[1] Data invites Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher and Geordi La Forge to his lab and surprises them by introducing a featureless humanoid android, whom he created based on his own structural design and recent advances in Federation cybernetics technology, describing it as his child.
This leads to some awkward moments, such as Lal misunderstanding the concept of flirting and kissing, which she first interpreted as "attacking" until Guinan makes an effort at explaining the practice.
Intrigued by this, Lal engages in suddenly dragging and kissing Commander Riker over the bar, leaving him baffled and earning him a fatherly scolding à la "What are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Nevertheless, Picard, as per general orders, reports to Starfleet, prompting Admiral Haftel to arrive to evaluate Lal.
Experiencing an overload of information and emotions, Lal soon stops speaking and wanders off, eventually returning to Data's lab (as she is programmed to do in the event of a malfunction).
But before the discussion can get any more tense, they are interrupted by a call from Troi who explains what has happened to Lal and asks everyone to come to Data's lab at once.
Upon arriving, Data's diagnostics find Lal's emotional outburst is a symptom of a cascade failure in her positronic brain, and they must work fast to stop it.
Echevarria was subsequently hired to rewrite the episode "Transfigurations" and became a regular writer and story editor for the show.
Although his character never received an official name, his cast and crewmates referred to him as "Ensign Youngblood" as an affectionate tribute to the way Becker's personality shined clean and fresh.
[5][6][7] In 2011, Forbes magazine cited "The Offspring" as one of the top ten Star Trek episodes exploring the implications of advanced technology.
[15] Screen Rant, IGN and Space.com recommended this episode as background for the series Star Trek: Picard.