10 MORE Star Trek Moments That Broke Our Hearts

4. Lal Shuts Down - The Offspring

I will feel it for both of us… thank you for my life.

Data's journey into parenthood seemed to be a new take on The Measure Of A Man. His discussion with Picard in the Ready Room echoed the debate on his rights as a sentient being, though the episode takes a sharp turn as the climax approaches. This is less about Data's right to be a parent and more about the pain those around him feel as he loses his child.

Lal, played to perfection by Hallie Todd, is at times comical, though often simply sweet. Her initial attempts to understand the people around her display a staggered integration, her motor functions take some time to catch up, but her emotions quickly develop and outstrip her father's.

Her own heart kills her, though it may better be described as her internal circuitry was not equipped to deal with the width of her new capabilities. She can feel, even as her systems begin to go dark. Though Data does not feel emotion in the same way that she does, her assurance that she will feel enough for both must spark something in his positronic brain. 

The episode is devastating, thanks not only to Todd's performance but to Spiner's as well. His return to duty after Lal ceases to function, not displaying any overt reaction to what has just happened, is both heartbreaking and unsettling.