This episode is a great sendoff to a character whose made a name for themselves in just a handful of episodes. Ro Laren is not unanimously liked because she shakes up the idyllic bridge crew dynamic. Gene Roddenberry insisted that there be no conflict among the crew except for external forces that control their actions. This stayed throughout the series, where all of the crew has seemingly perfect relationships with them, all best friends and few disagreements that lasted more than one episode. Ro Laren was a nice mix-up, being a somewhat stubborn and arrogant person but justifiably so. She introduced us to the Bajorans and set up the ideas and characteristics of all future Bajorans we would see play a more significant role in Star Trek lore.
Although far too brief for the character arc it tries to achieve, this episode plays with some of the characteristics we know of Ro Laren. It asks where her loyalties lie, her relationship with Jean-Luc Picard and with the federation as a whole. The best part of this episode is some of the tender and quiet moments. Her relationship with the old man helps establish her reasons later on for her change of heart. Her discussions with Picard are very personal and you can see how his approval is important to her. However, those dialogues are bluntly straightforward about the emotional steps we're supposed to see in her. You have Ro Laren literally saying 'the most important thing for me is your approval', something I doubt Ro would ever say out loud. This episode is a standout amongst the rather tame Season 7 and reminds us the great character writing TNG could have. Even in 50 minutes, her arc is very believably and fitting of the character we've watched for several episodes. I appreciate that they had Riker with her at the end, which only slightly manages to finish their arc together by him wishing her luck. We never got to find out what Riker was to say about Ro Laren at her funeral. I am not going to delve too much into the plot, it isn't very complex, it is all about characters this episode and I suggest you watch it yourself.
It's a shame Ro never got more episodes, perhaps to build up this arc over a longer period. Besides Ro Laren's important role in future Star Trek lore, she's also just a fascinating character. She's not the perfect officer like much of the TNG crew who are so often just accommodating to everyone else's opinions. Although they are very sympathetic they are sometimes just too perfect as people. Ro Laren was always at odds with people, always blunt and sometimes crass about her opinions and determined to enact them. People didn't like her and for a clear reason. Yet she still ended up being the most relatable and sympathetic character for me. Even in lesser episodes she always stood out with her very well-defined personality. When you take an episode like The Next Phase, the writer's know well-enough to focus on Ro's reaction than La Forge's (the writer's have tried many times to write episodes about La Forge, like his romance life and about his mom, didn't often work). Even the episode, Rascals, where they turn into kids, some of the characters like Keiko or Picard are written blandly for the kid actors. But Guinan and Ro sound exactly like their adult counterparts. The writer's made Ro Laren into one of the highlights of this series even with so few appearances. It is nice therefore to see her get such a well-thought out farewell.