The Passenger (⭑⭑⭑)

“The Passenger” is a pretty down-the-middle three-star episode, albeit one that, I must say, I really did not remember very well at all from previous viewings. It’s the least “DS9-specific” episode that the show has produced to date, and it’s sorely lacking in thematic ambitions; still, its premise doesn’t feel either as tired or as squandered (thematically speaking) as that of “Babel” (which seems like the most natural previous episode to compare it to). There’s some character stuff that I can appreciate, and I’ll also give it some points for a degree of skillful execution. The main problem, really, is that the episode just doesn’t add up to much, or seem to be “about” anything in particular (which, I suppose, is probably why it has tended to be pretty forgettable, at least to me). Also, its sci-fi gimmick is one of those that, once established as a thing that can be done, ought to have larger effects on the general world of Trek, but that in fact, we’ll never hear about again.

Even though this is a pretty plot-focused episode, I don’t know that I actually have a huge amount to say about its plot. One small thing that I like, on an execution level, is the fact that we start with the rescue of Kajada and her prisoner, and only later learn about the deuridium shipment. If we had opened with a station log about an expected deuridium shipment and the need for heightened security in case someone should try to hijack it, and had then watched Kira and Bashir rescue a guest character and her seemingly dead criminal prisoner and bring them to the station, things would have felt all too foreordained and obvious, I think. I also like the fact that we fist hear of the shipment via Odo’s interaction with Quark, and see the Starfleet security guy whose come to assist with it interacting with Odo, all before/without the writers feeling like they have to “set this up” for us by having Sisko briefing the other senior officers about it or something. I generally appreciate it when a Trek show is able to move away from that kind of very top-down unfolding of a plot/story. Later, as the plot unfolds and we get to the idea of the dead prisoner having transferred his consciousness to someone else, I think it’s pretty easy to guess that that someone will turn out to be Bashir rather than Kajada (as the characters assume)—but I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. I would, given that this is the case, prefer for the episode to have skipped going for any sort of big dramatic reveal scene where “Bashir” turns out to be Vantika instead, but I’ll also cut it some slack here for having Quark be the one whom he surprises, and for the “drama” of the scene to consist of Quark thinking he’s been caught out by Starfleet, and then being relieved when he realizes it’s not really Bashir, rather than the more expected scenario wherein the villain uses the guise of someone we trust to deceive a regular character. Finally, the technobabble solution that Dax cooks up to allow Bashir to regain control of his body and resolve the hijacking standoff is certainly nothing special. I’m not sure exactly what would have been better, but I guess my thinking is that since the most interesting parts of the episode revolve around Odo and the Starfleet security guy (Primmin) trying to figure out how to work together, the solution to the crisis probably should have come from them.

On a character level, we have the faint outlines of an episode that maybe wants to delve into Dr. Bashir a bit (something that no episode has really done yet), but this doesn’t end up going anywhere at all. Like, him being completely full of himself in the opening scene (in the runabout with Kira), and completely oblivious to how off-putting his smugness and arrogance are, feels like it’s meant to initiate some kind of character arc (setting him up for some kind of fall or comeuppance later in the episode). But although he does end up being the victim of Vantika’s mind-transfer, and he has a line at the end of the episode where he says that he feels humiliated by the experience, nothing about it was in any way his fault, nor does it at all connect back to his arrogance or prompt him to learn any lessons. It’s still interesting to see the show continuing to portray him as kind of an ass like this, but anyone who was led by that opening scene to believe that the episode was going to do anything with this character trait would end up being disappointed. Along the way, though, we do get some worthwhile character stuff concerning Odo. I definitely did not remember that there had been any friction between Odo and Starfleet security personnel, such as we see here, prior to the later introduction of Eddington in season 3. The initial clash of perspectives/approaches between Primmin and Odo makes sense to me, and I appreciate the scene in which Sisko lays out for Primmin both that things work differently on DS9 than on a starship and that Starfleet is present here on DS9 as “guests” of the Bajorans and will do well to avoid getting too up in the locals’ faces with Starfleet protocol. The later scene in which Odo angrily confronts Sisko over Primmin, ready to leap straight to quitting his job over it, and Sisko surprises him by mostly siding with him (while also encouraging him to work with the guy), is also good. Finally, one other minor “con” for the episode is that, again, Quark participates in a criminal conspiracy and faces zero consequences. It’s not established that anyone actually knows he was involved, so it’s not quite an instance of him being let off the hook; still, Odo is supposedly keeping an eye on Quark from the start, alert to the possibility of his involvement in schemes relating to the deuridium, so the idea of him remaining oblivious to the fact of Quark’s actual involvement in such a scheme doesn’t look good for him, and is a little annoying.

Two final points: First, I’m a bit disappointed, as of now, with how the idea of the exploring the gamma quadrant is showing up (or not) on the show. Just three episodes ago, our people made contact with someone from the gamma quadrant for the first time (though that kind of went nowhere); the following week, “artifacts” from the gamma quadrant were the kinds of novelties that attracted wealthy collectors. But now, suddenly, a whole shipment of a valuable natural resource is arriving through the wormhole!? Is this a product of trade with someone over there whose existence the show hasn’t otherwise bothered to mention? Or are we over there mining deuridium ourselves? Either way, I wish we’d get actual stories dealing with who and/or what our people are finding in this new frontier on the other side of the wormhole. And second… I mean, I almost don’t even want to bother going into this (and I did already refer to it in my opening paragraph), but… If consciousness-transfer technology is a thing, that should probably mean something beyond the scope of this one episode…right? Sigh.

That’s about all I have to say about this one.