17. The Forsaken

Summary

As a group of Federation ambassadors, inclduing Lwaxana Troi, visit the station (and are outraged to be assigned a flustered Julian as their liaison), a mysterious probe comes through the wormhole and downloads a program into DS9's computers which begins disabling the systems. Meanwhile, Lwaxana falls hard for Odo, who helped her recover her stolen latinum hair brooch. She maneuvers the uneasy Constable into a turbolift, which promptly becomes stuck due to the program's system intrusions. The Chief discovers that the program is an active presence and doesn't like to be left alone...whenever he leaves, something happens to bring him back. Lwaxana tries to draw Odo into conversation but he is his usual closed-mouth self...not to mention he is uneasy that his regeneration time is fast approaching. Eventually he opens up a bit and shares some memories of his rather traumatic childhood with Lwaxana, but when he begins to lose his shape he withdraws, for no one has ever seen him like that. Lwaxana eases his discomfort by removing her wig...no one has ever see her like that, either. Odo can't hold his shape anymore but Lwaxana catches him in her skirts. The Chief coaxes the invading program into an out-of-the way subroutine and the computer returns to normal function, as Julian earns the trust of the grouchy ambassadors by saving them from a plasma fire.

Analysis

The Forsaken definitely has its moments, but it's a pretty disjointed as a whole. The invading-computer-program plot falls pretty short, I know I've never found it very interesting. On the other hand, this is one of the first peeks we get into Odo's head and his scenes in the turbolift with Lwaxana are priceless. The two have an almost vaudevilleian sense of timing together. I've never been a huge Lwaxana fan but I always did like her interactions with Odo, she being so up-front about everything and he being so closed-off about everything. Julian's crappy babysitting assignment is also amusing, as is Sisko's delight at foisting it upon him. The curmedgeonly ambassadors are a bit of a cliche, but they serve a purpose. H owever, their 180 degree transformation from naysaying grouches to doting Julian groupies just because he shoved them into an access tube to get away from a plasma fire is really contrived...as is the plasma fire itself, actually.

Rating: 6.5

Memorable Quote:

A tie:

"Nothing makes them happy! They are dedicated to being unhappy and to spreading that unhappiness wherever they go! They are the Ambassadors of Unhappy!" --a frustrated Julian

"Procreation does not involved changing how you smell, or writing bad poetry, or sacrificing various plants to serve at tokens of affection!" --Odo

Classic Scene:

I'm partial to the scene in Odo's office where Lwaxana first demonstrates her...ahem, enthusiasm for him.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"The young woman has over 300 years experience." --Bashir, re Dax

The O/K Status Report

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