Were there ever two plotlines more misplaced than those of “Meridian”? Even worse, neither plot is effective or worthy on its own merit. The result is an episode which stumbles in terms of story, character, pacing and plot. Face it. “Meridian” is a stinker of an episode which hardly warrants a detailed examination.

The main plot of the episode focuses on a mission of exploration on board the Defiant into the Gamma Quadrant – in “defiance” of Dominion decree. Putting aside the ludicrous nature of the mission (and the fact that this is DS9 trying to replicate TNG’s premise, instead of embracing its own identity), Sisko, Bashir, O’Brien and Dax happen upon what must be the most technobabble planet in the galaxy: Meridian. It would seem that Meridian is in a state of quantum flux – appearing in our dimension for a short time before blinking away into a non-corporeal existence for sixty years. Quite frankly, I don’t care whether or not such a construct is possible – I care more about the story surrounding the construct. But when the construct is as obscure as this, the tale itself has a *lot* of work to do.

And that tale is a bland, implausible, melodramatic love story which somehow manages to undermine the episode and the character of Jadzia Dax in the process. Whilst on an “away mission” to the planet surface, Jadzia meets a romantic guy who manages to stir her emotions. Episodes ought to be very wary of building and establishing a transcendent romance within a 45 minute run-time and this installment is no exception. It’s not that it’s impossible for people to fall devotedly in love in a short period of time, rather, the feasibility of portraying such a relationship on screen is very difficult to manage. And “Meridian” utterly fails.

It’s not that Jadzia and her companion are unsuitable for one another. But, rather, the lengths to which the two will go for their love are not explicitly established within the episode. This becomes particularly problematic when Jadzia decides to leave Starfleet in order to remain on Meridian during its sixt-year sojourn into another dimension. Worse yet, we know that, somehow, Jadzia won’t really remain on Meridian that long. And so the final moments in which she is returned to her DS9 companions feel utterly contrived – sabotaging the emotions generated from her “goodbyes” to Sisko, Bashir and O’Brien.

The subplot, featuring Quark’s attempts to create a pornographic holosuite program featuring Kira, is complete and utter drivel. There are a couple of amusing moments between Kira and Odo, but otherwise, the whole enterprise is skeevy at best, and downright trailer-trash-debauchery at worst. It really is an absurd idea to begin with and the execution is just as atrocious.

“Meridian” is an episode that does almost nothing right. From the cheap TNG-knockoff main plot to the daytime talk show subplot, there’s very little of interest. And even what is present is hardly worth mentioning in its execution.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine