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"Playing God" is the 37 episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The 17th episode of the second season.

Overview

While Dax mentors her first Trill initiate, a proto-universe threatens to destroy the station and Bajor.

Plot

A young Trill man arrives on the station. He is to study with Jadzia Dax, and the prospect makes him ill-at-ease and defensive. He has heard rumors that Dax hosts have been very harsh mentors, especially Curzon. He hopes to please Jadzia, since he must get a recommendation from her if the Trill joining committee is to accept him as a host. When Arjin meets Jadzia Dax he is surprised to find her so laid-back and free-spirited.

Arjin's first job is to accompany Dax through the Wormhole in a runabout. An accident occurs and the two Trills bring the runabout back to the station damaged. There is a strange mass of matter attached to it. Chief O'Brien removes the mass and contains it securely for further study.

Meanwhile, Dax has been getting to know Arjin. He seems aloof but preoccupied with what other people think of him, and may be applying for a symbiont to please his father and others. He seems to have few interests or goals. Dax is nervous about confronting Arjin about his motivations. When she confides in her friend Sisko, he reminds her about her time training under the notorious Curzon. He was very hard on her, and challenged her confidence in herself.

Trouble starts when the unidentified mass in the lab is released from its containment-field. O'Brien is annoyed to find that the station has a pest-control problem. There is an infestation of Cardassian voles, and they are beginning to short out crucial systems, including the power-source for the science-lab containment-fields. When Dax and Arjin find the matter, it has begun to emit an eerie glow. They run calculations and realize that the matter may actually be a tiny universe. It is expanding quickly and will soon pose a danger to the station. The crew prepares to destroy the universe, but are halted when Dax finds that it holds signs of life.

As Sisko ponders the matter, Dax speaks to Arjin about his performance. She reveals that Curzon's high expectations for her actually helped her become stronger and more ready to become a host. Before she was joined to Dax, Jadzia was shy and sensitive, and Curzon often reduced her to tears. Nonetheless, in the end, she got her symbiont, and she encourages Arjin to strive for more.

Sisko has weighed the options and has decided the proto-universe must be removed from Deep Space Nine. Dax and Arjin board a runabout to ferry the universe back through the Wormhole. She allows Arjin to take the helm, a challenge that he accepts.

As they rush through the Wormhole, the expanding proto-universe becomes unstable, making the runabout difficult to fly. Arjin can barely control it, and Dax offers to take over. He resolves to do the job himself, and as he safely brings them out of danger and releases the little universe out into space, he proves himself and earns his positive recommendation from Jadzia Dax.

Arc significance

• It is revealed that Jadzia's initial application for joining was rejected by Curzon.
• Jake reveals to his father that he is dating a Dabo girl named Mardah. Sisko promises to invite her to dinner eventually.

External links

• Playing God at IMDb
• Template:TV.com episode
• Playing God at Memory Alpha
• Template:StarTrek.com link

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Television series	Broadcast The Original Series episodes The Animated Series The Next Generation episodes Deep Space Nine episodes Voyager episodes Enterprise episodes Streaming Discovery episodes Short Treks Picard Lower Decks Prodigy Strange New Worlds Starfleet Academy
Films	The Original Series The Motion Picture The Wrath of Khan The Search for Spock The Voyage Home The Final Frontier The Undiscovered Country The Next Generation Generations First Contact Insurrection Nemesis Reboot (Kelvin Timeline) Star Trek Into Darkness Beyond Television Section 31
Setting	Characters A–F G–M N–S T–Z Crossovers Concepts Games Kobayashi Maru Law Prime Directive Materials Dilithium Sexuality Stardate Locations Class M planet Galactic quadrant Mirror Universe Cultures and species Andorian Bajoran Borg Breen Cardassian Dominion Ferengi Rules of Acquisition Gorn Kazon Klingon High Council culture language grammar Maquis Orion Q Romulan Species 8472 United Federation of Planets Starfleet Academy Section 31 Tribble Vidiians Vulcan nerve pinch salute Xindi Technology Cloaking device Communicator Deflector shields Holodeck Hypospray Impulse drive Jefferies tube LCARS Medicine Replicator Spacecraft Deep Space Nine Defiant Earth Spacedock Enterprise NX-01 NCC-1701 A D E Klingon starships Shuttlecraft Voyager Transporter Tricorder Uniforms Warp drive Weapons Bat'leth
Production	List of staff Gene Roddenberry Norway Corporation Composers and music musical theme "Where no man has gone before" "Beam me up, Scotty" Redshirt Accolades (film franchise)
Unmade projects	The God Thing Planet of the Titans Phase II Star Trek 4
Spin-off fiction	Games Comics Novels Reference books Stage A Klingon Christmas Carol Klingon opera Very Short Treks
Aftershows	After Trek The Ready Room
Documentaries	Trekkies Mind Meld Trekkies 2 How William Shatner Changed the World Beyond the Final Frontier The Captains Trek Nation For the Love of Spock What We Left Behind
Cultural influence	First Contact Day Star Trek Day Kirk and Uhura's kiss Comparison to Star Wars Fandom productions Kirk/Spock Memory Alpha Shakespeare and Star Trek The Exhibition The Experience "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise" (1976 SNL sketch) Free Enterprise (1999 film) Galaxy Quest (1999 film) "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (2002 Futurama episode) The Orville (2017 television series) Please Stand By (2017 film) "USS Callister" (2017 Black Mirror episode)
Category

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes
• 1994 television episodes