Murder on DS9!

“Field of Fire” is, primarily, a murder-mystery set on board the DS9 station. There’s a bit of character work from Ezri, though it’s mostly superficial. What really sells the episode, in terms of entertainment, is in how well it executes the mystery-investigation elements. To that end, this is an enjoyable installment, filled with enough suspense and tension to pass the time. But it’s hardly classic DS9.

When a promising young helmsman turns up murdered, by a projectile rifle (as opposed to a laser rifle), the crew starts looking for the killer. Because the rifle was a prototype from the Federation, suspicion immediately falls on Starfleet officers, which is difficult for the crew to comprehend. Ezri, as a psychologist, is assigned to come up with a profile of the killer. But she has difficulty doing so, mainly due to her inner conflict with the memories of Joran Dax — the former host-turned-murderer.

As it turns out, though, Ezri has no where else to turn and so she must use the memories of a murderer to help catch a murderer. It’s a decent concept (think Silence of the Lambs, but what sets this premise apart is the fact that Ezri sees and hears Joran, as a separate individual, wherever she goes (think Baltar and his inner-Six, from Battlestar Galactica). This means that Joran can comment on circumstances and evidence, and can even prod Ezri’s actions, as though he were actually there.

For the most part, this setup works. There are a couple of moments when Joran’s actions and interactions come across as a bit silly or implausible. But otherwise, his presence is enough to keep the audience on edge. Afterall, Joran was a violent and unpredictable person. His whisperings in Ezri’s ear make us wonder just how far is influence will go on her.

This does bring up a strange continuity question, though. Earlier in the series, we saw Jadzia reconcile with Joran — at least to some extent. As a result, it’s a bit inconsistent for Joran to complain about being repressed. Still, this isn’t quite enough to totally derail what is, otherwise, a setup that works to heighten the overall tension.

The mystery itself is quite intriguing. The only connection between the three victims is that they all had pictures in their quarters of people smiling and laughing. Ezri, with Joran’s help, begins to realize that the captured laughter seems to mock the killer. And that this is, likely, the motivation for the murders. This leads to the episode’s weakest jump, though: Ezri’s conclusion that the murderer *had* to be Vulcan.

Understand, I don’t object to the fact that a Vulcan could become distressed enough by the horrors of war to turn on those who display emotion. It’s just that Ezri’s leap in logic happens just a bit too quickly. It’s as if the episode needed an intervening scene, or piece of evidence, before she could make such a determination.

Also a bit odd are Ezri’s actions afterwards. True, she realizes that her leap in logic isn’t enough to reasonably bring to Odo, but she still ought to have enlisted his help. As it is, she sets out to hunt down the Vulcan entirely on her own, eventually bumping into the suspect in a turbolift and completely giving herself away. It’s a strange setup for what is, otherwise, a really cool scene: Ezri and the killer staring each other down through scopes that let them see through bulkheads.

On the whole, “Fields of Fire” is an entertaining episode that gives us yet another look into the history of the Dax symbiant. But there too many issues with either plausibility or continuity for it to be considered a true classic.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine