3.76 : Requiem For Methuselah.

[Dave]

The one with the immortal Flint.

Kirk falls in love with a beautiful woman, only to discover she is an android. Flint reveals that he is a sort of "Highlander", an immortal who wandered on Earth for thousands of years, existing as da Vinci, Brahms, and many other important individuals. (How come the da Vinci Hologram in 'Voyager' looks different?) As such he suffers the same loneliness felt by the other long-lived beings that we meet in the Star Trek universe (Apollo, Zefram Cochrane.)

The original story outline which wasn't used contained elements much more like 'Forbidden Planet' (which incidently must have been a heavy influence on the 'Star Trek' series itself) -- futuristic all-purpose robot, beautiful young woman with possesive guardian, McCoy and Spock sneak into Flint's home to look around, Rayna stops the robot attacking them, Kirk fights a monster that is actually an illusion thrown aroung the robot.

Rayna Kapec is a nod to Karel Capek, the Czechoslovakian writer who first coined the term "robot" in his 1921 play 'R.U.R.'

It is implausible, even for Kirk, that a Starship captain would risk the lives of his crew in order to court the affections of a woman. Yet Spock has to constantly remind Kirk about the Plague. Then Kirk begs Rayna to come with him, saying he can make her happy. How will he do that? He will be on a five year mission, while she stays home with the robotic kids. She could join Starfleet as a Yeoman, but we never see families on Starships before TNG comes along: we saw a couple about to get married in 'Balance of Terror' but the guy died before the ceremony, and the dialogue suggested that she was going to resign her commission afterwards.

[Draco Weyr]

I hated this episode with a passion. Manly for all the stuff you mentioned above.

But in turn, it was the inspiration for the very funny "Requiem for a Martian" line in Free Enterprise