“MERIDIAN”
Jadzia regretted her decision to rewatch this episode, too...
The good things, first of all—and, contrary to what some might claim, there ARE good things. I’d totally forgotten that Jonathan Frakes directed this one, and he does his trademark slap-bang job; so, at the very least, the episode is visually impressive. It’s always refreshing to get some all-too rare location work...and I half expected Lwaxana Troi and Mr Homm to appear with a picnic at the lake (I’m pretty sure this is the exact spot they filmed Betazed in “Ménage a Troi”). Dennis McCarthy’s score is actually utterly lovely and sweetly melodic and the village set and lighting is nice. Terry Farrell is also charming as heck and does her best with terribly substandard material. Oh, and there’s a simply lovely scene between Dax and Sisko as she prepares to leave that I genuinely find affecting, thanks to the strong, heartfelt performances of Brooks and Farrell, who really sell their characters’ bond.
The sub-plot is fairly entertaining, even if a little awkward in this more socially aware, post-#Metoo age. TNG had previously hinted that holodecks could possibly used for less than, um, pure motives (step forward Reginald Barclay and Geordi LaForge!). Given that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, it only stands to reason that there would be quite bit of holographic...shenanigans going on. The plot also feels strangely timely, with the rise of AI and deep fakes making it possible to make people appear to do things they would never do. Of course, this is all played for laughs, and even though on rewatching I found it just a tad creepy, I still let out a laugh when I saw Quark’s head superimposed on Kira’s body. Jeffrey Combs makes his first of many many appearances, but is strangely forgettable as...crap, I can’t even remember the dude’s name, and I’m not about to look it up. That maybe says it all. But what I did enjoy was seeing Odo and Kira team up and the delightful scene where Kira pretends to be Odo’s lover, leaving the Constable uncharacteristically speechless.
The rest of the episode? I won’t lie, it’s not good. It feels like a particularly “meh” discarded TNG plot, with Dax inheriting what would have doubtlessly been Troi’s role; as she did have a tendency to hook up with bland and unappealing men just because the plot warranted it. Sadly, this utterly fails as a romance for many reasons. Firstly, Brett Cullen is just dull as Deral—nowhere near Vedek Boreil levels of zombie-bland, but a pretty face alone really ain’t enough if you lack the charisma and personality to back it up. It’s never really clear what Jadzia sees in him and the chemistry is non-existent. Their courtship, however, is laid on pretty thick and comes complete with one of the unsexiest “sexy lines” of all time: “let’s go count each other spots”. Ew. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the line not been repeated at least twice. Why Jadzia is suddenly acting like a love-struck teenager and willing to throw away her life, career and friends to hop into another dimension for sixty years with a bloke she just met...well, that’s just anyone’s guess. It’s completely out of character and felt wholly artificial.
There is an esoteric something about the concept I like, and a Brigadoon type plot had potential, but it’s just badly executed. It bugged me that Sisko is exploring the Gamma Quadrant for no discernible reason (don’t they have jobs on the station?) in spite of the Dominion threat. It bugged me that, yet again, we get a planet where the only inhabitants fit in a small village because that’s all the episodic budget and scope for world-building permits. I do maintain this episode isn’t QUITE as dreadful as some claim, because there are some nice elements, as listed above, but as a romance it’s a total failure and as an episode of DS9 it’s also a failure because it tells us nothing about the characters, who are simply there to service a feeble, pointless plot.
Rating: 3
