3-21. The Die Is Cast.

Garak interrogates Odo.

THE PLOT

Garak has joined his old mentor, Enabran Tain (Paul Dooley), as Tain prepares to launch a first strike against the Dominion. Tain's plan is to attack the Founders' home world, eliminating them as a threat. The drug dependency used to control the Jem'Hadar will then neutralize them, as they will die within weeks of the Founders' destruction. This will remove the Dominion threat and, on a more personal level, provide Tain with a path back to power and Garak with an opportunity to take revenge on his old enemies in the Cardassian Empire.

This does, however, leave Odo as a prisoner on Tain's ship. Tain, for his part, requires a show of loyalty from Garak. A vigorous interrogation of Odo, with use of a stasis field to disable his shapeshifting abilities and make him vulnerable to torture!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Even under orders to stay at the station and take no action regarding the Cardassian/Romulan fleet, he will not simply sit by while one of his officers is taken into a war zone. He disregards orders and takes the Defiant through the wormhole to rescue Odo. When this takes him directly into combat, he is very ready for it - though as soon as the constable and Garak are rescued, he is equally ready to get away as quickly as possible.

Odo: Rene Auberjonois gets a great scene, as Odo is interrogated by Garak. He never displays any fear, even as the Cardassian stasis field keeps him from reverting to his liquid state, leaving him a dried out husk with skin literally peeling away. As Odo stands there, a living wreck, he continues to batter Garak with his observations, recognizing that this is far from the return to glory the Cardassian had dreamt of.

Dr. Bashir: The teaser sees Bashir attempting to have lunch with his other best friend, Chief O'Brien. Bashir expounds on theatre, while O'Brien basically ignores him and eats. The doctor's frustration at his failed attempt to replicate his lunches with Garak is very funny, and this brief interaction shows just how important Bashir's friendship with Garak is to him - as important in its own way as his friendship with O'Brien.

Commander Eddington: I'd completely forgotten about Eddington. I think the writers had, too. Much was made of his introduction, but he's gone not only unseen, but entirely unmentioned in the twenty episodes since. Given that he was placed in charge of Starfleet security on the station, I'd have thought he'd at least receive some mention in some of the intervening episodes. As it stands, it took me a moment to remember who this extra character was. "Odo's my friend, too," he insists - but since these two characters have shared no screen time since Eddington's appointment, we can't even judge this statement as a lie. A rare missed opportunity for this series, as it keeps any of the character's actions in this episode from having any resonance at all.

Garak: "Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I'm a very good tailor." Back in his old role as Enabran Tain's right hand, Garak finds he has no taste for the job anymore. Some of this is down to Tain, whose orders are immediately too ruthless. He talks of eliminating his housekeeper, the very woman who pleaded with Garak to help Tain just one episode ago. He orders Garak to interrogate Odo, refusing to accept Garak's belief that Odo has nothing to tell. It's no surprise that the episode ends with Garak back at his tailor's shop - but he's emotionally in a very different place, which will hopefully result in further developments down the line.


THOUGHTS

A rare case of Part Two being even better than Part One. The Die Is Cast picks up on the idea of Enabran Tain's first strike against the Dominion. What's interesting is that all of the Alpha Quadrant governments have the same basic idea: To sit back and wait, not dirty their hands on this "rogue operation," but hope for its success just the same. This approach defines not only the Cardassians and the Romulans, but also Starfleet. "I never hope for war," a Starfleet official tells Sisko, "but if it comes, I want the Dominion to be on the losing side."

The Garak scenes are predictably the best in the show. Put back in a position of power, Garak finds that his ability to lie with absolute smoothness only goes so far. It's clear from the start that he's trying to protect Odo - but it's also clear to Tain and the Romulan captain, and Garak is forced to do what he least wants: torture someone he might have considered a friend.

The scene in which Garak interrogates Odo is the episode's strongest, with Rene Auberjonois and Andrew Robinson both outstanding. I particularly like the way writer Ronald D. Moore's script keeps each character determined to betray no sign of weakness. Garak is silky, charming, and utterly terrifying as he presses Odo for answers. Odo, in turn, is defiant, spitting sarcasm back at Garak even under torture. Both characters do give, just a little: Garak, practically whispering in Odo's ear as he begs the shapeshifter to say something - "lie if you have to!" - and Odo confiding his desire to join his people's Great Link. It is only when Garak shuts off the field, though, that they show their weakness: Odo returning to liquid form, Garak allowing himself to bury his head in his hands in exhaustion and self-disgust.

This is an episode which should have far-reaching consequences. The Dominion has been a background threat throughout the season - frequently mentioned, but largely passive save for a single attempt to get Odo to join them. Now they have been officially engaged, which should make them a more active threat. At the same time, this should cause a shift in the Cardassians' internal balance of power, which might be rather interesting to see. Whatever the case, I look forward to seeing the fallout from this - doubtless around the season's end.

The best episode of the season, and one which promises much to come as the series continues.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Improbable Cause

Next Episode: Explorers

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3-08. Meridian.

Dax enjoys the attentions
of Deral (Brett Cullen).

THE PLOT

Sisko has succeeded in convincing Starfleet that exploration of the Gamma Quadrant should continue, despite the threat of the Dominion. He is commanding the Defiant on an exploration mission when a planet appears, as if out of nowhere. The planet is Meridian, and its friendly inhabitants explain that their world alternates between two dimensions: the corporeal one of the Gamma Quadrant and a second, incorporeal one. They enjoy a seemingly idyllic existence, aging only when in corporeal form before passing into decades as pure thought, always returning to the physical world with everything exactly as they left it.  Naturally, there is a catch. Their time in the physical world is growing ever shorter. Soon (relatively speaking) the planet's shifts will become too unstable to exist in either dimension.

