Gates McFadden had the same reaction as many fans to her ghostly love story in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dr. Beverly Crusher served as the Chief Medical Officer on the USS Enterprise-D for six out of TNG’s seven seasons. Although she and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) had a will they/won’t romance throughout TNG, the two never officially became a couple. Dr. Crusher had several other romances over the course of the show, but none as strange as the one featured in TNG season 7, episode 14, “Sub Rosa.”
In Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Sub Rosa,” Beverly travels to Caldos IV to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she learns that her 100-year-old grandmother was involved with a 34-year-old “man” named Ronin (Duncan Regehr). Dr. Crusher then finds a candle among her grandmother’s possessions. Beverly lights the candle and Ronin appears, having manipulated her to develop feelings for him. Beverly eventually comes to her senses and destroys the candle that acts as Ronin’s vessel, but not before the ghost possesses the body of Crusher’s dead grandmother. “Sub Rosa” is often considered one of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s worst episodes and Gates McFadden was also taken aback by the strange story.
Every Doctor Crusher Love Interest In Star Trek: The Next Generation
Dr. Beverly Crusher’s romantic life in Star Trek: The Next Generation was explored through relationships very different men (and one candle ghost).
Gates McFadden Doesn’t Like TNG’s “Sub Rosa,” Either
That time Dr. Crusher fell in love with her grandmother’s non-corporeal lover.
On the second day of Star Trek: The Cruise VII, Gates McFadden gathered with Brent Spiner, John De Lancie, LeVar Burton, Denise Crosby, and Wil Wheaton for a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion panel. As reported by TrekMovie, the TNG stars answered questions from fans, and McFadden was asked about “Sub Rosa.” Read her hilarious response below:
Are you suggesting that ‘Sub Rosa’ wasn’t a typical TNG script and having sex with a ghost lamp was unusual? Is that your implication? That Beverly wasn’t always running around in a nightgown and drugged out of her mind waiting for Ronin? When I read that script in the seventh season, I absolutely went, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ After all these seasons, we find out that all the women in the Howard family had sex with the lamp. Seriously? It did put into question a lot of Beverly’s behavior. In retrospect, I would have probably played every single episode differently had I known that was her arc.
Despite Gates McFadden’s apparent misgivings, she delivers a solid performance in “Sub Rosa,” elevating the strange storyline. Still, “Sub Rosa” is one of TNG’s weaker moments, and it underlines the larger issue of the female characters receiving fewer and weaker storylines than their male counterparts. Dr. Beverly Crusher and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) were both fascinating characters played by skilled actors, but the writers often did not know how to write for them. Crusher and Troi often lacked agency and their stories frequently involved questionable romances. Crusher had a semi-romance with Picard and Troi went on to have one of Star Trek’s best romances with Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), but TNG rarely focused on these much more interesting relationships.
Dr. Crusher Is A Fully Realized Character In Star Trek: Picard Season 3
Beverly finally became the badass mother/doctor she was always meant to be.
Dr. Beverly Crusher returns in Star Trek: Picard season 3, reuniting with her USS Enterprise-D crew members for the first time in twenty years. Beverly kicks off the main story in Picard season 3 when she reaches out to Admiral Picard asking for help. Picard then recruits Captain Riker, and the two hijack the USS Titan for a rescue mission that quickly turns into a mission to save the entire galaxy. When Beverly arrives on the Titan, she reveals that her adult son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), is also Picard’s son. Jean-Luc is understandably shocked to discover that he has a son, and he confronts Beverly about keeping Jack from him.
In one of Star Trek: Picard season 3’s best scenes, in episode 3, “Seventeen Seconds,” Beverly explains that she kept Jack a secret from Jean-Luc to keep her son safe from all of Picard’s enemies. Since she last saw Picard, Dr. Crusher has been traveling the galaxy with her son helping those in need. Not only does she remain one of Star Trek’s best doctors, but Crusher has also become skilled with a phaser and a ship’s weapons system. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Dr. Beverly Crusher gets more to do than she did in many of her appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Cast
- Patrick Stewart , Marina Sirtis , Brent Spiner , Jonathan Frakes , LeVar Burton , Wil Wheaton
- Seasons
- 7
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
- Showrunner
- Gene Roddenberry
