| The Next Generation | |
| 97 | |
| The Host | |
| 44821.3 | |
Beverly has finally received a letter from Wes. It seems that through rain and snow and sleet and warp, the post office will always get the mail through. What a drag, it looks as if she might have to change her name to avoid the letters. And speaking of changes of name, Bev has a new love interest. It is also a new xenobiologist interest as in isn't human. Dr Bev BEM has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
The BEM in question doesn't really have bug eyes, but he does have a triangular bump on his forehead that looks as if an iron was pressed onto him for some time - that's what you get for being an Ambassador. But love is blind, and it also appears arrogant, as Bev and Ambassador Odan seem to want to spend more time messing around and less time working. This really confuses Data. I think that knowing that Odan has a growth moving around in his abdominal cavity would confuse Bev too. I think that the Paramount boys must have seen Alien just before writing this script.
But back to the main plot (yeah right)... There is the potential of war between moons of Peliar, and Odan is going to mediate the dispute. The home planet thinks of them as noisy children and doesn't want to see them fighting - how quaint. Odan will have his hands full with this one, and it looks like he will have his hands full on the Enterprise in his off hours.
Deanna finds her way to the Enterprises beauty parlour and finds Bev soaking in it. The "it" looks suspiciously like dish-washing detergent. Bev says that she hasn't felt this way and that she likes it. Deanna, in her typically counsellorish tone tries to instil an appropriate amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt in Bev's mind. It doesn't work.
Odan, like Bones McCoy, doesn't like the transporters, so Riker is going to shuttle him down to the planet personally. Is it vindictiveness towards laughing boy, a complete loss of senses or just part of the plot that the shuttle is attacked? Why couldn't the Enterprise just have vapourised the incoming bogey and let them down safely? Probably because no-one thought of it. Riker says that the shuttle is breaking up and requests that they are beamed directly back on board. Odan plaintively whimpers that if he is transported he will die, so Riker returns them manually.
Odan is dying, or at least his body is. You see Odan is a parasite, and the body is merely a host. The Trill are joint species and have survived this way for millennia - a likely story. But since the host body dying, he needs a replacement. Unfortunately is won't arrive for 40 hours and he won't survive for more than two. In a completely unexpected twist, Riker volunteers to be implanted. Of course Picard agrees that his first officer should be implanted with an unknown organism - but he was once a Borg...
After the operation there is no more Wil. Or is there - the body is sleezing again, and this time in the direction of Dr Crusher. He would have her believe that he is Odan in Riker's body. Nice pickup line that one. Bev doesn't know what to do, so she decides to get bombed in 10-Forward. Our friendly neighbourhood counsellor is there to listed to her woes. Deanna suggests that if she can get the love she desires from Riker's body, she should do it. I think that she is just trying to get Wil off her back (and any other parts of her Betazoid anatomy) and sees Beverly as a perfect way to do it. How sly!
Riker tries to convince everyone that he is really is Odan. Unfortunately his time is going to be limited as Riker's body wants him out. I think that rejection is something that is an innate ability of Wil Riker. Odan tries for Beverly's affection - strike one. Later he tries again with the classic line: "Beverly, I want you" - home run and the tongue is going way, way, way over the fence.
The Ambassador manages to convince the opposing factions of the warring moons that he really is Odan, and his mediation ends in success for them - but he must be removed from Riker or Riker will die. The Enterprise heads off at warp 9 to intercept the incoming host's ship, but the new Odan is not quite what Beverly was expecting - the host is female! Bev decides that this is just a little more than she can cope with. At least she has those fond memories of Riker.
