Beverly Crusher has become deeply involved with Odan, a Trill diplomat who has come aboard to conduct peace talks between two warring moons. But when Odan is critically injured, the Doctor learns that the man she's come to love is a symbiont living inside another host organism. With war hanging in the balance, and a new host too far away for Odan to survive, Commander Riker agrees to serve as a temporary host. As Odan negotiates within his new body, Crusher must face some uncomfortable questions about the nature of love. Is the man she loved still alive? Can she love him still, when he wears the face of a close friend?
The concept of this episode was pitched by an outside writer, but originally involved only the warring moons and the symbiotic Odan. Staff writers Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga each used later interviews to point out how crucial the addition of the love story was. Moore noted that it was only by making this a personal problem for Crusher, and to some extent Riker, that the audience could invest in what was happening. And Braga liked the irony of the most repulsive story ever pitched to them -- a squishy, intelligent worm living inside someone -- transforming into a touching love story.
The Trills were ultimately such a compelling idea that a major character on the next Star Trek spin-off would become one. The science officer of Deep Space Nine was originally conceived of as an alien from a low-gravity planet, confined to a wheelchair while interacting with the rest of the crew in normal gravity. The flying effects needed to realize the character in her natural environment were deemed too cost prohibitive, and the idea was ultimately shelved (to be used later for a single episode of that series). When they were casting around for new ideas for the science officer, someone remembered the Trill from this Next Generation episode, and thus Jadzia Dax was born.
In truth, though, the Trills as introduced here don't really have too much to do with the Trills as we'd come to know them on Deep Space Nine. That's because what was meant here as a one-off concept wasn't really built for the long haul. The notion that a Trill couldn't use the transporter without harming the symbiont obviously had to be jettisoned if a Trill was going to be a series regular. And here, Odan doesn't seem to have much regard for his host body, which apparently becomes totally subservient to his control, as opposed to the "blending" we'd see on Deep Space Nine. (Though there's a deleted scene that addresses that.) Even the appearance of the Trills changed, when the producers decided quickly that they didn't want to cover the face of the beautiful Terry Farrell with a wacky forehead makeup; the spotted pattern was quickly conceived of so filming on the Deep Space Nine pilot could continue.
But as interesting a gimmick as the Trills are, the story here is much simpler -- the first full-on love story for Beverly Crusher. Actress Gates McFadden loved the episode, but wished the timing had been better. She was seven-and-a-half months pregnant when filming it. Great pains were taken to conceal the pregnancy by director Marvin V. Rush, stepping up from his regular director of photography position to helm his first Star Trek episode. (Certainly, it helped that Crusher had always worn that helpful blue coat.)
The dramatic question of the story is a weighty one: "What is the nature of love?" Transferring Odan into Riker is where that comes into play, and thus the episode wisely doesn't show us much of Crusher getting to know him. Instead, the story begins with Odan already having been on the ship for weeks, his relationship with Beverly already well underway. We get just a taste of them as a couple before the accident that forces the symbiont to be moved into Riker.
Jonathan Frakes does give a fairly good performance, though I'm not sure the script is doing him any favors. Odan is charismatic, self-assured, and chasing a woman. In short, he doesn't really have any character traits that separate him from Riker; it's really only through a few dialogue choices that we see much difference at all. And the only really recognizable character continuity throughout the episode is when both the first and last hosts of Odan kiss Dr. Crusher on the wrist. (A deliberately chaste choice; I'll come back to that shortly.)
The episode does well with putting Beverly through the emotional ringer, but I feel like it misses some character moments that could have been played with the rest of the crew. Everyone else seems to take too much in stride the fact that Riker, a man they've known for years, is now someone else. Troi in particular seems remarkably unconflicted, encouraging Beverly to continue her relationship with her new boyfriend, even now that that boyfriend is wearing the body of Troi's ex-boyfriend.
Beverly does eventually sort out her feelings enough to continue her relationship, even though doing so kinda-sorta involves intimacy with a man she thinks of almost as a brother. But in the end, when Odan is transferred more permanently into a female host, she calls it quits. And this caused quite a controversy back in 1991. The series received letters objecting to even this smallest hint of homosexuality -- even the simple, chaste kiss on the wrist.
That was one side of the coin. On the reverse, other viewers complained that the resolution of the story was homophobic. The more apt question, a question fewer people in 1991 even knew the words with which to frame it, is whether this resolution is transphobic. This is, after all, a story in which a man changes gender and becomes female. (Though the character doesn't really self-identify as female, or even male, for that matter.) It's an interesting issue to wrap your head around. There are a few true stories of couples remaining together even after one person accepts and/or discloses a transgender identity, but those cases are far more the exception that the rule. Are the people who split with their transgender partner necessarily transphobic? I'd hope the answer to that is "no," but I think that's not a high horse I'd feel comfortable sitting on.
I can only say that I don't think I fault Beverly's decision. You can't change a person's orientation and make a gay person straight or a straight person gay. Nor could someone choose to become bisexual. But even that makes you stop and think. Surely that means that physicality -- not emotion -- plays a far greater role in attraction than many of us would probably like to admit. At least Beverly claims other reasons for ending things with Odan. She's uncertain about how long this new host might be around, or who the next one might be. She does not actually mention gender... although she does make a statement that's rather on-the-nose: "Perhaps, someday, our ability to love won't be so limited." How do you see that statement? Is it forward-thinking, Roddenberry-style hopefulness for the future? Or is a coded, homophobic cop-out by a 1991 television writer?
Other observations:
- When Odan asks Picard for advice on pursuing Crusher, the captain's subtle reaction gives us another of the oh-so-occasional hints at a Picard-Crusher relationship.
- Composer Jay Chattaway scored this episode, his second overall after "Tin Man," and his first replacing Ron Jones as a regular composer for the series.
- I mentioned earlier a deleted scene from this episode that can be found on the Blu-ray release. In it, Odan comes to play poker with Data, Geordi, and Worf. It's a shame there wasn't time enough to include this scene, as it specifically addresses the awkwardness for the rest of the crew at seeing Odan in Riker's body. It also has Odan explaining that a Trill host is usually completely subservient to the symbiont, but that in this case, some of Riker is subconsciously leaking through.
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