Back on the station, Major Kira catches the eye of Tiron (Jeffrey Combs), a wealthy associate of Quark's. She evades him by pretending to be Odo's lover. But if Tiron can't have the real Major Kira, he's willing to satisfy himself with a holo-image. He contracts Quark to create a custom program of Kira. Before Quark can do so, though, he must get Kira into a holosuite - something that will be easier said than done!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Though we know Dax isn't going anywhere, Sisko's goodbye to Jadzia is still quite affecting. There's a genuine tenderness that's built up between these two characters by this point, and both actors play the dynamic well.

Major Kira: When did Major Kira get replaced by someone who would have any problem at all telling one of Quark's creepy colleagues exactly what to go do with himself? Kira's claim of Odo as her lover is amusing enough, and Odo's reaction is priceless (and probably significant)... but Major Kira isn't someone who tends to fall back on passive-aggressive strategies. She'd be far more likely to just shoot down Tiron's hopes for her, with threats to shoot him down far less metaphorically if he didn't get the message and back off. At least the real Kira is back in time to threaten Quark by the episode's end, while Nana Visitor's comic timing proves to be almost as adept as Armin Shimerman's, making the subplot more enjoyable than it has any right to be.

Dax: The season's second Dax-centric episode. While Equilibrium focused on her past and on Trill society in general, this episode gives her a more emotional focus. We've already seen how much she enjoys flirtation, through her teasing non-romance with Julian. It's evident that she enjoys Deral (Brett Cullen)'s interest from the start. When things go further with him, she embraces that wholeheartedly. She does focus both of their attentions on the work at hand, in finding a way to stabilize the planet's dimensional shifts. But she also jumps head-first into a full relationship, even willing to sacrifice her Starfleet career (or at least put it on hold for 60 years) to be with him on Meridian.

Quark: "The things I do for money." Well, at least Quark's aware of how low he sinks in this episode, desperately trying to find a way to get Kira's voice and image for Tiron's porn program. Given that we know Kira has been in Quark's holosuites before, I'm surprised he didn't have her image already stored - that would seem to be the sort of thing Quark would do as a matter of course. But then, if he had done so we wouldn't have a comedy subplot. This is Quark at his least wily and most slimy, which is to say it feels like a gross simplification of the complex character from other episodes. But Armin Shimerman has such natural comic timing that it's impossible to mind too much.


THOUGHTS

Meridian is an episode with a very bad reputation... yet I have to confess, I kind of enjoyed it. No, it's not a very good episode. But compared to the momentum-breaker that ended the last run of quality, this is surprisingly entertaining and watchable. I'd even call it pleasant.

It is an example of an A plot/B plot structure that utterly fails to work. The best plot/subplot combinations have both stories feeding each other, either thematically or structurally. Here, there are two unrelated strands. There is no thematic connection between the Meridian story and the Quark/Kira story. There is certainly no plot relevance between the two. They are simply two separate stories, neither one of which is really up to carrying an episode on its own. It's less a case of A plot/B plot structure than it is of B plot/B plot. A major limitation.

But it's still pleasant enough. I genuinely enjoyed the scenes on Meridian. It's always a relief to see genuine location footage in a Star Trek episode, and Jonathan Frakes directs with his usual confidence. I found Dax's dalliance with Deral to be enjoyable, though I think the writers chose the wrong ending. The episode would be a stronger character piece if Dax were to decide, after her talk with Sisko, that it made no sense to throw her career away over a brief dalliance, however pleasurable and romantic. That could have provided a more genuinely emotional resolution than the sea of Technobabble that made it "impossible" for Dax to be with her lover. Still, the romance is passably well-realized for a Trek romance, and is anchored by a quite good performance by Terry Farrell.

The Kira/Quark plot is pure comedy relief, and like most Trek comedy plots, it's hit and miss, with many of the scenes running far too long for the scattered laughs generated. There are some good moments, courtesy of the good comic timing of Armin Shimerman and Nana Visitor. Particularly funny is Kira's threat to make Quark "eat" the holo-imager after he attempts to surreptitiously scan her. Also funny is the final program, when unveiled for Tiron... Though I'm sure the damage this would do to Quark's reputation will mysteriously never materialize within the context of the show.

Neither very good nor very bad, Meridian does live down to its repuation in that it breaks an extremely long run of extremely high quality episodes. But it honestly isn't half as bad as I had expected. I even enjoyed it. I certainly wouldn't rank it as one of DS9's worst. A harmless filler episode on its own, that perhaps suffers from coming at the tail end of a run of very good to great shows.


Overall Rating: 5/10

Previous Episode: Civil Defense
Next Episode: Defiant


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2-14. Whispers

O'Brien is puzzled by the station
crew's strange behavior.

THE PLOT

O'Brien returns from a trip to the Parada system, in the Gamma Quadrant. Deep Space 9 is going to play host to a peace conference for the Paradas, who have been involved in a 12-year civil war. O'Brien has been briefed on some changes needed to the station's security systems before the conference can begin.

