“Behind The Lines” is a disquieting episode. As it is intended to be. Once again, this is a story about loyalty, duty and, ultimately, choice. The explicit decision by Deep Space Nine to explore these concepts is praiseworthy. And it’s good that they are taking a multifaceted approach. But sooner or later, there’s going to have to be a change in direction — otherwise we’ll simply be following the plot and rehashing the same old conflicts over and over again. That’s not to say that this episode is poorly conceived or made, rather that there is a growing fatigue in perpetuating some of these conflicts.

The main story of this episode involves Odo and his confrontation with another Founder — the same female Founder we’ve seen in previous episodes. Once again, the Founder does her best to break through Odo’s emotional defenses and, this time, she succeeds. This brings up the fundamental critical issue with the episode: it’s a fairly radical departure for Odo’s character. To be fair, the episode builds in some plausibility for Odo’s actions — his lingering hurt over his feelings for Kira, his having to endure the pissing matches between Dukat and Weyoun — but ultimately, it’s just not enough to justify what will become, essentially, his betrayal of not only the resistance, but Kira, as well.

And the episode tries very hard to make this become a kind of personal tragedy — a fall from grace, as it were. I suppose the issue is in how inexorable it seems that Odo will continue to link with the Founder, despite Kira’s protestations. There is a hint that, perhaps, the Link acts something like a drug, which might also explain Odo’s actions. But this is left too vague and implied to be of any real dramatic value here.

What we’re left with, then, is Odo’s explicit decision to allow himself to link with the Founder. After linking, Odo seems to lose a great measure of his individuality. The Founder explains that the changelings are both many and one and so there’s some explanation for this. And it’s a fascinating mirror to what happened to Odo at the beginning of season five (becoming explicitly a solid individual). But this too is left too vague to really drive home the tragedy of what transpires: namely that, while linked, Odo decides to forego helping the resistance, effectively allowing Rom to be captured and the minefield to be disabled.

It’s a chilling turn of events and, no doubt, the writers wanted viewers to sweat the details a bit — how can our heroes overcome such developments? But because it’s all based on an “un-solid” foundation, the development is more of a nuisance than a real shock. It’s a shame because it fairly wastes a great performance from Kira and some very good scenes, including the Founder’s description of the Great Link, not to mention drunken Quark.

Like the previous installment, the episode’s subplot fares a little better. After another successful mission, Sisko leads his crew in a ritual celebration. It’s a fascinating look into camaraderie and the mindset of soldiers at war. They are proud of their exploits and yet they need to find rituals with which to continually boost their spirits. Clearly, war takes its toll.

Sisko’s success, though, earns him a promotion. And you have to commend the series for having the courage to simply move characters into new places and locations based on their actions. Sisko has proven himself to be an exceptional tactician. It makes sense, then, for him to e removed from command of the Defiant and promoted to a position in which he can put his skills to use for a larger force. The episode gets pretty good mileage out of portraying Sisko as a proud-but-worried commander waiting for his ship and crew to return from a dangerous mission — which, of course, they do.

“Behind The Lines” is an improvement for Deep Space Nine but it seems too eager to push its characters into radical new directions. For the Founder to show up, tempt, and finally seduce Odo all in the same episode, after such staunch resistance from him, seems too implausible. As a result, the dramatic weight of the story is severely diminished.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine