Lady Drace

I think one of the worst things that happened with Ezri is that the producers cast someone who was basically a more petite version of Terry Farrell. A small part of me thinks that even with the writing staying the same, the character could have worked much better if the new host had been a completely different physical type to Jadzia. Appearance aside... I never bought the character's qualifications to become a full counselor. Regardless of Dax' experiences as a 300+ year old symbiote, Ezri was a trainee psychiatrist with no formal training; even to me that felt painfully obvious throughout Afterimage (for which I have several missing scenes involving Julian's intervention in Garak's treatment and subsequent rebuilding of a strained friendship between the two) and in various episodes after that. It could have worked had Julian taken Sisko's recommendation for Ezri's training to be waived and her installation as a counselor on the station, and then sat down with her and explained that it would be better for Dax the symbiote, Ezri the host, and everyone on Deep Space Nine (including the still-grieving Worf) if she was assigned elsewhere for the remainder of her training, with the option at the end of that to apply for a position on DS9 in her own right if she so chose. It would have been a good send off for the character of Dax, and would then have allowed for a new science officer to be introduced... who Julian could then fall head over heels for if he so chose ;)

Ahaha. I'm sorry for going on like that; Ezri's a bit of a touchy subject with me. I'm like you, I think, in that I went into season 7 with an open mind and wanting to like the new character, but she just fell too flat for me.