After yesterdays train wreck of an episode it is nice to see there are still some competent writers on staff. This episode manages to do at least four things at the same time without feeling like they are tacked on. First of all it tells the story of a village that thinks it is real but is in face a holograpic illusion. Second, and tied closely to the first, it continues to build apprehension about the Dominion without actually introducing them. Near the end we learn from the one real villager that the Dominion conquered his planet and he created the illusory village to pretend it hadn't happened. Back on the station Jake finally manages to talk to his father about how a career in star fleet isn't the path he wants to go down and finally Kira and Bareil finally get together for real.
The episode opens with Dax and Odo on a runabout talking about relationships and Odo refuses to believe any woman could ever truly be interested in him. The detect omicron particles on the surface of a nearby planet and beam down to investigate. They find some sort of power generator in the middle of an empty village but before they can do much to figure out what is going on they are being held at gun point. But the hostility from the locals is short lived. After convincing them they have no ill intentions the deputy of the village asks for Odo's help figuring out why members of the village have been disappearing for no apparent reason. Back on the station Kira is trying to keep up with Odo's job of watching Quark and Jake gets a job helping Miles keep things running.
Back in the village they meet the town elder who admits to Odo that he is dying. Next they meet his granddaughter Taya who's mother has disappeared. Odo explains to Taya that he is a changeling and at first she is afraid, but then she becomes fascinated by him. Back on the station O'Brien and Jake work together and Jake admits to Miles that he doesn't want to join starfleet and Miles tells him that his father wanted him to be a cello player but he ran off and joined starfleet instead, but that now his father is really proud of what he has accomplished. Meanwhile there is a surprise guest on the station, Vedek Bareil has arrived allegedly to give a speech at the temple, but really he mostly seems interested in spending time with Kira. The two play springball together and afterwards end up kissing in Kira's quarters.
In the village Odo and Dax are working to try and discover why no one in the village has ever left the valley they live in. When they take a scanner from the village and try to leave it disappears in Dax's hands. Dax figures it all out then, they are holographic projections and the generator is failing. They talk to the villagers and explain it to the them. The villagers agree to let her turn the generator off for repairs. When she does turn it off all but the town elder disappear. He is the one who set the whole thing up to start with and now wants it to stay turned off. Odo and Dax show him how much he cares about Taya and the others though so he agrees to the repairs after ominously mentioning the Dominion. They get the generator working again and everybody reappears including those who had been vanishing over the past few weeks. Before they leave Odo transforms into a spinning top for Taya.
Review: A really touching episode that also manages to move a bunch of long running plot threads forward. Lots of subplots but they all work and make this a really fun if not super memorable episode.
7 out of 10
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