Station log: stardate unknown

Bradley Thompson and David Weddle pen this Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) episode that first aired on 6 January, 1999.

The episode continues to demonstrate the differences between Ezri and Dax’s prior host, Jadzia.

Sisko (Avery Brooks) is upset to learn that O’Brien (Colm Meaney) is missing after running down leads pertaining to the undercover op he was involved in during the previous season, and Ezri, because she has family and contacts in the same system, is sent to investigate.

Once O’Brien is delivered to Ezri’s family, and mother, Yanas (Leigh Taylor-Young) the chief relates the events that led to where he is, and the pair find themselves working together, and being troubled by some of Ezri’s family involvement with the Orion Syndicate.

The story is a little convenient, tying in Ezri’s family to a mystery from last season, it’s just a little too neat. Sure it gives Ezri’s character a few more layers and gives her a bit of a backstory, but it’s too bad they had to tie this story in with the previous one.

Yes, there’s some nice family drama playing out, but it wouldn’t have worked if they weren’t related to Ezri. And even though they are related, it doesn’t make for the most engaging story of the season.

And of course, the true murderer doesn’t come as much of a surprise, it’s all telegraphed pretty early in the story.

The episode earned itself an Emmy nomination for Art Decoration, so it had that going for it, I guess.

Station log: stardate unknown

LeVar Burton directs this episode that was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. It first aired on 3 February, 1999.

Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Rom (Max Grodenchik) have to slip over to the mirror universe, when Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn) is kidnapped by a Klingon-Cardassian alliance while he’s on a business trip.

I have to be honest, I’m a little disappointed by how it’s so easy, suddenly to slip between the two universes, and instead of making them event episodes, this one just makes it feel more commonplace as Quark, Rom and Zek encounter familiar faces but with different personalities.

There are chases, battles, liaisons, but none of them seem to have any real impact on the character, their arcs, and the series in general. It just feels like a bit of a break before we plunge towards the close of the series.

As much as I’m loving this series, I didn’t really dig these past two episodes, lets see how the remaining thirteen play out.

The Human Adventure continues next week as I journey through the last season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Complete Series on DVD from Paramount Canada!

Boldly go…