Star Trek: 10 Plot Twists Everyone Saw Coming

2. Line Of Meridian

"Something's wrong," says Deral as planet Meridian begins to shift. Oh really? Quelle surprise! Also, and no offence, thank the trans-dimensional heavens things did go sideways. If not, we'd have lost Jadzia Dax for 60 years, all because of the shortest is-it-even-summer(?)'s romance.

Meridian, the episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's third season, tends to rank highly on the lowest lists. Its highly predictable ending is only part of the problem, a symptom of the rest. Jadzia was a brilliant scientist in her own right, and a skilled Starfleet officer, too. With Dax, she had the added experience of lifetimes. That she would abandon her career, her colleagues, and her friends for some bloke she just met stretched credibility down to the quantum level.

Nonetheless, Jadzia chose to stay on Meridian. As soon as the decision was made, we knew it had to be swiftly revoked. This was still, by and large, episodic television, after all. The narrative arc was self-contained. The only surprise was that a beloved character would be done such a disservice, that a lack of agency should 'save her from herself'. The benefit of more episodic television is that certain plot twists don't need to hang around. That is, of course, until they do.