Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Rejoined (1995) User Reviews

Prejudice in Trill society

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 19 May 2010]

When a group of scientists from Trill arrive on the station Dax is put in an awkward situation; one of the scientist's former hosts was married to one of Dax's former hosts. In Trill society it is strictly taboo for new hosts to get involved if the symbionts have been married before. When they meet it is clear that they still have strong feelings for each other and Jadzia considers starting a new relationship with former wife Lenara even though it would mean exile from Trill and thus no new host for Dax when Jadzia dies. While the episode is overwhelmingly concerned with Trill prejudice about new hosts getting involved with spouses of former hosts there is some excitement when the experiment goes slightly wrong and Jadzia must attempt to save Lenara.

While the episode was ostensibly about Trill prejudices they were clearly a metaphor for our own prejudices about other peoples choice in partners. This is done well by showing Jadzia in a relationship with another woman where nobody thinks anything about the fact that they are both women, clearly the creators wanted to show that this was perfectly natural and didn't need commenting on; now that seems fairly obvious but when this was new the idea of having two women sharing a passionate kiss was rather radical. Terry Farrell as Jadzia and Susanna Thompson as Lenara did a great jobs in the lead roles.

DS9 never seemed to quite know what to do with Trills

[GreyHunter · 6/10 · 29 July 2019]

One of the oddities of this series is that the writers/creators managed to introduce a truly interesting concept, the Trill/symbiote relationship, but never seemed to be able to explore it in a particularly interesting fashion. Instead, we're given a slightly bland character (Jadzia never seemed to show any real nuance other than being a very attractive woman who was good at her job and was willing to slum it on occasion) with vaguely soap opera-ish storylines. This was a disservice to the inherent potential of the character because the concept practically screamed "hidden depths." While this was not the worst use of this tendency toward soap opera (that would be her ridiculous willingness to throw everything away for a man she barely knew on a transdimensional planet) but it hardly makes her character arc as interesting as those of the other credited leads on the show. Granted, there was some consistency -- she was willing to kill her symbiote permanently for an ex- she seemed to be fond of. But there was really no reason given that made the entire fatalism credible. Nothing in the series or in this particular episode suggested any reason her passion for this particular ex- was so overwhelming as to lead to such an end, and, ultimately, this episode, like the aforementioned transdimensional planet one, was vaguely insulting to the character. They had this concept with such enormous potential and spend much of their time making her an irrational and shallow creature. We should expect better from a Star Trek series.

Incidentally, the whole "exile from Trill, permanent death of symbiote" plotline was simply ludicrous in light of everything we've been told about the Trill and their adulation of the symbiote. They don't want to encourage the symbiotes to fall back into old patterns. I get that. But presenting it as a reason to kill off a symbiote when they clearly revere symbiotes is irrational in the extreme. Discouraging such relationships, making it difficult and outright unpleasant for joined Trills to engage in them? That makes sense. But killing them off permanently for such an indiscretion? Ridiculous. The relationship wouldn't be causing actual harm, and the society would not be in danger because of them. It's very much throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and doesn't fit in with anything we've been told about Trill society and its relationship with the symbiotes. This particular plotline therefore sounds incredibly contrived just to give the episode a source of tension. It's just bad writing and someone should have said something when the story was pitched. A good writer could have introduced the idea as simply something that was actively discouraged and had social repercussions without diminishing the resultant tension.

More progressive than some people give it credit for being.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 28 December 2014]

When a Trill scientist comes to DS9 for a big experiment, things become a bit awkward. After all, one of this lady's previous incarnations had been married to one of Jadzia's previous ones! Now it isn't necessarily because the Trill are against same-sex relationships but two Trill re-pairing is considered a HUGE taboo.

