[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Dax"
Timothy W. Lynch
episode from DS9. Those sentients not wishing to hear lots of discussion
about it are probably better off jumping ship here.
Once again, the plot gives way to characterization -- but *good*
characterization.
This is beginning to be almost expected with DS9 so far as I can tell. I've
yet to see any plot aside from the second half of "Emissary" that has jumped
out at me as strikingly original (as opposed to, for instance, "Ship in a
Bottle" or "Tapestry" for TNG lately), and this murder mystery was no
different.
Here, however, DS9 took full advantage of the situation to tell us a lot more
about Sisko, about Dax's past, and about Trills (the last answering many
questions that have been raised ever since "The Host").
The answers about Trill physiology and Trill culture were for me the most
interesting part of the show, and meshed nicely with many of my own
speculations. For instance:
-- I don't remember if I ever brought this up publicly (I tend to doubt it),
but I'd theorized a number of weeks back that there were probably two classes
in the society of the Trill "host" species. Those who did become full Trill
were most likely honored and treated well, and the others (whether majority
or minority) were stuck looking longingly from afar. We didn't have anything
confirmed quite to *that* extent, but it apparently does take considerable
competition and diligence to be selected for full Trillness. That should
reduce the cries from those claiming that Trilldom is "slavery" for the host,
I hope.
-- The most interesting thing I heard was that the memories and personalities
of both host and symbiont mesh in the joining. That makes a great deal of
sense in Trill culture, especially given the competition to become a Trill;
if the host will only be a physical shell, what's the point? However, let's
remember "The Host", the first time we saw Trills. How much of *Riker* was
involved in the continuing Odan/Crusher relationship?
-- Along those same lines, how much does the host *remember* after a
separation? Obviously, 99 times out of 100 that's not a valid question,
because the separation doesn't happen until the host dies. The events of
"The Host", however, were again an exception -- and how much does Riker
remember of what happened during Odan's tenure in his body? Hmm ... there's
a juicy followup story happening there if anyone wants to ever get around to
telling it...
The elements of Trill physiology were not quite so interesting in and of
themselves as the societal and psychological issues, but made themselves
extremely useful in Bashir's testimony. I rather expected that Bashir's
testimony would backfire (after all, anyone *that* naive shouldn't be allowed
within a hundred meters of any lawyer :-) ), but the skillful manner in which
Tandro turned Bashir's own smug analyses and raw talent against him said a
lot, both about Bashir's character and about Tandro's ability to pursue his
obsessions.
Speaking of smugness, Sisko's shown now that he can get as smug as Picard --
but he shows it far more on the surface than Picard ever has. His response
to Selin Peers's testimony and to forcing the hearing in the first place is
that of a man who knows he's wrestling the situation into the form he wants,
and is quite prepared to let his foes know he's enjoying it. Sisko would
make a lousy diplomat (like Riker, he shows too much in his face), but he's
great viewing when done right, as he was here.
In fact, Sisko probably got the most development of anyone we saw in "Dax",
including Dax herself. The situation is vaguely analogous to "The Measure of
a Man", which while ostensibly focused on Data really gave most of its
strength and its work to Picard. ("Dax" was nowhere near that level,
though.)
Thinking about it, actually, we found out surprisingly little about *this*
Dax, given the title. We found out a lot about Trills, and a lot about
Kerzon Dax, but not too much about Jadzia Dax. I'm a bit surprised at that.
It's not necessarily a bad thing -- after all, it makes sense to fill in a
lot of gaps about her situation and her background -- but now that it's done,
we'd better see what *this* "new friend" is like. So far, it's been awfully
tough to tell.
Despite not getting much of a chance to work most of the episode, Terry
Farrell acquitted herself quite honorably, and has begun to ease many of the
worries I had about the role. Two scenes in particular stood out:
1) The teaser, in which Dax more or less completely ignores Yet Another
Come-On [TM] from Bashir. Given the outrageous lines Bashir was using [and
the fact that, given her looks, Ms. Farrell has probably had to deal with
similar ones in her own past], it's probably difficult to ignore them quite
as well as Dax did.
