Exploring the Gamma Quadrant, our heroes come upon a planet that flashes back and forth between our universe and one of pure energy. Its inhabitants are welcoming, though they have only a matter of days in our universe. It's enough time for Dax to fall deeply in love, and then to be faced with the choice to remain on the planet -- and leave our universe for 50 years. Meanwhile, on the station, a sleazy alien pays Quark to build an explicit holosuite program featuring Major Kira.
To hear it told by many involved with the series, they knew they were making a stinker even while "Meridian" was being filmed. Television is a merciless beast that must be fed, especially for a series that made 26 episodes a year. They didn't have the luxury of backing out of this episode, even though they knew it had gone wrong. And pretty much everyone involved has acknowledged that it went wrong.
The core idea came from show runner Ira Steven Behr, who admired the musical Brigadoon -- the tale of a magical village that appears only once a century. (Later, he said of his own idea: "I am a moron.") Behr made it known he wanted a Brigadoon-inspired idea, and writer Hilary Bader obligingly delivered this one. It would ultimately be retooled by the writing staff, fused with a separate story pitch by Evan Carlos Somers (the naughty holoprogram plot), and then given to yet another writer to actually fashion the script. Mark Gehred-O'Connell had done a not-quite-believable "romance in a single hour" episode the previous season, with "Second Sight." This effort was not an improvement.
So much about this episode doesn't work. The centuries-old Dax is implausibly written here with implausible, bubbly youthfulness. Besides the science fiction obstacle to her relationship, there's a colony leader pushing Dax's love interest Deral into an assigned relationship like some strange cult leader. There's a fairly meaningless plot point about the planet being unstable, though it hardly affects the narrative at all.
The B-plot is worse. It's the second episode straight to include a guy perving on Kira. It centers on a truly serious moral issue of recreating holograms of real people. Next Generation played in this space, but here the salacious context offers the chance for a new take. Instead, it's played mostly for inappropriate laughs.
And yet, it's not like every instinct the creators had about this episode was wrong. If one is going to attempt this story, Dax probably is the best character to place in it; as a character who has started a whole new life several times, it kind of makes sense that she'd be willing to do so here. You might also say her long life explains the way she jumps at the chance to live on Meridian: after centuries in our reality, a completely different one would be a sure way to have some new experiences. It's also nice that Deral actually offers to leave his planet for Dax first, before she chooses to leave her established life for him.
There are even a handful of elements in this episode that are truly great. The relationship between Kira and Odo plays well throughout, especially in the opening scene when she touches his hand and pretends they're a couple. (Odo's stunned reaction speaks volumes.) The score is good, even though it comes from a composer I don't generally like as much, Dennis McCarthy. His lyrical music for Dax and Deral's garden stroll is exactly what the scene needs. The scene where Dax and Sisko say goodbye to one another showcases a powerhouse performance from Avery Brooks, and Terry Farrell rises to match. It's the most honest and believable scene in the episode (even though you know Dax won't really be leaving the show).
Also, no matter what flaws this episode may have, it's the episode that gave us Jeffrey Combs. This was the actor's first Star Trek appearance, before going on to play the recurring characters of Brunt and Weyoun on Deep Space Nine, Shran on Enterprise, and a couple more one-off aliens. His portrayal of the sleazy Tiron here oscillates between posturing self-assurance and bottled-up rage, and it all seems to play effortlessly through one of the thicker, facial-expression-nullifying make-ups Star Trek has ever presented. (Jonathan Frakes directed this episode. Do we have him to thank for the casting decision? If so, he gave Star Trek a gift as big as his own portrayal of Riker.)
Other observations:
- This is one of the few episodes that divides the characters entirely along Starfleet lines. Putting all the Starfleet characters into one plot (while the non-Starfleets are in the B-plot) is another part of what makes this feel like generic Star Trek romance.
- The process of slowly adding sets for the Defiant begins here, with the first appearance of the ship's transporter room.
- Seriously, though... 5 days to make a decision you won't be able to go back on for 50 years? That's messed up.
- The visual effect placing Quark's head on Kira's body is rather convincing, but wasn't easily achieved. Nana Visitor had intended to do the scene herself, but it required wearing a rubber mask to obscure her own head for replacement with Quark's. Fresh off her claustrophobia during "Second Skin," she couldn't go through with it, so a body double was used.
- If Odo were better at shapeshifting, the "Quark's head on Kira's body" trick might have been achieved that way, rather than by hologram.
- In the end, the attempt fails to alter Dax's physiology so she can remain on Meridian. It could have been a more powerful moment if there had been some sort of error or oversight made because of the extreme time pressure involved -- to know that her conversion could have worked, if only they'd had more time to get it right.
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