The Passenger (OB 22 Feb. 1993) score: 5

DS9 S1: another day, another disappearing alien fugitive

In 1993, I wrote to Starlog (#195) arguing DS9 was not true to Gene Roddenberry's vision.  The series won me over, but I don't regret the letter, which reviews the first season, most of which remains dreary and disposable.  (And re-reading the letter ... there were some feelings to work through in accepting a post-Roddenberry series.)

Something only vaguely referenced in my long-ago rant is the young season's crutch plot: an alien fugitive uses an unusual power/characteristic to elude capture.  On The X-Files, Vantika (of "The Passenger") would've been a human mutation, or perhaps a demonic entity.  Compare also the Kyle MacLachlan-starring The Hidden (1987), which foregrounds action-comedy, not giving viewers a chance to think.

DS9, however, is harder sci-fi grounded in politics, and the Kobliad's tricks veer too close to sorcery.  The script compensates with technobabble, as viewer eyes glaze.
Otherwise "The Passenger" tracks well enough, and there are good Odo-Quark bits, as well as a straight-faced Julian telling Kira he amazes even himself.  The episode is well-cast, but makes little of the intersection of three security experts (Odo, Starfleet's Primmin, and the Kobliad agent, Kajada).

Nor is there much to say about Kajada being at once predator and prey.  As metaphoric conscious and unconscious, this could have distinguished a hide-in-plain-sight turn, after "A Man Alone," "Captive Pursuit" and "Dax."

** Siddig is terrible as alien-possessed Bashir, such that the director must share blame. **
** DS9 tended downward with Bashir in altered states: "Distant Voices" (S3), "Extreme Measures" (S7).**