You may have noticed if you’re following along with the official list of episodes of Season 1 found anywhere on the internet, that “Past Prologue” is actually episode 2. However, Netflix, deciding to confuse me, has “A Man Alone” listed as episode 2, so this is the way I watched it, and “Past Prologue” will be up next week, probably Friday again, unless anyone has a problem with the day of the week this is being posted.

I’m not sure the chronology requires one or the other to be watched first.

Also, I forgot to mention last time, but I’m getting all these screenshots from trekcore.com, which is the same place the original TNG fashion blog (http://sttngfashion.tumblr.com/), which is how I noticed the episodes on Netflix are out-of-order.

Sorry for the confusion! Let’s begin!

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Dax is meditating with a giant ball of soap when Bashir enters.

He tries to flirt and ask her to a meal. She basically shoots him down politely but he ignores her and asks her to explain the brain teaser puzzle thing she’s doing. The idea is to make a floating sphere a solid color. He is distracted by attempting to flirt. He claims he’s ready to try the game, but the sphere immediately disintegrates. Clearly he’s not focused. Sisko arrives to take Dax to dinner instead.

(CUE THEME)

We start in Quark’s bar. There are lots of people there. Some Bajorans in uniforms. Some civilians in clothes that look too large for them. Since they’re hanging out with Bajorans, I’m going to assume they’re either Bajoran or humans.

There’s also an alien in the foreground who has kind of the classic traveler outfit with a hood hanging down behind his head. It kind of looks like he’s going for a similar type of color blocking as the Starfleet uniforms; the shoulders and hood are kind of leathery brown while the rest of the shirt is green. There’s also some texturing on the sleeves.

Odo talks to Quark. Odo is wearing his usually boring brown Bajoran Security Uniform. Quark appears to be wearing almost the same outfit he wore in the first episode – orange patterned shirt and Legitimate Businessman Jacket, but this time the shirt has vertical stripes instead of horizontal. He’s also got kind of olive-green pants. Quark is happy because business is good. There are many new people. Odo is suspicious because he thinks Quark is just going to scam them all or is using them as contacts for his less legitimate business deals.

They’re looking up in that screenshot there because they have overheard the O’Briens arguing on an upper level. Quark notes that the marriage is having problems, and says he hears through the gossip that Mrs. O’B is not happy and wants to leave. Odo is not interested in “coupling”, as the humanoids do, because he thinks the compromising always means that the woman wins the argument. This seems like an argument that is either kind of sexist or kind of naïve. In Odo’s case I’m going to go with naïve, and I could say more about his character but I won’t derail.

Mrs. O leaves, looking pretty unhappy.

Meanwhile, Sisko and Dax enter and head for another table. Quark openly ogles Dax. Odo tells him he doesn’t stand a chance, and he thinks Sisko is moving in, but Quark says that they are old friends from when Dax was a man, and they’re just friends.

Something catches Odo’s eye. At a gambling table, a gold alien is overseeing a game with some Bajorans. This is some serious bling, of the sort that [redacted] would appreciate.

A Bajoran wearing a green sweater is playing at the same table. Odo asks how long he’s been there. Quark says he came on a shuttle the previous evening.

Upstairs, Dax wants her usual steamed azna. Sisko talks about his dad the chef. He’s not interested in steamed azna. Dax says it is healthy. They laugh. They talk about Curzon, who was a mentor and father figure to Sisko. Dax says it’s okay if they don’t remain friends, but Sisko says that won’t happen and they’re just going to be friends.

 

Downstairs, Green sweater guy is gathering his winnings when Odo confronts him. He gets all up in the guy’s face tells him he doesn’t want him there. The guy disagrees and says that he has every right to be on the station. Odo says he doesn’t. Music swells. Odo and the guy start fighting. Sisko comes down and breaks up the fight. Odo tells the guy he has 26 hours to leave and then he leaves.

 

Meanwhile, the O’Briens continue their argument on the promenade.

