Summary for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Prodigal Daughter

Season 7, Episode 11 Title: "Prodigal Daughter"

Guest Stars:
Kevin Rahm as "Norvo"
Mikael Salazar as "Janel"
John Paragon as "Bokar"
Clayton Landey as "Fuchida"

Special Guest Star:
Leigh Taylor-Young

Written by: Bradley Thompson and David Weddle

Events:
The show opens with Ezri, Julian, Odo and Nerys at a table in Quark's. Odo announces the arrival of 51 cases of ghak, ordered by Jadzia Dax for Martok's birthday (which is supposed to occur next week). Ezri explains that each case has a different variety of ghak (yep, 51 varieties of ghak, yum).

Ezri: "Torgood ghak wriggles. Feeldig ghak squirms. Mishi ghak jumps..." "...Bithu ghak has feet...Wiston ghak is packed in Targ blood. I have to go now. See you."

She tells Odo to space the cases, but Odo can't, due to environmental regulations. The fate of the ghak is left undetermined.

Meanwhile, Julian is looking a little distant, and Nerys asks him what's up. Turns out Julian is waiting for Miles to return on a transport due in today. He's hoping to play a little of the Alamo holo-program.

So as Ezri leaves, so too does Julian.

An external shot shows the transport arriving at the docking ring. Inside we see Julian waiting at the airlock as numerous Star Fleet officers disembark, along with one alien. But no Miles.

The scene cuts to the Captain's office, where Julian explains to Ben that Miles has been gone for three days and wasn't on the transport.

Ben says Miles went home to visit his father. Julian tries to correct him by suggesting that Miles only "implied" this but Ben demands to know where he is.

Julian explains Miles went to New Sydney in the Sapporo system to find the widow of Liam Bilby, an Orion syndicate member who was killed thanks to Miles last season. Ben is not amused. Apparently Miles and Mrs. Bilby have been in contact ever since. At least until three weeks ago when she went missing.

Miles tried to go through channels but New Sydney authorities weren't very helpful, and New Sydney is not a Federation world so Star Fleet has no jurisdiction.

So Miles went to investigate.

Ben demands a report from Julian within the hour.

Time passes and we find ourselves still in Ben's office with Ben and Ezri. Ben explains that Ezri's family operates a mine in the Saporo system and asks Ezri whether her mother would be willing to check in with the New Sydney authorities to see what happened to Miles.

Ezri believes her mother won't mind.

It turns out Ezri's family operates a purgium mine, sixth largest in the sector (formerly the fifth but the Ferengi opened a mine on Timor II a few years ago).

Ezri looks a little down in the mouth, and Ben asks her if something is wrong. It turns out Ezri isn't looking forward to talking to her mother. She last spoke with her mother shortly after Ezri was joined with Dax. Her mother came to visit and Ezri was still a little confused. Apparently upon seeing her mother Ezri said "Hi mom, it's me, Kurzon."

According to Ezri the conversation didn't go that well. While her mother was understanding, she also wanted Ezri to come home to recover. Ezri "disagreed", and apparently not for the first time.

Ben apologizes, and tells her he'd try some other method of locating the chief if there was another way. But Ezri is glad to offer help, pointing out her family problems aren't nearly as important as finding Miles.

Despite her willingness to help, Ezri doesn't look pleased with the prospect of talking to her mother again.

The scene cuts to Ezri's quarters, where she has begun talking with her mother.

A quick note here about how well this scene was handled. In the viewscreen which Ezri uses we can see her mother. But in the black glass that surrounds the screen we see Ezri's reflection. I recommend watching that reflection and comparing it to the direct shots of Ezri's face. There are no discontinuities as one might expect, and there are occasions where the reflection reacts to something the mother says, that blends in seamlessly with the direct shots of Ezri. Kudos to the camera team and Nicole (and the director) who made this scene so convincing. And accept a kudo for yourself if you've figured out I noticed this while looking for nits ;-).

Ezri and her mother chit-chat, Ezri assuring her mother that she's well and telling her of her promotion to Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Ezri announces herself as "Lt. Ezri Dax, at your service," and her mother notices the attachment of the name "Dax". Ezri explains that it is traditional to drop the host's family name and take on the name of the symbiont and her mother assures her she knew of this. For the record Ezri's family name was "Tigan".

Ezri finally gets to the problem that has caused her to call. She explains that Miles left three weeks ago and is missing, and asks her mother to investigate. Her mother assures her that she will do all she can. Then she asks Ezri when she will visit. Ezri tries to wriggle free of a commitment, using the war as an excuse. However her mother refuses to accept this and so withholds her cooperation until Ezri is permitted to visit her. Ezri tries to convince her mother otherwise, but her mother gets the last word by ending the transmission.

