Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 1x17 — The Forsaken

Aired 1993-05-23

SpaceOpera.com rating:7

Average reader rating:5.33

Synopsis

While an alien entity wreaks havoc with the station's computer, the irrepressible Lwaxana Troi sets her sights for romance with Odo!

Filler rating: partial filler

This is the first episode in which Lwaxana and Odo meet. She only appears in two more episodes, but if you watch any of those two episodes, make sure you see this one first. We get tidbits about Odo's past in this episode. He was discovered and "raised" by a Bajoran scientist. Odo's appearance is designed to mimic that scientist.

Remarkable scenes

Sisko handing off the duty of "handling" the ambassadors to Bashir.
Lwaxana's appearance. I love how she calls Quark a troll. Good continuity with her previous Ferengi encounters.
O'Brien having another fight with the computer. Reminds me a lot of Scotty. :)
Bashir: "The 'young woman' over there has over 300 years experience."
Lwaxana trying to seduce Odo.
Lwaxana's thin beige line line.
Odo discussing his "problem" with Sisko.
Odo trying to avoid Lwaxana.
Kira: "Great. Everything's in working order, but nothing's working!"
Lwaxana telling Odo the story of her experiences in TNG: Menage a Troi.
Bashir: "Nothing makes them happy. They are dedicated to being unhappy and to spreading that unhappiness wherever they go. They are ambassadors of unhappy!"
Sisko taking "perverse pleasure" in giving Bashir this assignment.
O'Brien trying to point out the subtle differences in the computer. "A different attitude."
O'Brien: "Working with the Enterprise computer was like dancing a waltz. With this computer it's always been like a wrestling match."
Odo describing his past.
The main cast overloading the computer with commands. O'Brien "building a dog house."
Bashir saving the ambassadors.
Morn appearances; 1. Can be seen in the background when Bashir is talking to the ambassadors.

Review

This the best episode since the pilot, simply because of the sheer wonderful humor. The alien probe plot thread isn't particularly interesting, but it is original and the way the crew deals with it is greatly entertaining. I most enjoyed the dialog between Lwaxana and Odo toward the end, where they finally begin to connect with one another. Lwaxana then protects Odo from leaking into the active current. Odo rarely places his life in someone else's hands and it's done well here. The thing that makes this episode both nice and unusual compared to other episodes aired so far is its wide use of characters and its number of plot threads. First there's the plot thread about Bashir and his ambassadorial duties. Then there's the plot thread about Lwaxana and Odo. Then there's the plot thread about O'Brien and the computer. Arguably another albeit short plot thread occurs when Sisko splits away from O'Brien to save Bashir from the fire. There's four separate stories going on simultaneously by the end of the episode. A nicely complex story compared to what else has aired so far.

3 reader comments

Quite a sweet episode, everything seems to tuck into place neatly by the end. Marvelous performances by both Rene Auberjonois and Majel Barrett Roddenberry ultimately carry this episode to it's decent score from me, a 7.
by Bernard | 12/31/2009 at 4:07 pm

I was going to whine a little about how Odo being contained in the folds of Lwaxana's dress was unrealistic, but I figured it out - her dress would just have to be made out of some kind of non-porous or micro-porous material, and the whole matter would've had to have been kind of sloppy (which would actually add to the story some, because it works even better as a kind of double entendre for something else that's messy and private and involves trust and vulnerability, and also makes the whole event even more significant for Odo, with Lwaxana's active efforts saving his life).
Maybe some of this should've been hinted at in the actual episode instead of just having that shot of Odo melting into the folds of her dress?
Anyway, this episode was quite good. There was a lot of good humor, as the review suggests. Odo's facial expressions and body language in the elevator is priceless. O'Brian's plan to adopt the non-biological lifeform by creating a stimulating "doghouse" program - that was pretty great too. Oh yah, Bashir getting the commendations at the end from the "Ambassadors of Unhappiness" - also good
by Fan | 08/12/2011 at 6:38 am

I actually thought this episode was really boring. The Lwaxana/Odo interaction was somewhat entertaining, and we got some good backstory about Odo, but that was about 5 worthwhile minutes out of a 45-minute, generally dull and pointless, episode.
I do seem to be in the minority with this opinion, though, it appears!
by Abigail Chappell | 08/30/2019 at 10:19 pm