Equilibrium

DVD, DS9 S3 (Equilibrium)

I do love the incongruity of the Star Trek style - one episode you can be in a life and death struggle with the Jem'Hadar, lost in the Gamma Quadrant or dueling Klingons, the next you can be learning to whisk as Odo does under the tutelage of Sisko, or seeing bunkbeds on the Defiant. The purpose is to show the reality of the character's lives, which in turn creates a stronger attachment with the viewer and gives us reason to care more whenever they are put in danger. So far each episode of the season has been mostly set away from the station, as is right and proper for a series approaching middle age - they hadn't exhausted every storyline that could be played out on the stationary facility, but the Defiant's presence proved ample excuse to visit planets further afield. It seems a questionable move for the Commander to take the Defiant as transport to Trill, the Trill homeworld, as its purpose was to provide extra protection for the area and a simple Runabout would have sufficed, but it shows how much he cares about Jadzia, and a full-sized starship would probably get her there quicker.

We've now visited three homeworlds (Founders rogue planet, Qo'noS and Trill) in three stories, and that trend was to continue - they were really branching out and exploring the Alpha Quadrant now that the series was the sole displayer of the 'home' region as you might call it, since the Alpha Quadrant has become a kind of cosy, comfortable place, where we know the aliens and planets, whereas Gamma and Delta were still widely unexplored and could therefore be considered more dangerous. This episode is also a bit cosy, in a good way, in that it makes excellent fare for a dark evening's entertainment in winter, what with dream-like sequences and dark corridors of the station or Defiant and a focus on one character rather than deep plots or continuing arcs. The only deep plots are the Symbiosis Commission's hiding of the truth that around half the population could be a host, rather than the one in a thousand they'd told the people, and the physical one of the symbiont pools down in the caves in which odd, flittery Guardians look after their symbiont charges. Nicholas Cascone, the actor who played Timor had also appeared in the 'TNG' episode 'Pen Pals' as Ensign Davies.

It's a little sad that Jadzia and her fellow joined Trill aren't quite as special as they thought, but she is explored very well in the story, cementing friendships with Julian and Sisko, both sides realising how much they mean to the other. We don't often get to see other members of the Trill race, so we're spoilt here, and it made me wonder if bald Trill have spots right over the dome of their head - it's confirmed that Jadzia's spots go all the way down to her feet. Dr. Bashir has matured a great deal by this season, and his conduct is very professional towards Jadzia as she is a patient in his care, and I especially like the 'Poirot'-style grilling by Sisko and Bashir of Dr. Renhol as they take it in turns to drive home the points. I wonder if they practiced that aboard the Defiant? O'Brien doesn't appear, but he did get the B-story last time, and it's a pleasure to see the series continue to do these character-focused stories, not allowing Dominion-fever to take over. I loved the mask skills and only wished it had been seen more often, but although Joran had died so long ago, the fact that he was now a part of Dax again would not be forgotten...

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