Best character in the entire franchise (OC)

A lot of TNG episodes would have been shorter if she had Troi's job.

Picard: "These fishy-looking ambassadors arrived in hibernation."
Lwaxana: "They're not ambassadors, they're terrorists. They have a bomb."
Picard: "Thanks, L"

Security arrests fishy dudes
Roll credits

It honestly would have made more sense if Deanna Troi was a member of the diplomatic service instead of being the ship's counselor.

It doesn't make sense having the ship's counselor do bridge duty when their time is best spent treating patients, but it does make sense having someone assist the captain by knowing the various treaties and international relations going on.

Lwaxana is a treat every single time she's on screen. And sometimes when she isn't.

The best cold intro is:

"Counselor Deanna Troi, personal log, stardate 44805.3. My mother is on board."

Empty corridor with Picard peeking around the corner
- We just watched that one last night after a week and a half of dealing with heavy shit that still isn't done yet. Not really the episode I would have chosen to dip the toes back in after trauma, but that's what was up next. Still a great ep.
The episode where she and Odo are trapped on the elevator is amazing.
- I just watched that one for the first time the other day and it completely changed my mind on her. Just fantastic.
- Yesss, it's such a shame that the other Odo-Lwaxana episode (the one where she gets married) is the B-plot of "The Muse".
- I don't love most Lwaxana episodes, but that one and Half a Life are wonderful.

I had a mug custom made with her on it so I'm not fit to judge.

Does it help that I had Guinan put on other side? idk

Damnit Jean-Luc, show us the damn mug!

EDIT: they did 😄
I’d like to see this mug, please.
- Why am I like this
  
  https://imgur.com/a/avF7mLc
  
  I guess they just seem like two Queens who stand outside it all and thus see things more clearly idk

She can be both. Sometimes the best character is the worst.

I can see you still have a long way to go. It's ok, I was like you once.
- I dunno, I can like a character and think they're the worst. It's likely that I like them because they're the worst.

On my very first watch of TNG, I was so annoyed the first couple of times I saw Lwaxana or Q dominate an episode, but by the end of the series I was cheering every time they showed up!

The Q farewell of Piccard Season 2 is the only redeeming quality of that entire season.

She's a sex pest though, worse than Barclay.

It's worse because she's telepathic - she knows the advances are unwanted and makes people uncomfortable, and yet she does it anyway.

On top of that, she's a very important Federation ambassador. People might feel pressured into keeping her happy.

I have a feeling that if she were of a different sex people would view her relentless unwanted sexual advances quite differently.

But I guess "man trying to avoid sexual advances of horny older woman" was seen as being a hilarious role reversal on 90s TV.

She did have some amazing scenes though. She can certainly act when she gets a serious scene as opposed to a sex pest scene.
- Love Majel Barret, hate Lwaxana.
  
  Also, did we have this same conversation a couple weeks ago on telegram?
- I feel like most people would agree she's a terrible person. Makes for a great character in a tv show though because she shakes things up.
- Her demeaning of her daughter too, "little one", grates. She's a narcissist. Reminds me of someone in real life and I'll never be able to get past it.
- I interpret her interactions with Picard a little differently. He might think she's a real pain in the ass, but I don't think she's actually being a sex pest, because they both know she knows there's nothing there. He's not going to be pressured into doing anything he's not interested in, which is something she also knows, and they live in a world where that's not OK anyway. It's a game, and honestly, an extremely gifted and perceptive telepath could cause him any number of problems. This is a man whose experience with people being in his mind was from the Borg. She's certainly found a way to come off as extremely harmless.
Partially negated by her telepathy. Theoretically she can ignore social boundaries in favour of going by someone's actual individual boundaries and hidden feelings/comfort levels.
- In other words she knows exactly how much she can violate people's boundaries before they'll be uncomfortable enough to do something about it.

The TNG episode featuring Kristen Dunst where Lwaxana falls into a coma, really gave a lot of color to that character.

Yes, "Dark Page". A top five TNG episode for me.

When I was a kid I hated her episodes, as an adult, I love them.