An old enemy of Odo's is murdered aboard Deep Space Nine, and it's a clever frame job of the constable: a crime it seems only a shapeshifter could have committed. Meanwhile, Keiko O'Brien struggles to settle in at her husband's new post, but finds purpose in starting a school the station.
This episode was actually filmed before "Past Prologue," but the decision was made to air it after. (Some streaming services, such as Netflix, arrange it in the production order.) Usually, these sorts of shuffles happen on a new show when the Powers That Be are convinced that certain episodes will appeal more to audiences. This practice was partially blamed for killing Firefly, but the less serialized nature of Deep Space Nine (at this point in time, anyway) made it a mostly seamless exchange. That said, I don't think there's a significant difference in quality between these two episodes.
Actor Armin Shimerman was actually made nervous by the swap. His character, Quark, wasn't even in "Past Prologue," and so when it was selected as the first regular episode, he wondered if that meant the producers didn't like him. He even said in a later interview that there was a clause in his contract that "if they didn't like me after the fourth or fifth episode, they could get rid of me." Maybe he was joking, though it does seem plausible that the producers were hedging their bets at having a Ferengi main character, a member of a Star Trek race so widely hated by fans (after being so thoroughly ruined by The Next Generation writers).
I suspect the real reason behind the episode swap was that the producers got nervous about this installment being so plot light. What's there seems at least somewhat compelling to me -- it's a classic "locked room mystery" rendered in a science fiction format. Yet the bulk of the episode is really slow, character building material. Even the scenes about the murder investigation quickly turn into confrontations between Odo and Sisko, Odo and Quark, and so forth.
I think most of this character work is great, but the episode as a whole certainly doesn't come across as the "adventure" a Star Trek fan was used to at the time. The episode's teaser (the scenes before the credits) don't even actually tease anything -- it's a pure character scene of Bashir flirting with Dax. Then, coming back from the opening credits, we get a series of vignettes around Quark's bar (making great use of the two-story set), checking in on Sisko and Dax's new relationship, the strain in Keiko and Miles' marriage, and only almost incidentally the beginnings of the conflict between Odo and the soon-to-be murder victim, Ibudan.
Even once the murder story gets ramped up, the episode still gives equal consideration to other matters: Nog and Jake bonding over pranks, Keiko trying to persuade Rom to send his son to school, Odo attempting to monologue about the difference between "justice" and "the law" (though Sisko isn't having it), Sisko reminiscing (twice!) about his past days with Dax's previous host, and more. Ideally, this character work would probably be blended more naturally with a more compelling story, but I think if you're going to err on one side or the other, this is how I'd do it. Get the audience engaged with the characters, and they'll care about what happens to them in future adventures.
Relationships between the main characters continues to be a big element here, more than they were in the early days of The Next Generation. Quark sets aside his rivalry with Odo to stick up for him against the Bajoran mob; it feels like Quark wants to be the one to beat Odo himself, and on terms he considers fair. Kira defends Odo to an almost irrational degree, arguing against even removing him from the investigation. It's not all nobility, though; Odo actually challenges Sisko when the commander claims he believes Odo is innocent. They hardly know each other, the shapeshifter rightly points out. Why should there be any trust there?
Interestingly, the creative team behind this episode doesn't give themselves much credit for hitting these character beats within this episode. Director Paul Lynch praised the actors, but worried that they were bring made to "say so much technical stuff early on." Staff writer Ira Steven Behr felt there was a missed opportunity in not later bringing back the character of Zayra, the Bajoran rabble rouser, as a recurring problem aboard the station.
A recurring character who was introduced here was Rom, Quark's brother. Though actor Max Grodénchik had actually appeared in the pilot, he was credited only as a "Ferengi Pit Boss." Grodénchik actually thanks Armin Shimerman, who beat him for the role of Quark, for speaking to the producers and lobbying that the "runner-up" should get to play Nog's father. It became a recurring role, though here Grodénchik hadn't really found the character yet. The Rom of this episode is more confident, less of a buffoon, and doesn't have the trademark voice he'd have for the series run.
Other observations:
- Odo says he'll "never" understand the humanoid need to couple. Never is a long time, of course.
- I wonder if any real-world teachers take offense here at how easily Keiko just decides to become a teacher, almost on a lark.
- When Odo reviews Ibudan's schedule, it indicates that he arrived on the station from "Alderaan." Ha, ha! Got out just in time, I guess.
- I'm spoiling the ending here, if you haven't seen the episode, but they really do go to great lengths to hide the fact that the thing Bashir is growing in his lab is a clone. Or maybe it's shaped like a big blob in part to feed a red herring? Odo thinks only a shapeshifter could have committed the murder; maybe we're meant to think that one is growing from the DNA?
- I know that what happens to the Ibudan clone is totally beside the point of this episode, but it's kind of a weird afterthought that the clone just starts wandering the galaxy after emerging from Bashir's petri dish. I wonder if there was an intriguing follow-up story in that character -- a nature vs. nurture sort of examination in whether the clone also would become a criminal?
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