PATRON TAKES - DS9 S1E4

Looking forward to this one.., It holds a special place in my heart because it was one of the Episodes that Aired on the 1st night I attended our Local Star Trek Club, you now back before the Networks wised up & started cracking down on public broadcasting copyrights ;p That & I thought the 'Story device' was quite original in its day

Best thing about this one is it's showcasing of Odo's character, who's one of my favorites. Interesting mysetery too ig. Not one of the best though. 6.9/10, C Tier, Good. Below TNG's The Masterpiece Society and above TOS's The Deadly Years

This is an episode that got worse with a rewatch for me. Learning more about these characters for the first time is the highlight, and most of the episode is average. But It's the ending and "twist" that really bring "A Man Alone" down for me. C-

As a trans person, I resonate with Jadzia in a lot of ways, but in particular in this episode with the discomfort people have sometimes felt around my transition. "I suggest that you allow yourself to feel comfortable with your discomfort. Time can do the rest." is actually pretty good advice. I know lots of people don't care for this episode, and it's not amazing or anything, but I like Odo, and Quark, and murder mysteries, and how Real the O'Brien marriage is. so for me it's a pretty solid 7/10 (B)

I dont have time to write it, and you don’t have time to read it. C for “couldnt care less”.

One of the few episodes of DS9 that I find not just poorly executed but poorly made. A few scenes have abrupt edits, like they didn't have enough coverage, and the acting and directing are both stilted. Saved from an E by the Odo-Quark relationship. D.

Odo has great incite to couples , too many compromises! Laws change , justice is justice, a good murder mystery

Love getting deep dives into characters like this. Odo is so well written.

This should have been shown after the pilot but they decided to have the previous episode on first. It creates minor continuity errors in dialogue and also seems odd to not see Keiko sooner.

MedioCre detective story that sends in the Clones. The Odo persecution stuff is much Better. Don't care for Keiko as a teacher. traditional school Desks and a bell? come on! Quark was right, hooman inDoctrination!

I can see this story working great for TNG

Another B- for me. Overall it's not quite 'banger' level but there's too many good character moments, and new lore about Odo plus continued lore about Miles & Keiko, plus the mystery plot does *just* enough. It isn't terribly surprising that Odo didn't do it, or the ultimate resolution, but there is some fun and twists in how we get there. Overlooked Awesomeness: Keiko's pitch to Rom framing the benefits in a very Ferengi way.

So one of the things I appreciate about this episode is the subtle ways DS9 develops characters without turning them into caricatures. Juxtapose the dinner scene with the O’Briens with their scenes from the Wounded. They have to point at the fact that they’re from different cultures with obvious dialogue and the subtext that Keiko’s food is weird. The DS9 dinner scene illustrates that they’re a blended family by just having O’Brien casually eating with chopsticks. It shows growth from that first dinner scene, without outright pointing to it. Also, love Nog’s line “I know who you are.” Really illustrating the things Nog is expected to know vs Jake. They didn’t point at it, like all the Worf scenes from the early TNG seasons. And then their little plot just illustrates that they are just boys goofing around. I really like that.

Up the long ladder, Riker killed a clone. This was made before Past Prolog (1993) But was aired after. Aron Eisenberg's (Nog) opening credit is misspelled as "Aron Eisenerg". The typo is fixed in some later releases. When Odo is checking Ibudan's activity log in his quarters on the transport ship, a couple of the events listed on the log are "Departure from Alderaan Spaceport" and "Dinner with Della Santina". Alderaan is a planet from the Star Wars galaxy. "Della Santina" is coordinating/line producer Robert Della Santina.

This was pretty boring. It wants to be a mystery but doesn't play it up, it wastes time on a lame B Story that has nothing to do with anything important, and it's all on the dull side. Also, minus points for kids and Ferengi, but at least this Ferengi doesn't scamper.

While I'm not a huge fan of these early episodes, I respect what they were trying to do. We are already getting both an A Story and B story that deal with developing their main characters.

I enjoy any episode that gives Odo more screentime, and this fleshes him out better than the small tidbits from the last few. Future episodes do better, but this is a good focus episode nonetheless, solid B.

Odo + Quark in this episode was so good! QuOdo? But honest question, do you think Jake got a whooping after he ran from Sisco? Lol, not a top episode but a banger all the same !

Odo arrested Ibudan for murdering his clone, but I thought we established in Up The Long Ladder that killing your clone wasn’t murder. It’s set up pretty clearly that those on the station are subject to Federation law.

Apparently there’s some really weird court case in int the back story of the universe establishing killing your own clone is murder. Is is jut me or does that seem like a case for Samuel T. Cogley?

