DS9 Flashback: Prodigal Daughter

Any long-running television series is going to have its share of weak episodes. Generally, the writers of a show know when they've missed the mark, and can be almost as hard on themselves as the fans. The writers of Deep Space Nine may have been even harder on themselves when it came to what they saw as the final season's worst episode, "Prodigal Daughter."

Chief O'Brien goes missing while searching for the widow of the Orion Syndicate member he once shadowed. Since he was last seen in a system where Ezri's family runs a prominent mining operation, Sisko turns to her to find the Chief. She returns home to a disapproving mother, a despondent and alcoholic brother, and a business under pressure from the Syndicate itself.

As "worst episodes of a season" go, the one really isn't that bad. (It's no "The Muse.") Yet there are flaws here, to be sure. Arguably even more so than the previous episode, "It's Only a Paper Moon," this feels like a story that barely makes use of the main characters. We the audience still don't know Ezri all that well. She's surrounded here by guest stars we don't know at all. And the only other character who has much screen time is O'Brien, who seems put here more to witness the story than play any meaningful role in it.

Perhaps the writers are extra hard on this one knowing that they could have done better if only they'd had the time. This was a case of production overtaking them, with the preposterous 26 new episodes per season Star Trek was making (double or more what most shows today produce). Reportedly, the writing team of David Weddle and Bradley Thompson had been trying to crack a script about a Sisko from the future coming back to warn present Sisko not to do something, but finding they had nothing to say beyond the intriguing sci-fi gimmick.

With just two weeks to go until some episode had to begin filming, show runner Ira Steven Behr told them to do something to flesh out Ezri Dax's backstory instead. Precious days passed as they wrote a story about Ezri's criminally connected mother revealing that the Orion Syndicate had somehow arranged the "accident" that led to her receiving the Dax symbiont. Ultimately, no one liked how manipulated that made Starfleet look -- but they liked the Syndicate angle. With the clock running out, they decided the story would involve the widow of O'Brien's contact/friend Bilby. By this point, the production needed to be building sets, making costumes, casting actors, and such. And so, as staff writer Ronald Moore put it, everything became "first thought, best thought," and the next thing written became what was filmed.

The result is vaguely "Godfather Lite." (And I'm one of those "philistines" who actually doesn't like The Godfather very much to begin with.) The roles don't quite map one-to-one, but you still have a stew made out of a crime family in too deep, the child who got out clean but gets roped back in, the unassuming brother who turns out to be darker than anyone realized, and everyone keeping secrets from each other. It's not super-exciting, but it's hardly a disaster.

And there are actually some interesting personal dynamics in play in various scenes. Star Trek is no stranger to characters with unresolved family drama, but this feels a little more realistic to me. The tension between mother-who-can't-be-pleased and daughter-learning-not-to-try feels lived in, and it's a neat wrinkle that as a joined Trill, Ezri has suddenly acquired eight lives' worth of experience to upset their dynamic. The easiness and shorthand between Ezri and her brother Norvo feels authentic too; Norvo's self-loathing feels understandable even before the final twist revealing the real reason for it. (And it's all more interesting that the "main story" of the Orion Syndicate trying to get its hooks into the family business.)

If they'd had more time? Yes, they could have made more of Ezri's being joined when no one else in her family is. They could have sharpened the character of Ezri's other brother Janel a little better. They could have done more to highlight the differences in having a woman in charge of the family business instead of a man. But a lot of moments do work: mother Yanas' manipulations-by-negging, Ezri refusing to let her off the hook when she asks if everything is her fault, Ezri's heart-to-heart moments with both of her brothers.

Other observations:

• In the opening scene, we learn a lot about gagh. Everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask.
  

• In retrospect, this episode might feel more soap opera-like than it did at the time, given the presence of guest star Kevin Rahm (who recurred for several seasons on Desperate Housewives).

• The cliff-side house where Ezri's family oversees their mining operation was designed as an homage to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, but I find it more reminiscent of the so-called "Sleeper House" -- featured in the Woody Allen movie of the same name, visible from the highway as you head into the mountains west from Denver.
  

"Prodigal Daughter" may indeed be the worst episode of Deep Space Nine season seven. (I can't recall another contender in the remaining dozen-and-change I have left to re-watch.) Still, it's hardly one I think you'd warn people to skip. I give it a (low) B-.