A serial murderer is hunting aboard Deep Space Nine, with a technological method and an unknown motive. To profile the killer, Ezri Dax taps into the memories of her murderous former host Joran, using a Trill ritual to bring him to the surface.
This is the third Ezri-heavy episode in a row, though show runner Ira Steven Behr didn't set out to have it that way. The writing troubles on "Prodigal Daughter" had put them behind schedule, leaving no one on staff to work on the episode in this slot. Behr reached out to Robert Hewitt Wolfe, his close writing partner who had left Deep Space Nine after season five, and gave him a quick writing prompt: a serial killer sniper is loose on the station. Figure the rest out.
Behr expected to get back an Odo episode. But Wolfe was eager to explore a character who hadn't been around during his time on the show. Seizing upon the back story of Joran Dax (which had been created during Wolfe's tenure), he came up with a surprising angle on this mystery episode of the show. Actually, he'd planned to have Ezri interact with a hologram version of Joran, but Behr encouraged a less limited approach, leading to "the Trill mumbo-jumbo route," as Wolfe playfully called it.
The result sort of works, and sort of doesn't. We've seen Odo solve murders before, so it is refreshing to feature a different character here. And yet it's quite illogical how little Odo is involved, leaving me to wonder if some sort of "team up" could have arranged. The mystery itself, with the combination rifle/transporter and the twist reveal that the culprit is a Vulcan, is fairly clever and actually produces a few good moments of suspense. But the Joran angle is a fairly watered-down "hello Clarice" knock off that doesn't really feel like the personal reckoning for Ezri that the story wants it to be.
Yet there are some fun moments throughout. The goo-filled fruit that O'Brien shoots as a demonstration is a great prop, and the scene feels straight out of CSI. The shock that the Starfleet officers express at even the idea of murder is a nice detail that reminds you this is Star Trek. There's excellent camera work in Ezri's dream sequence, playing with film frame rate to achieve an unsettling effect. (This was the brainchild of director Tony Dow. Yes, Wally Cleaver -- that Tony Dow.)
But there are almost as many moments that really don't work. Bashir and O'Brien's sad observation that they should have let the first murder victim come to the holosuite seems a rather tasteless joke. Worf's stalkery, patriarchal, and possessive scene with Ezri is not the ice-thawing overture the writers think it is. The music by Gregory Smith is conspicuous without being entirely effective (and this is the last of only three episodes he scored). And I'm not at all frightened by the performance of Leigh J. McCloskey as Joran; you can tell McCloskey is a storied soap opera actor by the soap opera ham-and-cheese he brings to it. (The role of Joran was recast when the original performer -- a magician hired for his mask trickery -- was unavailable to return.)
Other observations:
- The whole premise of a Trill "emergence" rite just makes me wish that Jadzia had been brought back this way. But of course, that bridge with Terry Farrell had been completely burned.
- Pay very close attention, and there's token representation in the episode: the Bolian victim is said to have a wife and co-husband.
- The world of Star Trek had "live photos" decades before the concept (or even Harry Potter) was a thing: the second victim's picture frame plays a movie taken around the frozen moment on display.
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