Keiko is wearing a neon pink long-sleeved shirt with a gray vest that’s tied shut with green ribbons or something. I have to give Mrs. O some credit; she doesn’t usually look ridiculous in her outfits.

Keiko is frustrated because she doesn’t have anything to do, as there’s no need for a botanist on the station. Chief says he can get her on ships going through the wormhole to look for new plants, but she doesn’t want his help. He suggests she plant some trees and such on the promenade. They see Jake wearing his usual orange and purple sweater jumpsuit combo. “Do you really want our daughter to grow up here?” she asks.

Kira calls Chief. Some technobabble is happening, so he has to go back to work. I wonder if he’s often called away for things like that and if that takes a toll on their marriage, but I’m probably just projecting my concerns as the wife of someone who works a lot. I’m guessing Starfleet Officers’ Spouses have to deal with this sort of thing often, like getting called away to fix the transporter while in the middle of an anniversary dinner or something.

Nog is getting an ice or something similar. It looks like a popsicle.

Nog hasn’t yet moved on to classic Ferengi style like his Uncle Quark. He settles for what might be an olive-green jumpsuit, but could also be olive-green pants and long-sleeved shirt, worn beneath an oversized reddish-orange t-shirt.

Jake is wearing an outfit glimpsed briefly in the first episode. It looks like an orange sweater jumpsuit with a purple sweater over top of it, but really, it’s all one piece, and the purple part doesn’t even come down to his waist, so it kind of looks like he’s wearing a crop-top t-shirt over…nothing.

Understandably, Nog doesn’t want to hang out with him, as he clearly has the better fashion sense.

 

Meanwhile Odo explains to Sisko that Green Sweater Guy is Ibudan, who used to run black market supplies through the station during the Cardassian occupation. Some Bajorans like him and think he’s a hero, but Odo says he let a kid die whose parents couldn’t pay for the medical supplies he’d obtained. He also killed a Cardassian who wanted a payoff to look the other way, and went to prison for the murder thanks to Odo.

Sisko wants to know why he’s released. Apparently, the Bajoran Provisional Government let him out; they didn’t think killing a Cardassian was a bad thing. Odo wants him to leave. Sisko says that he hasn’t done anything wrong, so they can’t make him leave. Odo says something about how HE decides what is JUSTICE on the station and of course Sisko isn’t going to let that stand, so he tells Odo he needs to work within the law and the rules of Starfleet. Odo leaves.

 

Ibudan is having a massage.

He’s taken off the green sweater, and maybe more of his clothes, lying on a table with a shiny  yellow blanket covering his lower half while alien woman with funky hands and a sheer dress rubs his back and kisses him.

Then another hand in all black pushes the woman away and lifts a knife. We see the knife lowered into Ibudan’s back.

 

At Quark’s, Bashir is jealous of Sisko and expresses this to Dax. Dax says that she’s not interested in romance, that Trills don’t think that way, that Sisko is a friend. I wonder how much of the “not interested in romance” and “rising above such concerns” thing is true, and how much is just a gentle “no thanks” to Bashir that he’s too naïve or persistent to comprehend. Either way, he’s not deterred.

It’s interesting how I vaguely remember rooting for Bashir when I first watched this show, maybe because I personally find him rather attractive, but now I think he’s just being kind of creepy and (perhaps willfully) oblivious. If Dax straight up told him “No, I’m not interested,” I don’t think he’d give up and go away, and nor do I think he’s the type to escalate in any way, but viewed under the current light, I see him a bit different than I did originally.

Sisko calls Bashir to one of the holosuites for medical assistance.

 

Nog and Jake are doing something with some insects. They then hide and watch a couple eat. The couple starts getting itchy and stand up to scratch hysterically, then they both start turning colors and shouting for help while Jake and Nog watch, giggling. A moment or two later they are both fine and sit down, embarrassed, to resume their meal.

The Dude is wearing a gray jumpsuit, or maybe identically colored pants and turtleneck shirt with an identically-colored gray jacket. Not very creative.

His companion is wearing an oversized green tunic, but the pants are a slightly different shade of green, and there’s some stitching or something around pockets. She gets a few more style points, but the outfit reminded me of surgical scrubs.

