Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Equilibrium (1994) User Reviews

She can play the song but can't find the meaning

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 28 March 2020]

Really, who hasn't had the feeling of wanting to murder someone?

The idea of having a psychotic personality intermingling with 7 other rational hosts is quite an interesting topic to dig into. They touched on this with Dax but I felt they could have gone a bit further to develop the tug-o-war battle for control of the Dax symbiont between Dax and Joran.

I did enjoy the ultimate conclusion of this story with Jadzia making the decision to embrace Joran as being part of the Dax symbiont. As individuals we can't simply cut out parts of ourselves ---- you have to live with yourself and your mistakes and triumphs. It could imagine this episode going a different way --- maybe they try to supress the memory of Joran again ---- I'm glad they didn't go that way.

If you look deeply into this episode you can find the elements of suppression of trauma present in this episode. As anyone who has had trauma knows the fruits of supressing trauma are violate and destructive in form. The idea of suppression becomes life threatening to Jadzia as the Trill society has repressed the knowledge that half of trill society are able to be joined.

There's more to this episode then meets the eye and that's why I LOVE star trek.

Killer Dax

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 9 April 2010]

As the senior staff gather to enjoy a dinner with Commander Sisko Dax starts playing a musical instrument something she thought that none of her hosts has ever had a talent for. Afterwards she can't get the tune out of her head and behaves totally out of character; at one point she accuses Sisko of cheating at chess an acts in an almost threatening manner towards Kira. After an hallucination she sees Dr. Bashir and is told suffering from low levels of the chemical that links the symbiont and its host. In order to get the best treatment they take her back to Trill where they learn that in there may be a connection between Dax and a musician who died on the same day that one of Dax's previous hosts had died after a six month coma. The musician's brother tells Sisko that he believed he'd been joined despite there being no official records; he also said that he died after murdering one of the doctors. It appears that the people in charge of Trill joining have been keeping a secret, but why? Meanwhile it appears that Dax's condition could be terminal.

This was a decent episode which taught us more about Dax's past and the nature of the Trill. The only slight weakness was that I never really thought that Dax was in any danger although that might be because I'd seen the series before and knew she survive this episode.

More good than bad, but some wasted opportunities

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 8 April 2022]

Jadzia experiences strange emotions and hallucinations.

This is a decent episode with some good visuals and strong performances.

The story contains a great idea for a mystery and it starts off very well, particularly with Jadzia's out of character behaviour and the hallucinations, which are nicely designed. However, as the plot progresses it becomes less cinematic and more geared towards characters' verbal explanations.

I'm not sure the medical drama works given that we always know know Jadzia is going to be okay. It might have been better for her character to lead the story rather than Sisko and Bashir. I think if she had to unlock the mystery and contend with the psychological issues it would have been really good.

Terry Farrell, Avery Brooks and Alexander Siddig are all on great form.

For me it's a 6.5/10 but I round upwards.

Trill Time

[dand1010 · 7/10 · 13 September 2021]

Quick Review:

Everything you wanted to know about Trills but were too bored to ask.

Going back to the home world of Jadzia to figure out what is wrong with her before she dies.

Those little worm guys swim around in pools full of a milky substance. Their pools are located in dark caves.

They communicate by visible electric bolts of lightning as their little worm heads swim just above the water line - kind of impersonating a shark without any of the danger. The person who thought all this science fiction story up - about Trill and the little guys lovingly inhabiting a persons body -has a very interesting mind.

Can't anyone tell the truth any more? Why is there always a liar or liars loose on planets everywhere???

All's Well That Ends Well, I Guess!

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 10 October 2018]

All I is Jadzia is in trouble and needs to go to the place she was "formed." Apparently, there has been some cover-up and it threatens this place and the planet. Once again, I really don't get what is involved in all of the Trill stuff. What's the deal with the pool and her need to meet someone and join with them? It was just a kind of plodding thing that really had no suspense. It ends with a klunk!

Where was Verad?

