You really think after 35 years of loyalty,
that I'm gonna betray my friends for you?
No, Captain Riker, not for me.
Oh, Will.
When I was invited back
to revisit Riker and Troi in their new world,
I didn't know how special it was gonna be
until I was in the scenes with Marina.
I've missed you, Imzadi.
Imza- I should have taught you another word.
Yintaru?
Yintaru. What does that mean?
Baby of immense size.
Let's go all the way back to the beginning of Star Trek,
or our Star Trek.
In "Encounter at Farpoint,"
the story between Riker and Troi
was that we empathically could read each other.
[Picard] May I introduce our new First Officer,
Commander William Riker?
Commander Riker, this is our Ship's Counselor, Deanna Troi.
[Troi] Do you remember what I taught you, Imzadi?
Can you still sense my thoughts?
That we had been lovers on another ship,
and that we had a, you know,
we had a very special, passionate relationship.
The fans love the Troi-Riker thing.
The producers, a lot of the time,
and the writers in the beginning, ignored it.
I mean they literally, like, "It's not happening,
it didn't happen, forget it ever happened."
And Jonathan and I refused to let it die.
I'm supposed to know how everyone feels,
but I can't read you right now.
Perhaps your own feelings are getting in the way.
The writers conveniently decided that it's easier for them
if Riker and Troi are single, and can have, as Riker did,
flings like Kirk-not, never to the level that Kirk got to.
Well, I've already dined.
Maybe you know a good Acamarian dessert recipe.
Riker had relationships with other people,
Troi had relationships with other people,
including for some reason Worf,
which I never can imagine.
We were walking barefoot on the beach
with balalaika music in the air,
and the most you can say is "Stimulating?"
It was...very stimulating.
People always like a "will they, won't they,"
that whole not certainty that they're gonna be together.
And then there was that whole fling that Troi had with Worf
that kind of sent everything off on a tangent.
I have counted the days since I last saw you.
Like waves in the ocean, constant and unending.
Well, that's wonderful.
Inappropriate!
Is this a rescue mission, or a continuation of the torture?
Marina and I, playing Riker and Troi
for seven years and four movies, always reminded each other
that the characters were still in love.
And so that behavior was our sort of acting secret
that other people had forgotten about and given up on.
We would play stuff between us
that usually ended up on the cutting room floor.
But now and again, they couldn't cut it out,
'cause there were other people in the shot, or whatever.
Imzadi.
It informed our relationship in the scenes,
it informed our relationship with other people.
It gave us something special to play
whenever we were together, in big groups, small groups.
We kept it going, much to the consternation of the suits.
But the fans loved it, and I'm glad that we did it.
And then, ironically, Riker and Troi got married.
In Season 1, Michael and Akiva introduced this idea
that the Rikers had lost a child.
[Troi] Last week would've been his 18th birthday.
So we asked ourselves, "What's the next step
in the Riker-Troi story?"
It seemed like they were getting on well in Season 1.
But, like all relationships, all marriage,
there's a lot more going on under the surface.
Their marriage has gone through quite a rocky period.
I mean, I think the fact that they're still married
after losing a child, I think is pretty amazing,
'cause I think most marriages don't survive
the loss of a child.
Your grief was taking you over.
You were disappearing from us.
And you used your Betazoid powers
to push yourself inside my head to dull the pain.
We had talked about a backstory in which,
what's it like for a Betazoid to go through grief?
She's not just experiencing her grief,
she's experiencing her family's grief.
Being able to start them from that place,
and dealing with grief still that hasn't been resolved,
and it just felt like a, you know,
some fresh snow that we haven't seen
in those characters' experience before.
Well, unlike you, I felt the weight of everyone's grief,
and not just my own.
There's a beauty in watching them find themselves again,
that they do love each other.
They are working together to get past this.
And we're putting it against the backdrop
of this major conspiracy, and putting them in a prison cell.
So, it felt like a good opportunity
for Jonathan Frakes and Marina
to really embrace their acting chops, and really go for it.
And I think those scenes are phenomenal.
I forgot the one thing
that all counselors should remember:
you can't skip to the end of healing.
She's my favorite.
She's my favorite acting partner, and she is,
she brings the best out of me.
I trust her.
She reminds me of my wife,
who's another wonderful actor who brings that honesty.