Deep Space Nine's First Season is--objectively speaking--better than TNG's. But it's far from perfect. The show is a spinoff, and it strives to find its own identity while also juggling a new bunch of characters. If DS9 S1 has any major faults, it's being kinda... boring for the most part. Competent dullness. This episode is an example of that. Clearly, Odo is meant to be a mysterious character, so an installment that is designed to "shed some light" on a character this early on who is meant to be mysterious is going to go... mostly nowhere. It's mostly the pacing of this episode that bothers me. I'll still defend DS9 S1... for the most part. I personally believe the show "takes off" in S2 (most people will probably say S3), with the writers and actors displaying WAY MORE confidence in the characters. Still, S1 has its gems... just not this one, lulz.

Lynch mobs outside a school house... Miles, where the hell did you take your wife??

This is one of my least favorite episodes of season 1. Nothing about the story is engaging to me. I think Odo is a fantastic character but this episode doesn't really do him justice. It's a part of those early season growing pains that every Trek in the Berman era went through.

I remember watching this when it aired and being so bored. It's mostly world building, decent, but not great.

Here we find out that more and more of the stations past is coming back to haunt them. But just more world building but fun.

Fairly forgettable, really, but it establishes that (at least on some planets) killing your own clone is murder. Makes you wonder about “Up the Long Ladder.”

This is the first good story for Odo!

“Killing your own clone is still murder” unless you are William T Riker 😉 #upthelongladder

Early in the run of this series you get some DS9 does TNG (much as TNG did TOS in s1). The clone reveal is 50% that. C-tier for me.

A note: these takes are for episode 403 "A Man Alone" as episodes 3&4 were switched on airing, and it's hard to know that based on the DVDs

We continue our looks at these new characters by shifting over to Odo. A fairly standard murder mystery, which I suppose we haven't really seen since TOS. You may or may not be ahead of the characters. We also get more of Keiko (remember when you guys thought she'd never appear again?) Which brings me to something that will make Josh lose interest in the show: DS9 is set up like a Western town. The Promenade is main street, with a saloon, sheriff's office, doctor's clinic, schoolhouse and businesses. Our characters fall into those roles as well, Sisko as Mayor, Chief as Blacksmith, etc. All right on the frontier of unexplored space.

Oh no Odo working as a po po must work solo 'cause Sisko acting like a dodo and solve the case pro bono I find this episode so so. C for clones

The real start of Odo's character development and story, from our perspective. As well as his back-and-forth with Quark, and his mysterious back story. What are your thoughts on Odo as a character so far, and how would want to you see him developed?

It's a pretty dull episode to be honest, though at least they gave Odo an episode. The great thing about DS9 is pretty much the entire main cast and even a few secondary characters got solid development throughout the show. There weren't really any characters that felt neglected by the writers like Uhura/Chekov/Geordi/Troi.

This episode was produced before "Past Prologue", which is why Odo's makeup and Kira's hair both revert somewhat to what they looked like in the premiere. Easter egg: Ibudan's itinerary that Odo looks at includes "departure from Alderaan spacesport".

I remember this being a solid episode, and starts the Quark/Odo dynamic, the best of enemies, in that they may be opposite sides, by they respect each other for what they are, and them being good at it.

Odo! Now that we're a few episodes in, what do you think of our "outside looking in" character? You guys were speculating about one a few weeks back and you got your wish! Except this time, he isn't even humanoid, he just "passes himself off" as one, as he says. As the show goes on, would you prefer he meet fellow shapeshifters at some point or have it stay a mystery that never gets solved, despite him trying? Both could make for good stories, I think.

Odo episode. I liked it. A bit of a who dunnit. Establishes the difference between Worf on the Enterprise and Odo on DS9. Worf is a security guard. Odo is more of a detective/investigator.

The second episode produced after the pilot I think, it’s fine some fun scenes and I like the end nice to see the impact on Keiko. For me the best part of the episode is seeing the character dynamics continue to evolve.

The biggest thing I remember from this episode is "SHIFTER!!"

DS9 is the American wild west, but though a futuristic sci-fi lens. We dive into our sheriff character this episode.

Killing your own clone is still murder ... Riker is lucky he didn't phaser Riker and Pulaski junior on Bajor.

I remember this one, but only vaguely as being kinda... boring. I mean, obviously, Odo was an expensive special effect, so maybe they were going to write him out of the show, but he's also a credit character, so. there was never much tension as to whether or not he did or didn't do it. There's a couple of later mystery episodes where the one who claims innocence may or may not actually be innocent, because they're a guest character, as opposed to a main character.

DS9 deals heavily with racism. Do you feel that it's a good shift for Trek to examine that more in a cross-species way, where "oh they're romulans" or Ferengi, or Klingons was more easily passed off in earlier series? (Consider Bones' language towards Spock)

Classic murder mystery but there is also a lot of background stuff and ideas and character dynamics and nuances being brought on so the show is still kind of building its world by the 4th episode. I love the subtle mention that the Bajoran citizens on the station who trashed Odo's station and attacked him for no reason issues no apology after discovering he was innocent. It is a little nugget to once again establish this station as a more rough and not a pristine place to be. No wonder Keiko is mad Obrien moved here from what she sees they'll get mugged on the first day.