#like idk Hollow Pursuits alone is a pretty good episode

[tea-earl-grey]

it's hardly an original opinion but i do genuinely think that Barclay's existence in tng (at least in his first appearance) is good and very needed for the show. like after Roddenberry insisted that all the main tng characters should be perfect people who are always moral and great at their jobs and get along really well with each other, it's needed to have a black sheep who's not a bad person but isn't great at his job, has social difficulties, lives too much in fantasy, and develops bad coping mechanisms. it's also good for these supposedly perfect people to have to learn how to deal with someone who has deep flaws. (also showing Geordi being a supportive boss & friend even to someone he doesn't really like is a very good part to his character.)

however all of that goes out the window once Barclay becomes another one of Star Trek's most special white men who needs whole episodes dedicated to him in a show that is in no way about him when the actual main characters are completely ignored.