Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine
Episode
Particulars: S3EP8, “Meridian”
Standalone
Thoughts: On one level, this episode is inoffensive. It’s a typical “slice
of life” episode where there isn’t going to be much of a larger impact, and all
the actors are competent, so it’s ok to watch but mostly forgettable. But the
minute you start thinking about it, it all starts unraveling. The subplot is
mostly fine (if a bit disturbing given the hints of violation of privacy and
sexual harassment), but the main plot…
My issue is that Dax’s relationship with Deral and the
decisions she makes as a result of it just aren’t very well thought through,
either by her or the writers. As I’ve stated several times, Dax hasn’t gotten a
lot of development, so it’s not like her rushing into a romance necessarily feels
out of character for her…it’s just that no one appears to be thinking of the
bigger picture.
First off, if you know the planet’s only going to be
around for twelve days, you probably shouldn’t be embarking on a relationship
with one of the inhabitants, no matter how attractive you find them. Maybe a
one-night stand if all parties are agreeable (and it doesn’t violate the Prime
Directive), but it’s probably best to leave it at that. Secondly, falling so in
love over the course of a week that both people are willing to give up
everything for the other seems very implausible, unless you want to argue that
they’re so infatuated that they’re not thinking clearly. And I might buy that
from Deral—the nature of his existence means he probably wants to grab life
while he can—but Dax, with eight lifetimes of experience, should probably be a
bit more cautious.
Which brings me to the fact that this episode completely
puts the lie to what we were told in “A Man Alone” back in Season One. Let me
quote Dax directly;
“Trills do not look for romance the same way humans do.
In fact, we find it quite a nuisance[…]it’s a weakness of the young, and though
a Trill host may have these…feelings occasionally, it is our wish to live in a
higher plane, to try to rise above these kinds of temptations.”
That doesn’t sound like the Dax we see in this episode,
or the Dax that we’ve been told has been a parent numerous times. I know I
should cut the writers some slack, given that Dax made that statement in Season
One (when everybody was still figuring things out) and that they’re making up
how Trills work as they go along, but this seems like a gigantic retcon, and
not a particularly well-handled one.
(One could also make the argument that Dax said all that
to try to throw off Bashir’s advances, but if that was the case, I wish we
could have received some proof of that.)
Even if that moment didn’t exist, though, I’d still have
some problems with this. Dax is considering giving up her career and living as
a consciousness for sixty years, thus abandoning Starfleet while they’re
dealing with the Dominion threat. And what about the symbiont? You’re just
going to pull a symbiont out of the dwindling supply (yes, she’s still
technically using it, but it’s still worth considering)? How do you know it can
handle being on another plane of existence? Dax claims she’s thought this
through and that this is what she wants, but the episode doesn’t really give
any evidence of that.
Actually, now that I think about it, this episode might
have worked better if the romance had happened to Bashir instead of Dax. His
youth and impulsiveness would explain the rushed romance and hasty decision,
and would fit a little better with his character. Plus, he hasn’t had an
episode yet this season; it actually really fits. Them going with Dax makes
even less sense now.
Anyway, I’ve ranted on this way longer than I probably
should. Suffice it to say, this is a “meh” episode for casual viewers; long
term viewers will probably be even less impressed.
How it Relates to
the Whole: There are three elements here that have any relevance later, two
that are small beats, and one that’s only connected in the most oblique way. Small
beat one is Dax challenging Bashir to a game of Tongo in two weeks, where she
promises to beat both Bashir and Quark. Since I’m pretty sure such a game does
in fact happen at some point, this might have been either foreshadowing or an
idea the writers liked and decided to actually show. If they have that game two
episodes from now, I’ll know my answer. Small beat two is yet another setup for
an impending relationship, to the point where I feel like the writers really wanted to go there, but had some
things they needed to sort out first.
Finally, this episode marks the first appearance of actor
Jeffrey Combs. The character he’s playing here doesn’t return, but Combs must
have made an impression on the showrunners, because he’s going to become a
semi-familiar face as the series goes on. As you might be able to guess by my mentioning
it, I’m looking forward to when that happens.
Other: *One
thing I didn’t mention in the Standalone Thoughts section is that, while the
episode pays lip-service to the Dominion thing, everybody seems fairly
unconcerned by them. The Defiant spends
twelve days hanging around this planet, uncloaked, and they never seem worried
about the Jem’Hadar showing up. Also, we never see them send a message back to the
station, so either the station was expecting them to be gone a long time or
they’re remarkably blasé about the fact that their commander, science officer,
chief of operations, and doctor haven’t checked in in nearly two weeks. Yet
more proof that things weren’t fully thought through.
*Also, how does this planet even work? Even accepting the
technobabble we’re given, how come the people can leave the planet, but Dax’s
body wouldn’t be able to handle shifting to the alternate dimension without
invoking more technobabble? And if you’re totally fine for sixty years in the
one dimension even if you’re spending less and less time in our dimension, why
would you suddenly blink out of existence once it was incapable of shifting
into our reality? I don’t think it’s worth slogging through more technobabble
to get an answer, but I’d like to know if these had any sort of explanation in the writer’s room.
*To actually say something nice about the episode, I do
like the beat where Quark is trying to get Kira into the holosuite by
pretending she’s the bar’s one millionth customer. Kira is skeptical…until
Quark says she’ll get prizes. It’s funny on the one hand, because even in the
enlightened, theoretically no money Federation, some things don’t change. But
then Kira says “I’ve never won anything before” and it gets a little poignant.
She’s never had the opportunity to win things before, so the prospect excites
her. I don’t know if that was what Nana Visitor was going for, but it works all
the same.
*I’ll also give the episode this; when Dax and Sisko are
saying goodbye to each other, the emotions feel genuine. It did feel like both
of them were struggling not to cry. Once again, DS9 proves to be good with sendoffs.
Best
Line/Exchange: Unfortunately, after the numerous possibilities from
yesterday’s episode, we get a dearth of options today. The best I’ve got is this;
(Quark is
attempting to justify why he’s trying to make a hologram of Kira)
Quark: The fact
is, I’m working on a simulation of the station’s Operation center. People want
to know what goes on up there, and they want to imagine themselves fending off
a Cardassian attack, or facing a fleet of Jem’Hadar ships.
(Kira and Odo have
been looking at each other skeptically throughout all this)
Odo: Naked, I
assume.
I picked this solely for the mental image of everyone at
Ops doing their job completely in the nude, but not commenting on said nudity.
Everyone’s just going about their business, they just don’t happen to have any
clothes on. That could make a funny visual beat, especially if you included
careful framing. Amusing as the image is, though, it’s kind of sad that the
Best Line is only the Best Line because it makes me think of a scene that doesn’t
even exist.
After the Fact
Update: I am somewhat gratified to learn that pretty much all the writers
involved with this episode feel like something went wrong, even if they can’t
put their finger on what. So at least I get confirmation that the writers didn’t
fully know what they were doing.
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