The Muse

DVD, DS9 S4 (The Muse)

As much as I tried not to like this one, and found reasons to do so, I couldn't help but enjoy a lot of moments in it and realised I'd had a good time - the world and its characters were enough to make up for the dull scenes of Jake writing while the vampire bat behind him sucks up his creativity. There's so much to like: Sisko and Kasidy going off on a camping trip to the Bajoran Outback (I didn't even know they had an outback) could have been a sub-story in itself; Majel Barrett's final onscreen Trek appearance; Michael Ansara's final 'DS9' appearance; Odo playing hide and seek; Jake signing off on his future book at the end, neatly tying into 'The Visitor' and its vision of the future (he even mentions the Pennington School again, but it doesn't matter how many times he speaks its name, he's not any closer to getting there!); Quark's uncharacteristic generosity in throwing a party for Odo and Lwaxana, proving despite what he says he really does think of Odo as a friend.

Previously I had found the episode a little tiresome, but the space vampire stuff didn't drag it down enough any more. I wondered if it might have been more effective an episode if Meg Foster had been human-looking, her alienness apparent only from her ghostly pallor and piercing eyes. Or they could have had her appear ugly at first and gradually becoming beautiful like a butterfly emerging so that her next lifecycle was completed - this might have added some sympathy for her, an understanding of her nature that needed creativity to survive. Then when she escaped off the station and went to warp there might have been an element of beauty instead of being a 'TOS' monster of the week, that she might be emerging into her true form at the unfortunate Jake's expense. She reminded me of a cross between the Salt Vampire and Flint since she needed something from others to harvest and she'd lived hundreds of years, knowing many great minds - in Flint's case he was some of the great minds - that would have made a nice crossover, if she had met one of Flint's personas…

When Lwaxana (or Laxwana as Ansara pronounces it the first time!), runs to Odo I at first wondered why she hadn't gone to her daughter on the Enterprise where she'd have been sure of high-ranking support from Captain Picard, but then I remembered the D had been destroyed the previous year and the E hadn't yet been built, or at the very least, shown on screen. The Lwaxana episodes have always been strange on 'DS9,' skewed differently from the comedy the character generally engendered on 'TNG.' Like O'Brien and Worf, the series developed her further than 'TNG' had ever done, giving us a much more vulnerable and honest look into Mrs. Troi and allowing Majel to act rather than overact - not that the overacting was bad, it was delightful, but it is different to see the way she interacts with Odo as opposed to others.

By this point Odo knew her well enough to be at ease with her and understand the way she worked, but he also cared deeply for her, and his testimony of love that must convince her previous husband Jeyal that he genuinely does want to marry her is very far from the hilarious loss of dignity suffered by Picard in a similar position against the Ferengi in 'Menage a Troi' because he's genuine and she has changed him. She was the first he ever opened up to because he had no choice and the first that knew about Kira. It's sad this was the end of her appearances as she always added something to Odo, but they couldn't have gone anywhere else with the two so it was a natural parting.

It did leave her in an awkward position however, as we never found out how she dealt with motherhood at her age, or what Deanna thought about having a half-brother, and in retrospect it may have been better if the story hadn't included the pregnancy somehow as it meant she wasn't going to pop up in any 'TNG' films. She does speak openly about losing her daughter, Kestra, and little links back to 'TNG,' but no 'Mr. Woof' or other funny moments, reduced to having fun with Odo hiding as something in his quarters, or depressing the usually irrepressible Dax before she and Kira head to the Holosuite for another Camelot adventure in their attire from 'The Way of The Warrior' - Worf looks like he was caught coming out of an exercise program, but all look equally dejected.

The usually buttoned up Odo goes to the lengths of allowing all his friends and colleagues into his quarters for the wedding ceremony and declaring his love in the most honest tones that it puts even Lwaxana off her stride. I think he may have surprised himself, and certainly the main cast look suitably dazed by proceedings. I do wonder what Lwaxana did on the station in the time she was there and they were married as that would have made an interesting arc if they'd wanted to pursue it for a few episodes. The other main story about Jake being sucked into a dangerous situation could be an allegory for solitary teens and how they can get fooled and taken to things that at first seem glamourous, but become addictive and dangerous for their health. I couldn't help but think of Onaya all day long putting up all those drapes in her quarters and arranging candles to be just right for Jake's visit - she probably had some kind of power to move things without physically doing it, or maybe she went into her energy form and did a quick whip round the room in no time. In the Trek universe paper is not something you expect to see and I love the way she brings it in, presentation is everything, the rich purple handkerchief covers a perfectly together load of loose sheets that are thin and translucent, yet tough enough to take a good pen stroke.

The visual change in Onaya was subtle, she goes from deathly pale manuscript yellow in almost black clothing to close to normal skin tones, her wardrobe also lightening up as she takes away Jake's life little by little. Good that it's Sisko who saves his boy (while Jones is there in the background and goes down the wrong tunnel!), but even then Jake wants to keep going, feebly asking his Dad not to interfere. The moment she walks through the wall in sickbay, then knocks out poor Nurse Tagana (played by Pat Tallman), was one of the better effects of the episode, though the lighting in the room should have been subdued. The Odo story was far more enjoyable however, seeing him have more fun than we've seen in ages, Rene Auberjonois grinning from ear to ear and nimbly leaping to the ground during the hide and seek game with Lwaxana - he must have been in his late fifties, so it's quite impressive. The Tavnians are a strange race as it seems a wife doesn't need to divorce her husband before marrying someone else, it automatically annuls the first marriage. I don't know how she ever came to be in such a marriage in the first place, but she's always been looking for a new man ever since we first met her in the first season of 'TNG.' Some things never change.

Taken as a horror story it doesn't work very well, but adding all those great Odo moments together and the pleasant way Jake's story ends, I find it hard to be harsh about it. Just being on the station with those characters is sometimes al you need.

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