, it just happens appropriately rarely.
• It's a bit strange that Sergei's absence is left unexplained. You'd think that foisting his grandson back on Worf would have been a pretty serious conversation that he'd need to be a part of. It would also be extremely easy to explain it away as a health issue, since it would support the couple's excuse that they're getting too old.
  • Explaining his absence as a health issue would have complicated the story. You'd then have Worf worrying about his father, possibly even wanting to see him, in a story that should be about Alexander. As it was, the character simply wasn't needed for the scenes with Worf's mother who was capable of explaining everything to Worf. Providing a reason for his absence with would have meant something like a health issue (with the previously mentioned consequences), suggesting he was doing something trivial (e.g. visiting a friend; which would reflect badly on him if he chose it over being with Worf) or that he's fine but is detained for reasons outside his control (e.g. problems with travel permits, which would just be a distraction from the scene). Simply not mentioning why he wasn't there and getting on with the scene, as they did, was the simplest way forward.