A Man Alone (17 Jan. 1993)

Ibudan, a criminal/murderer Odo has dealt with before, returns to DS9 only to be murdered shortly after. . .leaving Odo to be the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Jake and Nog's trouble making prompt Keiko to do something helpful for the station's children.

Director:

Paul Lynch

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Avery Brooks	...	Commander Sisko
Rene Auberjonois	...	Odo
Alexander Siddig	...	Doctor Bashir (as Siddig El Fadil)
Terry Farrell	...	Lieutenant Jadzia Dax
Cirroc Lofton	...	Jake Sisko
Colm Meaney	...	Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman	...	Quark
Nana Visitor	...	Major Kira
Rosalind Chao	...	Keiko O'Brien
Edward Albert	...	Zayra (as Edward Laurence Albert)
Max Grodénchik	...	Rom
Peter Vogt	...	Bajoran #1
Aron Eisenberg	...	Nog (as Aron Eisenerg)
Stephen James Carver	...	Ibudan
Tom Klunis	...	Old Man

Storyline

Life seems to be slowly becoming normal on the station. Bashir tries to make advances to Dax, Jake makes friends with Nog and chief O'Brien is having an argument with his wife Keiko. As a botanist she feels useless on the station and doesn't think the environment is good enough for their daughter Molly growing up. Meanwhile Odo encounters a familiar face on the Promenade: the Bajoran smuggler Ibudan. He's considered a hero by the Bajorans, but Odo thinks differently. He saw him let a child die because the parents couldn't afford the medicine and when Ibudan killed a Cardassian he turned him in. When Ibudan is murdered during a massage in the holodeck, all evidence points to Odo.

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Plot Keywords:

massage | stabbed in the back | clone | puzzle | prank | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 January 1993 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Odo is checking Ibudan's activity log in his quarters on the transport ship, a couple of the events listed on the log are "Departure from Alderaan Spaceport" and "Dinner with Della Santina". Alderaan is a planet from the Star Wars galaxy. "Della Santina" is coordinating/line producer Robert Della Santina.

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Quotes

Odo: Quark - think you could use a shape-shifter in your organization?
Quark: [looks at Odo puzzled, then laughs nervously] You had me going.
Odo: I did, didn't I?

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Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title"
(uncredited)
Written by Dennis McCarthy
Performed by Dennis McCarthy

User Reviews

DS9 begins to Show its True Colors (though weakly) in this Soapy Detective Story

Keiko, Miles O'brien's spouse, is having a difficult time adjusting to life on DS9, and Constable Odo appears to be having a difficult time adjusting to Federation hegemony. A merciless Bajoran smuggler who Odo tries to kick off the station turns up murdered in a room which has been locked from the inside and, understandably, Odo is the prime suspect. The episode is crucial to understanding Odo's relationships with Kira, Sisko, and Quark and introduces the show's standard approach to story arc multitasking which will be greatly elaborated in the later seasons. Odo - who really is a man alone - must learn to trust others to help him figure this one out and clear him of suspicion.

The two-story approach was not very well perfected in this episode, and some of the important developmental aspects of this episode (Keiko, Jake and Nog's parts) come across as a slightly annoying distraction from the more intense and interesting mystery story.

As usual, the cinematography and writing are all good.