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 2 September 2013]

As we recall, in Season 2 Episode 4, DAX was accosted by a sniveling bean counting pencil pusher named Verad who used a Jem Ha'Dar-style woman named Mareel to steal the DAX Symbiote and try to escape to the Gamma quadrant.

Fortunately, Dr Bashir and Quark were able to release Odo from a locked BUCKET, and between Odo stopping the other cronies and The Sisko convincing Mareel that "her" Verad no longer existed, Jadzia was saved from dying of a Symbiote-Ectomy.

And now it is exactly one year after those events... And something is not quite right in Jadzia - Or is it DAX?

At first, she picks up Jake's electronic Piano and starts fiddling with a melody. She quickly becomes obsessed with it, humming the melody and not remembering. Then she starts acting very Un-Jadzia-like, snapping at The Sisko and accusing him of cheating in 3 Dimensional Chess.

And she begins to have hallucinations of Masked figures who have even more masks underneath... and some unknown Trill Security Guards. So The Sisko and Doctor Bashir decide to bring Jadzia back to Trill, a visit to "The Symbiosis Commission" where they run some tests.

The tests confirm that Jadzia is low on a particular kind of Symbiote-Goop, dangerously low. Some Trill Symbiote-Dope helps and they go visit the keepers of the Symbiotes in the caves beneath the complex.

Nicholas Cascone who was in the second season Next Generation episode "Pen Pals" - Is a tender for the Symbiotes-He sees right away that something is wrong. His explanation, "the Host is not Playing Fair" - only brings up the question "Which Host?"

When the Defiant computer identifies the Music and the Trill Composer of the Music, Jadzia goes into convulsions and neural shock when she sees his picture.

Is there some agenda on the Trill Homeworld? The Sisko and Bashir are blocked at every turn when they try to investigate. The Symbiote tender will no longer talk to them and refuses to admit what he had told them just one day earlier. But some startling facts erupt when they interview the brother of the author of the musical piece Jadzia was playing and humming - A Trill who had killed members of the Symbiosis Board.

And an even deeper mystery erupts when they find Trill records that have been wiped - Who was the Dax Host prior to Curzon?

Not who the Symbiosis Commission records show, there seems be a missing Host.

In the end, The Sisko is not interested in revealing a startling fact about how many potential Hosts are on Trill... His only concern is saving Jadzia. And the threat of The Sisko broadcasting this information on a planetary scale is enough to make the Commission see reason and let Jadzia be fixed, or rather Dax be fixed.

The memory of something bad had been erased from the Dax Symbiote. But you can't just delete bad memories, they will always resurface. In the end, a memory removed from the Dax Symbiote threatens to be Fatal to the Jadzia host-So the two must be reconnected and reacquainted.

When Jadzia had her Zhian'Tara - The Trill Ritual where she is able to physically meet all of her previous "Hosts" - This one Host was no longer forgotten and took his place in the legacy of Dax.

The only Host that was missing from the Zhian'Tara was Verad. Perhaps he was so small and unimportant to the gestalt of the Fellowship of Dax Hosts that he could be easily forgotten with no Harm done. He was after all, not mentally sufficient enough to be a real Host. But perhaps his invasive assault on Jadzia was the catalyst which propelled this new hidden ugliness to surface.

Jadzia starts to go nuts....and I was bored senseless by it all.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 20 December 2014]

When the episode begins, Commander Sisko is throwing a little dinner party. Jadzia sees a keyboard and begins playing some odd melody. No biggie, right? Well, she seems obsessed with the tune and begins acting a bit oddly over the course of the next few days. In fact, it's as if she's having a nervous breakdown. Ultimately, this necessitates a trip to Trill along with Dr. Bashir and Sisko to get to the bottom of this.

What follows is a bit of Trill intrigue--none of which is very interesting and ALL of which is incredibly subdued. The show simply lacks energy--like the cast are doing a read-through instead of acting. Limp and dull from start to finish and a show that really failed to keep my interest.