Commander Riker is being offered a chance to have his own ship as the Captain of the Aries is retiring. The Aries will be on a mission exploring territories in an obscure galaxy with the great potential of new discoveries. A "civilian adviser", for whom Will knows personally, will brief him on the Aries mission
Kyle Riker (Mitchell Ryan), his father! We see immediately that Will has animosity/hostility for pops and "The Icarus Factor" examines what that is. Most of it deals with the death of Will's mother/Kyle's wife and how the two often compete with each other. The martial arts fighting style of "anbo-jytsu" might be the right sort of action to get these two to "bury the hatchet" or, at the very least, confront the personal issues that currently estrange them. Also fascinating is the fact that Kyle and Dr. Pulaski were once romantic and Worf is going through an emotional turmoil where he's not only isolating himself from the rest of the crew but snaps at any officer who dares to confront him out of curiosity/worry. It turns out, thanks to Wesley Crusher's research (he's the one who is motivated to pursue what is wrong with Worf after he yelled at him for no reason other than annoyance), that Worf has reached the tenth anniversary of the "Age of Ascension", a spiritual pain ceremony where a Klingon must endure the "rite of passage for a warrior" by taking shocks to the upper torso with painstiks as his family looks on from afar. This episode really gives the Riker character a chance to determine his current career path, whether he is ready for his own command or would rather remain on the premier Federation starship as a first officer to the Captain, and also finally acknowledge his pain in regards to his authoritative, well-respected, and highly popular father, a towering figure who has quite the commanding presence. You can see that Will has been battling for years to escape the shadow of his father, and his efforts have been rewarded with the new command offered him. Look, we know Will wasn't about to leave the show so the end result—the decision—isn't some big surprise, but seeing him come to terms with a father he has felt a particular disregard/anger for is really what the episode is truly about. Ultimately, this episode is about family, especially fathers (Wesley never got to know his father, Worf who never knew his Klingon father, and Riker who has never forgiven his father for past "misdeeds"). A minor subplot involves the USS Montgomery sending scientists to the Enterprise to study a "glitch" in Engineering, with Chief Engineer Geordi a bit disenchanted with the idea that he cannot fix his own problems
a bit of irony comes into play as Data pronounces what he believes is the reason behind the anomaly before the officers board and is correct. Also of importance is the growth of the Chief O'Brien character who was little more than the guy who beams the away team back and forth during the first season, actually having a conversation with Riker, even at the Klingon ceremony by Wesley invite.
Review of The Icarus Factor
