Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

It's Only a Paper Moon

Season 7 Episode 10

Plot Summary: Nog arrives back at DS9 after finishing his time at the hospital. Recalling the days right after his injury he remembers the Vic Fontaine song that Dr. Bashir played for him at AR-558. That injury cost him his leg. Now he has a fake one, but claims that it hurts to use it, therefore he uses a cane as well. Ezri is sure that the need for the cane is purely psychological, and tries to convince Nog. But the young Ferengi won't listen. He only wants to stay cooped up in his room listening to that same Vic Fontaine song over and over. And that's what he does until disgruntled roommate Jake demands him to stop playing it.

Nog then goes to a holosuite to hear the song, and then gets an idea, why doesn't he stay with Vic in the holosuite and help him run the establishment? The crew of DS9 decide it's best to let the boy live his fantasy for a time, but Nog would rather make it a permanent change. He gets so worked up about business with Vic he forgets the real world. Ezri is adamant that this is not good for Nog, and convinces Vic of the same thing. Vic takes action and turns off his program, leaving Nog alone.

Eventually Nog gets Vic to talk to him again, and the two discuss Nog's problems. Nog is just too scared of the real world to cope with it. But with help from Vic he is ready to face his fears, yet still come back to help in the holosuite every now and then. He returns to his duties on DS9.

Sub-Plot: Nada

My Opinion: Of course anything with Vic Fontaine is already on a "Doomed" list in my opinion, but surprisingly this episode turned out very good.

First off, it was original. Nothing quite like this has been done on DS9. It was refreshing to delve into a character who usually doesn't get much screen time. And in this episode we got to dive into two of them!

The emotions running through Nog throughout the duration of the episode were well thought out and expressed. Also, it was nice to see both Ezri and Vic take a stab at psychology. But most importantly the episode succeeded in being entertaining. Probably the only downside is it doesn't contain any huge plot advances that one would expect from the series' final season. But then, neither have many episodes yet this year. Here's to hoping for some big stuff coming up!

Wrap-Up: "It's Only a Paper Moon" was thought-provoking and entertaining. It also had some nice symbolism and Nog in a tux. I give it three and a half stars!

Review by -William Phillips

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