Odo gets advice from a hologram in the episode that originally aired on April 22, 1998. This is His Way.
The Episode:
Station Log Stardate undetermined: His Way.
Odo seeks relationship help from the new holographic character known as Vic Fontaine.
The Breakdown:
Most of the Ops Staff enjoy the performance of Dr Bashir’s latest holo-program which features a lounge singer known as Vic Fontaine. Bashir makes it a point to introduce his friends to Fontaine who happens to know that he is in fact a hologram. After their introductions Odo realizes that Fontaine may have what the shapeshifter needs in order to finally pursue Kira.
Odo is dissapointed when he learns that Kira is visiting someone special on Bajor and Quark is quick to point out that Odo never made a move. Soon Odo asks Quark for access to Bashir’s program so that he can seek out advice from Fontaine on what to do.
In the holo program, Odo begins a casual conversation with the lounge singer. Soon Vic convinces Odo to let loose and stop being the frigid person he has become. Odo’s first step is to get into a tux and next, Vic places Odo on the piano for a tune. Odo begins pretending he can play the piano with Vic on vocals. Once Odo loosens up, Vic convinces him that the shapeshifter needs to work with other women but it is instantly clear that Odo is uncomfortable at the prospect.
As Odo gets more and more comfortable, Vic decides to introduce him to Chrystal, who happens to look a lot like Kira. After some convincing, the two go out together and, while it seems to go well, Odo is convinced that he would have failed had she been real. Vic takes a note and, after asking the real Kira out on Odo’s behalf, informs Odo that he has upgraded the program to be a much more ‘realistic’ Kira.
The date goes well with Odo not realizing that he is on an actual date with the real Kira but, when it becomes apparent Odo has been duped he get’s upset and storms off of the holodeck in embarrassment that Kira now knows how he really feels.
Later, while talking with Dax, Kira expresses that she has had a moment of clarity and that she needs to pursue her shapeshifting friend. Determined to get him to bend, she confronts the Constable finds him colder than ever. He quickly learns that she and Shakaar are not dating and he had nothing to worry about. After a brief argument the two kiss in the middle of the Promenade revealing to everyone their feelings for one another.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
I will say it straight out, while the episodes are fun, at this point I really don’t like the Vic Fontaine episodes of DS9. Sure they have a levity about them that can be useful to break the darker tone of some of the story lines, but there are some fundamental issues with Fontaine and his virtual existence that dives me nuts.
First off, Bashir makes it abundantly clear that Fontaine has been programmed to know he is a hologram. That is all well and good but, as we have learned from STNG and subsequently Voyager, this effectively makes him a sentient being. What makes his sentience even more probable is how he voluntarily goes out of his way to help his ‘friends’ by not only invading other people’s programs but even conspiring to get people together through lies and deception. I mean, how can a program be so intuitive to even realize that he can get two people together by tricking them? So, by that regard, how could they every shut his program down without violating the prime directive? I mean, sure, eventually they just let the program run on the holosuites but still, it always bothered me that they treat him like what they think he is, a program. Vic, you may not know it but you are a real boy! That being said, I really like James Darren’s portrayal of the character and only wish that the series would have given him a bit more of a defined sentiance. (and that the other characters treated him more like a real person.)
All that aside, His Way is a fun little episode that finally get’s Odo and Kira together after six seasons of will they wont they. While I am happy that Odo and Kira finally confess their love for one another in a way, I wish they had left them as friends instead of lovers. To me it felt like the writers just gave in to what they thought the viewers wanted (and at the time we did) but on hindsight, it was pretty unnecessary. That being said, Nana Vistor and Rene Aberjonois do a wonderful job in this episode and, while I am not thrilled with their characters being in a relationship, they make it work. For that, I really can’t complain.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- Shakaar is still first minister of Bajor.
- This is not the last we see of Vic or his bar.
- Vic even asks to be left on because he ‘feels like singing’ ! yeah, Julian has a slave in the form of a hologram.
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Late To The Game 1/20/2020
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