Barclay is given the honour of repairing a malfunctioning anti-grav platform, while Riker and La Forge head up to Picard’s office to see if they can secretly get him transferred to a different ship. Given that the Enterprise doesn’t appear to be on a mission right now, Picard decides that they’ll deal with the problem rather than pass the buck. He insists that La Forge become Barclay’s best friend and help him out of his shell. It’s like a futuristic Pygmalion or something.

La Forge, clearly taking his task seriously, heads immediately back to Barclay, because it’s not like the Enterprise is on a mission right now so he basically can do whatever he likes. He invites Barclay to come along to the morning meeting of important staff members, which an anxious Barclay agrees to do. Of course he arrives late, but he starts to give his report before Wesley shuts him down. Barclay returns to the holodeck to deal with his anger, which involves getting weird with Holo-Troi (which is probably a shade less insane than repeatedly snapping a Holo-Wesley’s neck would be, admittedly.)

As the malfunctions stack up throughout the ship, Barclay’s investigation starts to become more urgent. After some helpful counsel from Guinan (I say helpful. It’s mostly about her.) he decides to give Barclay a change, only to find him on the holodeck fighting musketeer versions of Data, Picard and La Forge while an empathic-love-goddess version of Troi wanders around wearing nothing but a sheet.

When he’s found out, he’s suitably embarrassed and offers to leave, but La Forge tries to help him past it, referencing the time he fell in love with his own demented holo-creation (in the episode Booby Trap). Barclay agrees to quit, but La Forge orders him into counselling anyway.

As you might expect, given how Barclay regards Troi, her counselling does not go down well and he runs off before she can help him with his problems in any serious way. The bridge is expecting Barclay to come and give a powerpoint presentation about his findings but he doesn’t show up. Annoyed, Riker, Troi and La Forge head to the holodeck, where they run into their own insulting holo-doubles and find Barclay asleep.