The show cuts to opening credits and commercials.

We return to the halls of DS9, where Julian is accompanying Ezri to the transport that will take her to New Sydney. Julian hands her a hypo-spray that contains a medicine to help her with her space sickness (nice bit of continuity there).

Julian also hands her a PADD which contains everything Star Fleet knows about Bilby and his widow. Ezri asks for his report and he claims "Oh it's in there. It's the one with Captain Sisko's boot prints all over it.". Ezri assures him he'll be "out of the doghouse" by the time she gets back.

At the lock Julian refers to his problems with his own parents and offers Ezri sympathy for what she's about to face. Ezri comments that she's a new Ezri now and her family didn't know what to think of the old one. She assures him she'll let him know as soon as she has word, and boards the transport.

From an external view we see New Sydney as a yellow-orange cratered planet. On the surface it is obviously a very dusty planet with some very strange architecture (very nice shot). Presumably the buildings we see have something to do with the Tigan mining operation, as this panoramic view includes the Tigan residence. This is an interesting structure, as half of it juts out over a cliff without any visible means of supported (obviously geological instabilities aren't a problem here).

Within the home we find a tastefully decorated living area with a circular fireplace and huge 'windows' which are bright white but opaque.

Ezri is greeted by her youngest brother, Norvo, who is thrilled to see her. He calls her "Zee" which is obviously her nick-name. He notices that she's cut her hair (which is news to us). She asks him about a large painting on the wall, asking him if it is his. He admits it is, but claims he hates it (it's a rather lovely painting of a mountain and trees done in what I would consider an oriental style: simple yet evocative). She wants to know why and Norvo demonstrates a certain proficiency at critiquing art.

Ezri is then greeted by Janel, her older brother. He appear in a miner's outfit, carrying his hard hat in his hand. After a hug and asking about the hair (which he thinks is cute and which Norvo describes as a "classic look") Janel tells her the preliminary police report on Miles hasn't turned up anything.

While it's obvious Norvo is happy to see her it is also obvious Janel doesn't think much of the visit, claiming he doesn't expect Ezri to stay a minute longer than she has to. Janel pointedly mentions that their mother has had to call in a lot of favours to get the information she's got so far.

In walks Mom, who tells her right away she hates Ezri's hair but then smiles and holds out her arms for her daughter.

Hugs out of the way, Mom turns to Janel to make sure someone is fired before dinner and then turns to Norvo and instructs him to complete a review of the last quarter's finances. She then starts talking to Ezri about a new solarium they've added to the house. Apparently the tiles were brought in from Andoria (anyone recall the Andorian in TOS' "Journey to Babel" ;-). They leave the two brothers and exit the scene.

Janel orders the man to be fired to the office, and explains to Norvo that a brand new piece of equipment was broken by the person to be fired. Mom thinks it was just sloppiness on the part of the worker but Janel believes the Orion Syndicate was involved. Norvo suggests they discuss it with Mom but Janel refuses, believing he can handle "Bokar" of the Orion syndicate.

The scene cuts to commercials.

The show returns to the Tigans enjoying dinner. They chat about what it was like for Ezri to associate with Jadzia's friends and how she believes they weren't prepared for another Dax to return to them. Her Mom interrupts Norvo to ask about a man on the USS Destiny that Ezri was interested in (Ensign Brenner Fenuk). Ezri no longer believes that relationship would work out. She claims Brenner reminds her of her son Gran, then corrects herself claiming it was Audred's son she's referring to. Norvo is very understanding of the error.

Ezri explains some of the difficulties she has with being joined, such as when the computer asks her to identify herself and she has to think for a moment, or the mornings when she wakes up uncertain whether she's a man or woman until she pulls back the covers. Her mother takes an interest in her food and doesn't look pleased. But she recovers and sympathizes with her daughter's plight, pointing out it isn't fair to join an untrained Trill to a symbiont.

Mom offers her their support and Ezri thanks them, claiming she thinks she has things under control. Mom points out Ezri was always too proud for her own good.

The scene cuts to a little later where we are in Norvo's room. It's an artist's room; sculptures abound and the place is not very tidy. He sits at a desk, presumably producing that review Mom asked for. He's interrupted by Ezri, who buzzes his door.

She asks him if all the artwork is his and he claims only the bad ones. She's surprised he's so critical of his work but he claims he's being realistic. He offers her Saurian brandy and toasts her as "a shining angel in a dark sky". It's obvious these two are quite close, not nearly as distant as both of them are from Janel.

