3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Susanna Thompson, August 19, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 78: Rejoined [VHS] (VHS Tape)
In my opinion, "Rejoined" represents Star Trek at it's finest. I only wish they continued with this storyline with the later episodes of DS9.
"Rejoined" also highlights the career of Susanna Thompson (Lenara). Many people became instant fans of hers immediately after "Rejoined" aired. I'm one of those fans. :)
This is a classic episode which every Star Trek fan should have in their collection. A big round of applause should go to Avery Brooks for his directing and Rene Echevarria for his writing.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly functional for a love story, April 16, 2002
This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 78: Rejoined [VHS] (VHS Tape)
..."Rejoined" is at first glance just another boring love story.
It deals with a forbidden relationship between our Trill science officer Jazia Dax and Lenara Kahn, another joined Trill scientist.
The thing that makes this relationship forbidden is the fact that the two of them have been married before. Kind of...
A hundred years earlier when the Dax symbiont was joined to a host named Torias, he (Torias Dax) was married to Leilani Kahn, a person who was half the Kahn symbiont, half a long dead woman.
There's nothing more unholy in the Trill society than a joined Trill 'rejoined' to a family member or a beloved from his/her 'past life'. People who have committed this have been exiled from the Trill homeworld. The result has been the eventual death of both the host and the symbiont, as a new host has been unavailable. And according to the first code of trill morale, the symbiont's life is everything.
It all begins when Lenora Kahn comes to DS9 to commit an experiment in wich an artificial wormhole is being created.
Lenara has an older scientist and his brother watching over her shoulder for the experiment and for her ex-husbands 'new form'.
Eventually, Lenara and Jazia redescover the love Leilani and Torias had. This leads into a powerfull and even beautiful story of forbidden love that contains all the clichés that go along with that same old story, but manages to offer thought-provoking and powerfull scenes. A big credit of this goes to the powerfull performances by Terry Farrel and ----- as Jazia Dax and Lenara Kahn.
"Rejoined" is all about a society's and culture's autonomy over individuals and their lives, and it gives a lot to think about.
Then of cource there's the issue with the motives behind the episode.
"Rejoined" is a very Roddenberrian episode that defends the oppressed, this time sexual minorities, and in that respect "Rejoined" isn't all that succesfull.
The story is extremely figurative, and doesn't make a clear statement. It avoids direct opinion by using the Trill, who have lived several lives both as male and female. That way you could state that bisexuality would be unavoidable for a Trill.
Still, the episode has some successes in that field also. The fact that both Jazia and Lenara are women isn't an issue. At all. On the countrary, when Lenara first comes to the station, Jazia's colleagues speculate on a possible relationship. And before this episode, Jazia's had several relationships with men. This would suggest that Star Trek confirms what sosiologist and psychologist have speculated: that sexuality isn't going to be so one-sided in the future as it becomes less of a tabu.
Nevertheless it would have made a better impact to the show if it had made a clear and unnegotiable statement on the issue. After all, Star Trek is being marketed as an open minded and intellectual show. Well, they still have "Enterprise" and movies, and several Star Trek books have made a clear statement on sexual minorities. And the oppinion of the writers is clearly apparent in "Rejoined", and we get to witness a lesbian kiss that doesn't leave (almost :)) anyone cold...
"Rejoined" is mature and surprisingly unsentimental for a virtually plotless love story episode, containing good characterization, quality drama and exellent acting performances.
Good drama.
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