Hitching a Ride

"The Passenger" Plot Summary:

Kira and Bashir beam onto a disabled ship and attempt to save the life of a prisoner there. The guard tells Bashir that the prisoner committed murder to prolong his own life, and that she has been pursuing him for years. Then, much to Quark's amazement, he is contacted by the dead man, who wants to hire mercenaries from him. When chaos erupts on the station, Dax discovers that the "dead" alien has possessed Bashir, who siezes a shuttle and attempts to steal a shipment of a precious element before the DS9 crew force the alien to leave the doctor's body.

Analysis:

What is it with all the bad mystery stories on DS9 - first "A Man Alone," now this similar one? Mystery stories tend to fall flat on Trek series unless they involve a really fascinating scientific development, which these have not. It was cute to see Bashir possessed by an evil alien - certainly gave him some backbone - but I wish they'd work on developing his real character instead. I'm very surprised Odo wasn't more involved in working with Dax on the mystery since he is the chief of security, and I really disliked how quickly Sisko ceded authority to the alien guard, who executed the prisoner. It wasn't a bad episode, but I'm not sure of the point.