I really love it when Star Trek—The Next Generation approaches telling a story outside the conventional box, like in the case of "Frame of Mind". What if what you consider reality is but a dream and actually you are a nutcase who killed someone savagely with a knife and are currently confined to an asylum on a world alien to your own? The Enterprise feels like it is but fictitious imagery disrupting what is real, popping up as Riker is on a planet called Telonius, in a cell for the mentally insane. He's told by his doctor and staff that he was responsible for a bloody murder. He's told by the doc that the Enterprise isn't real, just possible manifestations that are holding him back. Riker goes back and forth from the cell (and cafeteria and "playroom") and the Enterprise, becoming increasingly disoriented and losing control until he starts to consider what the Telonius tell him as true. This episode does a swell job of producing absolute confusion, doing so by setting it from the maddening perspective of Riker, and through this what is real/unreal is skewed. There's a play Beverly Crusher once again burdens a crew member pal of hers with called Frame of Mind about an asylum inmate under interrogation by a psychiatrist (Riker, the inmate; Data, the interrogator) that morphs from stage into the real thing for Riker during performances, with a particular Teloniun "Administrator" (played by cult star Andrew Prine) who turns up on the Enterprise as an officer while at the asylum he's a member of the staff. So Riker must break down the illusion so he can stop those responsible for his cerebral fiction, but it will not be easy. This is a plum episode for the Riker character and an acting powerhouse for Jonathan Frakes. It is quite an unpleasant road traveled for Riker, though. There's one point where he does consider the Enterprise members figments of his imagination, even during an instance where Data and Worf seem to be trying to help him escape with him helping the staff stop them from doing so. Again, though, while such a scene offers the possibility that Riker's on the verge of rescue, it all is determined to be false manifestations; again, it illustrates the whole point of throwing us for a loop. I love how the conclusion has Riker tearing down the real stage play set as to cleanse himself from the whole experience. There's also a nifty point of emphasis on a cut on the head of Riker that seems to constantly re-appear; it plays a heavy part in Riker's taking control of his psyche and ruins the whole process of requiring deeply latent strategic plans wanted by those who kidnapped him. To conclude, this episode puts Riker through the ringer, and I imagine it was quite the grueling experience for Frakes to remain in such a dark period for his character. Superb episode in a series that continued to remain amazing all the way to the end.
Review of Frame of Mind
