Star Trek: The Forsaken

Episode: "The Forsaken"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 1, Episode 17

Original Air Date: May 23, 1993

via Memory Alpha

A delegation of Starfleet ambassadors pays a visit to the station, including our old friend Lwaxanna Troi.  The daughter of the fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed takes a shine to Constable Odo.  Unfortunately, there's also a less welcome interloper in the form of an alien computer program which infects DS9 operations.

The Troi/Odo story is the primary narrative.  "The Forsaken" represents a turning point for both characters.  As I have written several times, I'm not a fan of Lwaxanna.  She grates.  But in this story and in her next (and final) TNG appearance, we see a genuinely vulnerable side that makes her considerably more likable.  The 

"You are not at all what I expected." 

"No one's ever paid me a greater compliment." 

exchange between Odo and Lwaxanna is simply lovely, allowing an insight into her zaniness we've not been previously afforded.  For Odo's part, the vulnerability begins with the physical.  We watch him literally melt as he approaches his solid state limit.  He reveals more once he recognizes Lwaxanna is someone he can trust.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Constance Towers played the role of Taxco, a high-maintenance Arbazan ambassador.  Towers was born May 20, 1931 in Whitefish, Montana.  She also spent parts of her childhood in Kalispell, Montana,  Moscow, Idaho and Seattle where she worked for a few years as a child radio actor.  Eventually, her family settled in New York City when her father took a job as a pharmaceutical executive.  She studied music at Julliard, then acting at American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Towers was discovered by a film agent while she was at Julliard and soon signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.  Fittingly given her name, Towers is on the tall side at 5'9", a fact that held her back from finding lead roles initially.  Eventually, she was cast in a few: The Horse Soldiers, Sergeant Rutledge and The Naked Kiss.  In 1965, she resumed a stage career with her Broadway debut in Anya.  She also led Broadway productions of The Sound of Music and The King and I.  Daytime television has been especially kind with long runs on both Capitol and General Hospital.  She made her most recent appearance on the latter this year.  Towers has two Emmy nominations: one for General Hospital as "America's Favorite Villain" and one for Best Actress in 1974's Once in Her Life.