4.13 — “Crossfire”

4.13 — “Crossfire”

Plot: Odo is forced to increase security details when Bajoran minister Shakaar visits the station, and rely on Worf to lead Federation reinforcements. The mission to protect Shakaar forces Odo to confront his own feelings for Kira, as he watches Shakaar and Kira grow closer together.

Thoughts: This episode requires walking a delicate line, because it’s easy for a story of this nature to become overwrought. Director Les Landau falls off this line more often than not with mawkish camera movements and heavy-handed reaction shots that are about as subtle as… sabotaging a turbolift.

Overdoing things means making dignified characters like Odo look foolish, and sending the message to the audience that you don’t trust their intelligence.

It’s not all bad, though. Nana Visitor is great yet again with a performance that is precise and full of life. René Auberjonois emotes powerfully through the Odo makeup, and by the end his character’s comeuppance almost makes me forget the tedious setup that preceded it.

This jealously is an awfully slight basis for a whole episode, though. Maybe “Crossfire” needs another subplot?

Odo and Worf are funny in the scene where they talk about the best way to discourage visitors to their quarters. However, the character of Shakaar is terribly uninteresting, betraying the precedent established in DS9 3.24, “Shakaar,” and the potential for a more involving story.

Also, “Crossfire” is a terrible name. What does this signify?

2.5 of 5 lovesick changelings.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Crossfire_(episode)