Walking on the Wild Side

"Dramatis Personae" Plot Summary:

An engineered virus delivered by a dying Klingon pits the crew against one another and themselves. While Kira leads a revolt on the station, Sisko builds antique clocks and O'Brien sees conspiracies everywhere. Fortunately, Odo figures out what's going on and administers an antidote in the nick of time.

Analysis:

OK...enough with the engineered virus stories already. I must admit that this one was much more fun than the aphasia virus, however. O'Brien becomes a bad guy! Sisko becomes a flake! And Kira hits on Dax! That scene was magnificent; I couldn't help noticing that the two women have marvelous chemistry, compounded by the odd fact that Dax used to be a man, but I never expected this series to capitalize on it. Here, Kira swipes a sip of Dax's drink, runs her fingertips over the other woman's skin, and insinuates that joining her rebellion could have unexpected side benefits for the Trill. Woo hoo! It almost makes me wish that she had won. I found it interesting to note who ended up on which side; it's not surprising that O'Brien became the consummate Starfleet man, though his megalomania was certainly novel - he hasn't acted like that since he was possessed by the spirit of an ancient criminal on TNG - and I wasn't sure where Bashir would end up until I realized that he'd probably head wherever the women were.

Odo was well-used in this episode, particularly in the scenes where he had to pretend that Kira had won him over. He convinced her, he almost convinced me. I think Odo has a bit of a crush on Kira. I'll say this for Deep Space Nine: it certainly has more titillating possibilities for romance between cast regulars than TNG ever did, even with "The Naked Now" as its second episode to pair them off.