The character of Troi was such a strange collection of decisions.

In addition to a ship's doctor, let's also have a psychologist on board. Okay cool. A show as progressive as TNG was in its day would do something like "Hey we have a psychologist. Taking care of mental health is a thing you're allowed to do." Plus, in the Trek future, I can see where a psychologist might perform the roles of a present day Navy chaplain; Trek, especially TNG era Trek, had no use for religion and championed science, reason, philosophy and understanding, and so instead of a ship's chaplain you'd have a ship's counselor. Makes sense.

She's a member of an empathic species who feels the emotions of the people she's talking to so she's an extra good counselor. And "logical" Vulcans are always science officers, right? Kind of on the nose but it's on brand for Trek. Surprised the Klingon on the crew isn't the weapons officer. Yet. So I guess she's going to be a recurring character kind of like the ship's doctor, when characters have personal issues they can go to the counselor to work through them?

The man cast will never have personal issues or conflicts among each other. They are the elite best of the best that humanity has to offer, they're all pictures of perfect mental health and they work flawlessly as a team. ...so why did they bother bringing a therapist on board with them?

She's going to spend most of her duty day on the bridge sitting next to the Captain Ah, so she can use her empathy skills to aid in negotiations with outside characters, aliens and such, tell if they're lying or upset or something, giving the Captain an amazing upper hand in pretty much any interpersonal situation.

...Shit I hadn't thought that through. That does eliminate any plot that relies on deception to work. Well she'll nearly never say anything actually useful, she'll just sound smart. Okay...so the character is basically pointless?

She's going to wear a short dress like Uhura did, but this time she's going to sit in a chair facing forward with no console in front of it so the camera can always see her legs. Ah, there it is. None of the other two women on the crew are wearing such a uniform though, they're wearing onesie jammies like the men, the doctor even has that really practical coat. Isn't that kind of sexist even for the late 80's?

We'll have some male extras wearing the same uniform in the background sometimes. ...Okay sure. So is this counselor a civilian serving aboard ship? She dresses different than everyone else on the crew, and has a purely personnel support role like the teacher and the barber characters.

No, she's a commissioned officer, a Lieutenant Commander, fifth in command of the ship after the Captain, the first officer, the chief engineer and the navigator. Okay, is she going to command the ship while her superior officers are away, will she be on watch while the others are relieved, play a part in the chain of command?

~~Of course not, she's a woman~~ No, in fact several seasons in she'll be thrust into that situation and the only enlisted man on the show will have to explain to her that she's even an officer in the first place, and in one of the movies she makes we'll have her fly the Enterprise, and she'll immediately crash it. She's completely useless as a commanding officer. ...Okay...so moving on I see you've hired Whoopi Goldberg as a recurring guest star, what's that character like?

There's going to be a crew lounge on board with big windows, and she's going to play the wise bartender, Guinan. Interesting. What does she do?

She'll dispense sage advice, offer to talk to characters who are vexed by the current situation, act as a sounding board, sometimes re-contextualize their problems so they have a revelation, you know. Bartender stuff. Shouldn't the ship's counselor do that kind of thing?

Hey speaking of the counselor, what do you think of this spandex aerobics suit instead of the mini dress?

I like the approach SNW is taking with long lived races. Where Guinan was all calm and wise, Pelia is a quirky ball of energy. Maybe it's because Guinan is much younger and Pelia knows that there is something significantly worse than death. Boredom.