A Simple Investigation
- Episode aired Mar 31, 1997
- TV-PG
- 46m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Odo (Rene Auberjonois) becomes romantically attached to a woman (Dey Young) working with the Orion Syndicate.Odo (Rene Auberjonois) becomes romantically attached to a woman (Dey Young) working with the Orion Syndicate.Odo (Rene Auberjonois) becomes romantically attached to a woman (Dey Young) working with the Orion Syndicate.
Cirroc Lofton
- Jake Sisko
- (credit only)
Michael Bailous
- Bajoran Security Deputy
- (uncredited)
Cathy DeBuono
- Science Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Judi M. Durand
- Cardassian Computer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Elliot Durant III
- Bajoran Officer
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRene Auberjonois had to shave his entire upper body for this episode.
- GoofsWhile Odo is talking to Arissa in his quarters, as the camera zooms in during Arissa's story about her life on Finnea, through the window you can clearly see the edge of the star-field screen and the floor it's resting on.
- Quotes
Doctor Bashir: You can't go through life trying to avoid getting a broken heart. If you do, it'll break from loneliness anyway.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: What You Leave Behind (1999)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title
(uncredited)
Written by Dennis McCarthy
Performed by Dennis McCarthy
Featured review
Fan service vs strong story
Sure, I get what they're doing. Spock could have a love interest, because we see that Nimoy portrayed him as *repressing* his emotions, not burying them. Data more honestly stated he simply could not return romantic affection and did not (although he did seem to have some regard for both his cat and his "daughter" Lal).
Odo falling in love is well-portrayed by Rene Auberjonois, but it doesn't fit his character profile. Yes, it's nice to see him have some joy, but is it really meaningful? The Kira infatuation was always a weak element before, not illuminating anything about his character. Even interspecies sex makes little sense, because Odo's body is not actually human. Odo doesn't even take a break from solid form -- a major plot point in other episodes hardly even acknowledged here.
This of course reflects a deeper flaw in the Trek series: alien beings who are just like humans when the plot needs to happen the same as it would for non-sci-fi. Which is OK (sometimes even great; see TOS "Balance of Terror") but even more interesting is to sympathetically glimpse the unbridgeable difference of the truly alien -- which, to its credit, the Trek universe (including DS9) does try to do, sometimes.
But not here. If you just want to see Odo be in love, and you don't require that story to really inform or shape how the DS9 series has shaped his character, here you go. It isn't terrible, it's just disconnected from the rest of the show.
Odo falling in love is well-portrayed by Rene Auberjonois, but it doesn't fit his character profile. Yes, it's nice to see him have some joy, but is it really meaningful? The Kira infatuation was always a weak element before, not illuminating anything about his character. Even interspecies sex makes little sense, because Odo's body is not actually human. Odo doesn't even take a break from solid form -- a major plot point in other episodes hardly even acknowledged here.
This of course reflects a deeper flaw in the Trek series: alien beings who are just like humans when the plot needs to happen the same as it would for non-sci-fi. Which is OK (sometimes even great; see TOS "Balance of Terror") but even more interesting is to sympathetically glimpse the unbridgeable difference of the truly alien -- which, to its credit, the Trek universe (including DS9) does try to do, sometimes.
But not here. If you just want to see Odo be in love, and you don't require that story to really inform or shape how the DS9 series has shaped his character, here you go. It isn't terrible, it's just disconnected from the rest of the show.
helpful•168
- skinnybert
- Feb 5, 2021
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