Jake and Nog find this hysterical, but a Bajoran security dude has figured out the cause and drags them off. Surprisingly, they’re both wearing different outfits, so I guess this isn’t happening on the same day as they first met.

Jake has given up the sweater jumpsuit in favor of something made of whatever the material is that Starfleet uses for their uniforms. He’s doing this weird color blocking again with blue and purple. I can’t decide if it’s better or worse than the green and orange sweater jumpsuit.

Nog, meanwhile, has not improved his fashion either. He’s wearing what appears to be a red-orange jumpsuit with a weird shirt over top made of what looks like linen, or linen-type material. Kind of more of the Dickensian pauper look, if you ignore the jumpsuit.

Keiko O’Brien has watched the whole thing go down.

 

In the holosuite, Ibudan has been found dead after his stabbing.

Odo reports that the door to the holosuite was opened twice. Once for Ibudan to enter and then a second time when the killer apparently left.

Bashir says the killer knew Bajoran anatomy, because the knife sliced through a ventricle of the heart, but I don’t think you need to know a lot about humanoid anatomy to assume that stabbing them in the chest is likely to kill them. Bashir is going to do a sweep for hair and DNA to see if anyone else was there. Sisko says to delay future ships from departing until they figure out what happened.

 

Keiko and Miles are having dinner, and Keiko has changed clothes also. The wardrobe budget for this series must be pretty decent for the secondary characters to change clothes so often. I guess they save a lot of money by having most of the leads wear uniforms all the time.

This time she’s wearing a kind of boring reddish-pink long-sleeved shirt, but the vest thing over top is interesting. I can’t figure out if it’s quilted or crocheted or knitted. There are also pockets (!) near the waist, which makes me think maybe it’s an apron or something and she does more food prep than just punching buttons on a replicator. Which I could see her doing if she’s got nothing else to keep her busy.

Anyway, she’s complaining to Miles about kids getting in trouble; they don’t have anywhere else to hang out. DS9 needs a school.

 

A Bajoran named Zayra, who operates a transit center, talks to Sisko and Kira. He says that he talked to Ibudan before his murder and Ibudan said he was afraid that Odo would kill him after their confrontation the day before.

 

Odo goes to look at Ibudan’s quarters. He asked for double accommodations, but he was travelling alone and no one else slept in the second bed. Odo looks over Ibudan’s calendar and sees an entry with “ODO” written in.

He has very detailed calendar entries.  Does he plan things in advance, or does he enter things after the fact, in case someone needs an alibi?

 

Mrs. O is talking to Sisko about the school. Jake is wearing the same blue jumpsuit before, but Keiko has upped her game with a Professional Blazer.

She says that she saw Jake getting in trouble with Nog before and thinks school will help. Sisko says that Jake won’t spend any time with Nog anymore. Keiko gets Jake to admit he misses school, and studying alone on the computer is boring. I wonder how effective a home-school teacher Sisko is if he’s so busy. Does Jake just hang around the empty quarters all day, “studying?” Does Starfleet have a curriculum set up to make this easier for parents?

Sisko finally agrees that school is an okay idea, even though Keiko admits that she’s not a teacher and has no experience with teaching. Sisko doesn’t seem to mind. He offers to help her get computers and desks and stuff, but he says that he can’t force anyone else – the Bajorans, the Ferengi, or anyone else living on the station – to send their kids.

 

Bashir and Dax have concluded that the only DNA in the room was Ibudan’s.

Odo realizes that it would be easiest for a shapeshifter to get in and out of the room through the cracks in the door. Kira asks if he has an alibi. Odo admits that he was regenerating in a bucket in his office, as he needs to do every 18 hours or so. Kira says that maybe the killer knew his regenerating cycle.

Kira asks who would want to frame him. Lots of people, but they’re not on the station. They decide to have Bashir sweep Ibudan’s quarters for DNA, to see if someone else was using the second accommodations.

 

Keiko is talking to Rom, Nog’s father, about school.