The morning after his return, O'Brien notices odd behavior among the people on the station. His wife is distant and evasive. Sisko is granting junior officers permission to begin work on the security network before O'Brien even arrives in Ops. Dr. Bashir orders him to undergo a physical that's far too intensive to be simply routine. There are little inconsistencies in statements made by different people. Slowly, O'Brien comes to the conclusion that something is horribly wrong here. If he's right, the Parada and their peace conference will explode into something horrible!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Initially friendly and professional with O'Brien. It isn't until Jake contradicts his father's story about bad grades that O'Brien twigs that anything's wrong with Sisko. Avery Brooks does "sinister" very well. His performance isn't very far removed from his usual work, but he has the ability to give it just a tiny extra shading that makes him a bit scary.

O'Brien: This episode is a showcase for Colm Meaney, who is terrific as an O'Brien who is increasingly isolated. We get to see exactly how formidable O'Brien can be, as he uses his engineering skills to override Sisko's attempts to lock him out of various parts of the station. When he finally runs near the end, he is able to overcome every security effort to thwart him.


THOUGHTS

Whispers is one of the very best episodes of the series thus far. It's essentially a genre riff. Just as Necessary Evil evoked classic film noir, this episode evokes the 1970's paranoid thrillers, with one man battling against an array of influential forces. There's a bit of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, too, as O'Brien makes allies in Jake and Odo, only to find each "taken over" when he meets up with them again late in the episode.

The episode is directed by television veteran Les Landau, who does a good job of playing with shadows and tight shots. The closeups of O'Brien are particularly effective, as he becomes more and more disturbed and isolated as the episode goes.

The episode does play fair. There's an end twist, one which adequately answers all of the questions raised and explains all of the regulars' strange behavior. While watching, though, most viewers would probably think there was some kind of "body snatchers" plot going on. Everything in the plot would have fit a return by the insect creatures from TNG's Conspiracy, just an example. But the end twist fits with everything we've seen, as well, and adds a perfect button onto a gripping episode.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Armageddon Game

Next Episode: Paradise

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2-12. The Alternate

Odo and his foster father (James Sloyan).

THE PLOT

Dr. Mora (James Sloyan), the Bajoran scientist who worked with Odo in the laboratory before the shapeshifter struck out on his own, comes to the station. Dr. Mora has discovered traces of DNA similar to Odo's in the Gamma Quadrant, and would like Odo's help in investigating this discovery.

Mora and Odo discover an artifact on the planet. When Mora has it beamed up to the runabout, it triggers volcanic tremors, which release a gas that incapacitates everyone except Odo. The security chief gets them all back to the ship and then to the station, where Dr. Bashir is able to tend to them. But one of the organic samples brought back reproduces rapidly before escaping into the station's air vents. Soon, Dr. Bashir is attacked in sickbay, leaving Odo spearheading a full-fledged monster hunt: a hunt for a creature that may not be too dissimilar to himself!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: When Odo asks for the use of a runabout, Sisko grants the request even before Odo fully explains his reasons for needing one, which shows that he has developed a tremendous trust in his security chief. Even so, he is very much a pragmatist, moreso I would say than any of the other Trek series' leads. When it becomes clear that it is necessary to endanger Odo in order to ensure the safety of the station, he doesn't hesitate to give the order, even telling his men to set their weapons to "Kill" if "Stun" fails to work.

Odo: It remains true that the most certain way to catch Odo's attention is to dangle some clue about his origins in front of him. It worked for Croden back in Season One, and it works for Dr. Mora here. Rene Auberjonois gives another excellent performance, particularly when we see hints of emotion from him beneath his stoic surface, such as when he visits Mora in sickbay.

Dr. Bashir: Is conscious of Dax's enjoyment of their eternally unconsummated little dance, and it frustrates him. "One day, I'm going to stop chasing after her," he muses after one particularly flirtatious encounter, "and then we'll see." Shows quick thinking in using a laser scalpel to fend off an attack by the creature.

Dax: Is strangely "off" in this episode. There's something a bit distant and artificial about her responses to characters. I actually suspected at a few points in the episode that Dax had been replaced by the shapeshifter, simply because she seemed so cold in her interactions with Odo and particularly Mora. On the other hand, she is nicely perky when teasing Julian, so it could be that Terry Farrell was having on off day when some of her scenes were recorded. Either that, or it was a deliberate attempt at a red herring that just didn't quite come off.

Dr. Mora: James Sloyan is very good as Mora, the scientist who essentially became Odo's foster father. Various turns in the episode see him behaving in both roles. He expresses pride at the excellence with which Odo does his job, and shows genuine feeling as he tells Odo that he wants to be a part of his life. But he also tries to bully Odo into returning to the lab, showing frustration at Odo's departure thwarting his ongoing studies.


THOUGHTS

Any Odo-centric episode gets an immediate boost from Auberjonois' consistently excellent performance. Odo is an interesting character, with a lot of layers hidden beneath his stoic exterior, and Auberjonois reliably gives just enough of a reaction to events to hint at what's going on underneath that exterior.

This episode gives us a look at Odo's immediate past, while hinting a bit more about his ultimate origins. It has already been made clear that Odo was left with emotional scars from being put on display in the lab on Bajor. Now we see his complex reactions to the man most responsible for his development within the lab. He does react to Mora very much as a foster parent, even in his resentment toward him. At the same time, he makes it clear that he will never go back to that laboratory.

The scenes between Odo and Mora are quite effective, and Rene Auberjonois is typically reliable in carrying the scenes in which Odo investigates the creature's escape. The actual "monster hunt" scenes, particularly near the end, are far less effective. There's a third act twist that genuinely surprised me, but it doesn't come off as well as I'd have liked. The implications of that twist are brushed aside, with an ending that provides a seemingly complete reset.

