12 Most Beloved Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes

When an alien probe attaches itself to Picard, he wakes up as Kamin, an ordinary man in a small village on the planet Kataan.

The life that Picard inhabits is that of a normal citizen named Kamin. He's no hero or important political figure but simply a man who smiled, cried, and loved. By zeroing in on key moments like mourning a dear friend or playing with his grandson, we feel that Picard truly has been through an entire lifetime. There is also a tragic undertone throughout as the planet is slowly dying which is shown through simple details like a tree in the center of town later withered and costume design changes that hint at the deterioration of the air quality. In addition, commercials are cleverly used to depict the passage of time with years passing between each break.

At the center is Patrick Stewart who gives a phenomenal performance. At first, he is appropriately suspicious of everything and determined to find a way home. Later, when he has accepted that this is his life, he still emanates a sense of longing for a previous memory of being a captain that perhaps was just some ancient dream. Finally, in his old age, there is an unmistakable sense of sorrow in his eyes as he ruminates at the sad fate his children face and a stunned wonder when he discovers the truth, the probe was a means of saving Kataan's history by having someone experience what existence there was like. It’s simply a tour-de-force display of acting that the episode would not work without.

Like the film Coco, The Inner Light shows that we will not truly die as long as there is at least one person to remember us. Kataan may have ceased to exist, but through this episode, it will remain alive in our minds forever.