Shadowplay

Odo and Dax help search for some missing people.

This is a reasonably good episode with a nice mystery and some decent screen time for Odo.

There are three plots going on with some scenes being stronger than others. Odo and Dax for me have the better of the material, but I won't go into specifics to avoid spoiling. Rene Auberjonois is as good ever.

Jake has some development that is reminiscent of other character arcs in the franchise. These scenes are done well, but how many sons have we seen go through a dilemma relating to parents expectations about their future? The best aspect of this is Colm Meaney's natural performance as he supports and guides Jake.

I find most Star Trek romances pretty uninteresting and the one in this episode is in that bracket.

1- VIEWERS CHECK THIS OUT..............

*HILARIOUS!.................... The opening 2 minutes of this episode between Dax and Odo is so funny I literally was laughing out loud. The non-verbal expressions by Odo are hilarious. Dax gives in to her feminine side and Odo is beside himself! As an aside: I wonder if Odo could really BE beside himself?

*AWAY TO THE WINDOW I FLEW LIKE A FLASH...... At approximately 9:00 Colyus the village Protector (played by excellent character actor Kenneth Mars) is questioning Dax and Odo about the 22 individuals who have gone missing from his village. Colyus is frustrated because he has no clues as to why so many people would just be gone without a trace. BTW: What is the deal with the wood ball decorations circling Colyus' head? He almost looks like he could be the dad in The Night Before Christmas - going to bed for a long winters nap in his nightcap.....(or something like that).

*I DIG YOU BUT I HAVE TO GO AND PRETEND TO DIG HIM - NO WONDER ACTORS HAVE HORRIBLE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS........... Major Kira (Nana Visitor) and Doc Bashir (Alexander Siddig) are talking (14:27) about keeping a close eye on Quark while Odo is off with Dax. I noticed in the few moments Bashir and Kira are talking with one another there is real chemistry sparkling between them. I also remembered that Visitor and Siddig were dating and married (1997-2001) and actually had a son together. It is a little ironic Kira cuts off her conversation with the Doc to run to a docking station to meet her infatuation - Vedek Bareil (played by Philip Anglim). Leaving someone she was truly infatuated with to go to meet someone she pretends to be infatuated with.

*IF YOU COULD ASK A SHAPE SHIFTER ANYTHING YOU WANT............. 11-year-old actress Noley Thornton (She played the little girl, "Clara" who had an imaginary friend on the Enterprise in The Next Generation) plays the girl Taya and becomes a fast friend of Odo while he and Dax are in the village. Odo originally questioned Taya in relation to her mom being one of those missing but as he and the girl converse the walls come down and they become friends. I think the main reason they become friends is because of her pointed and unusually personal questions to Odo about his personal and private life. Kids tend to sometimes be like that. They cut through all of the walls and fluff we adults put in conversations to protect ourselves from personal revelations. "Can you change into whatever you want?" Were you parents changelings too?"

*WHAT IS REALLY REAL???........... At approximately 37:00 a cosmic principle discussion begins. The whole "what is real?" discussion which has been dealt with on TNG with the Data question and other episodes. This is almost a laughable debate or discussion. Is a hologram real? The really sad part of the story is when the old man - the grandfather - asks Odo and Dax to take him back to his really real planet - he is talked out of it to hang out with a bunch of computer images. This is disturbing and ethically troubling. If I think something is real - does it make it really real? This is where we all start losing the foundation for reality and moral absolutes. If I delete a character in a hologram have I committed murder? Geeminny Christmas.

2- Final Thoughts and Reflective Analysis and Final Grade............ *A supreme ethical question remains after this episode is long over. What makes something real?

This is the cool thing about a lot of Star Trek episodes. They intentionally make you wonder and question and inquire.

This episode had 3 subplots and each were compelling and interesting in their own right. The acting, writing and presenting of the stories were done in an excellent way. We definitely learned more about the characters involved and the development of the characters seems to be on a growing phase - kudos to the writers.

Final Grade: A-

This Deep Space 9 episode is filled with three different story lines. Avery Brooks is hoping his son Cirroc Lofton will go into Star Fleet so he has him go to work for Chief O'Brien. But Jake Sisko sees his path as elsewhere.

Nana Visitor is keeping an eye on Armin Shimmerman as Odo is absent from the station. But her old friend Veddig Variel is visiting from Bajor, how to juggle enjoyment with responsibility.

The main story line features both Odo and Dax visiting a world where people are disappearing without a trace. Between Rene Auberjonois's investigative abilities and Terry Farrell's science knowledge the mystery is solved. It's all to do with the nature of the world and it's inhabitants.

Good scenes with Odo and a little Noley Thornton whose mother is one of the vanished. Definitely the main reason to watch this episode.

So many good things about this ep. an understanding father accepting of his sons decision, an old man who found his family-even though they are so very different. Even Major Kira finds some joy and companionship. THIS is what Star Trek is about.

This started out so goofy. I love Odo and the pairing with Dax works well - they play off each other with a good energy and chemistry.

I must admit when they first arrive on the planet, I was hating this. Oh look it's this set again, barely re-dressed from the last time I saw it. We get some aliens/colonists with strong yankee doodle accents, and then the daftness is crystalised by a scene where Odo transports back to the runabout to prove they can leave whenever they want, and the sheriff interviewing him does a full pantomime double take and starts looking round the room. It's horrendously cringe, and I laughed out loud for all the wrong reasons. They then double down on the cringe by, literally minutes later, having the sheriff say that the first thing he did in his investigation was check for transporter signatures. How that gaff slipped past script revisions and even shooting the scene on the day, I will never know. Awful. Hilarious.

So reallllly bad start, but truth be told the episode did a lot to win me back. The Jake and Benjamin and O'Brien stuff is all good character development, albeit resolved a bit too easily. This would've been nice to play the conflict out over a couple of episodes, as they'd already been planting the seeds and are clearly open to serialising storylines like this.

Maj. Kira's story was also fairly goofy, but it was nice seeing Vedek back - too often these characters get a couple of episodes and are never seen or heard from again. I like that they're taking advantage of Bajor being a constant near neighbour to the station.

Like with the Sisko story, there's possibly not enough time given to really flesh out the performances here, but it's entertaining enough.

The A(?) story doesn't really have much of a point to make or a lesson to teach, but it is heartwarming and the performance from the wee girl is great. I love seeing Odo's softer side, and the resolution with the grandad was quite touching.

I think it's a generous 6, mostly for vibes. If I was less of a Rene fan it's probably a 5.