Synopsis: A crewmember expresses affection for Lt. Commander Data, and he decides to pursue a relationship with her.
This episode illustrates once again the idea of how individuals project their inner ideal mates onto another when they fall in love. And how when they realize that the individual that they have projected onto is not the same, they can fall out of love.
In “In Theory” Jenna D’Sora has a close working relationship with Lt. Commander Data, that has led to friendship. In fact, after she instructed him to remind her why she broke up with her prior paramour, he does so – almost to a fault. An act that D’Sora perceives as kind and generous. However, in reality, Data has just responded as instructed by her to the best of his ability. D’Sora, looking for a mate that is both kind and generous, projects her ideal inner mate, in this case, inner animus, onto Data. Data, of course is an android, and as he has mentioned in so many other episodes, he is incapable of any emotion.
However, because Data is the sentient being that he is, and because he wants to be more human, he creates a subroutine by which he can pursue a romantic relationship with D’Sora. He is generous, affectionate, and caring, but not to match D’Sora’s expectations: Data has researched relationship and romance as described by the great poets and artists in his memory banks. This approach does not match up to D’Sora’s ideal mate.
D’Sora eventually realizes that Data does not match the inner image that she has projected onto him. And at this point, she is able to withdraw her projection from him and end their romance. D’Sora is fortunate in that because Data cannot feel emotions, she does not need to concern herself about hurting him. Which is not the case for most of us.
Original post created 21 September 2021
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