I remembered that there was an episode about the Dax symbiont having had a secret host, but I wasn't sure this was that episode until it was at least 15 minutes in. I actually appreciate that they don't make the show too much about Trill, they are interesting people, but there is only so much you can do. If I remember correctly Jake ends up following in his grandfathers tradition of being a chef and this episode also starts setting that development up nicely with Jake and his dad hosting a dinner for the senior staff.
The episode opens with Jake and his dad hosting a dinner. Odo is enjoying learning to cook a souffle and Bashir is complaining about beets. Jadzia shows up and after complimenting the beets pulls out an electric keyboard that Jake used to use. After commenting that no Dax ever had any musical talent she starts perfectly playing a song that none of them recognize and gets angry when she messes up part of it. The next day she and Sisko are playing chess and she keeps humming the song from earlier and not paying attention to the game. Sisko moves his knight to check her king and she gets angry and claims he was cheating before storming out. Kira follows to check on her but and Dax threatens to hurt her if she doesn't leave her alone. Dax storms off and finds herself in dark part of the promenade with a masked figure who gets closer to her everytime she tries to get away. The masked figure is right in front of her and takes off its mask but there is only another mask. Suddenly she is back on the brightly lit promenade and the masked figure she has grabbed turns out to be Quark.
Dax reports her hallucination to Bashir who examines her and finds the chemical levels for her communication with the symbiote are badly out of balance and getting worse. The only thing they can do is take her to the Trill homeworld to be examined by the symbiosis commission. Dax tells the commissioners about her visions and that some of the figures seem to be wearing very old uniforms. Looking for answers she visits the cave where unjoined symbionts are tended by unjoined Trill. One of the guardians recognizes her and tells her it is most likely a problem with one of her previous hosts, but that doesn't make any sense to her. While she goes through more medical tests Bashir and Sisko work on tracking down the song that she played that seems to tie it all together.
The research on the song leads them to Joran Belar. When they ask Jadzia about him she has a vision of the masked figure killing a doctor and when he removes the mask he is Joran. She then collapses into neurogenic shock. Bashir and Sisko keep digging and find that Joran Belar's records have been erased, but that he died exactly when the host before Curzon died. They contact Joran's brother who tells them that before his brother died 86 years earlier he had told his brother that he had been joined with a symbiont, but there are no records of this happening. Sisko figures this out and goes to the commissioner who is about to remove Dax from Jadzia killing Jadzia. Sisko tells her that he knows the secret, the commission tells the other Trill that only a small percentage of the population is suitable for implantation and that if an unsuitable host is used the symbiont will die in hours, but Joran proved them wrong. He was violent and unstable but managed to live for six months before they forcibly removed the symbiont killing him. To keep the secret the commissioner agrees to let Jadzia try to integrate the memories of Joran. It works and she is back to normal.
Review: An interesting episode, but Jadzia isn't really the strongest character going which hurts this one a bit. But it also works towards making her a more interesting character so I will give it credit there. Overall a slightly above average episode.
6 out of 10
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