Star Trek: Heart of Stone

Episode: "Heart of Stone"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 14

Original Air Date: February 6, 1995

via Memory Alpha

On their way back from Prophet's Landing, Kira and Odo happen upon a Maquis ship attacking a cargo ship.  Their pursuit of the assailant leads them down to a moon.  In a cavern, Kira's gets caught in a rock which seems to be consuming her.  Odo works frantically to save her.  His efforts fail.  She seems doomed.  He confesses his love for her.  She confesses love right back.  But something is amiss...

Spoiler: the Kira caught in the cavern is actually the Female Changeling (Salome Jens) in disguise.  She wanted to better understand Odo's relationship with the Deep Space 9 crew, and Kira in particular.  It's hard to say which is more heartbreaking: Odo confessing his love as he knows he's about to lose Kira or his realization that it can't be Kira because he knows she's not truly in love with him.  The story, based on Ken Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion, has reasonably been criticized for being contrived, even by Trek standards.

I would argue the B-plot is more important for the long-term trajectory of the series.  Nog tells Commander Sisko he wants to join Starfleet, shocking news to everyone but Nog himself.  Even more surprising is the reason: he doesn't want to turn out like his father, Rom, doomed to live under Quark's thumb forever.  Nog describes his father as a "mechanical genius."  I'm pretty sure it's the first time we've seen Rom described as anything but an idiot.  Even better, when Nog tells Quark about his ambitions and Uncle Q is horrified, Rom backs his son rather than kowtowing to his brother.  

At long last, Rom and Nog come into their own and that is a fantastic development for DS9.  It takes a while for the Nog in Starfleet story to bear full fruit.  Rom, on the other hand, only gets stronger from here.  

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Max Grodénchik (Rom) was born in New York City, November 12, 1952.  He nearly picked baseball over acting.  He was a gifted ballplayer, a fact that plays out interestingly in a wonderful future episode.  

Rom was the biggest role of Grodénchik's career, though it wasn't his first Trek role.  He played Ferengi in two NextGen episodes.  Evidently, he is an expert on the Rules of Acquisition.  He also made guest appearances on Night Court, ER and CSI.  Films include Barton Fink, Sister Act and Apollo 13.