Classics: DS9 3:4 - Equilibrium

Plot Synopsis:

After Dax picks up Jake's old keyboard and plays it as if she has always known how, she begins to act very strangely: she accuses Sisko of cheating during a chess game, threatens Kira, and has a full scale hallucination (of a robed and masked figure) in the middle of the Promenade. When Bashir examines her, he discovers that her isoboramine levels have dropped to dangerous levels, and, fearing that Jadzia may be rejecting the Dax symbiont, he arranges for a trip to the Trill homeworld.

At the hospital on Trill, Dr. Renhol puts Dax on a medication to elevate her isoboramine levels and is released to Bashir's care. However, back on the Defiant, she has another hallucination in which she is attacked by officials wearing Symbiosis Commission uniforms from eighty years ago. Dr. Renhol attributes this hallucination to a too-sudden increase in Dax's isoboramine levels caused by the medication and recommends that Bashir put Dax on smaller, more frequent doses. This answer does not satisfy Dax, though; certain her hallucinations mean something, she decides to visit the Guardians, unjoined Trills who have dedicated their lives to caring for the symbionts.

In the caves, Dax, Sisko, and Bashir meet with a Guardian named Timor. Timor senses right away that something is wrong with Dax and claims that it has something to do with one of Dax's previous hosts. He urges that Dax come back the following day for further examination. When Dax returns to the Defiant, Sisko and Bashir inform her that the computer has finally identified the piece of music she hasn't been able to get out of her mind since she picked up Jake's keyboard in the teaser. The melody in question was composed by a Trill named Joran Belar, and when Dax sees his picture, she has another hallucination. In it, the masked figure she saw in her previous hallucinations kills a man sitting at his desk and claims, "He left me no choice." Dax unmasks the figure, and it is revealed to be Joran. The revelation sends Dax into neural shock.

Determined to save Jadzia, Sisko and Bashir once again go to see Timor, but Timor is suddenly far more reticent. Sisko and Bashir conclude that a cover up is taking place and decide to investigate matters themselves. After discovering that Joran has been virtually erased from the Trill database, they track down his brother, Yolad, who acknowledges that Joran had a violent temper and probably did murder the doctor who recommended he not be joined. But Yolad also reveals his suspicion that, contrary to the official story, Joran was not washed out of the initiate program in his second year - that he was in fact joined to the Dax symbiont.

Armed with this new information, Sisko and Bashir confront Dr. Renhol and force her to admit that a far greater percentage of the Trill population is physiologically compatible with the symbionts than is generally reported by the Symbiosis Commission - a fact they learned when Joran was mistakenly joined with Dax. Sisko and Bashir threaten to make the Commission's secret public if something is not done to save Jadzia; Dr. Renhol protests, certain that reintegrating Joran with Dax's other memories would be very dangerous, but Sisko insists that Jadzia be allowed to make the choice herself.

Later, Dax descends into the symbiont pools and accepts Joran's memories as her own.

Overall: 6.3 - I know this score will disappoint my co-author, but I think the premise of this episode, while interesting, is not executed quite as well as it could've been.

Writing: 6

I'm not entirely convinced that an individual like Joran Belar would make it all the way to joining without being noticed by a staff psychologist - especially not since his own brother noticed he was emotionally unstable - but this premise bothers me less than the lack of follow-through. To put it simply, the reintegration of Joran with Dax should've been far more difficult. We should've seen Dax battle with Joran's compulsions and temper for at least several more episodes before reaching "equilibrium". But instead, Dax wades into the Milky Pool of Inner Harmony (a cousin of Farscape's Purple Light of Peace), and we hear nothing more about her internal struggle (in fact - please correct me if I'm wrong - I don't recall Joran being addressed again until Dax's zhian'tara at the end of the season). Such an ending is - well - kind of poopy.

On the other hand, there are some nice moments of friendship here that hint at René Echevarria's skill with characterization (for example, the very cute opening in Sisko's quarters), and the peek at Trill society is relatively interesting (and sets up Ezri's entrance in seventh season, which I'm sure makes my co-author very happy). Thus, the episode is not a total loss despite its failure to get the most out of its controlling concept.

