Star Trek 304: The Forsaken

304. The Forsaken

FORMULA: Manhunt + Liaisons + Disaster + The Nth Degree

WHY WE LIKE IT: O'Brien's tamagochi. A better Lwaxana than usual.

WHY WE DON'T: She slept with Tog?!? Gross.

REVIEW: The common element in this episode's three plots is people dealing with annoying guest stars. Bashir's got his three ambassadors for some proper comic relief. O'Brien has his stupid Cardassian computer, which is funnier than anything else in the show. And Odo has Lwaxana Troi and her unwanted advances.

The latter is what must be considered the A-plot, and you know what? I think that Lwaxana works a bit better when divorced from her TNG home. Away from Deanna and Picard especially, her entire dynamic could be just about anything (a bit like my surprise respect for her and Alexander in Cost of Living). She still gets some terribly annoying scenes to play, but here we get a sense that all the mind-numbing babbling is something of an affectation, a role she plays to make herself interesting. Her interest in the happily lonely Odo ("the thin beige line between order and chaos") becomes a relationship the changeling may want to revisit (have you considered letting her catch you?"), and by their being trapped in a lift together, we learn a little bit more about each character. Vortex told us about his possible origins on the other side of the Wormhole, but here are the first detailed mentions of his life on Bajor. Neither of them wants to show vulnerability, and it's actually touching when they decide to do so with each other.

The storyline about O'Brien and his "Pup" has a measure of technobabble in it, but the Chief is always good at making comparisons we can understand and enjoy (thus the whole puppy analogy). I find it extremely entertaining to see him bitch at his console, but that's probably because I do the same thing. Then, when it starts cooperating, he's thanking and complimenting it ("well done, computer") and seems like such a loon, distinguishing tones in its voice. Funny as hell. In the end, it'll turn into 2001: A Space Odyssey ("Dave? My mind is goi....ing."). Let's just say they do well with an invisible antagonist.

LESSON: If your computer cooperates with you, there's got to be an alien influence involved.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Lwaxana's still a pain at times, and spending 45 minutes with annoying and annoyed characters isn't my idea of entertainment, but there's enough genuine humor and heart here to sustain interest, even on repeat viewings. A fairly high Medium.