Guest Stars:
Art Chudabala as Lt. Hectare Ilario
Marty Rackham as Chu'lak
Leigh J. McCloskey as Joran Dax 
 

"Some frontiersmen even went as far as to give their rifles names -- female ones, at that, thus changing the relationship between owner and object to something resembling man and woman." "Hmm...maybe I'll start calling my tricorder Sally." -- Bashir and O'Brien

A serial killer is at large on DS9, and Sisko asks Ezri to put her forensic psychology training into action to catch the killer. Ezri undergoes the Trill Rite of Emergence to invoke Joran, the Dax host that was a psychotic killer. Joran appears to Ezri, and vows to help her catch the murderer, teaching her to think using the mind of a killer. O'Brien deducts that the murder weapon was a TR-116 rifle, modified with a micro-transporter, thus enabling the killer to kill anyone from anywhere. Joran just about pushes Ezri over the verge several times, but he does help her deduce who the killer is and she manages to shoot him just before he shoots her. The case closed, Ezri undos the Trill ceremony but Joran warns her that she will not be able to restrain him as Curzon and Jadzia did.

Review: 

At one point in this episode, Ezri says "I know when I'm not wanted". Alas, if only that were true. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like li'l Ezri, because I do. But enough is enough, and my Ezri tolerance has just about reached its threshold. With barely a dozen episodes left before the end of the series, I really think the writers should be spending more time on the rest of the cast and dealing with storylines that actually matter. For anyone counting, this is our third Ezri episode this season so far, which makes that three times as many as poor Sisko, O'Brien, Jake and Quark have had. Again, I have to point out that if the writers were as enthusiastic about writing for Jadzia as they are Ezri, Terry Farrell would still be with us. Now there's an irony for you.

Anyway, onward we go. Like the other Ezri episodes we've had thus far, Field of Fire was something of a mixed bag. Ex-staffer Robert Hewitt Wolfe takes his cue from season three's Equilibrium, in which we learned that one of the previous hosts of the Dax symbiont was a murdering psychopath. It's an interesting idea with a lot of rich potential for drama, but I never quite felt that Equilibrium exploited the premise for its full worth. Field of Fire is a decent attempt to do so and in part it was a reasonably enjoyable, suspenseful murder-mystery. The main problem is that when you start to analyse the plot, it starts to crumble apart in your hands like a flake of dried paint. Oh yes, there are some quite substantial problems.

When a serial killer strikes aboard DS9, Sisko puts Ezri on the case. Yes, that's right, Ezri. He reasons that because she took a forensic psychology class at the Academy, she will be able to track down the killer. Benjamin, buddy, when are you going to realise that your counsellor is unqualified, unhelpful and damn near incompetent? This episode has to be the worst example of Ezri's utter ineptitude as a supposed "professional". The only thing she does to try and catch the killer is to look through personnel files to see if she can see a link between the victims. She can't find a connection, which is fair enough, but that's it -- that's the first and only instance we see her use her alleged training.

But it gets worse, because what does she do next? Why, she undergoes the Trill Rite of Emergence to enable the murderous Joran to help her track the killer. Talk about letting the cat amongst the pigeons. This was an extremely irresponsible thing to do and the resultant effect it has on her only goes to underline that she took a big, big gamble in what she did. Her reasoning for doing so was also very shaky at best. Okay, so Joran is a killer, but does that mean he therefore understands the mind of anyone else who has ever killed? To assume that is the case is extremely naive and simplistic. It's the same as saying that because I watch DS9 I therefore automatically understand the inner workings of everyone else who watches DS9.

I'm also not quite sure about the way the dramatic implications of  "externalising" Joran. It's almost as though the writers were aiming for a 24th century version of Silence of the Lambs. That's all good and well, but I felt that by removing Joran from Ezri's consciousness, Ezri was let off the hook somewhat. Initially the episode suggests that the murders were perhaps carried out by Ezri, who was unaware of having done so. Although a little reminiscent of The Alternate, this could have been quite effective. If Joran was struggling to overwhelm and gain control of Ezri it would not only have offered Nicole deBoer a greater acting challenge but would given a more logical basis for the personality shift that occurs in Ezri. I mean, she teeters on the brink of killing three people. This doesn't come across as very convincing, because Joran's goading simply doesn't strike me as enough to push her over the edge. It would have been far scarier had Joran been inside Ezri, struggling to control her. I also have to wonder why Ezri would need to perform this ceremony at all to access Joran's memories. Between this and Facets, it's almost as though the writers are suggesting that instead of just having the memories of previous hosts, Trill hosts actually have different personalities, different entities within them. I'm not sure I go for that theory.

