The Sound of Her Voice

DVD, DS9 S6 (The Sound of Her Voice)

Captain Lisa Cusak: one of the best characters that never was. Okay, so she was, but not when they were talking to her. Another inventive sci-fi tale that plays to the strengths of the series. We get to understand the war situation and what effect it's had on these people, through the charming and open Lisa. They feel like they know her, and it's a shock to find that she died so long ago. The technology doesn't get in the way too much, and like the best Trek's it's the story and the result of it that matter.

It's good to have Kasidy in it, and Jake gets a proper role, this time away from Nog. On the visual side we get some really good stuff with the shuttlepod exiting the Defiant and flying over the planet, and the cave set gets a radical makeover with pouring rain adding huge atmosphere. But the most important, sad, sad scene is the speech O'Brien makes about the war, about change, and about one day losing someone here. The camera is on Dax and Worf as he says this, the writers knowing her time was limited. It would have been good to have her more apparent in the episode, but maybe the power of that scene would have been lost.

The B-story is a different kind of sequence, with Odo finally giving Quark a break, and Quark thinking he's beaten the constable. It's a nice story, and again shows how Odo has changed since Kira 'came along'. And the scene with Morn is a laugh too! Quark is having dealings with a Nausicaan, although we only see him by comlink, and the crystals Quark's trying to sell are Denevan.

There's a sense of the series moving on, as Lisa helped some of them through what they were feeling, and they helped themselves by helping her. That closure is coming feels sure, for some characters closer than others.

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