Trip and Hoshi catch a really nasty alien virus.
An ambitious episode that ultimately falls short of its goals. It was interesting to see these observers inhabit different people, and assemble their views on humanity. But it’s not at all clear what they were trying to learn from this, or why this will tell them about which species will develop towards their ideals. Actually, the biggest flaw was their methodology – if this is supposed to be a scientific observation then they’re incredibly sloppy about it.
The framing of the story in terms of these aliens completely overwhelms most of the rest of the episode, but there are some nice moments between Trip and Hoshi as they’re suffering from the virus.
Callbacks: The second most famous of Star Trek’s ‘super powerful non-corporeal aliens’, the Organians. But the Cardassians also get a quick mention.
725 down, 12 to go.