The return of the Orion Syndicate and a visit home for Ezri Dax. Originally aired on January 6, 1999 this is Prodigal Daughter.
The Episode:
Station Log Stardate undetermined: Prodigal Daughter
When Chief O’Brien goes missing while searching for the widow of Liam Bilby, Ezri is forced to return home and ask her estranged family for help.
The Breakdown:
After waiting for Miles to arrive on the latest transport, Julian is shocked to discover that his old friend has gone missing. Taking the matter to Captain Sisko, who believes that Miles is visiting his father, Bashir admits that Miles in fact went on a clandestine mission to New Sydney to find the widow of his old Orion Syndicate Contact, one Morica Bilby. Furious at the deception Sisko orders Julian to complete a full report on the matter while he asks Ezri to check with her family for help in locating O’Brien. Much to her dismay Ezri finds herself blackmailed into returning home in order to get the needed information.
Seeing her off, Julian provides Ezri with his report on Bilby and medicine for her space sickness. Arriving home, Ezri is greeted by her family and learns that her mother has already started working on locating Ezri’s fellow officer. It is quickly apparent that there is a tension in the family with her brothers commenting that Ezri will likely not stay a day longer than she has to. After Ezri heads out with her mother, her brothers Norvo and Janel discuss a matter involving problems with the Orion Syndicate.
After catching up with her family over dinner, which was clearly uncomfortable, Ezri visits her brother Norvo to discuss his artwork. He has no desire to stay and work in the family business and only wants to leave to work on his art. Ezri leaves after telling him he needs to pursue his dreams only to find that he spent the rest of the night defacing his own art thanks to the pressure of his mother. As her mom and Ezri argue, they are surprised by Janel and an officer escorting a beaten and handcuffed Miles into the room.
Miles tells Ezri that he has found Bilby’s wife but she had already been killed when he arrived. He firmly believes that the Orion Syndicate killed Morica Bilby even though the officer firmly denies the connection. After cleaning up, Miles is asked by Yanas (Ezri’s mom) to assist them with some engineering work. Miles graciously agrees and Ezri heads to discuss Norvo’s defacement of his art. Ezri offers her brother a chance to leave with her to DS9 for a chance to break free and focus on his art. Norvo confides in Ezri that there are things with their company that are going on forcing him to remain behind.
In the mines, Miles informs Janel that it appears someone has installed incorrect part in the malfunctioning equipment. They are soon confronted by a ‘commodities broker’ named Bokar who clearly knows more about Miles than he should. After Miles leaves, it is revealed that Bokar is a member of the Orion Syndicate and Janel has begun discussions about joining their group. Returning to Ezri’s home, Janel makes it clear that O’Brien needs to leave as soon as possible.
Confiding in Ezri, Miles informs the young Trill that he believes Janel has become involved in the Syndicate. Ezri has a hard time believing it but, when investigating the families finances she discovers that the family may have known Morica Bilby when her name pops up in the company’s payroll. It seems that Ezri’s family may have been involved in the death of Morica Bilby.
After revealing her discovery to Yanas, she demands to know how Morica was on their payroll. Janel admits that Morica was added to their payroll as a favor to the Orion Syndicate. Janel agreed to help and tried to get his brother Norvo to alter the finances. Despite the damming evidence, Janel denies that he did not kill Morica. In the midst of the argument Norvo comes clean that it was he who ended up killing Morica Bilby after trying to reason with her demands. Soon after, Norvo is arrested leaving the family devastated in the wake of the revelation.
After the trial, Ezri returns to DS9. Having experienced the tragic event together, Miles and Ezri discuss the matter. Ezri blames herself for not seeing her brother’s hardship earlier and laments not returning home before it was too late.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
This is one that is somewhat of a sequel to the season six episode Honor Among Thieves but somehow never really manages to be a proper continuation. Using Miles’ determination to make his mistakes with Bilby right, we get a chance to explore some of Ezri’s past by meeting her mother and two brothers.
Right away this episode seems a little out of place. While it was really cool to explore more of Ezri’s past in many ways it almost felt forced. From her overbearing mother, her workaholic brother and her artistic yet deranged other brother, the episode almost feels like in could have been written for teen drama not unlike Dawson’s Creek or 90210. While it is not necessarily a bad story, with the reoccurring theme or Mile’s Must Suffer mashed in for good measure, it really feels like this should have been a longer tale spread out over the course of a season allowing viewers to get familiar with Ezri’s family. This alone would have made Norvo’s revelation all that more impactful in the long run.
Overall, this is what I would call a filler episode that really just doesnt fit with the rest of the season’s tone. While De Boer (Ezri) and Meaney (Miles) do a great job with what they are give, there is simply no meat on the bone of this rather lacking episode.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- We learn that Ezri does not like Gagh and now owns 51 cases that Jadzia had ordered for General Martok. Apparently there are many variety of Gagh including ones that squirm, ones that jump, ones that have feet, some packed in targ blood and more.
- We learn of crewman Brinner Finok in yet another reference to the USS Destiny, the ship that Ezri had been assigned to before being joined.
- Even though it is clear the Orion Syndicate is deeply interested in Miles O’Brien this is the last we hear of them in this series leaving that particular thread still dangling to this day.
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Late To The Game 2/28/2020
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