As Ezri Dax tries to get used to who she is, and what she wants to do with her life, her counselling skills are needed to help Garak overcome his claustrophobia.
This is one of those episodes that had to be done rather than actually being an interesting story in its own right. After the heavy plotting of the two part opener, Afterimage has pretty much solely an A-plot, as Ezri tries to come to terms with the way her colleagues see her.
There are several key problems here that the viewer has to gloss over to enjoy the episode. Firstly, that the station suddenly has an opening for a counsellor just as Ezri turns up. Second, that Garak has stopping his tricky, scheming, lying ways and is now happy to talk through his problems and tell people about his past, something which seems wholly out of character. p>Most of the Cardassian’s past has only been revealed by insinuation up to now, and this sudden honesty is rather odd. I half-expected it to all be a cunning ploy to make Ezri feel needed and keep her on the station. The other aspect is that Ezri's counselling skills really don't seem to impressive in this episode, especially when her first patient tries to chuck himself out of an airlock. Still, hopefully she'll get better.
It's nice to see the stages of acceptance from the various main crew members, as their feelings are brought out very effectively, and it's almost as if Ezri being accepted by the crew means she should now be accepted by the viewers as well. It's unlikely there'll be a problem with that. Nicole de Boer's Dax is very likeable, and is sure to fit right in. However, who's DS9's science officer now?
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