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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

TNG: The Inner Light

For a while, when I was little, my mom and I lived in an apartment over a hair salon in the mountains of North Carolina. Every friday it smelled like perm. It was there that I learned to make french toast, wrote and illustrated my first book, and watched The Inner Light when it first aired. I had my own room but I tended to fall asleep in front of the TV on my mom's bed in the living room. It was there, under an afghan, which my great-grandmother crocheted, that we watched this famous episode together.

The memory is vivid and precious to me. The blanket was strangely comforting in its scratchiness. My mom's arms wrapped around me as I crawled half-way into her lap like a too-big dog that longs for his puppy days. As the episode progressed we both began to cry. It escalated little by little until Picard awoke on the bridge of his ship after a lifetime spent on a world, with a people, that no longer existed. By the end, I was sobbing into my mother's chest, my tears running down her neck, hers soaking my hair.

I've seen this episode a number of times and I'm not sure I've ever made it through without crying. I thought today that I might finally do it. I was apparently more than a little naïve. The moment Picard blipped into his alternate life my memory of that first viewing started playing inside my head.  Here's how things went down:


16 comments:

  1. I just learned recently that the young man who played Picard's son is his real son.

    This is my favorite TNG episode.

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    1. I recently learned this too, Amanda! Totally blew me away! How did I never notice this?!

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  2. I love this episode! It's filled with emotion and beautiful music. I've cried my way through this one more than once.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, LG! And yes, I love the music in this. It's so beautiful.

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  3. I miss you too. Thanks for helping me remember :)

    I love this sweet memory rendered in your own personal form and style and touch.
    I guess we were both crying on opposite sides of the country yesterday when we revisited this episode (what part of it I could see).
    Your art is beautiful and grabs the heart...
    This one is priceless.

    <3 Mama

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  4. Such a great comic! I love when you do comics. Do more!

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    1. I will! They take me forever but maybe it's worth it!

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  5. I have a lump in my throat - and it wasn't formed by thinking of Picard. I can imagine you and Mom huddling there together, watching the show. Beautiful memory and a marvelous illustration, AshleyRose! My day has been made.

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    1. Oh thank you so much! i can't tell you how much I appreciate this comment.

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  6. I agree with Kristin! This was wonderful!

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  7. I love "The Inner Light". Thanks for sharing such a sweet memory. :)

    This episode, DS9's "The Visitor", and Voyager's "The Gift" are the only episodes of Trek that have made me cry. I suppose "The Visitor" is pretty self-explanatory but in "The Gift" it was Janeway's farewell scene with Kes that got me. I always felt there was a lot of genuine "Kate saying good-bye to Jennifer" in that scene, and it really got me. I love the emotional-based stories. Sorry to go off-topic. :)

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    1. Oh man, I'm totally with you, Johnny. I can't make it through "The Visitor" or "The Gift" without totally losing it. And yes, I really feel that the Voyager cast seemed very close and Kate's goodbye to Jennifer is endlessly touching.

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  8. Please pass me a tissue. *sniff*

    So touching. The Inner Light has always affected me deeply- and you, my new friend, are doing the same...

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    1. Awww! Thank you KJ! I'm so glad you're a reader here. I'm infinitely proud that my writing is making a difference!

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