Star Trek: The Next Generation 3.21

Hollow Pursuits

Lieutenant Reginald Barclay retreats into Holodeck simulations that include recreations of crew members. He has trouble dealing with the outside world. Lieutenant Commander La Forge, Barclay's supervisor, and Commander Riker complain to Captain Picard about Barclay's performance. They want to transfer him to another ship but Picard denies their request and urges La Forge to put more effort into getting more out of Barclay.

La Forge pulls Barclay into more meetings and gets him more involved in the major problems that his engineering team is tackling. Their problems include the malfunction of a number of systems (anti-grav sled, replicator, transporter, etc) aboard the Enterprise. Barclay continues to visit the Holodeck including at times when he is supposed to be working or meeting with others including La Forge and Riker.

Barclay's holodeck fantasy life is eventually discovered by first Geordi and then later by Riker and Counselor Troi. Geordi is very understanding but the other two not so much, especially when they see how they are portrayed within his holodeck simulations. Barclay ultimately plays a key role in figuring out what the problem is with the Enterprise systems that have been breaking down. 

Thoughts

I think that I might have seen this episode before, possibly when it first aired or soon thereafter. 

This is the first of five episodes in which Barclay appeared. He was the main character in this episode. I'm not sure how prominent a role he plays in the other four episodes or if I have seen any of them before. Barclay was played by Dwight Schultz whom I knew prior to his appearances on TNG as Murdock, a member of the A-Team.

I like how the episode opens in the midst of one of Barclay's holodeck programs without making it clear that it is a simulation until Barclay ends it.

Picard, La Forge, Data, Troi, Riker, Dr. Crusher, Guinan, and Acting Ensign Crusher all appear in Barclay's holodeck programs. Picard, La Forge, and Data play a version of the three musketeers in one program. Riker appears as bumbling version of himself in that holodeck program. Worf is the only member of the main cast of the show not to appear in any of the holodeck simulations.

I really enjoyed this episode. There was a good mix of humorous and character moments in it. Barclay clearly needed help although I'm not sure if he really got it in the end. He does seem to grow over the course of the episode and in the end recognize that his holodeck excursions are not as helpful as he would like to believe them to be. The episode ends with Barclay deciding to delete all of his holodeck programs, with one exception. He keeps Program Nine.

Program Nine might be part of one of the other Barclay episodes. There is information about it on Memory Alpha but I chose not to visit that page because I would prefer not to have that spoiled for me. I don't believe that it is one of the programs that was shown in this episode.