A PADD offered by Norvo turns out to contain a letter from the Andorian art academy that rejected Norvo's application. She tries to console him by pointing out there are other academies, but Norvo thinks this one is the best. She continues to try to encourage him, but Norvo's attitude suggests he's accepted what appears to be the inevitable. Apparently Norvo has always been very artistic, poetic etc., but he feels he's just not good enough at it.

After he's finished berating himself Ezri announces "Those are mother's words," and it is obvious who influenced him into losing faith in his abilities. She claims Mom tried the same approach with her and it didn't work. She tells Norvo he shouldn't pay attention to their mother on this either.

But Norvo feels he's needed by the family and that things are for the best. Unfortunately Norvo doesn't look very happy with this and Ezri assures him she still believes in him.

With a sisterly kiss she bids him goodnight and leaves Norvo, who pours himself another glass.

The next morning, in Mom's office, Ezri is being told off by Mom for interfering with Norvo. Apparently Nurvo drank enough to pass out on the floor and is currently sleeping off a hangover. The beautiful painting is in her room with a red stick figure painted on it. Ezri smiles and Mom asks her if she thinks its funny. Ezri says the only thing funny is that Mom would blame her.

They argue. Mom believes Norvo is fragile and in need of encouragement. Ezri thinks Norvo needs to get out on his own and that Mom is smothering him. Mom gets indignant, claiming Ezri hasn't been back a day yet and that she doesn't know her brother anymore. She demands to know what Ezri knows about raising children. Ezri tells her she has four lifetimes worth of memories about rasing kids. Mom ignores this and claims she's worked and sacrificed a great deal for the family.

They're interrupted by Janel, who presents Miles in handcuffs along with a New Sydney police officer. Turns out Miles was in a brawl with the Orion syndicate. The cuffs are removed and we learn that Bilby's widow is dead.

The show cuts to commercials.

When we return we learn from Miles that Bilby's widow was killed six weeks earlier, from a blow to the head and then her body thrown into a river. The police officer is skeptical. Miles believes the syndicate killed her and the officer claims the only thing holding the syndicate together is the way they take care of each other's families. Apparently when Miles was rescued he was about to prove the syndicate was responsible, however two Nausicaans were sent to scare him off with a beating.

The officer excuses himself and leaves, and Mom tells Ezri to take Miles to a guest room so he can clean up and get something to eat.

The scene cuts to a dining room where they're discussing the events. Miles maintains his story and asks Ezri to put in a good word for him with Ben. Ezri smiles and suggests it will take several good words but that she would do her best.

Their discussion is interrupted when Mom asks him to repair a piece of equipment. Both Ezri and Janel object but Mom is insistent and Miles is agreeable.

The scene cuts to Norvo's wrecked room. Ezri is standing amidst the debris. She walks in, looking mildly dismayed, and finds Norvo, still dressed on his bed. He greets her with a "good morning," which she corrects as "good afternoon". He slowly and painfully arises.

He claims Mom won't be pleased. Ezri assures him Mom is busy with Janel and Miles. He's pleased to hear that Miles has been found and asks if she's leaving. She tells him not right away. She wants to talk about him.

He explains that when he gets drunk he becomes an art critic, and that he doesn't feel too bad since he never liked the works he ruined anyway. She asks him how he's feeling and he tells her he feels like not being analyzed by her. But he says this with a smile and she explains it's what she does. He assures her the situation isn't very complicated. He's "wallowing in self-pity and acting out my frustrations by throwing tantrums".

Since he's diagnosed his condition she asks him for his prescription. He considers suicide but makes a joke about how Mom hates blood on the carpets and wouldn't approve. Neither does Ezri, who doesn't find the comment funny. He apologizes, explaining it's the hangover.

Ezri asks him if he'll come with her, on a vacation, to DS9. He's convinced Mom would go insane ;-). She tells him not to worry about that. He's worried about dumping it on Janel. Ezri tells him to not worry about that either. Norvo tells her things with the company are complicated and he's not sure, and she asks him to think on it.

The scene cuts to the mines, where Miles and Janel are working on fixing a piece of equipment. Turns out one of the components was mislabeled. Janel suggests it might have been deliberate.

Before that can sink in too far, an alien with a hard hat walks up, asking if Janel is suffering another equipment failure. The alien suggests that it might not have happened if the worker that was fired hadn't been fired. Janel explains Mom ordered the dismissal personally. The alien suggests they try to change her mind.

The alien then asks about Miles. Turns out the alien knows something of what has happened to Miles, thanks to some contacts within the New Sydney police force. He introduces himself as Thadeo Bokar. The "Bokar" we heard mentioned between Norvo and Janel in an earlier scene.

