Not too many scenes choke me up, but the one where Dax was saying goodbye to Sisko, and again when Sisko stopped by to see if she was ok...those got to me. I had to wipe tears away. Those two scenes were very well written and performed.
Not for me. I found it unbelievable that Dax would fall in love with the Guest Star so quickly in a few days that she was ready to leave everyone she'd ever known, and incidentally condemn her symbiont to die when Jadzia died due to lack of other Trills in the Meridien universe. She's supposed to be wise with the wisdom of centuries, but that kind of rash decision would be more typical of 17 year olds.
Some of the acting in the episode is good, but the writing and, most particularly, the directing are terrible.It really feels like a warmed over Troi romance episode. Deral was a terrible character, and the actor brought little energy to the part. The episode featured some complicated shots, but I question why Frakes did not work harder to ensure that the two leads were on the same page. I do give credit to Terry Farrell, who seems to be working hard to make this episode a success. That probably carries into her scenes with Brooks.
You inspired me to rewatch "Meridian" for the first time since original airing. What a weird episode. It has a lot of nice pieces... you're right, that talk between Sisko and Dax is good. The scene where Quark is giving Kira the "one millionth customer" prizes is also delightful. The way Nana Visitor plays her tentative excitement! "I never won anything before." The Jadzia/Deral relationship is so unpersuasive, though. "Let's climb a tree!" It's so generically written. And they don't even need it... it would have been more interesting and more believable if Dax was just excited by the chance to exist as pure energy for 60 years. It feels like you'd jump at the opportunity to explore that kind of existence, if you were hundreds of years old with hundreds more years to expect ahead of you. You can tell the exact same story with that motivation, and then you don't have to swallow that this is some great love story for the ages. "Eating berries by a lake!" So true. Poor Troi, the romances she was always saddled with were the absolute worst.
It would seem to be some lack of clarity as to what it means to be a multi-generational being. In the early seasons, there was more of an emphasis on the fragility of the symbiot, where the host is charged with protecting it--perhaps above her own life. After Facets, there is clearly more of a sense that the symbiots are thrill seekers, being almost immortal, thus willing to risk more in order to appease their curiosity and lust for life.
Does anyone know if this actually was a TNG/Troy holdover script? It seems quite likely, as the episode opens with "Despite the Dominion warning, we've decided to continue exploring the Gamma Quadrant." I think this is the first episode after "Jem Hadar/The Search" where they go "exploring" again and possibly the last? I'll have to look.
Seems like it originated with the DS9 staff. From Memory Alpha: It's the first time they go exploring since "The Search", but it feels like they're poking around the Gamma Quadrant just for the hell of it as late as "Children Of Time." Though the nominal mission there is so hazily defined... it could also be war-specific recon, I think.
Deral is a very synthetic Love Interest of The Week. Completely unconvincing. And he's one of the pivots that's supposed to tie the episode together, so the episode just doesn't quite come off. Farrell, Brooks and Auberjonois do give very worthy performances though.
I agree that the actual romance that spontaneously spawned between Dax and Deral was utterly ridiculous. It was almost embarrassing to watch them get all smitten with each other. But erase all that garbage and focus on the two scenes I mentioned in the OP...that's good stuff there. Great acting. I'm currently binge watching the series for the first time. I'd seen about 20 episodes until I started two weeks ago and I'm thrilled and excited to be experiencing this series for the first time.
"Exploring" Gamma is no doubt a dire military need for Starfleet, not to mention a political exercise in showing how the Dominion is impotent to prevent this from happening. But what's remarkable here is that Sisko was never tasked with exploring Gamma. He was just the gatekeeper, with no business going to the other side except when events on the Alpha side so warranted (fugitives to be returned, say) or for fun unrelated to duty (as in "Jem'Hadar"). Every week he watched a Starfleet or Klingon or random alien ship go swoosh through the wormhole to exciting adventures on the other side, and sighed... Now that Sisko flies the only starship capable of conducting armed recce in Gamma, he must be pretty excited about it, and desperate to keep the good thing going. "I have convinced Starfleet that, uh, we must continue, ahem, our exploration of Gamma" indeed! As for the plotline, Dax if anybody is the one for reckless spontaneity. Who else could have qualified? Bashir would be the only real young-and-rash candidate, and he never seemed to have ants in his pants about quitting his day job. Timo Saloniemi
I'm guessing this is the first real romance for Jadzia post joining, so it may have taken her by surprise. And then there's Curzon, no doubt saying, "You go, Girl." I thought their romance was sweet, but then, I liked Brigadoon.
In my opinion they did not know what to do with Jadzia Dax and the whole symbiote thing at the time. Dax is 300 years old, should act like an old wise man? Jadzia is 30, should act impulsive? Anyway, it took until they found a middle ground for the character
My head canon says Dax's transition from being studious and serious the first couple of seasons to more of a partier was because she was recently joined. Jadzia was positively grim, studying very hard, working very hard, being the careful Trill trying to earn a symbiont. Then came Curzon. First couple of seasons Jadzia prevailed, but then the confident, brash Curzon took over.