I wasn’t going to make a blog tonight because I honestly didn’t get very far today but I want to have a CHAT about episode 17 “Playing God.” Serious spoilers for those three episodes cuz I have thoughts and I want to hear other peoples’ thoughts.

But first, brief thoughts on the other two episodes I watched today: Paradise, the one where Sisko and O’Brien get stuck on a planet where a crazy lady made all the electronics stop working, was incredibly well written. Creepy. Showed the first little bit of Sisko that I liked, as he took his day shift after working all day and all night, and later walked out in uniform and put himself in the penalty box. Very reminiscent of “There are four lights,” but much more subtle so it doesn’t feel like a rip off. I LOVED that episode.

Episode 16: I’m starting to like Odo’s character and acknowledge it more. It was very powerful to me when he essentially didn’t care if the holograms were real to the guy who made them, they were real to Odo and Odo wanted them back because they deserved to continue to exist. That’s honestly how I feel about shows like this and I’m glad I’m part of this community, and that I got to grow up learning about myself from these shows. Thank you guys for encouraging me to watch this series and continue to grow because I still have a lot of growing up to do. That’s my sappy bit for the day, but I needed it. Netflix Trip, a song by AJR sums up this feeling really well. The rest of the episode was take it or leave it but I love the message behind it.

And now: Episode 17, Playing God I was SO DISAPPOINTED in Dax. So much. We still don’t know what Curzod did to Jadzia during her initiation. We still don’t know exactly why he didn’t like her except “kinda shy and quiet” which isn’t inherently bad. Sisko ENCOURAGED HER TO BE AWFUL. It started off so encouraging. We learned a lot about Dax very quickly. Night owl, early workouts, more adventurous than I thought after the whole scared of spiders situation at the beginning of the episode. Then she tried to take Sisko’s advice, was briefly awful, and then undid her awful. Like I just... what was the point? Also, it wasn’t her job to make him a good candidate, but to evaluate whether or not he was one. And then she celebrated his piloting even though he wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t give him exact headings to execute. He actually froze up nearly completed and then just followed orders. And AFTER ALL THAT- how did they get rid of the protouniverse? They just threw it into the gamma quadrant? How is that a resolution? What a mess!

In that huge mess though, Odo is the character who shined through for me. At the senior staff meeting, Kira says that the universe and any life it may contain are just ants we need to step on. Odo, confident in none of the science behind this decision, said, “I don’t step on ants, Major.” That was so, so beautiful to me. I didn’t realize Odo had such a profound reverence for life and I found it completely captivating. It’s also an excellent foil for Kira’s character which I just think is good writing.

Guys tell me Dax gets better cuz I’m a little crushed.