10 Best Star Trek: Voyager Episodes Not About The Main Cast
2. Meld
A very easy argument can be made to say that Meld is an episode about Tuvok, due to the trauma that he experiences due to the mind-meld. However, the inspiration behind this, and the event that led to it, was Brad Douriff's Lon Suder. The Betazoid former Maquis murders another crewman while on duty in Engineering, only to be rapidly identified through DNA testing.
Douriff is chilling in the role, capturing the paradox that is a sociopathic Betazoid. The race is famed for their empathic abilities, so this fundamental flaw in his makeup has confused him throughout his life. He tells Tuvok that he has killed for no reason in the past, which confuses the Vulcan to the point he feels he must join their minds to understand him better.
While the first two years of Voyager's stories were a little uneven, this episode ranks among the very finest of the show. Douriff is outstanding as the chilling Suder, whose arc was entirely too brief between this episode and Basics. Tim Russ is incredible as Tuvok here, offering one of the earliest examples of exactly how much of an asset he would be to Star Trek.