Absolute worst character in DS9 History: Ezri Dax

I never cared that much for Ezri. Then again, I never cared that much for Jadzia, either.

I do think that over the course of a few years, she could have grown into an interesting character. But she only got one.

 

The novels take on Ezri is interesting.

 

I feel like they made her too much like Jadzia. You know, a kind of epic badass leader.

 

Ezri was an essentially unformed character at the start. She and Dax had just come together, a host and symbiont with only limited compatibility. So who knows what kind of person they will turn into, once the nine seperate personalities finally settle into a coherent whole?

 

Frak off, I love both Ezri and Jadzia.

I can see how someone following the series as it aired would definitely hate Ezri. Jadzia was the best character for the the first six seasons, and losing her had to hurt. Rushing to develop Ezri in the last season would certainly not help, as it would seem like they were cramming her down the audience's throats.

But I only got into DS9 years after it ended, and went in already knowing Ezri would replace Jadzia. Coming from that angle, I may have an easier time seeing the faults and merits of both characters (and actressess).

Objectively, both actresses were often bad, in different ways. Terry Ferrell was often monotone, and Ezri's voice could be grating at times. And I forgive both, because Jadzia was fun as hell, and Ezri was lovable and interesting.

And while I love both Jadzia and Ezri, they frankly developed Ezri's character more in one season than they did Jadzia in six. Most of Jadzia's episodes were devoted to exploring the Trill in general; we learn very little about what makes Jadzia different from any other Dax host. We never met her family, or learned her previous last name onscreen. (I know it's given as Idaris in the books.) Even in the episode where Jadzia is separated from Dax, she spends most of it unconscious; that would've been the perfect moment to show us who Jadzia was, but all we saw was that she was "so alone" without Dax.

I agree with Seven of Five; they should've killed Jadzia and brought Ezri in earlier. Much as it hurts to see Jadzia go, they'd *need* to kill her and do a host switch, to fully utilize this character. I might not say that about another joined Trill character, but Dax was the first, the one from which we the audience would learn about the Trill through. I was honestly stunned when I learned that they hadn't planned her death from the start, and that it was just by chance that her actress was the one asking to leave.

That said, I am very salty that they didn't bring Jadzia back via a dream, or a Trill ritual, to interreact with Ezri. Farrell even said she'd gladly do a recurring role, she just didn't want to be a regular anymore. Why they didn't take her up on that offer, and give Ezri some spiritual/mental meet-ups with her predecessor, will forever baffle me.

 

I liked both Jadzia and Ezri, but I never saw them as the best characters on the show. Not against competition like Garak, Odo, Quark, Weyoun, Dukat...

 

Jadzia was necessary for Ezri, because we needed to see how Trill symbiosis worked when done properly. With no context, we can't properly appreciate what happens when it goes awry.

 

No, I don't agree.

Sure, season 7 might be up there as the worst, but it's not entirely Ezri's fault

Far too much Vic Fontaine for my taste. Far too many 'lets see what sort of wacky situations we can put them into this week' episodes.

The casino heist, really? The baseball game? Cmon. You ought to have called it at the end of the 6th. "we have no new stories left to tell"

Poor Nog losing his leg was a standout episode for mine, as was the entire war. Definitely the best part of the season, and the show.

As for Ezri, well. I would have loved it if the producers of the show trolled the fans by swapping out Terry with Nicole and just leaving the character unchanged as Jadzia. Nobody says anything or notices that Jadzia 'has a new body', the show just carries on. Kind of how Saavik was replaced between the second and third movies. That would have been entertaining.

 

A passing of the torch within the Dax consciousness would've been interesting to see between Jadzia and Ezri; the showrunner could've wrote something for fans who loved the series but it never happened. Lets blame Rick Berman even though he wasn't running the writers' room a give Ira Behr and pass.

 

That episode wasn't so bad, although I don't know why people who live in a (supposedly) post-scarcity society would ever care about recreating a place like Las Vegas, circa 1960, and involve a black man who is knowledgeable about that time and who'd never want to be involved due to how he feels about that time.

That wasn't bad either, but it should've been soccer (association football) and not baseball.

Funny, that's how I feel about the sixth and seventh seasons of this show. The difference between it and DS9 is that DS9 had great stories to tell and a great overarching story for its last two seasons, the Dominion War, while the producers of the other show mentioned by me should've quit in 1970 owing to stories about American agents meddling in the affairs of other nations not being cool anymore for the young (and urban) audience its network was trying to attract due to it masterminding this societal changeover in TV viewing.

Those were great moments, yes.

That kind of thing isn't really objectionable (as a concept) to me, but for a lot of people, it is, which is why it's not done anymore, and this paradigm is now the norm in TV instead.

 

Terry Farrell has stated many times that Rick Berman was her reason for leaving. Farrells treatment by Berman was why she later refused to allow images of her to be used in the flashback/fond memories segments of 'What you leave behind'

 

I liked the Vic and the casino heist and baseball game shows. I'm glad we didn't get "space battle of the week" shows all through the 7th season. In war, there are intervals of terror, but there are long periods of boredom in between and keeping people engaged is important. See South Pacific with the troops putting on a show, trading with the locals, and getting into minor trouble on surrounding islands, while they build up troop and supply strength to go on to take the next island. Baseball was established as Sisko's game right back to season 1, so it just wasn't going to be football.

 

I've made it to the end of the series.

Have to admit I am not a fan of the whole 'Ben Sisko was our secret plan all along' space prophet arc.

But holy shit I was blown away by how Jadzia was completely ignored those flashback scenes. Weird how the absence of a thing can often be more visible than the thing itself

 

Worse than Special Olympics Rom?

 

What do you mean by "Special Olympics" here?

 

To some degree, you just can't win. Once Farrell departed with only 1 season left, the only thing they could've done that wouldn't anger somebody was leave her dead. Failing that, you either have people complaining that too much time was spent trying to shoehorn her character development into a single season, or that the character was ignored and poorly served by a writing staff that should never have brought her on.

Really the only problem I had with Ezri is that her introduction painted her too much like a kid, which necessitated her growing up too fast. Yes, she was young, but she was also a Lt. and an academy graduate with at least a couple years experience under her belt. She acted more like a raw cadet than forever-Ensign Kim. Then, confusingly, you take this kid who seemed to - either because of who she already was ,or because of being unprepared for the symbiont - barely have her own stuff together, and make her the station's Counselor? Obviously she'd just been introduced, but what in her mannerisms, bearing, record, etc. made anybody think she was in a position to take on that position? That just smacked of sombody in the writers room saying "Well, she has to do something, and what haven't we had anybody do yet..? Oh yeah, we'll make her a young, inexperienced Deanna Troi."

 

Classy.