"The Muse"
I suspect I'm going to have a minority opinion here, but I actually liked this one. I don't think it's too highly regraded, but I can really relate to it.
The A-Story
Jake's a writer and he's on a roll even before Onaya shows up. He's writing what will become Anslem. I've been writing stories since I was 7. Unlike Jake, it took until my 40s before I had one that I thought I could turn into a novel and have finally begun writing one. It could take years before it's ready, but still. But even setting aside novel writing, when you're in a creative groove, like I've been in the past with writing scripts, you don't want to stop. You don't want anything to stop you or to get in the way. I personally wouldn't have turned down going to wherever Sisko and Kassidy went, since the locale might spark ideas, but I understand the sentiment.
Jake's way of writing is interesting. He comes up with the characters first. I come up with the story first, then think of characters who can serve that story. Then, later on, when I get to know the characters well enough, I switch to how the story builds off the characters. So, I start off story-driven and then it turns character-driven by the end of the process. I have no way of knowing, but it would be interesting to know if Jake sticks with a process that's entirely character driven.
Then the arrival of Onaya. She seems like an encouraging, nurturing influence. But no, she's the exact opposite. She puts art ahead of the artist. She gets Jake to write the first several pages of Anslem. Initially, I was wondering why she wanted Jake to get rest, then I put two and two together and realized she'd need several sessions with Jake in order to get him to write an entire novel. All she got out of him through one session was just the beginning of a novel. And a partial novel wouldn't make Jake as remembered as a full novel.
The energy that gets sucked out of Jake in putting together that novel, if Sisko hadn't driven Onaya off, then Jake would've become a one-novel wonder who died at 17. He would've been remembered as a prodigy. Sisko saving Jake's life here, so he can continue to live out his life is unintentionally a parallel to "The Visitor" when Elderly Jake sending Sisko back, so his father could also live out his life.
When Onaya turns into a being of energy and escapes, after Sisko finally finds her with Jake, it reminded me of Babylon 5. An energy being like that would've fit right in over there. Unlike Babylon 5 however, DS9 has a character who's a writer. So, even though Onaya might seem B5-like, this is a DS9 story through and through.
One more thing I want to talk about with this part of the episode. The decor. I loved the way Onaya decorated he quarters. It looked very spiritual and New Age. Ironic that if she'd succeeded, then Jake himself would've become only a spirit.
The B-Story
This is probably one of my favorite Lwaxana Troi stories. After nine seasons, between TNG and DS9, she's finally found a husband. Then she has to face the reality of it instead of the idea. Jeyel, played by Michael Ansara, is Lwaxana's husband. Michael Ansara was perfect in this role. He insists on raising his male child that Lwaxana's pregnant with. In his society, boys are raised by men and girls are raised by women. They don't know about the opposite sex until the age of 16. So, Jeyel wants to take Lwaxana's son away from her.
Jeyel seems like he might be an honorable man, even though I don't agree with the way his society does things, but -- at the same time -- I have to wonder if Jeyel was lying to Lwaxana when promised they wouldn't raise their child in the traditional way. I have two theories: 1) either he was sincere but pressured by his society do things by tradition, or 2) he was desperate to have a son, and said whatever he could -- whether he meant it or not -- to make sure he would get one. As the episode went on, it seemed to me like he wanted a son more than he wanted a wife.
Case-in-point: When Odo figures out that only the mother's husband would have custody over the child and not the boy's father, Odo and Lwaxana get married and nullify Jeyel's marriage to her. As expected, Jeyel objects at first and Odo explains why he loves Lwaxana. Later on, Lwaxana says she almost believed it. Maybe Odo even made himself believe it, but it's genuine how much he appreciates that Lwaxana accepted him for who and what he is, going all the way back to "The Forsaken" in the first season.
After that, Jeyel could've asked the question, "Then why did you reject her before?" The easiest follow-up question he could've asked. The easiest rebuttal. But he doesn't. I think that Jeyel realized that he couldn't be with a woman who would go through with what he thought was such a sham. That's if he felt pressured by his society and then overcompensated by acting super-traditionalist. On the other hand, if he only wanted to have a son, then he could've thought he'd just look elsewhere. I appreciate that they left Jeyel's motivations for leaving up to interpretation.
The scenes with Lwaxana in Odo's quarters were fun to watch. I think Odo really did want Lwaxana to stick around, but she was right. She'd want to be more than just friends with Odo if she stayed, it wouldn't happen, then she'd resent him and didn't want to ruin their friendship over that. All of that makes sense.
I have to wonder what happened to Lwaxana after she returned to Betazed to raise her son. I also wonder what happened to them when the Dominion capture Batezed two seasons from now. That's also something open to interpretation. I'm sure there are novels covering it. I wish it was touched upon in Picard, but back to "The Muse".
Summing Up
A low-key episode with a lot of depth, when you look at the layers. Both of these could've been the A-story, but I chose to call Jake's story the A-story since the episode was titled after his muse and it's what opens up the episode. I give it a 7.
