See Also: 'Crossfire' Episode Guide

Shakaar, now the leader of Bajor, comes to the station to conduct business...though most of his "business" seems to have to do with maneuvering Major Kira into bed, which he eventually does successfully. Odo, who's having trouble protecting the guy who's after his girl, almost lets him rot in an elevator but then remembers that he has a job to do. Kira swoons and snivels, and Quark, of all people, is the only one sensitive enough to realize what's bothering Odo and to try to talk him through it.

Analysis:

Finally a real Kira/Odo episode, and you know what? I didn't feel a thing. Between the New Kira, with a catsuit and without a clue, and the New Odo, who's been just as diminished this season, I couldn't care one way or another whether they get together. Maybe apathy is just a defense mechanism since I knew it wasn't going to happen anyway, but I thought I still loved these characters a little.

New Kira: Forget the hair and the clothes, I just want to know whether Kira Nerys still first officer of DS9. I can't remember the last time we saw her acting in that capacity. All she did in "Crossfire" was chat about security matters which Odo had under control, and act as Bajoran liaison for the most recent Important Male Bajoran of Stature to visit the station. Oh, one comment on hair and clothes: I like Shakaar's rebel leader look much better than his present dour one.

And I wanted to swat Dax for the "Whooo!" comment about him. If any of the men had made such a comment about a female alien leader, I would have recommended them for sensitivity awareness training.) Kira and I have radically different taste in men, but even if I was attracted to the ones she goes for, it still bugs me that apparently she only had eyes for guys with power - first the religious leader of her people and now the new political leader (with occasional swooning fits over her Captain/Emissary). Shakaar's OK, but there was a time when I would have said Kira deserved better.

New Odo: Odo used to have serious, interesting angst about who and what he is, and what Kira thought of him was an integral part of his self-definition. I'd expect his realizing that she'll never love him exclusively to cause him to question his reasons for staying on DS9, just as the female shapeshifter from "Heart of Stone" did last season. Kira is at once the reason that he wishes he were human and the constant reminder that no matter how hard he tries, he never will be. He doesn't really care about Quark's needling or the annoying, disorganized humanoids on the station as long as he's got her.

My big worry about Odo falling in love with Kira has been that they'd forget he was a shapeshifter and turn into Just a Guy, and sure enough, that's what they're doing. Odo as someone who smashes equipment when he can't get the girl? Puuh-LLLEEEAAAZE! A security chief who wears his emotions on his sleeve so that even a Ferengi can see them...worse and worse.

And the belt trick, where Odo changed the appearance of his uniform to please Kira, really, really irked me. Does he also practice growing humanoid body parts which might please her? Does he sneak peeks at her undressing on station security cameras? Just how human is Odo these days, and what does it mean for him and for the station?

Here's the thing: I don't think Odo could have gotten better proof that Kira loves him than the level of affection she displayed in this episode. He's her confidant, the person she trusts with her secrets. No, she doesn't desire him, but I find it really strange that it would matter so much to Odo: he's not human, so I wouldn't expect him to want to have sex, set up house, have kids with her. We're not even completely clear on how his species does any of those things.

Odo's already Kira's closest friend, he know things about her that Shakaar probably never will, things she never told Bareil. I would think that Odo's primary fear of a romantic rival would be that he might lose Kira - that she might talk more to someone else than to himself, that she might leave the station and disappear from his life.

So what he did at the end, deliberately throwing her out, makes very little sense to me. I can't believe he'd rather be completely alone than deal with the pain of having to share her; he's done that before, and based on what we know about him and his species, I see no reason why he can't do that again, especially with a man who's only going to be around as his very busy schedule permits.

And that's about the sum of the episode, although I did like Shakaar and Odo's two scenes together, the one where they talked about how rigid the Federation can be and the one where Shakaar opened up to Nerys's best friend about his feeling for her. I can't fault Duncan Regehr or Rene Auberjonois for anything that their characters did, and I don't suppose it's Nana Visitor's fault that when I look at Kira throwing her arms around people these days, I think "Station Bimbo." I'm getting the feeling that this is as good as it's going to get for awhile, and I am NOT pleased.