More intriguing is the artifact retrieved from the planet. I have hopes that this column, and the potential clues it represents toward Odo's people, will be followed up in future episodes. That open question, plus some effective character scenes, helps to elevate the episode above its weakest elements. Not one of Deep Space 9's best, but still a solid piece.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Rivals

Next Episode: Armageddon Game

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2-7. Rules of Acquisition

Quark negotiates with the Dosi.

THE PLOT

Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn) returns to the station with an opportunity for Quark. The Ferengi expansion into the Gamma Quadrant is about to begin, and Zek plans to establish a foothold through a negotiation with the Dosi. He wants Quark to be his chief negotiator - an opportunity for profit such as Quark has never before encountered.

But Pel (Helene Udy), a new employee at Quark's bar who has gained Quark's eye by having memorized every Rule of Acquisition, sees a potential problem with the Nagus' deal. Pel points out that if the negotiations fail, then Quark will be made the scapegoat. Quark decides he could use some help, and enlists the ambitious young Ferengi to act as his assistant.

But Pel hides a secret, one which could turn Quark's advantage upside-down...


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Though he only appears briefly, he does get one very good scene opposite Zek. He lays out for Zek that if negotiations with the Dosi are going to occur on his station, then he wants those negotiations to be honest. He also stops Zek from turning his offer to Kira and Bajor into a sales opportunity, which earns him a compliment from the Nagus on his negotiating skills.

Dax: Over several lifetimes, she has developed a fondness for the Ferengi. She acknowledges all of Kira's statements about them. They are untrustworthy, they are misogynistic. But she admires their relentless pursuit of what they want, whatever they want, and she tells Kira that "they can be a lot of fun" - provided you remember to never turn your back on them.

Quark: The first half largely sees Quark reacting nervously to the responsibility he's been given. Once he follows the Dosi to the Gamma Quadrant to force the negotiations, he becomes much more assertive. He earns the respect of the Dosi by refusing to take "No" for an answer, and he earns the Nagus' respect as well. When Pel's secret is revealed, Quark stands up to the Nagus to allow Pel to move on, turning the Nagus' own words back on him to secure a reasonable resolution.

The Nagus: Wallace Shawn is a comedy treasure - something you wouldn't have realized watching The Nagus, an episode which cast him perfectly as the Ferengi Godfather, only to proceed to give him nothing funny to do. This episode makes up for some of that. The Nagus shows his shrewdness in an early scene with Sisko and Kira, as he makes Kira an offer for Bajor which immediately sets the major back a step. Quark and Pel eventually realize that the Nagus is hiding another agenda, as well, one which shows him as a long-term thinker... at least by Ferengi standards.


THOUGHTS

Rules of Acquisition is a direct sequel to Season One's The Nagus. I enjoyed this episode considerably more. Which isn't actually saying much - The Nagus had potential, but was too slow-paced to fulfill it. It ended up being one of only a handful of Deep Space 9 episodes I've disliked to date.

Rules of Acquisition is much better.  It's also an important episode for the series' continuity. This is the episode that introduces The Dominion. "If you want to do business in the Gamma Quadrant, you have to do business with the Dominion," one of the Dosi tells Quark. We don't learn what the Dominion is in this episode, but the Nagus tells Quark that this entity is "the key to the Gamma Quadrant."

As a story, the episode itself is interesting, though not entirely successful. The comedy mostly works, thanks to strong performances by Armin Shimerman, Helene Udy, and Wallace Shawn. But it's not all played for laughs, as so many Ferengi episodes are. A twist involving Pel turns what looks to be a comedy episode into something a bit more serious, as issues of culture, identity, and bigotry are touched upon.

The comedy doesn't always sit comfortably alongside the more serious elements, though. Some of the pacing is uneven, particularly in the show's second half, and the subplot involving Kira and the Nagus appears to exist solely to take up some extra screentime as it goes nowhere and is quietly dropped at about the 30 minute mark. Much is also made of Dax's bond with Ferengi culture, an aspect of her character which seems to have been invented solely for this episode.

Still, it's an entertaining piece which attempts more than most Ferengi episodes have done. Worth viewing once, though I doubt it's one I'd rush to revisit any time soon.


Overall Rating: 6/10

Previous Episode: Melora

Next Episode: Necessary Evil

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1-18. Dramatis Personae

A possessed Sisko builds an alien device.

THE PLOT

A Klingon ship explodes immediately after coming through the wormhole. The first officer is barely able to beam over, and he is dying from weapons burns.  His only word, as he slips into death? "Victory."

As Odo begins investigating what the Klingons had been doing in the Gamma Quandrant, the members of the Ops crew begin behaving oddly. Sisko becomes secretive and suspicious of Major Kira. She, in turn, seizes on a minor policy disagreement toward a Cardassian ally to begin plotting against Sisko, while the members of the command crew begin talking about choosing "sides."

As Odo pieces together what happened on the Klingon ship, he realizes that the exact same pattern is occurring on the station.  While he works to find a way to defuse the tension, Kira ratchets it up - moving toward open mutiny!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: The teaser shows an example of Avery Brooks putting a beat into his character that isn't always there on the page. Sisko insists on a diplomatic solution to Kira's problems with the Valerians. Kira reluctantly agrees to "do it (his) way," momentarily forgetting that she's addressing her superior. Brooks puts a note in his reply of "Good," that serves as an unmistakable reminder of which of the two of them is boss. Then he fixes her with a look - one which would inspire anyone with an ounce of sense to get out of his office, and get out right now. That last, silent look is a beautiful bit of nonverbal acting, a sign that Avery Brooks has become confident enough to play even the more generic material in a distinctive manner. Compared with his bland performances early in the season, it represents considerable progress. It goes without saying that he has great fun with the "crazy Sisko" scenes later in the episode.

