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When exactly did Jadzia Dax reject Julian Bashir (since her first words to him here definitely not rejection)? Also, first interaction between Bashir

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BohandiAnsoid

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I was just rewatching the first episode of Deep Space 9 and I noticed that Jadzia Dax’s first response to Bashir was most definitely not rejection. So, when did that rejection occur? I cannot pinpoint it (unlike Seven’s of Harry, this occurred in “Someone to watch over me”).

Also, I have a bit of hard time understanding Kira’s reaction to Bashir. And, honestly this is something I would say myself. After all, Bashir was technically correct, this was the border of charted space. I understand Kira had a bit of national pride, but why did she react so badly?

Also, I read some books written for DS9 early in its run in the past and it seems like their authors were under the impression that Jadzia/Julian is going to happen in the future.
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
But when it happened?
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Jadzia basically starts shooting him down beginning with the first scene of A Man Alone.

BohandiAnsoid said:
Also, I have a bit of hard time understanding Kira’s reaction to Bashir. And, honestly this is something I would say myself. After all, Bashir was technically correct, this was the border of charted space. I understand Kira had a bit of national pride, but why did she react so badly?
Click to expand...
It's not the border of anything for Kira. It's her home, and she didn't care for Bashir (accidentally) implying it was some kind of backwater.
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
Also, I have a bit of hard time understanding Kira’s reaction to Bashir. And, honestly this is something I would say myself. After all, Bashir was technically correct, this was the border of charted space. I understand Kira had a bit of national pride, but why did she react so badly?
Click to expand...
I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll just say that even if Bashir was correct (and that's a pretty arugable if), he might have chosen being nice over being honest and especially coming across as patronizing ("the almighty Federation is here to save you from your good-natured but hopelessly backward and primitive selves!").

if you decide to imply that other people are primitive as he did, I hope you're prepared for your audience to react less kindly than Kira did.
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
I was just rewatching the first episode of Deep Space 9 and I noticed that Jadzia Dax’s first response to Bashir was most definitely not rejection. So, when did that rejection occur?
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Sometimes it takes the actor awhile to figure out their character. We didn't see Dax's final version until midway through the second season.
 
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Oddish said:
Sometimes it takes the actor awhile to figure out their character. We didn't see Dax's final version until midway through the second season.
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This is true, but I'd argue we start seeing the final version in "RULES OF ACQUISITION", episode 7 in season 2. Her interactions with Quark and her conversations with Pel show this. And even in-universe, this makes sense at this time.

Three episodes earlier, in "INVASIVE PROCEDURES", Dax was stolen from her for a brief time. Jadzia felt very alone, she said to Julian on the table. When Dax was reintegrated back into her, she not only was able to not feel alone again, but she remembered everything Verad felt and knew... and "it's so sad".

I think, between those two things, it gave Jadzia a new, deeper appreciation of being joined, and to really live life to the fullest. Which would also explain her affinity for Klingon culture. Few races have a zest and lust for living in the moment than the Klingons. It's why they have basically no fear of death... staring death in the face reminds them they are alive. It's why they 'treat death like a lover', as Jadzia said to Kang. She's right about that.

What's great about this is that the change wasn't immediate in the next episode. It was a little bit at a time, which is believable because something as life altering as that you would see changes in increments until a fair amount of time passes and it becomes fully a part of you. (10 episodes later, we get "PLAYING GOD", when we see her doing all sorts of things like wrestling in the morning, eating at the Klingon restaurant, etc.)


It's one of the most subtle character developments you'll ever find, but it's all right there.
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
But when it happened?
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Since they never had a romantic relationship, there doesn't need to be a glaringly obvious ending point for it. It's pretty common for someone to think another person is interesting enough have coffee or a meal a few times without it turning into fireworks.
 
One thing worth noting... when Dr. Z. asks if Bashir offered "unwanted" advances to Dax, she responded: "No. But he was very persistent."

So was she really rejecting him?
 
Oddish said:
One thing worth noting... when Dr. Z. asks if Bashir offered "unwanted" advances to Dax, she responded: "No. But he was very persistent."

So was she really rejecting him?
Click to expand...
You can enjoy flirting without wanting to take it any further.



Besides, Jadzia seems to have had complicated (or at least evolving) feelings when it came to Julian.
Delighted by his initial interest. (Emissary)
Attempting to cool his ardor (A Man Alone)
Taken aback by his persistence for a time (Starship Down)
but quite possibly quite enjoyed it once she got used to it (Starship Down)
Did not describe his attentions as unwanted (Doctor Bashir, I Presume)
And would maybe have even taken their relationship to the next level if circumstances had been different. (Afterimage)
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
tAlso, I have a bit of hard time understanding Kira’s reaction to Bashir. And, honestly this is something I would say myself. After all, Bashir was technically correct, this was the border of charted space. I understand Kira had a bit of national pride, but why did she react so badly?
Click to expand...

I took is as the classic American comes in and tries to take over, new green recruit who's never gone farther than a school trip to Washington in 9th grade is posted to a remote base in the middle of Africa, then proceeding to wax lyrical about how he's out in the wild in the middle of nowhere to the local crew who were born a few miles away. Impossible for them to see the world through anyone elses eyes.
 
BohandiAnsoid said:
Also, I have a bit of hard time understanding Kira’s reaction to Bashir. And, honestly this is something I would say myself. After all, Bashir was technically correct, this was the border of charted space. I understand Kira had a bit of national pride, but why did she react so badly?
Click to expand...
He calls her home unimportant. One might take umbrage at this idea, especially after fighting for her home's freedom, and feeling like the provisional government was kowtowing to another foreign invader after the Cardassians left.
 
Bashir showed zero sensitivity towards the people he was supposedly there to help, and Federation arrogance to where he was. Bajor had been a spacefaring civilization much longer than humans and probably most of the rest of the Federation. But he acted like they were on edge of the Galaxy.

It would have been like a volunteer doctor showing up as soon as Dachau got liberated saying, "Look at all these sick people I get to work with! This is frontier medicine!"
 
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