Jadzia's Death

[SonOfMogh]

Am I the only one who likes the way Jadzia got a fairly low key death rather than yet another big, heroic, noble, self sacrificial, important death scene....?

Ok so I hated the 'magic' in DS9 and all the evil red eye Dukat stuff, but I thought since the character was going anyway it was cool that she was just "gunned down" without any warning, audience to admire her bravery or chance to defend herself. It made it feel realistic and natural (which is a hell of an achievement for a scene involving a devil-possessed psycho who has the power to shoot Evil Magic out of his hands).

I kinda wish it could have been even more low key, and just have her be one of the people caught by a stray phaser in one of the ground war scenes. That would have been even more affecting than Nog's injury and for anyone not reading spoilers would have been a shock reminder that these kinds of engagements are actually dangerous.... for main characters you've invested 6 years in and not random security ensigns you've never seen before.

I sat through some of those battles such as the Klingons boarding DS9 thinking.... wow look at Bashir pound on that Klingon, wow Dax just killed a 7ft Klingon by tapping him with her shoe... Look Sisko can take them all on!! Danger would have added more excitement.

Just want to say that since I'm not a regular poster I want to make it clear DS9 is prob my favourite TV show of all time and I'm not needlessly bashing. Just one bad cliche that carried over from other Treks was that partial lack of danger and feeling of safety during scenes of conflict. Although I did think Muniz death was good, being that he was a semi regular, and the whole Nog losing his leg and actually being followed up was awesome.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

I thought it was good, too.... you know, to show how death can strike anyone anywhere, that it makes you feel helpless and that it seems meaningless to the people who're left behind.

I'm with you on hating the magic bit, too. It was stupid and wiped away all shades of grey, turning the show into a goodies versus TEH.EVULZ fight. Meh.

 

[Navaros]

I agree she didn't deserve any kind of heroic death.

However, I don't agree she got a good death.

I agree with Moore's plan for her death that Berman 86'ed.

http://movies.ign.com/articles/444/444306p8.html

IGNFF: Is there anything that you can point out that you fought for?

MOORE: I fought pretty hard to not have Dax die the way that she died. I wanted to lose the character in a way that was like a gut punch. I wanted Dukat to execute her. I can't remember what he's doing, but he beams into that place to get the Ark of the Covenant…Not the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Orb… and she surprises him or something, and gets the drop on him. But the idea in the original was she somehow stumbled across it, or was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Dukat got her, and he just f***ing executes her. And it was brutal, and it was supposed to be shocking, and it was supposed to really hit you. And Rick adamantly refused. He just adamantly would not let us do it. "She's got to fire a shot, and has to die shooting at him! She has to die in a heroic way! Da da da… And I was just like, "Come on." And I don't think it works the way it is now.

IGNFF: Dukat kind of waves his hand, she exhales, and she drops to the ground…

MOORE: Yeah, exactly…It's very flat.

Alternatively, they could have simply killed her in Change of Heart.

Either way would have been much better than what they put on-screen.

 

[SonOfMogh]

Agree with both above posters, and Moore's planned death would have been awesome. She wouldn't logically have gone into a temple to pray for her unborn baby armed with a phaser...

Would have been great if Dukat beamed in, Jadzia tried to fight him... and since he's a Cardassian soldier with, ya know, about a 60 pound weight advantage he just overpowered her and broke her neck.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

A fight would have ended badly.... think of all cringe-worthy fight scenes there's been involving DS9's women.

 

[PTRACER]

I agree that Change Of Heart would have been the best time to kill her off. The way the episode turned out was rather interesting, but it would have made more sense for her to die there and then.

There were two ways they could do it:

1. Worf runs off to find the Cardassian spy and decides to try and save Jadzia's life, only to get back too late and find she's already dead...
2. Worf runs off to find the Cardassian spy, succeeds and helps the war effort greatly.

She could have had a meaningful, heroic death - dying in Worf's arms while trying to do something very important for the war effort, but the writers decided she should be killed by a possessed Dukat in the Bajoran shrine...A bit of a flat ending for her.

 

[cabby]

They should have killed her off in Change of Heart.

IMO it would have made Worf a lot more interesting the next season.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

1. Worf runs off to find the Cardassian spy and decides to try and save Jadzia's life, only to get back too late and find she's already dead...
2. Worf runs off to find the Cardassian spy, succeeds and helps the war effort greatly.

Or 3. Worf runs off to find the Cardassian spy, they both find Jadzia already dead, Cardassian says one smart-ass thing too many and Worf snaps his neck.

 

[startrekwatcher]

A good example of a character death on Trek that isn't heroic yet was well done was Yar's. Jadzia's just fell flat. I don't know but it just didn't work. I like Moore's idea posted. It really would have worked better as a rather vicious and methodical slaying--something that would have left you after the credits had rolled still haunted and a little shook up by what had just taken place.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I thought it was good, too.... you know, to show how death can strike anyone anywhere, that it makes you feel helpless and that it seems meaningless to the people who're left behind.

Yeah- it was kind of refreshing to see someone in Trek not go out in a blaze of glory. Even though "Change of Heart" set up a perfect exit, I'm glad they didn't go that route. Even "heroes" rarely go out in a heroic fashion, so having Jadzia die the way she did was a nice change of pace.

 

[Jbarney]

This is going to sound really mean, but they probably could have killed her off in the first season and I would not have minded. The only bit of the Dax character or Trill background that I really got into was the idea that almost all of the Trill could actually be a host. That was awesome. I almost feel bad saying it, but I think I prefer Ezri Dax over Jadzia.....so Jadzia's death was kinda "enh" for me. From what other posters have described I really like the idea that Dukat would have killed her off in a more violent ending.

 

[Damask]

Would have been great if Dukat beamed in, Jadzia tried to fight him... and since he's a Cardassian soldier with, ya know, about a 60 pound weight advantage he just overpowered her and broke her neck.

Weight advantage doesn't mean anything to DS9 women.

 

[GotNoRice]

I might have liked it if it had some from a creative point of view and was done purely for the story.

But as a "Well this actress didn't renew her contract, time to off her", it will always feel just as it was, tacky and cheesy.

 

[Lee T]

I'd have preferred she died in Change of Heart, it would have been a better death and it would have prevented the introduction of the new Dax to chew valuable time from the 7th season.

 

[flemm]

It felt somewhat perfunctory, though I thought Worf's last scene with Jadzia salvaged it.

I don't think Jadzia dying in Change of Heart would have worked. That would pretty much have neutered the episode by turning it into a standard example of duty before all. Alternately, I guess they could have had Worf make the same decision, but fail to save her. In that case, though, grief over her death would have overshadowed Worf's decision to place his love for her above duty, which is what makes the episode interesting.