"Rejoined" is an episode that was amazingly progressive for 1995, though IMDb's trivia indicates some folks were dissatisfied with its handling of gay issues. I think if you put it in context, this criticism is a bit unfair. After all, the show did feature some amazingly passionate kissing between the two female leads--more passionate than you'd normally find between heterosexual couples. Perhaps their dissatisfaction is because like too many plots, the subject is really not followed up on in any way. I can understand this--but the show STILL will likely shock a few in its depictions of homosexuality. Very interesting to say the least.

The Trill of It All

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 20 October 2018]

I get rather tired of the whole Trill thing. These character give themselves up for the honor of being a symbiont. Yet there are some pretty weird results. Here, the sensibility of a guy who died meets the woman to whom he was married. Jadzia is the host for the former lover and his feelings come to the fore. From that point on it gets all soap opera on us. I understand that we need to see the implications of these relationships, but it's just so strange. By the way, the homosexual angle never occurred to me, other than the kiss, which probably was rather novel. It was the husband in Jedzia's body, not another woman.

Boldly going yet again

[bfmelton · 9/10 · 6 December 2019]

Star Trek has never been afraid of controversy. In the 1960s it was race relations, including the (allegedly) first televised interracial kiss. Here we have a relationship between two women. The genius of science fiction is that you can get away with things like this when they would otherwise be taboo by constructing science fiction-based workarounds. In "Plato's Stepchildren," Kirk and Uhura kissed because they were under alien compulsion. In "Rejoined" Jadzia and Lenara kiss because in a past Trill life one of them was a man.

The interesting thing is how much objection and hate mail the episode drew. I myself don't recall hearing about it when the episode first aired, and I have only recently rewatched it. During my recent viewing, the thing that struck me most was the amazing chemistry between Terry Farrell and Susanna Thompson. They really made it work (under the directorial guidance of Avery Brooks). Without this chemistry, the whole episode could have been a train wreck about same-sex kiss rather than about a relationship. With it, the episode is about two people who are obviously deeply (and yes, passionately) in love with each other, a love that has literally survived death (of Trill hosts).

The only weak point of the episode was the abrupt ending. By Act 4, both Jadzia and Lenara were ready to throw themselves into the relationship without reservation and without regard for the consequences. Indeed, one of the nice dramatic elements of this episode was how of Jadzia's normally sound judgment could suddenly be overwhelmed by her love for Lenara. Hey, it happens in real life, so why not in Star Trek? But in the episode's final five minutes Lenara, in a discordant break with her character development, abruptly changes course and pretty much walks out on Jadzia with no fanfare. While obviously the two couldn't stay together without radically altering the series's direction, or at least Jadzia's role, the writers chose a very jarring way to avoid that. The episode feels like it didn't really resolve; it just ends by hitting a brick wall.

That weakness aside, this was a powerful and well-acted episode that doesn't deserve the hate that some have directed at it over the years. Chill, guys, it's Star Trek.

Love, loss and regret.

[thevacinstaller · 9/10 · 26 June 2021]

I love this episode.

In my opinion, this episode contains Terri Farrell's best acting in the entire series. You could feel the sorrow/longing/conflict in her performance just through her facial expressions alone at the reception; to say nothing of the highly emotional scenes between her and Khan throughout the episode.

I also love the idea that Jadzia is willing to go against trill society and be shunned and exiled in the name of love. It just felt real to me. Love/Loss can lead to people making impulsive decisions. Just work through the premise of this episode for a while and try to tell me that you could walk away from rekindling a lost love like this.

You could feel for Dax/Jadzia in this episode. This one has a ton of heart.

I can never tell when he's joking

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 22 July 2022]

Dax is reunited with the spouse of a previous host.

This is a solid episode, with a strong concept and decent character moments.

Whenever you watch this episode you have to consider the time it was released and the impact it had on viewers. (Go to the Memory-Alpha web page about 'Rejoined' for details). This confirms the decision to include a same sex relationship to frame a story of forbidden Trill love was the best way to put it across. If Dax was portrayed with a male Trill character, nobody would have been interested, primarily because standard romance stories in episodic television mostly never work.

