{"id":6308,"date":"2015-12-07T05:43:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T05:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/423-The-Host"},"modified":"2015-12-07T05:43:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T05:43:02","slug":"423-the-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/07\/423-the-host\/","title":{"rendered":"4.23 — \u201cThe Host\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

4.23 — \u201cThe Host\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> Beverly has a new love interest, an–oh my God! What\u2019s that crawling around in\u00a0his\u00a0stomach!?–ambassador from Trill named Odan. When Odan is injured on an away mission, Beverly discovers that Odan isn\u2019t Odan at all, but a parasite living in\u00a0Odan’s guts. The parasite needs a new host. How about William Riker? Can love survive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> A beautiful story sometimes wears ridiculous clothes. As Riker volunteers to be implanted with the heavy-breathing parasite, I wrote on my notepad\u00a0\u201cThis episode has veered into the absurd.\u201d Later,\u00a0as Beverly and Deanna trade astonishingly long monologues in Ten Forward to the sound of pan pipes and swelling romantic music, I wrote \u201cI want to hurl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He was a little much, that first Odan (or, first host for Odan). The love story in the first act is still more convincing\u00a0than earlier romances depicted on the show (\u201cHaven,\u201d anyone?) that made you wonder whether the writers had ever seen a real couple interact before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is amusing to see Jonathan Frakes imitate the original Odan\u2019s raffish new-age Yanni style. I wonder if the actors worked this out together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But the writers would like us to turn our attention to\u00a0more\u00a0thoughtful questions. Is love about the outer shell, or is it an internal, spiritual communing? Or something else altogether? Is love selfless, or selfish? How much does the other person matter at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shakespeare wrote \u201cLove is not love which alters when it alteration finds.\u201d But what did he know? Did he even consider the possibility of sentient space parasites?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I don\u2019t know either. All I can do is quote Lloyd Bridges’ character Sam Granymore from Joe Versus the Volcano<\/em> (1990): \u201cDamned if I know, Kimosabe. All I know is when you’re making those kind of calls, you’re up in the high country.\u201d Personally, I don\u2019t think I could get over my lover turning into my co-worker. I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve been in that situation, however, and the heart has its reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s something progressive about the message\u00a0that love\u00a0can survive all manner of transitions, even switches in gender, and that love takes all shapes and forms.\u00a0The ending is\u00a0somewhat ambiguous\u00a0as to\u00a0why\u00a0Beverly rejects the final version of Odan. Is homophobia a factor? Body switching is fine, but gender switching is a bridge too far? Or is it just that\u00a0repeated switches\u00a0is too emotionally taxing?\u00a0Considering that the first romantic same-sex kiss on television was not aired until May of 2000 (during the third season finale of Dawson\u2019s Creek<\/em>),\u00a0nine years after\u00a0this episode aired in May 1991, I think they went pretty far here, even if they could have gone still farther. For Odan, gender is fluid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a pretty wild episode, but it is the best Beverly Crusher episode so far, right? What might possibly rival it? \u201cRemember Me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had fun, so\u2026 4 out of 5\u00a0futuristic laser scalpels.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Host<\/a>