Jadzia Dax - trill angle reviewed

[jonds91]

As I've said in previous threads I am a fan of the whole trill symbiotic angle in DS9. I was shocked when Jadzia died but Ezri's character has grown on me as I reach mid 7th season. I think she had her best performance in 7x13 Field of Fire, and one of the few times we got to see the deeper relationship between trill and host. I wish DS9 had more episodes like these.

Since Jadzia's death was unplanned, I was wondering how a proper planned death of a trill host could have played out. The death of Jadzia was painful especially since she and Worf were planning a family. This type of stuff hits audiences hard.

Had the writers decided on a planned death route, then mid or end of Season 3 would have been the best time I feel. We could have seen courtship between Worf and Jadzia for a year, marriage, plans for a family and then Jadzia dies. In Season 4 a new male trill host would have been introduced and the romance angle with Worf revisited. Let's not forget the same sex angle was visited briefly when Jadzia met one of Dax's ex-wives and fell hard for her in Rejoined. So this is not new.

I could see this working out well. There is initial conflict in Season 4 between Worf and the new male Dax. Jealousy on Worf's part when male Dax has other lovers. Perhaps a fight or two but then gradual re-kindling of the romance. They could have even reworked the Kira pregnancy angle and had her deliver a surrogate child for Worf and male Dax.

 

[Tosk]

I'm far from the first to say this, but Change of Heart should have been the ep where Jadzia died.

 

[jonds91]

That would have been the logical place for her to die if the writers knew about her plans on leaving the show. I don't know when Farrel revealed her intentions to the producers so can't comment.

My intention of this thread was more to focus on the trill/host relationship and also how it affects those who become close to the trill/host.

 

[cultcross]

I'm far from the first to say this, but Change of Heart should have been the ep where Jadzia died.

Absolutely. If Worf had gone against orders to save Jadzia at the expense of the defector's life, and it hadn't worked, that would be a hell of an episode.

 

[cultcross]

My intention of this thread was more to focus on the trill/host relationship and also how it affects those who become close to the trill/host

One thing i found interesting was the change made between The Host and DS9 - not the make-up, that was just sensible, but the relationship between host and symbiote. It's implied in The Host that the symbiote is the being you interact with and the host is pretty much just a body, similar to the Goa'uld of the Stargate franchise. But DS9 addressed the issue of why you would want to become a host at all and showed much more of a symbiotic relationship and a shared life, a blending not one being overridden by the other. To continue my Stargate analogy, more like the Tok'ra, but one blended voice, not two beings in one body. I thought the DS9 approach to Trills was rather interesting actually, it's one of my favourite aspects of the show.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

One thing i found interesting was the change made between The Host and DS9 - not the make-up, that was just sensible, but the relationship between host and symbiote. It's implied in The Host that the symbiote is the being you interact with and the host is pretty much just a body, similar to the Goa'uld of the Stargate franchise. But DS9 addressed the issue of why you would want to become a host at all and showed much more of a symbiotic relationship and a shared life, a blending not one being overridden by the other. To continue my Stargate analogy, more like the Tok'ra, but one blended voice, not two beings in one body. I thought the DS9 approach to Trills was rather interesting actually, it's one of my favourite aspects of the show.

In the early seasons, this was by far the most important part of the Trill story: the relationship between the two aspects, the responsibility of the host to the symbiot, and the fragility of the symbiot itself. The focus on Jadzia's love life in the later episodes was nice, adding to what was a shallow pool of stories concerning marriage, but it was also reductive. While it would have been interesting to have explored relationships beyond gender, it would be more a propos inn the early seasons to explore the trauma that came to new hosts as the symbiot incorporated new experiences of violence and death--especially if Dukat had also injured the symbiot--to the new host. What if the symbiot brought physical and mental disabilities to a new host? I think that it would be an interesting comment on how society treats the sick. You could still have some story about the new Trill relates to former friends and lovers, but it would be more in line with where the character started.

 

[DonIago]

My only concern about having Jadzia die in "Change of Heart" is that I don't see how Worf could have kept Dax alive at that point. I suppose you could have her go comatose on the planet and actually die subsequently.

I've always felt that having Dax implanted into another woman was a bit of a wasted opportunity, but I understand the concern about gender demographics on the show. Too bad there wasn't really room to add another female character at that point.

 

[mlbach]

I found it interesting how they changed the Trill from TNG's The Host. Much preferred the Trills in DS9. The way they were presented in The Host, it seemed as though the host was completely overridden by the symbiont. When Odan inhabited Riker, there was no Riker there. The new female host seemed to have no personality at all before being joined with Odan. I thought the wrist kiss was an odd caress, but after the sex switch I understood--they didn't want to have a kiss on the lips. The inner wrist isn't very sexually charged in our culture. And Odan wasn't at all concerned about reassociating with a former lover. And, obviously, the humanoid host looks like a different species altogether. Hopefully, that's explained in a fanfic, because it isn't explained in canon.

 

[USS Firefly]

My only concern about having Jadzia die in "Change of Heart" is that I don't see how Worf could have kept Dax alive at that point. I suppose you could have her go comatose on the planet and actually die subsequently.

They could have both Jadzia and Dax die.

 

[DonIago]

So much for the novelty of having a Trill character, at that point.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

So much for the novelty of having a Trill character, at that point.

Not necessarily, Mr. Chekov. The novelty is also in the inner conflict of personalities and the things carried over from lifetime to lifetime.

 

[DonIago]

Er...if the Trill character dies along with their symbiont, there's nothing to carry over.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

You mean Dax carried over nothing from Cuzron?

 

[DonIago]

My understanding is that we've been discussing the notion of having Jadzia Dax die in "Change of Heart". I could have gotten behind the notion of Jadzia dying in the episode, but killing the symbiont as well, for my money, would have been a waste.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Killing Dax in Change of Heart would not necessarily mean killing the symbiont. Maybe Worf got her home just barely not in time.

I wonder if Trill society frowns on high risk careers for joined Trills. Hosts who put themselves in situations with a high likelihood of deaths that would also kill the symbiont. Dax hosts seem to be rife with these careers.

Dax dying in Change of Heart would have made the episode better, but frankly, ANY death would have been better than just "Dax happens to be near the orb at the wrong time". They could have kept her dying in the same episode but had her die in combat on the Defiant. There's some radiation leak or engine fire or something and Dax tries to put it out and something explodes and kills her. That would have been perfectly fine. The way she died was just plain weak.

 

[DonIago]

It did seem unfortunately coincidental.

 

[Tosk]

That's life. Not everyone gets to die a "hero's death".

 

[DonIago]

That's not the point. This wasn't an example of Tasha Yar's "killed by an oil slick" meaningless death (which I appreciate precisely because I think it's flagrantly unrealistic for everyone to get a heroic death), but worse because it's clear that Jadzia only happens to be in the shrine during the five minute period where Dukat appears there because behind the scenes issues mandated that she be there.

It's on par with Trip's death in TATV, where he's clearly dying because TPTB want him dead.

If it had been a random yellowshirt or a Bajoran priest or such, we could have at least argued "Well, an orb is there, so it makes sense that there'd be people around". Hell, a random yellowshirt and Jadzia would have made more sense.

 

[mlbach]

Whaaaaat? Why did they want him dead? (Though he did get a pretty good exit line...)
But yeah, they should have done better by Jadzia. (Evil Dukat apologizing on behalf of the evil producers notwithstanding... )

 

[Bad Thoughts]

OMG! We're back to this canard. It took months of writing, casting, costuming, directorial preparation, and special effects work BEFORE filming began. Turning a story around to center on one character's departure was nigh impossible.