Personally, I think it is written better than most Star Trek love stories due to the backstory associated with the two characters. However, I still want the romance to fail because Dax is a main character and I do not want the status quo disrupted by her being in a relationship. Plus her most interesting aspect is the importance of the symbiont and the prospect of trampling all over it for a 'romance of the week' is not desirable.

The best scene for me is the dialogue between Dax and Sisko. Trill society does not want an aristocracy emerging and there is a harsh consequence associated with that belief. Here we get the crux of what makes the situation so complicated and it includes strong performances from Terry Farrell and in particular Avery Brooks.

Susanna Thompson is great as Lenara Khan and stands out amongst long line of Star Trek romantic interests for having a fairly interesting story combined with a strong performance.

The background story about the wormhole project feels pretty generic and doomed to fail, but I love the scene where Worf responds to a Klingon related question from the Trill science team.

It's a 7.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

CURZON DAX WAS RIGHT

[dranthonykstevens · 8/10 · 8 June 2020]

This episode was very good in showing that Curzon Dax was correct when he evaluated Jadzia and determined that she did not deserve a symbiont. The problem with her was that she cared more about herself that she did about the life of the symbiont which in this episode she proves that she would give up the coming lives of Dax so that she could enjoy her life the way she wanted.

Forward-thinking, but falls flat

[ashleyannkennedy · 4/10 · 5 August 2021]

Other reviewers here have left good insight about the trills/symbiants, the lack of logic/depth in this episode, etc.

I'm in the LGBT+ community. I'll give this show credit for going where no man (literally) had gone before; this episode no doubt had one of the very first scenes of two people of the same gender embracing on national television. Bravo, CBS! (...even if it was namely for hetero male fanservice)

Where it goes wrong is in the scene towards the end which comes off as bad melodrama fit for daytime television instead of primetime. Instead of invoking actual emotions, we are kept at arm's length of such sapphic improprieties. The result is unconvincing performances from both Dax and Khan, possibly through no fault of their own. Sisko, who directed this episode, could have pushed the actors to deliver somewhat-believable performances, but the real culprit is the writing. This franchise never was good at writing romance, but the dialog for this scene feels more low-effort than usual.

Either way, despite its pioneering, I will be leaving this episode out of any future viewings.

Worst episode of the entire series

[joeghost · 1/10 · 28 January 2019]

Knowing the consequences of losing the lives of both symbionts, these two former lovers..... sort of, continue to spend time alone with each other and allow their old feelings to be rekindled. I found the whole thing to be ridiculous and this was my least favorite episode of the entire Deep Space Nine series.

I hate the Dax symbiont, so stupid and confusing!!

[dayton-w-price · 1/10 · 18 September 2023]

I finally hit my boiling point, so I'm writing this brief review in the episode, its really stupid, confusing and contradictory. So the Dax symbiont is basically a hodgepodge of memories, feelings and traits all rolling into Dax from the previous Trill host male and female. Who ever Jadzia was prior to the joining is gone or is she? It's very contradictory in that the Dax symbiont wants the current host to live there life and gain new memories and experiences, but in the the show Jadzia is always acting like and talking about the previous host as if she lived and experienced their lives first hand, which didn't happen, it was experienced by the middle man the Dax symbiont, not Jadzia. So does Jadzia exists or it is she now as I've stated just a hodgepodge as previously mention, which leads to my next point, their is no more individuality with the current host, which to me defeats the whole purpose of the symbiont as what it means to be human, Jadzia is living in the past through her previous hosts, instead of the current moment and what she is doing. This episode was nothing more then a filler prime time episode, and a way to have Jadzia now be bisexual, by kissing and loving another Trill woman, as in the episode both Jadzia and Lanara, both of their host a male and female where married in a past life, and because of what I've already mentioned they some how act out their previous hosts feelings while, falling in love with each other. I could go on forever and ever, but it's to confusing, lazy, contradictory and stupid nothing more then to make Jadzia bisexual for this one episode, and is never brought up again, because she ends up marrying Worf.