2) The scene where she finally talks a bit to Sisko. Her speech about
Kerzon's ring no longer fitting her finger *finally* cracked through the
serenity that has sometimes seemed out of place even for Dax. It's quite
possibly the first time we've seen Dax act in any way other than serene,
smug, or threatened -- and I think she nailed it.
In other respects, we've found out (or may have, at any rate) a few things
about Dax that explains some of her behavior. For instance,
-- Her insistence that physical attraction is no longer particularly relevant
to her, despite the admission that her host's body may feel otherwise, could
now be looked upon as springing from Kerzon Dax's indiscretion with Enina
Tandro. It's clear that Dax feels no small guilt about the affair, and may
have gone overboard with her reticence in trying to ensure that it never
happens again. (It will be interesting to see if, now that the news of the
affair is out, it dampens Bashir's interest or strengthens it, and what form
Dax's response will take now.)
-- The reason we may not have seen much of the Dax/Sisko friendship yet could
be that Dax isn't quite sure how much of it is *there* now, or what form it
will take. Their friendship has taken on a very different tenor since the
transition from Kerzon to Jadzia, clearly [witness the "if you were still a
man" incident with Sisko here], and I don't think the symbiont and the host
have agreed yet on what they think of this guy. If done right, it'll be very
interesting.
Turning away from that for a moment, let me deal with the plot. Again, it
was somewhat routine -- we've had lots of murder mysteries lately. (This was
by far the best done of the three, though -- I found both "A Man Alone" and "
Aquiel" to be very disappointing.) The investigation and resolution of the
whodunnit fell squarely under the heading of "competent, but no big deal"; I
am glad, however, that they decided not to have Enina actually responsible
for the general's death, which was my hunch.
Where the plot worked beautifully was in forcing the hearing (thus setting up
a great courtroom drama, which I'm a sucker for), and in making the central
issue not Dax's innocence or guilt, but the "What is a Trill?" question.
That, I suspect, is what saved "Dax" from being a very mundane story, and
instead made it a good "cultural" character study.
The aborted kidnapping was among the best example of such a sequence we've
seen in a long while. Unlike the Enterprise, it is not unbelievable to see
that the security plans can be found -- and both the kidnappers and the
station personnel worked quickly and admirably. The one particularly *dumb*
move in the whole affair was Bashir rushing in by himself without letting
anyone know what was going on -- but that's a particular brand of foolishness
that fit Bashir perfectly. (The first thought that went through his mind was
probably how grateful Jadzia would be for the rescue...) In addition, the
"snaring" of the kidnappers with the fixed tractor beam was arranged so
beautifully as to make me really wonder if they'd gotten away -- a great
rarity in Trek. Very nice all around.
Similarly, forcing the hearing was a little underhanded on Sisko's part, but
sprang from a great scene of teamwork between him and Kira. The line about
how their sabotage "not only compromises Bajoran security, but also ...
_annoys_ us" was probably the best zinger Kira's gotten to have in ages; it's
about time something happened with her.
We could see Sisko's desperation mount further and further as the odds
stacked up. I'm not sure a man so desperate is a man I'd want to have
running such a key installation, but that ties in again to Sisko being a very
un-reserved, "perceptible" character. Not all of his traits are good ones
(given some of his slightly violent tendencies, I'm a little curious about
how Jake was brought up, for instance), but they're all his. And his final
exchange with Tandro on the witness stand brought the very best of "The
Measure of a Man" to mind. This, like all good courtroom dramas, had a
strong air of theatricality about it -- worked like a charm, too.