Kira: Continues to cling to resentments from the Cardassian occupation.  She has to be reminded by Sisko both about the need for evidence to proceed against a race, and that he is the one in charge. She trusts Odo to a very strong degree, but knows that he is not corruptible. Her friendship with Dax is strong enough that "infected Kira" believes that Dax might side with her against Sisko. Interestingly, "infected Kira's" interactions with both Odo and Dax carry a strong sexual note, as if she's attempting to literally seduce both of them to her side.

Odo: As a shapeshifter, lacking a humanoid brain, he is able to throw off the alien effect (rather violently). Once he's back to himself, he realizes how strange his colleagues' behavior is. He engages in his usual investigative technique of talking to Quark, then moves decisively in figuring out exactly what is happening and in using the various insecurities - of Sisko, of Kira, and of Dr. Bashir - to his advantage in solving the problem.

Dax: Her behavior is the most peculiar. She becomes giggly and absent-minded, seeming constantly distracted from what's going on around her. I could speculate that because she's a hybrid species, half Jadzia and half Dax, that the effect only really struck Jadzia, creating some confusion. That would also explain why she ends up siding with Kira. Dax has known Sisko for a long time... but Jadzia has known Sisko and Kira equally long. Her interactions with Sisko have been occasionally strained by the commander's adjustment to her new persona, while there has been no strain at all in her friendship with Kira.

There's also an amusing running gag involving Dax trying to tell stories about her friendship with Sisko, and being constantly cut off. Perhaps the crew are starting to weary of her constant anecdotes, but generally like her too much/are too polite to tell her so in normal circumstances. Or perhaps it's a side effect of the alien influence, resisting any serious reflection about actual friendships.

O'Brien: Becomes a complete martinet. There are other words that could be used to describe "infected O'Brien," but for the sake of politeness, we'll stick with that one. This doesn't seem to have any deep basis in O'Brien's regular character, but it does at least allow Colm Meaney to do some entertaining scenery-chewing.


THOUGHTS

What If Wishes Were Horses was to Shore Leave, this episode is to The Naked Time. The characters fall under the influence of an alien influence and behave out of character. But unlike the lackluster TNG variant, this episode has a clever setup all its own.

One aspect of the episode that I really enjoyed was the way in which the behavior starts out rooted in the characters' actual traits. The teaser reminds us that Kira and Sisko often disagree about policy matters, and that Kira still sometimes chafes at working under Federation command.

The script is mostly well put-together, making use of all of the featured regulars. Even Quark, who's largely on the periphery, gets a couple of very good scenes, while all of the command staff get several strong moments. The clock Sisko puts together is a very impressive prop, by the way, and I do hope it stays in his office. I don't for a second blame him for still being fascinated with it at the end.

The Valerian subplot, having done its job of setting up a genuine disagreement between Sisko and Kira for the infection to play on, is then largely forgotten. There's no payoff to Kira's suspicions about gunrunning, and no acknowledgement at the end that there might even be a problem with them. That, however, is my only significant complaint about a highly entertaining episode.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Forsaken
Next Episode: Duet


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1-12. Vortex

Croden (Cliff DeYoung) gets under Odo's skin.

THE PLOT

Quark is completing a deal with a pair of aggressive aliens selling merchandise that was almost certainly stolen. The deal turns bad when Croden (Cliff DeYoung), a refugee from the Gamma Quadrant, attempts to steal the merchandise. Croden ends up killing one of the pair in the ensuing violence, and the survivor swears revenge.

Sisko takes a runabout to the Gamma Quadrant to let Croden's people know what happened.  He learns that the refugee is a wanted man, whose people demand he be turned over for immediate exeuction.  Meanwhile, Croden tries to convince Odo to let him go, and he has the perfect leverage.  There are other changelings in the Gamma Quadrant - And if Odo frees him, then he will take him right to them, letting him be with his own kind for the first time ever!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: There's not much for Sisko in this episode, though we do see him taking his duty very seriously, even when that duty compels him to release a prisoner into the custody of people who will surely execute him.

Odo: When Croden reveals that there are other shapeshifters, Odo's first impulse is denial. But he cannot make himself dismiss even the possibility of finding another being like himself. So he goes to his next default - He plays detective, employing his favorite investigative technique: Grilling Quark. His sense of duty is too strong to give into Croden's cajoling, but he remains fascinated with both his prisoner and the man's story about other changelings. Rene Auberjonois is excellent throughout, and this is thankfully a better episode than the last Odo-centric piece.

Quark: Though in a supporting role, we do get to see both sides of Quark's character. He is dishonest to the core, arranging a robbery to defraud his (admittedly crooked) seller. However, when it seems quite likely that Odo and Croden will end up dying as an indirect result of his actions, Quark is far from happy - and reacts with disgust when Rom is pleased.

Croden: Cliff DeYoung is very good as Croden, his performance and the script moving our perceptions of him constantly back and forth between victim and villain. It is clear that he is willing to say anything to manipulate Odo into freeing him.  But as the episode goes on, his story seems ever more plausible, and we're as eager as Odo to see where he leads us.


THOUGHTS

Disc Three has made me nervous about Deep Space 9. The series had an excellent start, and the first two discs were made up of mostly good episodes, a few of them very good, with no genuinely bad ones. This disc, however, has seen that quality bog down a bit, with one middling runaround, one entertaining exercise in silliness, and finally the series' first genuinely poor offering.  Still, there's no cure as effective against the Bog of Mediocrity as a single very good episode, and Vortex is probably the strongest episode the series has seen to date.

