The Host

TNG Season 4 Episode 23
Air Date: May 13th, 1991

The Federation Trill mediator Odan is being transported to negotiate peace between two moons. Nobody knows that Trill are a symbiotic relationship between a humanoid and a what they call the symbiote. While on route, Odan and Doctor Crusher have an affair. Odan get hurt in an attack from one side and his body dies. This is when Doctor Crusher learns about the symbiote.

Cmdr. Riker volunteers to be the host until a new host can be sent by the Trill. He completes the mediation but it creates an uncomfortable situation with Doctor Crusher. She gets over it but when the new host arrives, it is a female host. Even in the new host, Odan tells Doctor Crusher that she loves her but there is an awkwardness in the air. The episode shows how gender is still a block for most people when it comes to romantic love.

This episode is before DS9 starts and I always assumed this was a different race then the Trill since they look different. But it seems they just evolved the look of the Trill.

Quotes

"Perhaps it is a human failing; but we are not accustomed to these kinds of changes. I can't keep up. How long will you have this host? What would the next one be? I can't live with that kind of uncertainty. Perhaps, someday, our ability to love won't be so limited." - Doctor Crusher