He claims to be a commodities dealer trying to establish business ties with the Tigans. Janel asks Miles to excuse them while they discuss business. Miles agrees and leaves.

Janel tells Bokar he won't deal any further with the syndicate. Bokar puts that discussion aside for the moment, and suggests that Miles is with Federation Intelligence, trying to infiltrate the syndicate. Janel corrects him and states Miles works on DS9. Bokar believes that's a cover story. Janel explains he came looking for a woman, though he doesn't know the name. Bokar does, and tells Janel who it is. Janel looks surprised. Bokar says he hasn't heard from the woman in several weeks, that rumour has it she's dead. Bokar warns Janel to get Miles off the planet as quickly as possible, before something bad happens to Miles.

The scene cuts to commercials.

When we return we find Miles in the Tigan living room alone. Janel walks in, asking when Miles will be leaving. Miles thinks it will be tomorrow but isn't sure since it's up to Ezri (she's his commanding officer). And Miles adds he's not looking forward to seeing Ben, since Ben has "a boot with my name on it".

Janel tells him this isn't a good time for guests and that they should leave as soon as possible. Janel leaves Miles with this thought just as Ezri walks in.

Miles relates the conversation he's just had with Janel to Ezri. Ezri tells him Janel has been under a lot of pressure and tells him not to worry. Miles asks Ezri if she knows anything about Bokar. Ezri admits she tries to know as little as possible about the family business.

Miles suggests that something about Bokar gave him a strong feeling Bokar works for the syndicate. Ezri suggests they tell Janel but Miles believes Janel already knows. He admits he has no evidence but points out that a string of equipment failures and accidents suggest Janel is being pressured to pay off the syndicate to leave them alone.

Ezri is disbelieving, claiming Janel isn't easily scared off and Mom would rather destroy the company than deal with the syndicate.

Miles suggests he look over the books to find out whether this is the case or not.

The scene cuts to the mines, where Mom is brow-beating Norvo out of taking the vacation Ezri has suggested. She succeeds.

The scene cuts back to the Tigan residence, where Miles is going over the books. Ezri is babbling on about why she chose not to get involved in the business (financial records are characterized as a "Ferengi nightmare").

Miles stops and stares hard at her. Ezri asks what's wrong. Miles says "You tell me". Then he asks Ezri if she came here to find him or prevent him from learning the truth.

Ezri doesn't know what he's talking about and Miles explains the connection between Ezri's family and the syndicate is Bilby's widow. Apparently she was on the company payroll. He asks her if she knew and she claims she didn't. He warns her that someone in her family may be connected to the death of Bilby's widow.

The scene cuts to commercials.

When we return, Miles and Ezri stand before a screen showing a series of symbols which they must read for us. It turns out Bilby's widow was hired as a shipping consultant at five bars of latinum a week. However, she receives raises from five to ten to twenty to thirty bars a week. The last payment was made the day before she died.

When they try to narrow down who is responsible it quickly becomes obvious that Mom, Janel, and/or Norvo knew about this. Miles points out they must inform the New Sydney authorities. Ezri refuses to do so right away, and orders Miles to keep it secret for now as well.

The scene cuts to the living room. All of the Tigan family is in attendance. Mom wants to know why Bilby's widow was on the payroll. Janel tells her they are returning a favour to the syndicate. Apparently when the Ferengi opened that purgium mine several years ago the Tigan family was overextended and at risk of bankruptcy. The syndicate offered to help and Janel accepted. This solved their problems and Mom didn't ask how this was done.

Mom claims she didn't ask because she trusted Janel.

Bokar came to Janel about a month after arranging the loan that saved the company, looking for a job for Bilby's widow. A job and salary but no real work to be done. Then he complains that Norvo was supposed to change the payroll records to hide the fact they were paying her but that he didn't do it.

Mom's not pleased with Janel for involving Norvo, but Janel counters by pointing out Mom said nothing is more important than the company.

The two start recriminating each other but are interrupted by Ezri, who drags the topic back to Bilby's widow. Apparently she wasn't happy with her salary and complained, and so Janel paid her more. When Ezri asks him if he knew how she died he claims he doesn't know. Mom gets involved and again the two start bickering.

Mom wants Janel to tell her the truth and he claims he didn't kill her. Norvo claims Janel couldn't kill her. Mom tells Norvo to stay out of it. Janel denies killing Bilby's widow and Mom can't believe it.

Norvo again intercedes on behalf of Janel, and something in what he says catches Ezri's attention. While Mom and Janel bicker, Ezri turns to Norvo and looks at him hard. She walks up to him and asks him to tell her he had nothing to do with it.

