“A Simple Investigation” is a romance. It’s a slow, deliberate and often tender affair, despite the film noir and mystery elements. As such, it’s a nice change of pace from the recent Deep Space Nine fare. It’s a nice story. And it allows for some important character work to be done. But there are plenty of potential barriers between this episode and viewers. The pacing is glacial. The plot is cliché and silly. Some of the character decisions don’t make a whole lot of sense. Plus, the story is, well, slow. Very. Slow.

The episode opens with the murder of a secret spy-type person on DS9 (why the discharge of a weapon wouldn’t be detected is a question). The woman, Arissa, that the spy was preparing to meet is sitting in Quark’s bar. There she meets Odo. She tells him that he has “bedroom eyes.” He’s intrigued. And we’re off … tepidly.

Given the setup, it’s rather obvious what is about to happen: The woman will have a shadowy/questionable history. Odo will become inexorably drawn to her. Instead of investigating her, he’ll protect her. They’ll fall in love. And by the end of the story, something will happen to keep them apart forever.

And, in a nutshell, that’s precisely what happens.

The key here is Odo. His actions (and reactions) to the interest he gets from Arissa are quite arresting. His timid steps toward her are plausible. And the subtle performance, along with that from Arissa, really makes what would otherwise be something from a trashy romance novel into something of a soft, touching love story. The problem, though, is that this just unfolds with far too much caution and hesitation. And, too, the reasons for Odo’s sudden infatuation aren’t really explored. It’s not that Odo needed a rational reason — love and attraction are often irrational — but there’s no mention of why Odo suddenly finds a woman who catches his attention (so quickly).

Heck, even a brief bit of dialogue from Odo reflecting on how irrational this all is (especially for a deductive, rational person as himself) would have gone a long way. Instead, the one meaningful discussion Odo has about Arissa, with Bashir, basically centers on how Odo should proceed in order to sleep with her. The scene doesn’t come across as terribly salacious, but the fact that the focus was simply the physical side of Odo’s attraction, at the cost of the emotional, was one of the episode’s central mistakes.

Well, that and the silly mystery which sort of came and went whenever a plot device was necessary.

Still, the development of Odo’s character — to have him, finally, experience intimacy — is an important one. And despite the episode’s missteps in terms of pacing and focus, it’s important to note that it comes across as a truly profound experience for Odo. After he learns that Arissa was a sleeper agent (her memory having been wiped before her mission) and after learning that she is, in fact, married, Odo confronts the other side to love — the pain of loss and separation. The fact that Arissa never actually betrayed Odo allows him to linger on the joy and specialness of his experiences. A nice touch.

“A Simple Investigation” is far from a terrible or embarrassing outing. But it just doesn’t generate enough interest to be a classic, either. It’s a nice change of pace and helps advance Odo’s character. But this is one of those proverbial “reset button” stories that rarely leaves its mark on the series.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine