“Melora”
“I’m not being a creep, honestly, but you have the loveliest...forehead ridges.”
While starting to type this review, autocorrect insisted on changing “Melora” to “Melodrama”. Make of that what you will!
This is one of those episodes that you come to in a series rewatch and, if it weren’t for a completist/slightly OCD streak, you might be tempted to skip. It’s certainly not one I’d ever throw on for sheer enjoyment. Nevertheless, I try to set aside any preconceived notions about an episode before I begin and endeavour to watch with a fresh eye. “Melora” isn’t a horribly bad, but it is pretty poor in my opinion.
It’s the first of a handful of romance-of-the-week episodes this season, and if memory serves, they’re all varying degrees of “meh”. I really don’t know why the writers kept insisting on these formulaic romance episodes back in the day. Star Trek has a pretty appalling track record when it comes to ‘love stories’ because, frankly, it’s almost impossible to tell a convincing love story in the course of 42 minutes. For every “City on the Edge of Forever” we get a dozen “Aquiel”s. Besides, I see love as a whole lot different from infatuation and elevated brain chemicals, which is pretty much what this “love at first sight” schtick amounts to. You can also be pretty much guaranteed that the relationship will be over by the end credits, which makes a fair percentage of these stories feel a little pointless. It won’t be until season four’s “Rejoined” that DS9 delivers a genuinely good love story.
Of course, “Melora” is not just a love story but a look at disability. Technically, Melora is not disabled per se, but anywhere outside of her home planet she struggles with the heightened gravity, leaving her largely wheelchair bound. It’s an interesting concept (and was, I believe, the original concept for Jadzia before they realised how restrictive that would be on a week by week basis). If Trek were a little more realistic, it would make sense that every other species would have gravity-related issues, because generally it’s assumed that pretty much every species and planet we encounter has the same gravity as Earth—which is, well, highly improbable. But, like the universal translator, that’s just one of those things it’s best not to think about too much.
I think the writers’ hearts were in the right place here. But sadly, the execution is shoddy. Melora herself comes across as terribly unlikable for the first couple of acts. She’s hostile and belligerent, accusing the crew of giving her special treatment when they’re doing nothing of the sort. Apparently in the original script they were going overboard to make sure she was comfortable. This was cut from the script, and yet Melora’s angry rant was left in, making it seem to come out of nowhere. The way she introduces herself to Sisko (“how DARE you start this meeting without me!”) and questions orders and generally gets people’s backs up is not only rude but rather insubordinate for an ensign.
That’s part of the problem with the character: she claims that she doesn’t want to be treated differently to anyone else, but she
behaves differently and not very professionally at times. Furthermore, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to be defined by her disability, yet it’s virtually all she talks about. That’s my big problem here: there’s really nothing else TO the character. Apart from some minor biographical details, we really don’t learn who she is as a person. Even the “girl talk” scenes with Jadzia don’t much help. Daphne Ashbrook does her best with a weak script and underwritten character, and it’s to her credit that once she softens, we almost manage to forget what a jerk she is in her first few scenes. By the end, I wasn’t unsympathetic to her, but there still wasn’t enough to make me care.
Same with the Bashir romance. Siddig is quite charming throughout, even though initially I was worried we were going to be in for some Geordi/Leah Brahms levels of creepiness. But he gives an earnest performance, and is definitely far more likeable than he was in some of the early first season episodes. The romance, however, is strictly by the numbers stuff (albeit with the novelty of zero-gravity canoodling) and had zero emotional resonance for me.
The moralistic tone also gives the episode a kind of “Very Special Episode” feel, and while I think the issue of disability is an important one that Trek hasn’t really delved into sufficiently, the overall message seems to amount to “my disability is actually my super-power and I wouldn’t want to get rid of it even if I could.” Is that a life-affirming, hopeful message, or is it a little crass and condescending for real-world disabled people who don’t have such a choice? I think it’s well enough intentioned, but I honestly don’t know. Of course, the climax on the runabout is meant to show how Melora’s ‘disability’ saves the day, complete with the naff Superwoman flying lunge. While I liked that the sub-plot dovetailed into the main plot, it was also a little weak, too, with Quark’s aggrieved nemesis altogether lacking the menace he needed (contrast this with Steven Berkoff in season five’s “Business as Usual”).
What did I like? Well, some of the scenes between Bashir and Melora had charm, and I LOVED the Klingon restaurant scenes. The chef was a hoot and might have made for a fun recurring character if they’d brought him back beyond another singular appearance. There’s also a fun scene with Odo and Quark, but all in all, it’s a forgettable and weak instalment with a well-intentioned but ineffective and muddled message.
Rating: 4