She’s switched back to the vest she was wearing during her argument with Miles, which makes me think that the quilted vest thing was an apron or cooking outfit, and then she put on a jacket to talk to Sisko, and now she’s gone back to Original Vest in order to talk to Rom.

Rom is not as fancily dressed as brother Quark, but he has the classic Ferengi style here of short Legitimate Businessman jacket, over a bright green turtleneck that looks like it’s striped or patterned, and dark green pants. So far, the Ferengi are winning the fashion wars.

Rom is skeptical of the school, as Ferengi usually just apprentice their children in the Ways of Business, and don’t bother with schools. Keiko tells him Nog will have advantage over others if he learns of other culture’s economies, which almost convinces him. Rom says that Nog can’t learn from human female teacher. She eventually convinces him to try it out for a short period of time, but he might just be saying that to make her go away.

 

Zayra is talking to some other Bajorans about Odo. He’s wearing a blue turtleneck jumpsuit and a shiny blue vest. It doesn’t clash exactly, but it also doesn’t really match. His companions are also wearing solid colors.

The Bajorans are wondering why Odo is the Security Chief now if he was the Security Chief when the Cardassians owned the station. Where does his loyalty lie?

Quark steps in to tell them that Odo is not a killer or a Cardassian sympathizer. As usual, he’s the Best Dressed among them, even if he’s still wearing his orange shirt and Legitimate Business Jacket.

An old Bajoran man in purple hood looks at the Bajoran group. He doesn’t say anything, just watches. And reminds me of Bajoran Sean Connery.

Bashir looks over Ibudan’s cabin, as requested. He takes samples into glass beaker thing. Scans computer monitor thing. Probably doing some technobabble.

 

Zayra and the Bajorans go to Ops to talk to Sisko, who says he understands their concerns. Zayra tries to speak some more, but Kira cuts him off, and so they leave, clearly still unhappy. Kira is upset. Sisko admits that the suspect of an investigation can’t lead the same investigation; Dax agrees. Kira is upset but can’t help but see the point.

 

Bashir explains his results from the scan of Ibudan’s place to Odo. He got some stuff from a reclamation container – Ibudan was trying to throw away some sample containers common in medical procedures. He was trying to throw away some complex organic material – seems he was conducting some kind of medical experiment. He wasn’t a doctor or scientist so this doesn’t make sense. Bashir tries to analyze it and sees that the substance is breaking down into DNA fragments. He does some technobabble to try to get the cells to speed up their process.

Sisko calls Odo to his office. He tells him he is temporarily relieving him of duty, and Kira and Dax are in charge. Odo accepts it with stoicism. Sisko says he doesn’t believe Odo is responsible. Odo asks why not – Sisko doesn’t know him very well and so must be feeling doubt. Sisko just repeats that Kira and Dax will be in charge. Odo leaves.

Odo walks through the promenade to his office. People are whispering as he passes. He gets back to his office and finds that everything is a mess. Someone wrote “SHIFTER” on the wall, and they smashed up some screens and his chair.

Quark appears, and says he can find out who did it. Odo tells him he is not in charge anymore, so he should tell someone else. Quark says he’s pleased. They have some banter of the sort where there’s clearly some subtext that they actually care about one another. Odo asks Quark for a job. Quark laughs.

Quark has been asking friends at the prison Ibudan was at about Ibudan and if he had any enemies there, but they did not have much information, and said Ibudan mostly stuck with other Bajoran dissidents. Before leaving, he gives a notepad thing to Odo.

 

Bashir’s sample from Ibudan’s discarded medical waste is growing, getting bigger. They have to wait to see what it will become. It kind of looks like a brain to me.

Sisko asks Dax to lunch but Bashir thinks he’s asking him, and Dax declines. So they go to Quark’s together for lunch. They talk about Dax and her past lives. Sisko is about to tell about an encounter with some twin sisters, but then he stops himself from saying more. He tells Bashir that he has nothing to fear from him as Dax is his friend.

 

Odo comes in and sits at the bar.

