Star Trek: Voyager - 10 Greatest Doctor Episodes
6. Virtuoso
The episode brilliantly shows that how you view yourself affects how you think others see you. The Doctor learns this lesson after his experience and also realises the crew love him for who he is, not what he can do.
The Doctor had expressed many times throughout the series that he wished to become and be seen as more than a piece of medical technology. In this episode, his singing abilities are recognised and idolised by an alien race who quickly make him a celebrity in their culture.
What the Doctor, who is blinded by the bright lights of fame doesn't realise until it's too late, is that the alien race are only interested in his singing abilities, not him. This realisation doesn't happen until after he resigns from his position on Voyager and burns some bridges between himself and his close friends.
He ends up coming back to Janeway with his tail between his legs knowing he has made a terrible mistake in choosing this alien race over the crew who have become his family. Mistakenly believing the crew do not appreciate his talents and only see him as technology demonstrated his own views of himself. Focusing on the fact he is technology has both held the Doctor back and pushed him forward.
While the growth he has in this episode is small compared to later entries in this list, it provides an excellent lesson that everyone can learn from.