“Shadowplay” is a surprisingly satisfying episode, despite some obvious issues with pacing and plausibility – not to mention its fairly esoteric central plot. The fact is, the stories in this installment all find enough room to peacefully coexist and, for once, DS9 manages to go for the categorically “happy ending” which it often seems to eschew in favor of more nuanced resolutions. But in this case, the cliché actually works to the benefit of the episode creating a light, breezy episode which, assuming viewers manage to stay awake, provides for a nice payoff in all three plot threads.

The primary story involves Dax and Odo exploring a strange energy field on the other side of the wormhole. What they discover is an entire colony that exists solely as a holographic projection. This revelation is part of the episode’s mystery is the result of Odo investigating why several villagers have mysteriously disappeared. The entry point to the investigation is a little girl, named Taya, whose mother recently vanished. Though the conversations begin awkwardly, there’s a kind of innocent charm to the developing friendship between the now-orphaned young girl and Odo, who never knew his parents. More importantly, the friendship demonstrates that Taya, despite being a hologram is completely self-aware and capable of growth – proving that she, and the other holographic villagers are “alive,” and not merely programmed constructs.

A weakness to the episode is the overly explicit way Odo has to explain all of this to the village founder, an elderly man who is the only non-hologram in the village. Also, the episode doesn’t delve as deeply into the question of whether or not holograms are lifeforms as, say, “Elementary, Dear Data.” And, of course, the technobabble involved in explaining the hows and whys of the Holographic Village are cumbersome at best. But for what the episode was trying to convey – a fairly lightweight mystery and morality play – it manages a fair amount of success. Plus, the backstory of the village elder, who describes wanting to create a new life, adds another ominous bit of news about the enigmatic entity known as The Dominion.

The second-most prominent story is the least satisfying in the episode. With Odo away, Quark tries to take advantage of the situation and conduct some nefarious business with a cousin. Unfortunately for Quark, Kira hounds him just as doggedly as Odo – leading Quark to distract Kira by engineering a visit by Vedek Bareil to DS9. The hesitant flirting between the two is just too awkward, as is the way Bareil manages to convey several sentences of exposition in between supposedly passionate kisses with Kira. And what’s with Bashir? Kira gives him an assignment to spy on Quark, and he’s never seen or heard from again.

More enjoyable is the smaller subplot involving Jake and his father. As was mentioned in the previous episode, “Paradise,” Sisko wants Jake to work with O’Brien. The apprenticeship begins in this episode, but Jake quickly manages to confide in O’Brien that he doesn’t want to be in Starfleet. After a nice conversation between the two, Jake confronts his father who handles the news with complete equanimity. It may be a bit on the implausible side but, like the Village plot, the satisfaction of the happy outweighs the negatives.

“Shadowplay” suffers from some pacing issues. The intercutting between the three plotlines isn’t handled particularly effectively. And the neat resolutions seem a tad gratuitous. But otherwise, the episode is an enjoyable installment, notable for its emphasis on character growth, development and interaction.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine