ShadowDenizen July 21, 2014 Share July 21, 2014 The rewatch continues! And remember: A) You can always feel free to post in any previous episode thread! We welcome people playing catch-up! B) You can always open an episode thread for the next episodes if you're dying to discuss! Synopsis: A plasma storm leads to the evacuation of most of the station, but a Trill refugee has his own plans. Link to comment
Bryce Lynch July 21, 2014 Share July 21, 2014 Good episode. The synopsis is weak. Mine would be: "Tuvok and Lionel Luthor team up to take over the station and steal the Dax symbiont." :) 3 Link to comment
ShadowDenizen July 22, 2014 Author Share July 22, 2014 (edited) Ha Ha Ha! That actually IS a better synopsis. I found most of the early "Dax-centric" episodes to be weak, particulatly since Terry Farrel was still "Finding the role". (Read: "Is a terrible actress". {YMMV, of course, but I found TF to be the weak link of a strong cast for most of the series' run.) And it didn't help that this followed the "Circle" trilogy, which was a strong season opener. Fortunately, the brilliiant John Glover does manage to single-handedly save this episode. Edited July 22, 2014 by ShadowDenizen 1 Link to comment
Meushell July 22, 2014 Share July 22, 2014 (edited) Is it wrong that I like Tim Russ here better than I ever did on Voyager? (Sorry, Tuvok fans.) I'm going to quote Phil Farrand from "The Nitpicker's Guide" for this next part, since I don't think I couldn't say any better. This episode reveals an important aspect of Trill psychology. Evidently the symbiont has little or no moral constraints. Verad is killing Jadzia, and all Verad Dax can say is he feels bad about it. Obviously the symbiont Dax doesn't feel bad enough to force him to undo the act. It's true that this is supposed to be a joining–a sharing– but doesn't seem likely that if the symbiont was truly aghast at the events, the joining wouldn't take? In this episode they combined attitude of both Verad and Dax seems to be: "Oh, that's too bad about Jadzia. Well…on to the Gamma Quadrant!" One must assume that Verad feels some sorrow over the events. If he does, then what is the symbiont contributing to the mix a grief? (Answer: Not much at all. Evidently as long as it's got a body with opposable thumbs, it's happy!)Thinking back to the episode "Dax," maybe the symbiont is not as innocent as Sisko believes. I mean, if it's willing to let its own host die… Edited July 22, 2014 by Meushell Link to comment
Bryce Lynch July 22, 2014 Share July 22, 2014 (edited) Is it wrong that I like Tim Russ here better than I ever did on Voyager? (Sorry, Tuvok fans.) I'm going to quote Phil Farrand from "The Nitpicker's Guide" for this next part, since I don't think I couldn't say any better. Thinking back to the episode "Dax," maybe the symbiont is not as innocent as Sisko believes. I mean, if it's willing to let its own host die… I'm not sure how much control the symbiont has over the actions of the host. I get the idea that the symbiont shares the knowledge and experiences of prior hosts with the new host, but doesn't necessarily exert any moral or physical control over the new host. Also, Verad was deemed unsuitable to be a Trill host. Perhaps part of the psychological screening involves having someone with a strong enough personality not to get swallowed up by the prior hosts' personalities, but also being flexible enough to harmonize with the prior hosts, rather than push them aside. I agree that Tim Russ is much more fun as a Klingon than as a Vulcan. :) Voyager (aka Gilligan's Quadrant) seemed to have the weakest characters in nearly all the traditional Star Trek roles, from the Captain on down. Janeway was nowhere close to Kirk, Picard or Sisko. Chipotle paled in comparison to Spock, Riker and Kira. etc., etc. etc. IMHO, the Doctor was the only one who was up to par with or better than his cohorts and of course, he was only a hologram. :) Edited July 22, 2014 by Bryce Lynch 1 Link to comment
Meushell July 22, 2014 Share July 22, 2014 @Bryce Lynch I suppose it depends on how sentient you believe the symbiont is. What you describe would make the symbiont little more than a biological memory chip. That does seem to be a bit how the symbiont was written this episode. However, I do not think that is supposed to be the case. Previous episodes, especially "Dax," treat symbiont more like a sentient being. Link to comment
John Potts July 23, 2014 Share July 23, 2014 (edited) I've said it before - the symbiont is a pure parasite that has a good PR campaign going to convince all the Trill that they really want to be "joined". So if "Jadzia" dies, why would "Dax" care - another pair of legs will be along in a minute! It makes a disturbing amount of sense when you think about Trill that way (even if I'm pretty sure TPTB didn't think of them that way). To cross franchises for a minute, they're posing as the Tok'ra but they're really Goa'uld. Edited July 23, 2014 by John Potts 3 Link to comment
ShadowDenizen July 23, 2014 Author Share July 23, 2014 I tend to agree. And there's some points in later episodes that do a good job of illustarting that point. Link to comment
Bryce Lynch July 23, 2014 Share July 23, 2014 @Bryce Lynch I suppose it depends on how sentient you believe the symbiont is. What you describe would make the symbiont little more than a biological memory chip. That does seem to be a bit how the symbiont was written this episode. However, I do not think that is supposed to be the case. Previous episodes, especially "Dax," treat symbiont more like a sentient being. Actually, as far as I remember, the Dax symbiont did seem to be treated pretty much like a living memory chip. I recall Jadzia frequently speaking of memories and talents of her prior hosts but never spoke of anything thr Dax symbiont ever did or thought. Of course, the symbionts didn't exactly live exciting lives swimming around the pools in the Cave of Mak'ala, before they joined their humanoid hosts. Link to comment
iMonrey March 14, 2017 Share March 14, 2017 For an episode that should have been Jadzia centric there was surprisingly little of her. Perhaps because: Quote Terry Farrell was still "Finding the role". (Read: "Is a terrible actress". LOL. I keep reading how everyone thought she was terrible and I didn't remember her being a bad actress when the show originally aired. Now, on rewatch . . . I can see it. She really was quite stilted during the first season. Quote Is it wrong that I like Tim Russ here better than I ever did on Voyager? (Sorry, Tuvok fans.) I know right? Much more interesting as a Klingon. Of course it doesn't help that Tuvok was a big stick in the mud. Link to comment
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