A Man Alone (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

This episode was filmed before the previous episode, but aired after it.[1] Director Paul Lynch had previously directed five episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.[2]

Odo has become worried at the number of new people arriving at the station due to the newly discovered Bajoran wormhole. While talking with Quark in his bar, Odo observes a man he recognizes and demands he leave the station. The man refuses and the two get into a fight that is broken up by Sisko. Odo explains to Sisko that the man is Ibudan, a smuggler of goods to Bajorans during the Cardassian Occupation. Though considered a hero by some, Odo states that Ibudan let a young girl die when her parents could not afford the smuggled goods, and later killed a Cardassian officer. He has since gone free after the end of the Occupation. Sisko warns Odo that he cannot take action against Ibudan without any evidence of a crime being committed.

Later, Ibudan is found dead in one of Quark's holosuites. One of Ibudan's friends reports to Sisko and Kira that Ibudan was afraid Odo would kill him. No DNA is found at the scene of Ibudan's murder other than that of Ibudan and the officers investigating the crime; the general populace of the station start to become suspicious of Odo, whom they consider untrustworthy due to his unknown origin as a shapeshifter and his past association with the Cardassian regime. Sisko orders a formal investigation and temporarily relieves Odo of duty as head of security. Bashir discovers that Ibudan was performing medical experiments on a strange material in his quarters despite having no training as a doctor or scientist. Bashir continues to observe the samples in Sick Bay.

The crowds on the station become more hostile believing Odo is the murderer, and Odo is forced to hide in his office to avoid a mob forming outside despite Sisko's attempts to calm them down. Bashir suddenly arrives with new evidence: the sample from Ibudan has started growing into a clone of Ibudan. Sisko, Bashir and Odo determine that the murdered Ibudan was also another clone, set up to incriminate Odo. They discover the real Ibudan hiding on the station, and now with evidence, Odo is able to arrest him for the murder of his clone, but receives no apologies from the inhabitants of the station.

In a side plot, Miles O'Brien struggles to help his wife Keiko O'Brien get used to living on the station, as she is unable to follow her interests. She offers to start a school to teach the children residing on the station, and persuades Sisko and Rom to enroll their children (respectively, Jake and Nog).

"A Man Alone" first aired on January 18, 1993. It received a Nielsen rating of 13.0 percent, placing third in its timeslot.[3]

In 2013, Tor.com's Keith DeCandido gave the episode a warp factor rating of 2/10, writing, "There are moments here and there—the conversation between Sisko and Dax at the beginning is a good one, likewise Sisko reminiscing about Curzon to Bashir, and Rene Auberjonois’s performance is superb—but ultimately, the episode just fails on almost every level."[4]

In 2012, The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen praised René Auberjonois's portrayal of Odo, but criticized the episode as cliché, writing it was "not awful, but it's not good, either".[5]

This episode is noted as the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to include Keiko and Molly, previously introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[6]

In 2019, Tor.com noted this as an "essential" for the character of Odo, remarking how it established him as isolated from the rest of the crew.[7]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: A Man Alone

• "A Man Alone" at IMDb
• "A Man Alone" at TV.com

• "A Man Alone" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• "A Man Alone" at StarTrek.com