Quark had a token scene which said a lot more about Odo than it did about
him. Odo himself is being seen as relentless as ever (even given his own
setup in a murder investigation recently), and not particularly sympathetic
to anyone's feelings. Odo was a good choice to get the information, but I
don't think there was much new about *him* to see. (However, Sisko
upbraiding *Odo* for jumping to conclusions was a great companion piece for
Odo's tasking Sisko about unjustified faith in "A Man Alone".)
All the guest characters were fine (and better, in some cases). Richard
Lineback was a little bland as Selin Peers, but I think most "socially
acceptable Trill" are intended to be that way. Gregory Itzin as Tandro was
properly obsessive, and also nicely skilled in his arguments. Anne Haney
(a return guest; you may recall her from "The Survivors" about three years
ago as Rishon Uxbridge) was truly delightful as Judge Renora. "I intend to
be here until supper, not senility." Finally, we have Fionnula Flanagan as
Enina Tandro. While her scenes tended to border ever so slightly on being
too over-the-top, I found her quite believable in her bitterness.
Lastly, the epilogue really got to me somehow. The plot resolution contained
therein was a waste, but Enina's final request to Dax -- "Live, Jadzia Dax.
Live a long, fresh, and wonderful life" struck a chord. I don't know why,
but it did. (It could mean almost anything, and I hope we see Jadzia acting
on it somehow, sometime soon.) Add that to the fade-out (the only such
closing fade-out I can ever recall seeing in TNG or DS9), and it made a very
touching coda to a nicely constructed show.
Anyway, I'm rambling. On to a few short takes:
-- The "split her down the middle" solution was great, and nicely countered
by the 93-hour criterion (which lets Riker off the hook :-) ). However, that
93-hour limit must have exceptions -- otherwise, how could the symbiont ever
change hosts?
-- Klaestron Four must be *awfully* close for Odo to be able to get there and
back so fast. I wish we'd been given some sense of scale.
-- I was a little disappointed to see that Dax's reticence was only due to
her vow of silence. Somehow, based on her controlled anger at Sisko's line
of defense, I'd gotten the idea that his argument was a *major* cultural
taboo among Trills. I'd like to hear more about this sometime.
Well, that ought to do it. So, some numbers before I'm outta here:
Plot: 7. Fairly routine, and mostly setting up for a lot of information.
Plot Handling: 10. Smartly executed and sharply done.
Characterization: 9. I wish we'd found out more about *Jadzia* Dax, but
we'll see...
OVERALL: 9. Nice job. "Q-Less" is now forgiven. :-)
NEXT WEEK:
Murderer, murderer, who's got the murderer?
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Live, Jadzia Dax. Live a long, fresh, and wonderful life."
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Alan Takahashi
>WARNING: This article has spoiler information regarding "Dax", the latest
>episode from DS9. Those sentients not wishing to hear lots of discussion
>about it are probably better off jumping ship here.
>of both host and symbiont mesh in the joining. That makes a great deal of
>sense in Trill culture, especially given the competition to become a Trill;
>if the host will only be a physical shell, what's the point? However, let's
>remember "The Host", the first time we saw Trills. How much of *Riker* was
>involved in the continuing Odan/Crusher relationship?
Ahhh, but remember that Riker was *not* a Trill...he's human. From
the looks if it, Riker and Odan were never wholly joined together...
...it was more like Riker's personality was submerged and Odan
took over.
This state of affairs couldn't have lasted forever...even if Odan
could manage to stay in a human body for a longer period of time,
I have no doubt that Riker's mind would have eventually fought
back. The temporary "joining" was for the sake of the emergency,
and both Riker and Odan knew it.
This, of course, lets the writers off the hook...it allows Riker
to resume his professional relationship with Crusher since there's
nothing of Odan left in him...there never was...
-----
Alan Takahashi UUCP : ..........!ames!ntmtv!takahash
Northern Telecom Inc. ...!uunet/
Mountain View, CA INTERNET: ntmtv!taka...@ames.arc.nasa.gov
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