Nothing interesting to talk about here except for the girl on the right with some double braids. Her outfit looks like a boring gray lump, so I guess she figured she’d dress things up with a hairstyle.

Everyone else in the bar mumbles to themselves about not wanting to drink with Odo and move to somewhere else.

 

Keiko is setting up her school. Miles brings Molly to say hi. Keiko is worried that no one will come, as she’s only gotten a firm commitment from Sisko. Miles has brought gift. It’s a bell. He says he wants her to ring it before school, which sounds really old-fashioned but Keiko likes it.

Keiko is wearing the same vest and pink shirt. I wonder how long she’s been chasing parents around, trying to get them to bring their kids. Molly is wearing a bluish purple thing, that looks like a blue jumpsuit with a shirt or maybe a vest over it.

They hear people outside shouting and they see that Odo is being followed by a crowd of people shouting “MURDERER” and “FREAK” at him. He goes into his office and shuts the door, and they gather outside.

I see some Bajoran uniforms in the crowd, which makes me wonder – who do the Bajorans report to? Is it Kira? Should they be participating in the mob while they’re wearing their uniforms? Should they remove their uniforms when not on duty? They wear them to Quark’s as well (as do Starfleet personnel) – maybe some people just literally have no other clothes? Couldn’t they replicate them?

The crowd in general sticks to solid colors. Nothing to see here except the guy in really, really bright ORANGE. His shirt (jacket?) looks too big for him, as does the shirt of the guy in front of him.

Chief calls for Security and also tells Sisko he should come down. Security people stand in between the office and the crowd. Sisko, Dax, and some more security people arrive. Then someone throws a brick at Odo’s window. Purple hood guy is watching.

Dax and Bashir have realized that the sample’s DNA is humanoid.

The crowd outside is shouting “Shifter!” which is a silly insult but whatever. Sisko steps forward and asks what everyone wants to do with Odo. They clearly want to kill him. Someone throws something and a security guy is hit in the face. Fighting breaks out. Sisko shoots into the air.

Interesting color palette in the crowd. Mostly some earth tones, some purples, and Zayra is the only one with his shade of blue.

“We want justice!” Zayra insists.

Sisko asks the crowd if they do or if they are just angry and expressing their fear. Take justice to a court of law, he says. Bashir comes out with Dax and says they have new evidence – the man who was murdered was not Ibudan.

Everyone is shocked. It’s a clone of Ibudan.

Dax and Bashir explain that the clone in the bath is definitely a clone with some technobabble, and the one that died was also a clone. So where is the real Ibudan?

 

The purple hood guy goes to his quarters and turns on the light. He takes off his hood and then sees Odo morph from a chair.

I think Odo probably could have just, like, waited in the ship, or gone and knocked on the door, or busted in with some other security guys. I mean, nice effect, and I’m glad they actually show him shapeshifting, but it seems unnecessary here.

Odo says that he wants to know why the man has no record of his arrival, though he’s on the passenger manifest for the current ship to leave.

Odo presents evidence, the guy starts to run, and he rips off the mask and shows that he is really Ibudan. He says that killing your own clone is still murder, so he’s going back to jail.

 

Keiko is wearing her fancy businessperson’s jacket now, only we see it’s actually a wrap dress over a shirt. It does look kind of like a professional, job interview type outfit.

Sisko brings Jake to school. He’s now wearing a green sweater jumpsuit. In the same sort of color blocking style. I feel like Jake and Sisko went shopping and just bought one of every color jumpsuit they could find with the same pattern. Seems like a Dad’s way of shopping.

Rom also brings Nog, but won’t let him sit next to Jake. He admits they can try school for a few weeks. Nog is wearing some kind of purple outfit, with neon green-yellow boots!

Then two other kids show up. The boy is wearing a blue jumpsuit and the girl is wearing a neon pink and purple jumpsuit. Yay for jumpsuits!

Keiko immediately jumps into her Adult Talking To Kids Voice and suggests they start by learning about Bajor. No ice-breaking techniques for her! I guess this is a good way to start. The school is a success, maybe!