DAX Well, it was a step up from "Q-Less". Second generation Trek courtroom dramas seem to come in three flavors, plot-wise: Absurd ("The Measure Of A Man"), trivial ("A Matter Of Perspective"), and dull. "Dax" falls into the final category. Looking back, the episode is inadvertantly ironic: Many people have been waiting for this episode to finally get a taste of who Dax really is. When it finally arrives, Dax barely speaks in the whole story, and we don't really learn who she is. We do learn a lot about who she WAS, that is, who Kierzon Dax (sp?) was when he was alive and the Trill was bonded to him. However, both Sisko and the episode go to great pains to demonstrate that Jadzia Dax is a different person - and they succeed. Jadzia has Kierzon's memories, but she clearly regrets the actions of her predecessor and shows no tendencies to follow in his footsteps. (She clearly has her fun-loving side, as seen in "Babel", but nothing to the degree of Kierzon.) After an episode not only focused on but named after Dax, we're no closer to having a hold on her character than we were before. She's still basically a cipher, and someone who doesn't really fit in with the stronger characters on the show (i.e., Sisko, Odo and Kira). Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing; Classic Star Trek got lots of mileage out of having supporting characters who aren't as well-developed as the principals. (Quark fills that role admirably in DS9.) But I suspect that it will seriously hamper any episode focusing on Jadzia Dax until she's fleshed out a bit. And "Dax" was definitely a hampered episode. While the extradition hearing was technically not a trial, for dramatic purposes it might as well have been. The high point of the episode was the opening sequence, where the crew tries to prevent Dax's kidnappers from escaping. (Well-played action scenes, while not sufficient to act as the backbone of an episode, are usually exciting and entertaining.) From there, it was pretty tedious. The interaction between Sisko and Dax just didn't work at all. The least successful moment was Sisko's sexist implication that he'd hit Dax if she were still a man, but the two just don't seem to have much chemistry. It's hard to tell where the problem lay, because Terry Farrell still doesn't impress me as an actress, and Avery Brooks still doesn't seem comfortable in the role of Sisko. The hearing itself was clever only in its success at showing that Jadzia Dax and Kierzon Dax are distinct entities. Otherwise, it was routine. Dramatic tension was largely lacking from the sequence, largely because the immediacy of the threat to Dax's life just wasn't driven home. As for the investigation into Kierzon's life, well, first I was annoyed at how easily Odo was able to get to Klaestron IV. Either he has access to a very fast ship which we don't know about, or else Klaestron IV is very close to Bajor. At any rate, I think that the traveling violated one of the best aspects of DS9's setting: Isolation from the rest of the galaxy except for Bajor and the Gamma Quadrant. Otherwise, Odo's discovery unearthed little of surprise, or, as I pointed out, of much relevance to who Jadzia Dax is today. Overall, "Dax" was a slow, disappointing episode which didn't add a thing to the unfolding tapestry of DS9. Grade: D+ DS9 SEASON ONE AT A GLANCE: Emissary: C- Past Prologue: A A Man Alone: B Babel: A Captive Pursuit: C Q-Less: F Dax: D+ --- Total Points: 16 1/3 Season Average: 2.333 (C+) (Fall of 0.111 from previous episode)