It helps that it centers around two terrific character actors, both of them playing well-written characters. Rene Auberjonois and Cliff DeYoung bounce off each other to good effect. The episode advances Odo's character particularly well, emphasizing just how much of a sense of isolation he feels being the only one of his kind, and how much he longs for a place he can truly belong - something which should build further in the future.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: The Nagus
Next Episode: Battle Lines


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1-11. The Nagus

Introducing Zek (Wallace Shawn),
Grand Nagus of the Ferengi.

THE PLOT

Quark receives a distinguished visitor: Zek (Wallace Shawn), Grand Nagus of the Ferengi. With the Nagus' arrival, Quark fears the worst - that the discovery of the wormhole has led the Ferengi leader to decide to "acquire" his bar. But Zek only wants the bar only on loan, with Quark serving as host for a Ferengi conference to discuss the opportunities for profit that the Gamma Quadrant has opened to them.

At the conference, the Nagus drops a bombshell. "I'm old," he proclaims, "I'm just not as greedy as I used to be." He then names his successor, a Ferengi whose avarice will exceed his own.

Quark!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Is uncomfortable with his son's friendship with Nog, whom he sees as a bad influence.  However, he's smart enough to know that if he were to try to forbid it, he would put a strain on his own relationship with Jake. He wants to trust Jake and leave his son free to make his own choices. But when Jake begins missing his curfew to spend time with Nog, Sisko does go looking for him - and what he finds leads to one of the better nonverbal bits of acting Avery Brooks has done.

Quark: I question the placement of this episode right after Move Along Home, as it effectively gives us two Quark-centric episodes in a row. There are really no new sides shown to Quark's character here, as most of his reactions (greed, fear of physical harm, bantering with Odo) are pretty much the same ones we saw in the last episode. Still, Shimerman is always fun, and his performance helps to redeem a rather weak script.


THOUGHTS

Comedy Trek episodes are tough. Sometimes, the actors really enjoy a break from acting ludicrously seriously and respond to cutting loose. With a sharp script that balances the comedy elements against the need for the characters and setting to stay true to themselves, the results can be delightful. Other times, the silliness can overwhelm the series' own confines and result in a self-parody.

Then there are cases like The Nagus, a comedy episode that doesn't in any way stretch the limits of the show's characters or settings... but which also isn't particularly funny. Or interesting, for that matter. A few amusing bits aside (Quark's reaction to treachery, for example), this episode is a flat, dull exercise in lifelessness.

Pacing is a severe problem. The main situation to milk for comedy here is Quark acting as Grand Nagus. That's the episode's big concept - Quark as ruler of the Ferengi, dodging assassination attempts - and yet it takes almost half the episode to even get to that point! Once reached, the idea isn't played for even a fraction of its potential. What if multiple parties were trying to assassinate Quark, rather than just the one individual revealed at the end? That would have more comic potential, and allow the possibility of a climax in which Quark believes himself safe before stupidly walking into the ending trap.

The episode also commits the cardinal sin of wasting Wallace Shawn. Wallace Shawn as the ruler of the Ferengi seems like a natural - Yet he has little to do, and is only slightly funnier than the actor playing his son.

In the end, The Nagus is a grand sludge. It's visually uninteresting, slow-paced, and for all its attempts at humor, it's mostly unfunny. Disheartening, in a series that has maintained relatively consistent quality, that this installment ended up reminding me of one of those horrible early first-season Next Generation episodes.


Rating: 3/10.

Previous Episode: Move Along Home
Next Episode: Vortex


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1-10. Move Along Home

THE PLOT

Sisko is preparing for first contact with the Wadi, a race from the Gamma Quadrant. No sooner has he begun introductions, however, than the leader of the aliens demands to be taken to Quark's, to play games. Quark is only too happy to act as an "ambassador of goodwill," particularly when he sees the gemstones these aliens carry. But when they win a few spins of the Dabo wheel too many, Quark attempts to cheat.

The Wadi are, surprisingly, not outraged at Quark's attempt. Instead, they introduce him to a new game - Chula. He is given four pieces to move safely to the end of an elaborate maze. What Quark doesn't realize is that the pieces are actually members of the crew: Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Dr. Bashir - and that he is literally playing with their lives!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Avery Brooks struggles his way through a truly terrible scene in which Sisko talks to his son, Jake, about women. He comes across as horribly wooden, managing to appear both over- and under-rehearsed at the same time. He is much better in the main body of the episode, as Sisko tries to deal with the puzzle of finding himself in a maze and then with the jeopardy of the challenges the four "players" encounter along the way.

Major Kira: Of the four, she reacts the most badly. Dr. Bashir's observation that they may be the subjects of a "behavioral test" probably sparks some very bad memories of the Cardassian Occupation, as she reacts with a mix of anger and panic.

Quark: Although his own greed is what creates the situation, Quark isn't shown as entirely irredeemable. Although he is initially enthusiastic about the Wadi game, his reaction when he realizes exactly what is going on shows an appreciation of what he is playing for.  He willingly sacrifices profit to bring his players home on "the safer path."  At the final stretch, he decides he is willing to risk more danger, but this isn't entirely based on greed. As he explains to Odo, the increased risk has the side benefit of skipping a full level of the game, bringing Sisko and the others home in a single move.