Acting: 7

I hate to say it, but I think Terry Farrell is only slightly better than average when it comes to conveying Dax's shift in personality while under the influence of Joran's emerging memories. And I don't recall anything in the performances of the others that truly stands out.

Message: 6

As I noted above, the One Big Happy Family aspect of this episode is definitely very charming. However, I feel conflicted about the themes in the primary plot. On the one hand, I think Jadzia did need to know about Joran, just as we need to know about whatever dark tendencies lurk in our own souls. On the other hand, the conclusion of the episode also - perhaps accidentally - serves to advance the pop-psychological half-truth that confrontation and reintegration are the magic cures for trauma. In reality, that turns out not to be true in all cases; some folks do better when they repress.

Highlights

(Odo is awkwardly stirring one of Sisko's concoctions.)
SISKO: Keep at it, Constable. Nice, even strokes.
(He walks away. Kira then approaches with a fond smile on her face.)
ODO: Do you find something amusing, Major?
KIRA: I just think you look so cute. (Hee. *shameless Kira/Odo fangirling*)

SISKO: It's funny. It's been almost four years since Curzon died, and I still miss the old man. At first I never thought I'd ever get used to a new Dax, but if anything happens to Jadzia...
BASHIR: I know. I feel the same way. We'll just have to make sure nothing happens to her. Right?
SISKO: Right. (Awww.)

BASHIR: Look, Jadzia, I know you're worried, but the doctors at the Symbiosis Commission know a lot more about this than I do.
DAX: I can't believe I'm going back there. I spent three years as a Trill Initiate, and in all that time I hardly ever left the complex. After I was joined I swore I would never set foot in there again.
BASHIR: Was it really that bad?
DAX: No. What I remember is the endless series of tests they put me through.
BASHIR: Considering the risk of rejection, you can't really blame them. If they were to put a symbiont to an unsuitable host, they'd both be dead in a matter of days.
DAX: That's true. I guess I had such a difficult time because I put so much pressure on myself. I wanted to be joined so badly.
BASHIR: Well, look on the bright side. At least this time you won't be going there as an Initiate.
DAX: No, I'm going there as a patient, and that's much worse. I never told you this before, Julian, but I've always been afraid of doctors.
BASHIR: Most people are. When I was younger I was terrified of them.
DAX: Really?
BASHIR: They seemed to know everything. It was as if they held the power of life and death in their hands. I used to think that if I didn't behave, they'd make sure I got sick. Then as I got older, I decided that I wanted to know what they knew, be as smart as they were.
DAX: And that's why you went to medical school?
BASHIR: That's right. And you know what I learned there? That all I really wanted to do was help people. That's what doctors are there for, to help. So there's really no reason to be afraid of them. (A beat.) Now if that little story didn't put you to sleep, I don't know what will.
DAX: You're a very dear man, Julian. (*Gasp!* Was that Bashir being self-deprecating? You guys, I think he's growing! :))

BASHIR: Tell me, Doctor, how many of your people are suitable for joining?
RENHOL: I don't see how that's relevant.
BASHIR: I understand the percentage is very low. Maybe one in a thousand?
RENHOL: That's right.
BASHIR: Which is why the candidates are put through such rigorous testing.
RENHOL: That's how we make sure the symbionts aren't given to an unsuitable host.
BASHIR: What would happen if for some reason a symbiont was given to an unsuitable host?
RENHOL: That doesn't happen.
BASHIR: But what if it did?
RENHOL: Rejection would set in. The host and symbiont would both die.
BASHIR: How long before rejection would set in?
RENHOL: Three, maybe four days.
BASHIR: Then someone like Joran Belar, an unstable personality with violent tendencies, should have rejected a symbiont within a matter of days. Yet that didn't happen, did it? According to our information, he was joined to the Dax symbiont for six months.
SISKO: Six months, Doctor. If a man like Joran Belar can be joined successfully for that long, how many others can be joined as well? Hundreds, thousands? Certainly more than the Symbiosis Commission would have us believe. And that is what you've been trying to cover up all along, isn't it? That's why you're willing to let Jadzia die. I'm not interested in exposing your secret, Doctor. All I care about is Jadzia. And I promise you, if she dies, I will see to it that the entire planet knows why. (Look out, Dr. Renhol - you're about to incur the wrath of Mad Cap'n Benji!)