Norvo smiles. He claims he's the "idiot brother" and how could he be involved. Their discussion catches the attention of Mom and Janel. Ezri insists Norvo tell her the truth. Norvo confesses to the murder.

He explains he'd gone to her to reason with her. But she wouldn't listen. She was angry with everyone and was yelling about how the Tigans are just as bad as the syndicate. And Norvo realized if she were dead the problem would be solved.

He looks at Mom and reminds her that she believed him weak. But he handled a problem none of them could fix. He proved he wasn't weak.

Mom and Ezri are both teary-eyed at this revelation.

Time passes and we see the New Sydney police taking Norvo away in chains.

Ezri and Janel are in the room. Janel remembers he has mining duties to take care of, but he is obviously shaken by this. Ezri tells him to forget the mine. That after the trial Janel should go. He asks where and she says it doesn't matter, that he should build a new life for himself to find happiness. He should just leave this place. She says this with great sympathy for Janel, as one offering sage advice to a family member.

Then Ezri leaves Janel in the room and walks into her mother's office to tell her that Norvo has been taken away. Her mother is upset. Ezri tells her she'll stay for the trial and then return to DS9.

Her mother turns to her, pleading for Ezri to assure her this isn't Mom's fault. Ezri looks at her as if to offer her some charitable words, but remains silent and leaves the room. It's obvious Ezri believes Mom is at the heart of this problem. She just can't say it.

Considerable time later, back on DS9. Ezri is in Quark's as Miles is walking by. He looks in and sees her and joins her at the table.

Ezri tells Miles she just got back the previous night. She isn't happy. Norvo was sentenced to thirty years for his crime. Miles winces.

Miles points out that considering the crime, he's lucky. Ezri understands his point of view, but points out Miles didn't know him. She says when Norvo was young he was very gifted, with so much potential.

She tells Miles that she spent so many years trying to get out of the house that she didn't notice what had happened to Norvo. She talks of the endless humiliation and constant criticism. She berates herself for not doing something about it.

Miles tries to ease her conscience but Ezri is adamant. She believes she should have gone home sooner.

The episode ends.

Personal Reflections:
Hard to call this an "entertaining" episode. It's a very hard lesson for parents to realize that while their intentions are good their actions are wrong, yet Mom Tigan had to learn this the hard way because she refused to listen to anyone. Even when Ezri pointed out she now had memories of four lifetimes of raising children, Mom didn't miss a beat in her tirade.

This seemed to be a woman who had to have everything her way (gee, sounds like Janeway). The damage she caused Norvo, her inability to understand his sensitivity and needs, her expectations that her kids were to cater to her demands, all of these things came crashing down around her in the aftermath of Norvo's confession.

I get the feeling this is a woman who probably shouldn't have had kids. She ran roughshod over Norvo in the mine and it was obvious he'd learned to give up whatever he wanted, to give her what she wanted.

How he could have found the will to commit the murder is beyond me. It seemed like an insanity thing but apparently the New Sydney authorities decided to punish him as a criminal rather than someone who is ill.

Since my own family seems to have escaped that tragedy and I never had a parent who was as pushy as Mom Tigan I'm a little out of my element and find it difficult to relate to the situation. But having met people who weren't so very different from Mom Tigan I'd have to say I sympathize with Norvo, Janel, and Ezri. Perhaps through escaping the home and family business Ezri saved herself, whereas her siblings couldn't escape. The reasons for that were never explored or explained.

I noticed the lack of mention of a father. What happened to Dad Tigan and where is he now?

As for Miles, I find myself wondering whether Bokar was right. Was Miles working for Star Fleet Intelligence? This was a good episode for Miles. A quiet strength and confidence we don't usually get to see in the easy going mild-mannered Chief. I have to admit I liked him more in this episode than in several others he's been in this season. This was the Miles who walked into Worf's quarters to confront the Klingon on his problem with Jadzia not going to Sto-vo-kor. Even moreso, this was the Miles who confronted Worf over Ezri. I'd like to see more of this side of Miles.

On an even brighter note, this was a good episode from a nit-picking point of view. Very, very few problems (only two I saw). Seems to me DS9's writing is just getting better and better all the time. The scene of Ezri talking to her mother from DS9 was perfect, and very impressive if you were paying attention to that reflection I mentioned. Little details like that really add a lot to an episode, and it was a pleasure to watch something as seamless as this from a technical point of view.

Next week's episode is a re-run of "Image in the Sand". I will re-release my spoilers for that show at the beginning of the week for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

Thank you for your attention.



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