Odo: When Jake alerts him to Commander Sisko's disappearance, he takes the disappearance very seriously. He remains territorial about his position as "chief of security" around his Starfleet counterpart. He prefers to take the most direct approach to solving the problem - even if it involves storming aboard the Wadi ship - but when that fails, he is willing to trust Quark's gambler's instincts... though not until Quark explains his reasoning.

Dax/Bashir: As the two scientists in the group, it's not surprising that they react with the least outrage and the most curiosity to the Wadi maze. Both seem to almost enjoy dealing with the challenges that come their way, at least until the challenges turn deadly near the end.


THOUGHTS

Though I'm aware this episode is rather poorly-regarded by Trek fandom, I have to confess to enjoying it. It's not exactly dripping with jeopardy.  The very fact that the four "players" are all regulars tells us up front that they are in no real danger.  Still, it's inventively staged, well-paced, and peppered with some good dialogue and nice performances.

The sets for the Wadi maze are particularly good. It's fairly obvious that Sisko and company are just passing from room to hall and back to the same room and hall again (the Cube trick, if you will). But it's well enough designed and shot that it does its job in being visually interesting. More varied lighting to change the atmosphere of the set as they move from one room to another would have done even more, but it's a generally well-directed episode (a couple of overly obvious jump cuts notwithstanding), so I'll give this a pass.

Not much else to say here. This is a pure popcorn episode, with no great underlying message. But it's a popcorn episode that I liked, and found to be substantially better than its reputation would suggest.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Passenger
Next Episode: The Nagus


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1-7. Q-Less

THE PLOT

A shuttlecraft returns from the Gamma Quadrant, carrying an extra passenger: Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), an archaeologist who somehow spent the past two years in the Gamma Quadrant, despite the fact that prior to the wormhole no humans should have been able to have reached it. Vash has brought several artifacts of Gamma Quadrant cultures back with her... and it doesn't take long for her to meet with Quark to arrange an auction.

But Vash has brought back more than mere objects. She has been followed by her unwanted former partner in crime, Q. Vash ended their partnership after being ultimately repelled by Q's self-absorbed nature. Q isn't willing to be left, though. He is determined to get Vash to take him back. And not long after both of them arrive, Deep Space 9 begins to suffer from some mysterious power drains, which if unchecked will threaten the station's very survival!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Avery Brooks is back to being a bit wooden in this episode, and the writers are back to scripting Sisko as "generic commander." His best character beat is when he decks Q, much to Q's surprise, following up the punch by telling Q that he's "not Picard." We see again that Sisko does have a temper, and that he isn't averse to resorting to the physical. It also shows, as Q sneers, that he is "easier to provoke" than Picard, a potential weakness if the writers choose to exploit it.

Quark: This is an excellent Quark episode. From the moment Quark sets eyes on Vash, he's beguiled. He senses a kindred spirit, someone who, when asked to "choose between science and profit... (will) choose profit every time." Vash uses her wiles to manipulate Quark into a better deal for the auction for her, but it seems clear that Quark knows he's being manipulated. When she falters at the auction, slipping too much into the mode of an academic delivering a lecture, Quark steps in and shows his skills as an auctioneer. We also get another great Quark/Odo scene, with Quark prodding to find anything with which he can tempt the austere constable.

Dr. Bashir: Played purely for comedy relief in this episode... which is to say, we're back to the babbling, near-idiotic Bashir of the show's earliest episodes. We first see Bashir attempting to chat up a young lady, and having far too much success given that he is being massively boorish and obnoxious about it ("Let me tell you about me, and a bit more about me. But what's much more interesting is... well, me"). By the time Q finally puts him to sleep, I had long past the point of being ready to be rid of him. Memo to writers: Bashir doesn't work when he's used as boorish comedy relief.

Dax: Though very much in a supporting role, Dax has a strong episode. Most of the ideas utilized to trace the power drain come from her. In the end, she's the one who saves the day. Terry Farrell's line readings remain uneven, but she's wonderful with small, nonverbal beats. She has a particularly lovely reaction to Bashir emerging from his Q-induced slumber at the end.

Hot Space Babe of the Week: Jennifer Hetrick is Vash, the crooked space archaeologist. Apparently introduced in a Next Generation episode that I have no memory of, she is a particularly good foil for Quark. Like Quark, she places a strong value on adventure and profit. Though this is a Q episode, the most enjoyable scenes of the episode are the ones that see her playing opposite Quark. Watching the two of them manipulate each other with obvious pleasure is a joy, and I wouldn't object at all to seeing a genuinely Q-less Vash interacting with Quark in the future.

Q: His interactions with Sisko and the Deep Space 9 crew differ from his interactions with Picard and the Enterprise crew. He regards the occupants of the space station as irrelevant. He only barely interacts with them at all, basically making plain how unimpressive he finds both the station and its occupants. He is dismissive toward Sisko, clearly not having the same respect for him that he has gradually developed for Picard, and he dismissed Quark as "disgusting" and O'Brien as "one of the little people."

On the other hand, we do see Q having developed a personal connection with Vash. He chases after her, desperate to re-establish their relationship - ultimately confessing that, with her, he was able to experience a sense of wonder that is absent in his own, individual perceptions. John de Lancie is stronger when playing moments like that than he is when playing the "Q's highlight" reel opposite Sisko, probably because while we've seen Q being annoying and baiting humans before, we really haven't seen him vulnerable in the past.


