Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: A Simple Investigation

DS9 "A Simple Investigation"

 "Somebody stop me!" - Jadzia Dax, maybe referencing The Mask?

Of all the Deep Space Nine characters to get a romance of the week episode, Odo is one of the least likely, and "A Simple Investigation' uses that to drive the story, particularly how the rest of the cast minus Worf bemusedly encourage his romance along for his sake. As a setup I guess it's supposed to be vaguely noir - one issue with the episode may be a slightly unmoored tone. Is it space noir? Is it more of an espionage plot? Are the thugs supposed to be comic relief or not?

A woman named Arissa (Dey Young) sparks with Odo in Quark's against the backdrop of trying to get out from under a notorious Orion Syndicate gangster called Draim, who she's been working for as a hacker. Eventually, after Arissa and Odo develop an intense bond, the rug is pulled from under them as it's revealed that the version of Arissa we've been following is a sleeper agent whose memories were voluntarily patched and rewritten for a sting operation on the Orion crime boss.

"A Simple Investigation" is a sexually frank episode, especially for Star Trek. In Arissa's implanted backstory, she was a "net-girl", or remote sex worker. Odo loses his virginity to Arissa (not counting an experience on the Founders' homeworld he describes as ambiguously sexual - that changeling bit of turning to goo with each other that seemingly goes a little beyond the standard "joining"). And in the "morning after" scene, the episode gives us the extraordinary sight of... lovey-dovey flirty Odo?

Part of what contributes to the undercurrent of confusion are the plot revelations. Arissa turns out to be a surgically-altered member of a race we've never heard of called the Idanians, who used her to infiltrate the Draim's organization. Her handler shows up and brags about how he's going to indict Draim. But this is space. Who has jurisdiction? Is the Idanian homeworld part of the Orion Syndicate? Maybe these Idanians are sort of like the Fenris Rangers from Picard.

The b-plot of the episode is a brief, low-budget return to Doctor Bashir's James Bond-esque holosuite program from "Our Man Bashir", which provides a couple laughs. "A Simple Investigation" is a decent if not hugely engaging episode, though the central romance between Arissa and Odo (and the chemistry between Young and Rene Auberjonois) works well enough. 6/10.

Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Broken Link

DS9 "Broken Link"

As a season finale, "Broken Link" doesn't appear to break the budget. It's a character-focused look at Odo facing a reckoning for killing another changeling, an unprecedented act in the species' history. Odo is surreptitiously infected with a virus to draw him out to the Gamma Quadrant in search of a cure from the Founders; the various stages of Odo's sickness are rendered in... extraordinary makeup jobs. At one point Odo's hair looks painted on like a tabletop gaming figurine.

The episode uses Odo as a nexus for his relationships. His infatuation with Kira is addressed briefly. There's a lovely scene with Quark where he sensitively hopes for Odo's safe return without losing face. And there's a lot of material for Odo's friendship with Garak. Friendship is an interesting word for it, considering that about a season ago, Garak agonizingly tortured Odo, but Odo doesn't appear to hold too much of a grudge.

As Garak, Andrew J. Robinson shows the range of the character. He shows Garak's congenial side, his gleefully devious side, and in one showdown with Worf, gives the kind of deranged performance he brought to the Scorpio Killer role in Dirty Harry.

Odo is tried and sentenced in the Great Link of the Founders: he is made a solid, stripped of his shape-shifting abilities. Specifically, he is made human, which seems a bit baffling to me. Why not Bajoran? Odo was raised by Bajorans, his approximation of a humanoid face is based on a Bajoran, and he wears the uniform of the Bajoran militia. To make him human is to equate humanity with solidity, which is an oddly Earth-centric notion.

When Odo identifies Klingon Chancellor Gowron as a changeling duplicate, the even-more-aggressive acts of the Klingon Empire at this point in the show make a lot more sense. But I must question another of the Founders' decisions. If there was a risk of Odo uncovering details of their statecraft, why did the Founders let him go? Now their operation is exposed.

"Broken Link" is a typically effective, though not particularly standout, example of Deep Space Nine's focus on character. 7/10.

Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Accession

DS9 "Accession"

"It's not easy getting used to being a religious icon." - Benjamin Sisko

We finally dock at Deep Space Nine in this randomized rewatch, finding a story with a level of complexity typical for that show. A Bajoran poet, displaced in time after 200 years in the Wormhole, is hailed as the true Emissary of the Prophets, over Captain Sisko. (That sentence will seem bonkers to anyone who doesn't know the show.) The poet, Akorem Laan, at first seems to Sisko like an ideal choice to take the mantle of Emissary, a role that Sisko and his Starfleet superiors are naturally somewhat leery of. But Akorem's agenda threatens to throw the status quo upside down.

Sisko doesn't bother to ask Akorem what message he intends to spread with his position, so Akorem blindsides everybody by running a hard-line conservative platform. He proposes a return to a strict caste system for Bajorans, one that lifts some families over others and determines pre-determined career paths for each family. This was a caste system that was flattened out, along with most everything else, during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, and now Major Kira faces the prospect of resigning her military commission for a life as an artist, with aptitude for it or not.

The story creates rich conflict for the characters, as Sisko has seller's remorse with the role of Emissary, and Kira must try to balance her faith with her career. In their respective roles, Avery Brooks and Nana Visitor do fine work, highlighting the strength of this ensemble. Brooks, sometimes so big and over-the-top in the show, gives a performance that benefits from restrained anxiety.

The development of the story from major plot point to plot point is fairly juddery, and puts part of the quick resolution off screen, but the textures brought out by the story redeem these flaws. There's also a sweet B-plot where Keiko finally returns to the station, reveals to Miles O'Brien she's pregnant in a slightly awkward scene, and plays "friend matchmaker" to make sure her husband spends time with Doctor Bashir.

Stray observations:
- Director Les Landau employs a nifty oner in Quark's bar, tracking O'Brien's drink order. It's not exactly Goodfellas, but it's nicely done.
- Molly has a doll with Bajoran ridges.
- In a wonderful nod to continuity, Worf reacts with abject fear when he learns Keiko is pregnant again. He delivered her first child under duress in The Next Generation episode "Disaster"!

An engaging religious and sociopolitical conflict for Bajor services Kira and Sisko's stories. 7/10.