Speaking of dodgy theories, that brings me to the rather dubious logic employed to deduce the killer. The tenuous connection between the victims was that they all had photographs of smiling people in their quarters. This was a little odd; don't most people smile in photographs? Wouldn't the majority of the crew have such photos in their quarters? It's a stretch, but I suppose it's not entirely implausible. What is implausible is the reasoning that the killer must be someone who dislikes emotions and therefore a Vulcan. How's that for a leap of logic?! Ezri then proceeds to narrow down which Vulcan is responsible. It just so happens that Chu'lak, a Vulcan, steps into the turbolift with her and Joran declares that this is the killer! He doesn't give a reason; he just knows he is. 

I'm sorry, but this simply isn't good enough for an investigator. There's no evidence that the link between the victims is the photographs and there's no evidence whatsoever to support the supposition that a Vulcan must be responsible. Ezri checks up on Chu'lak's personnel file and discovers that he was previously assigned on a starship that was destroyed and he lost many of his friends and colleagues. This makes him a killer does it? Evidently it does. From their brief encounter in the turbolift it's implied that Chu'lak knows that Ezri suspects him (another large leap of logic) and is about to kill her. Fortunately she just happens to be watching him at the time he reaches for his gun and so manages to shoot him before he can shoot her. Lucky Ezri, huh? Her entire investigation was conducted using not a modicum of logic, sense or rational deduction. Whatever break-through she made was entirely due to coincidence. That doesn't make for a particularly satisfying murder-mystery in my book.

So what, you might ask, did I like about the episode? Well, there were a number of good ideas drifting around in there. For a start, the TR-116 rifle was just plain cool. Cool as a theory, that is -- it's not something I'd be very happy to know actually existed. Any notion of privacy would go out the window with one of those headsets. But it was a clever idea and I enjoyed O'Brien's demonstration on the melon. In terms of execution, the episode was beautifully brought to life by director Tony Dow, who keeps it well-paced and engaging throughout. There's actually a tangible sense of atmosphere and suspense which certainly helped iron out some of the poor plotting. The dream sequence in particular stood out; it was strikingly well-shot not to mention suitably eerie, surreal and disturbing. Gregory Smith also did a great job in the music department, delivering an effective score which complimented Dow's tight directing quite nicely. Given the frailties of the plot, it's a wonder that Field of Fire holds together as well as it does and I suspect a good bit of the credit goes to Messiuers Dow and Smith (both of whom are new to the show if I'm not mistaken).

As far as the acting side of things go, things were solid enough if not outstanding. Although Anthony Hopkins needn't fear for his job, Leigh J. McCloskey was reasonably good as Joran and for the most part he managed to convey a sinister intensity. He was especially good in the dream sequence, but after that the character fell apart a little. Despite the supposed intention of getting under the skin of serial killers, Hewitt's script isn't particularly enlightening and he never really addresses the character of Joran, failing to explore what motivates or drives him. As a result, Joran didn't so much come across as scary or dangerous as he did the stock "wise-cracking villain" stereotype. For her part, Nicole deBoer was reasonably solid, although as I said above there were some aspects I didn't find convincing, such as Ezri's descent into the brink of murder.

A few other quick comments:
 

What is it with these constant references to the Alamo and Davy Crockett?! Getting slightly tiresome, guys. And what do that pair get up to in the holosuite? Should Keiko be worried? ;-)

"What happened?" "Lieutenant Illario has been killed". Sorry, but the word "duh" comes to mind.

Odo got short-changed this week. Why wasn't he on charge with the investigation? At the very least we should have seen him collaborate with Ezri. One thing's for sure, he'd have done a much better job than little Miss Incompetent. 

Still on the subject of Odo, why did he need to wear those goggles? Those aren't real eyes! Maybe, in light of what we learn in Chimera, he was just trying to fit in.

The Bolian victim apparently had "a wife and co-husband". That certainly rose an eyebrow. Wonder how that works.

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