“Hollow Pursuits” is episode twenty-one of season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Troi enters Ten Forward as Guinan is telling a man drinking at the bar, Barclay, that she doesn’t want any trouble, because where he goes, trouble follows. Geordi arrives and starts having a go at Barclay for not being on duty. Barclay shoves him away. Riker intervenes and Barclay pins him, saying if the captain has a problem, he can come see Barclay himself. Troi seems impressed; Barclay excites her. Then Barclay is summoned to cargo bay 5; as might have been guessed, this is a holodeck program.
In the cargo bay, stuff is being beamed onboard and the real Geordi is complaining to Riker about the real Barclay. Barclay is always late and slides by and Geordi can’t deal with him anymore. Riker says it’s perhaps time to talk to the captain about Broccoli; that’s what Wesley calls him. One of the items beamed aboard has a broken seal and needs discarding. Barclay arrives and hides; he’s much less sure of himself and more apologetic when dealing with real people. Geordi wants Barclay to take a look at the antigrav unit and Riker speaks to Barclay directly about him being on report.
The Enterprise is taking donated tissue samples and shipping them to another planet where they may prove vital in dealing with a disease. Barclay has checked the antigrav unit and tells Geordi and O’Brien that everything looks normal. Geordi activates it. The unit is still malfunctioning. Geordi calls for more people and Barclay states the unit shouldn’t have done that.
Geordi and Riker speak to the captain in his ready room about Barclay. Riker doesn’t think he’s Enterprise material and has asked he be transferred. Geordi thought he could work with anyone but Broccoli makes people nervous. The nickname is explained. Barclay’s previous record is good, though Riker suggests his last commander exaggerated to get rid of him. Picard agrees that the easy option would be to transfer Barclay. Too easy. The captain tells Geordi to try harder, make Barclay his best friend.
Geordi, though unhappy, follows orders and heads to the cargo bay. He greets Barclay in a friendly manner. Barclay hasn’t found the problem yet. Geordi asks him to sit in on the mission briefing tomorrow. The next day, Barclay is the last to arrive. Barclay reports on the antigrav unit but Wesley interrupts with theories.
Barclay is next seen with Troi. He’s more confident again, because this is another holoprogram. He changes the program to another, where Troi is the Goddess of Empathy.
Geordi, Wesley, Data and another crewman, Duffy, are talking about Barclay in Ten Forward. Geordi explains to Wesley that Barclay is his new project and he’s trying to draw him out. Data questions Wesley’s use of the name Broccoli and Geordi agrees it’s time to stop using the nickname. Then Duffy’s glass starts leaking and his fingers have left marks in it.
The glass has been altered at the atomic level. Not a replicator problem; that would have affected the liquid too. Data suggests the glass came into contact with an unshielded power source. There are 4,000 power systems on the Enterprise and Geordi decides to delegate the job of checking them to Barclay. Who was already going to do that, because of the antigrav unit’s failure. He still can’t make sense of that. Data suggests they may be related.
Geordi, Data and Barclay bring the problem to Riker, and Data says Barclay suggested a link. Which he denies. The captain comes over to find out the specifics and accidentally calls Barclay, Broccoli.
Geordi talks to Guinan about Barclay, to see what she knows. Geordi mentions that Barclay is always late and nervous and no-one wants to be around him. Guinan remarks if no-one wanted to be around her, she’d probably be late and nervous as well.
Geordi heads to find Barclay and finds him on the holodeck running one of his programs. With alternates of Dr Crusher, Wesley, the captain, Data and Geordi. Geordi isn’t that upset, but tells Barclay to speak to Troi.
There are more malfunctions and, naturally, Barclay does turn out to be useful solving them. Troi, regarding Barclay’s programs, says that it’s healthy and there’s nothing wrong with an active imagination. Her opinion changes somewhat when she encounters the Goddess of Empathy.