PrimeWire

That kind of took me for a loop as well, I’ve been binge watching this so I can hopefully answer some of your confusion even if a little. Going into season 1 they both made it very apparent that they love each other, but D’Eanna makes a statement somewhere towards the end of season 1 that she knows “William loves her within the boundaries of the federation and his ambition to become a Captain himself” Following this, they never solidify through words or even actions that they are in love or in a relationship, infact Riker makes repeated attempts at flirting with many off world species females and science officers throughout. Then, every 10 episodes or so, we get episodes like this, where we see that they do clearly care for each other very much, beyond that of Commander/Crewmate. I am not entirely sure why they never just outright touch on the subject of Riker and D’Eanna, it’s all been cloak and dagger so to speak, I won’t know more till I finish up the series. Hope this helped.