Fascination

This episode goes back to the very earliest Lwaxana TNG episodes where she was a silly horndog. Those were extremely bad and this basically feels like a remake of one of them.

Lwaxana had some good stories late in TNG's run, and she had a remarkably touching story with Odo previously on DS9. This episode squanders that Odo moment and even jokes about it.

I didn't care much for the use of Bareil here either.

There are some fun bits here, particularly with Jake, so it's not a compete loss.

Unlike today a star trek season had 26 episodes about the life on DS9 in the course of a entire year. Some might call it a filler episode, but then again you can call half of DS9 a filler episode. It's great to see all aspects of life on the station. This episode is fun and quirky, everything goes wrong :p Lwaxana being in the episode says enough.

Keiko was so annoying. Anything Miles did or said she shut down and then blamed him saying he'd be complaining. She should have stayed where she was. What made her think that her talking with another guy - and him saying to wait - was right? Then she gets mad at him for calling it out? Miles should have never apologized. Keiko was the one who was wrong. She was the one who wanted things her way.

Other than the Keiko thing, I liked the other issues. So funny with Odo. The pairings were interesting I think because it makes you wonder if there are underlying feelings somewhere with the cast and hookups.

This was really remindful of a Restoration comedy. It has all kinds of interconnected romantic attractions that cause distress to one of the partners. I won't comment much on this. Yes, it is filler. When a series goes on so long and a much more intense episode is coming up, it's not unusual for there to be a lighter motif. Lwaxana is one of my least favorite characters. The whole Betazoid thing is hard to take. But there are some funny moments and some that are a bit touching. It's hard for me to get all out of joint over a few minutes of lightheartedness. Especially, if things get back on track soon.

Review:

The events of this episode have been reviewed ad nauseam by several (15 total!) professional reviewers and amateur reviewers - like myself. Lwaxana Troi comes on board the station and brings with her an interesting physical condition which affects all of the people around her. This coincides with a Bajoran festival being celebrated and people being in a light-hearted mood. This mood pervades the episode which was Avery Brooks (Sisko) 3rd time directing. The producers and writers wanted this episode to be light-hearted and fun by heavily using pink hues, unusually (for DS9) bright-lit scenes and the color purple which was always normally rejected because it's associated with old science fiction shows from the 1960's (namely the original Star Trek series). The off-beat, romantic nature of this episode resembles a frenetic Shakespearian comedy. The motivation for keeping things so bright and light for this episode, reportedly, is for the serious and dark story-lines which were being planned in the near future.

Corny romantic interludes abound and the pairings are presented as funny and silly. One pairing might've led to a real-life romance, though. Each pairing of the DS9 crew was unrequited - except for one. As you watch the Kira-Dr. Bashir pairing (the only one which is mutual) keep in the back of your mind the knowledge that, in real life Nana Visitor and Alexander Siddig DO end up with a short lived marriage in their future (1997-2001) and have 1 child (born in 1996). This episode aired at the end of 1994 - coincidentally, I'm sure, when Visitor's first real-life marriage ended with her husband.

Art, it seems, sometimes does come close to imitating real life.

The obvious pain this episode inflicts on us in real life is that we often pursue people we want for romantic partners when they only want someone else. Everyone in this episode is the object of someone's passion while at the same time having someone completely different they madly desire. This leaves everyone unfulfilled and heartbroken - eerily similar to real life. The writers and producers may have not wanted to create a dark mood story but what they stumbled on was the cause of actual misery and loneliness in our society - much more dismal feeling in our real lives than an attack by the Founders from the Gamma Quadrant.

Some reviewers have stated this episode was "filler". I don't agree with this at all. I think by "filler" they mean an episode which isn't in the episodic tradition of carrying on story lines and developing characters, etc. In their minds this episode is meaningless and just taking up time and space with no real purpose. As you watch this episode watch it for what it brings to the screen and your reaction to it - not for if it is part of the serial. This reaction (of wanting the episodes to continue being serial oriented instead of stand-alone stories) is typical of why the producers were wrestling with where to take DS9. They knew if they ventured into serialization, instead of stand-alone stories, it could have a potential backlash. People newly tuning into the series would be confused and tune out. So as they progressed deeper into the serialization concept when they produced a stand-alone episode (similar to this one), it would affect viewers who had committed to the series as a continuing story. Either way they would face criticism and viewer disgruntledness.

QUESTION: Why does O'Brien let Keiko treat him like such a sap? She is very annoying in this episode. She cares about her career as a botanist and her boyfriend on Bajor more than the chief. Why didn't she tell O'Brien to retrieve his resignation letter from Sisko - not because she wanted to save his career but because she didn't want O'Brien following her down to Bajor and interfering with her "friendship" with the guy botanist.

QUESTION: One of the only persons not affected by Troi's condition was Commander Sisko. He had Dax constantly in his space lusting after him but he didn't desire anyone. This was an interesting decision by the writers.

Men take a lot of heat in our culture for being called "players" if they carry on with multiple women and openly flirt and try to impress as many women as possible with the possibilities of romantic interludes.

BUT..... Women can do the same dang thing with the same dang results and often get away with this behavior simply because men are pigs and women are.........progressive and liberated.

EXAMPLE on point: Major Kira. In the last episode "Defiant" she carried on with Commander Riker (see the eyebrow raising scene between her and Dax) throughout the episode with the conclusion of melting when Riker gave her a passionate kiss goodbye. Yes...she did kiss him back. In this episode she keeps one dude (Odo) tied to a string and handy just in case she needs companionship, evidenced by her reaction to Odo when he finally musters up the courage to "ask her out" in the opening sequence. I felt so bad for Odo because most guys have been there. We follow the clues left by a girl in our life. The clues that she might be interested in us and in more than us being part of her personal "friend zone". Odo certainly had reason to believe Kira was interested in him moving from the "friend zone" to the "romantic zone". The clues she left behind in previous episodes are many. But when Odo finally does get the courage to approach this female player disguised as Kira, watch closely to what she does. In some of the following scenes Odo pines wistfully and painfully for Kira - at a distance. For some of you fellas post traumatic dating world stress may follow.

Bareil (spiritual leader-guy from Bajor and other kissing partner of Kira) is the 3rd guy in Major Kira's zones of romantic circles. At least, he's the 3rd guy we KNOW about. The 3rd such guy in 2 successive episodes. This count doesn't hold the events of this episode against her. Even Captain Kirk, the king of all Star Trek players, only had 1 romantic partner per week.

But none of this behavior on the part of Kira would lead anyone to accuse her of being a player. No....she's a modern woman living a liberated and progressive lifestyle getting what she wants and not ashamed to pursue whomever she wants to fulfill herself as a person. As a single guy living in 2021 America, I cry unfair and foul. Not that anyone cares or is listening.