Shadowplay

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.

"Shadowplay" is an odd episode. Nothing really that important happens, no one dies and it's easy to dismiss it all as a bit of fluff. Yet, it also allows for some character development and I loved seeing the scenes between Odo and a little girl, Taya (Noley Thornton).

When the show begins, Odo and Jadzea are on a mission when they discover an odd civilization. Their leader is concerned because members of their community have disappeared and they have no idea where they've gone! Naturally, the pair decide to help and discover that the settlement is REALLY unique--and I liked this twist. I also really liked the way the two interacted with the nice folks in this community--and it made this one a highlight episode.

The other plot involves Major Kira in charge of the base's security until Odo returns--and how this all involves Quark is pretty funny. Quark's plan is pretty clever....is the Major up for the challenge?

I guess this one appealed to me because of the writing--and I really did like this one.

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.

I loved this one. Watched it many times and its warm hearted and family friendly. DS9 is my favorite. Star Trek show

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.