Fascination (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

The crew of Deep Space Nine is preparing for the Bajoran Gratitude Festival. As Major Kira is getting ready to perform the opening ceremony, she becomes distracted by the arrival of her boyfriend, Vedek Bareil. Meanwhile, Miles O'Brien welcomes his wife Keiko back to the station during a break from her research job on Bajor.

Lwaxana Troi arrives, and begins looking for Odo, claiming to have developed feelings for him since the last time she was aboard the station. As the festival gets underway, Lwaxana suffers strange headaches that come and go. Each time she experiences one, the people around her seem momentarily disoriented, and then experience a lust for another coworker, friend, or acquaintance. Those infected include Jake Sisko, who professes his love for Major Kira; Vedek Bareil, who pursues Jadzia Dax; and Dax herself attempts to seduce Commander Sisko. Major Kira and Julian Bashir seem to be the only people who are affected so that their lust is requited.

Meanwhile, Keiko tells Miles that her job on Bajor has been extended and will last another seven months. Miles asks her to stay on Deep Space Nine, regretting that he helped her find the job in the first place. Offended, Keiko storms away and returns to their quarters. Miles, contrite, follows her home; he apologizes and offers to resign his job if necessary and live with Keiko wherever she prefers. The two reconcile at a party hosted by Sisko that evening.

At the party, Dax becomes annoyed that Bariel's attention is distracting her from her pursuit of Commander Sisko, and as a result, punches him. When Quark arrives with the catering and bumps into Lwaxana, who is having another headache, he is also affected, and grabs Keiko and insists that she be his love. Everyone then realizes that Lwaxana, a telepathic Betazoid, is affecting them somehow.

Bashir cures her Zanthi fever, an illness that makes her project her amorous impulses on the people surrounding her. He announces that everyone else should return to normal soon. Meanwhile, the two who belong together, the O'Briens, have made up and are enjoying each other's company again.

• This is the second of three meetings of Odo and Lwaxana Troi. She also visited in "The Forsaken" and "The Muse."
• The Lwaxana Troi character was previously introduced on the show Star Trek: The Next Generation (which aired 1987-1994)

In 2018, SyFy included this episode on their Jadzia binge-watching guide.[2] They noted this episode for guest starring Majel Barrett as Lwaxana Troi, and for exploring romantic relationships due to an alien fever.[2]

In 2019, ScreenRant ranked this episode one of the ten worst episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[3]

In 2019, Tor.com noted this as "essential" for the character of Odo, remarking on how he becomes a romantic interest for the character Lwaxana Troi (played by actress Majel Barret).[4]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fascination

• "Fascination" on IMDb
• "Fascination" at TV.com

• Fascination at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• Fascination at StarTrek.com