THOUGHTS

With spinoffs, there is always the question of whether audiences will accept new characters and a different setting, and Deep Space 9 was the first spinoff since the 1987 Next Generation revival. It had to be seen as a gamble. Hence launching with a 2-hour pilot in which Picard had a significant role, when all other Trek spinoffs have launched with only brief cameos by members of preceding casts. Picard's presence in Emissary would be a hook for Next Generation viewers. And a half dozen episodes later, those viewers are given a second hook - the popular character of Q.

The marketing reasoning is very easy to follow. It was entirely possible that viewers would reject a Trek with a different cast. By this point, Next Generation had become almost as iconic as the original series, and was even being touted as "better than the original" in many circles (a statement which, I confess, still makes me boggle). There might have also been legitimate concern about the reaction of Trek fans to a series with a stationary setting. The Picard and Q appearances were clear ways to try to keep those viewers around long enough to hopefully get them interested. Given the 7 season run that Deep Space 9 enjoyed, the strategy would appear to have paid off.

Marketing analysis aside, Q-Less is an enjoyable episode. Q and Sisko don't work as foils in the same way that Q and Picard do. Then again, Q isn't really used as a foil for Sisko. He is there largely to interact with Vash. What we do get are some decent scenes in which the Deep Space 9 Ops Crew work together to figure out a problem, albeit one whose solution will be very obvious to most viewers. The plot hangs together reasonably well, and is given energy by some good character scenes, particularly those involving Vash and Quark.

There's not a lot more to say about this one. It's obvious on a story level, but it moves along nicely and has a lively quality that makes it good company. Not great Star Trek by any means, but still a solid entertainment.


Rating: 6/10. Right on the border between A "6" and a "7."

Previous Episode: Captive Pursuit
Next Episode: Dax


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1-6. Captive Pursuit

THE PLOT

The station detects a ship coming through the wormhole, from the far-distant Gamma Quadrant. The ship belongs to Tosk (Scott MacDonald), an alien of a type Starfleet has never before encountered. Observing that Tosk's ship is badly damaged, Sisko convinces the alien to land on Deep Space 9 so that O'Brien can conduct repairs. Tosk's reactions through the conversation are so skittish, Sisko elects not to treat this as an official First Contact, and simply has O'Brien meet the alien at his ship.

As O'Brien works to repair the ship, he develops a bond with the secretive alien. He knows that Tosk is hiding something about the damage to his ship, but he also is certain Tosk means them no harm. But when Odo observes Tosk trying to access the station's weapons, things take a more serious turn. Then another group of aliens arrives from the Gamma Quadrant, and everyone realizes that Tosk is engaged in a most dangerous game...


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Observing Tosk's tense reaction toward the station's rescue, Sisko bends Starfleet's First Contact protocols and just sends O'Brien to make a less intimidating - and potentially less official - first contact. Continues to show a willingness to turn a blind eye toward the rules by telling Odo that "there's no hurry" about stopping Tosk's escape near the end, while his dressing-down of O'Brien is just a bit of "command theater," something each man clearly knows and something each man clearly knows that the other realizes as well. These kinds of shades of gray show the potential in Sisko's character... though I suspect it is some time down the road before the show starts to really play with that aspect of the commander.

Chief O'Brien: An O'Brien-centric episode, this doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know (particularly any viewer who had been watching the preceding Next Generation seasons). Still, an episode which puts Colm Meaney front and center is never all bad. We see O'Brien's basic decency in his rapid bonding with Tosk. His solution, in which he changes the rules in a way that gives both Tosk and his hunters exactly what they wanted in the first place, is well-done and fits perfectly with who O'Brien fundamentally is.

Odo: Like O'Brien, he seems to sense that Tosk is not an immediate threat. When he catches Tosk trying to access the station's weapons locker, he does not react with the aggressiveness he has shown to other prey. Instead, he is fairly gentle about apprehending Tosk. He's methodical - putting up security seals and waiting for Tosk to realize that there is no place to run. But he is also understanding and even sympathetic in his dealings with him. He clearly has a proprietary attitude toward his duties, as his outrage at O'Brien's taking over the escort of Tosk at the end shows. Nevertheless, he is quite willing to "not hurry" when both Sisko and the situation itself call for him to perhaps let something slip by him.


SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT...

An alien, given visitors' quarters, can simply punch up the computer terminal and order the computer to "show me where the weapons are" - and the computer will pinpoint the exact location on the station without asking for any clearance codes or identification of any kind. The request won't even be flagged on a security terminal as having been made. Um. Odo might want to start having some input into the station's computer security, because that's pretty doggone pathetic.


THOUGHTS

Yes, it's the requisite Most Dangerous Game knockoff. Captive Pursuit is another formula episode, though I have hopes that the Gamma Quandrant race introduced here will eventually be fleshed out into something a bit more interesting.

What carries Captive Pursuit is not the "hunt" storyline, which is a fairly thin and cliched affair given only a slight boost by having the hunted actually be willing prey. Despite the amusement provided by O'Brien's solution, when "the hunt" takes over the episode, things get a lot less interesting.

However, the first half of the episode is quite enjoyable. Watching O'Brien bond with Tosk is surprisingly good fun. Tosk's impassive and very literal reactions to everything he hears or observes are amusing, and until the hunters arrive to reveal this as a Most Dangerous Game knockoff, there's something intriguing in trying to piece together Tosk's secret.

In the end, the results are quite mixed. It's a watchable episode with some good scenes and a strong central performance by Colm Meaney. But regulars other than Sisko, O'Brien, and Odo are so sidelined as to be almost invisible, while the plot ends up being disappointingly generic after a strong start.


Rating: 5/10. Diverting enough, but the television definition of "expendable."

Previous Episode: Babel
Next Episode: Q-Less



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