In the time since finishing DS9 and taking the notes below, I watched four seasons of Enterprise and a whole bunch of other stuff. Should've struck while the iron was a little hotter - my memory was unable to fill in some of the gaps. I probably should've just watched the whole season again but who has that kind of time? My apologies if your favorite episode gets the short shrift below; all of this is to say, I did my usual half-ass job.
The seventh season was the first one I ever saw. I was dating a girl who loved it (and TNG) but I only had eyes for TOS. This was in Dayton, OH, and those days a re-run of DS9 aired from ten to eleven on some station and a rerun of TNG on another from eleven to midnight. This was our routine while we were dating, and then the new episode of DS9 that Sunday. The new season during this stretch was (you guessed it) the last one. So I saw the whole ending story arc of DS9 before I saw anything other than the pilot (which I watched the night it aired.)
Did you get all that? The above is part of the Trek-adjacent info in my head that seems to come burbling out of my blog-hole as activated by certain Trekwords.
26.
Quark and Rom cross into the alternate universe to rescue Grand Nagus Zek.
Mirror episode. See last time. I could praise or pick at any number of aspects, but let’s move it along.
25.
Changelings.
“One of the hundred.” Between him and Odo, that's ninety-eight spinoff chances too many.
Laas turns to fog. What? Can changelings to ice and gas? Did we know this? I guess it makes no more or less sense as anything else about these guys.
This Klingon death howl is pretty weak. I bet there's a hierarchy of death howls. When killed by wankers, the Klingons probably hold it back some. A full-on Klingon/ Changeling war would be a chorus of mumbles every time a Bird of Prey was destroyed. The ironic part of this whole show was we're supposed to meditate on the consequences of bigotry re: solids distrust and "persecution" of liquids. Notwithstanding the absurdity of the idea (how the f**k would solids mass-persecute liquids-from-outer-space FFS when they can just change into gas or make swords out of their arms among a million other things?) I am definitely leaving this show with the idea that the Changelings should be nuked from existence and destroyed wherever you find them. Simply for their sustained offensive against verisimilitude.
24.
Ezri summons Joran, a homicidal Dax incarnation from her past, for help in understanding the mind of a serial killer loose on the station.
Sheesh. I know I had notes for this, too. What happened? I have the score sheet, though, and here is where it lands.
I don't know if there needs to be so many "understand the mind of a serial killer" stories. It's a one-note genre. But so are zombies, I guess, and try to get them to stop making zombie stories.
23.
Sisko and crew relieve Starfleet troops under siege by Jem'Hadar at a key communications outpost, AR-558, the largest Dominion communications array in the sector.
I like what they were trying to do here, but it didn’t really land with me. Apparently Ira yelled out something about killing Wil Robinson on set when Bill Mumy's character died. When I heard that I had a flash: I bet Ira likes Lost in Space more than Star Trek. That explains a hell of a lot.
Poor Nog. The sound he makes when he's wounded is something. Otherworldy. Kudos to Aron Eisenberg for conveying some of the alien trauma of it all: the Starfleet façade falls away and he makes a sound purely from that alien part of himself. I suppose it's possible someone overdubbed it, in which case kudos to the sound design people.
But - I'll make this one my Judas Goat of the Dominion War/ Starfleet medical technology - the whole thing is quite labored, isn't it? No harm done, but the type of warfare/ medicine they practice here is just silly. The writers are reading twentieth and nineteenth century war books and swapping them into Trek. I will never understand this crap on DS9.
22.
Everyone who knew Jadzia Dax reacts strongly to Ezri Dax's presence, particularly Worf. Meanwhile Garak suffers from bad attacks of claustrophobia.
I don't know why I ranked this one so low. I have no memory of it whatsoever.
21.
The crew attempt to help Vic Fontaine when Vic's hotel is bought by mobsters.
This one is like the Bond holosuite episode but without the malfunction subplot.
Frankie Eyes’ bodyguard-goon has been around a lot. Oh that’s Michael Scott’s fake-mob guy. Grotti.
Stretches the concept a bit too thin, but that's no big thing. Worse is that there’s nothing of real consequence here. Couldn’t Odo have shapeshifted the resolution to this in like four seconds? It seems like they take a real world solution (sort of) to Vic's (imaginary but real) problem rather than just fix it because, you know, Vic's world is programmed. They pay lip service to why they "can't" but it never really makes sense.
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| I know, I know, who cares. |
20.
Bashir falls for a genetically enhanced patient, Sarina Douglas, that he brought out of a catatonic state using an experimental medical procedure.
Oh great, a sequel to ‘Statistical Probabilities.’ (And the pictures are side by side again.)
I like this one a little more than "Statistical Probabilities", mainly for the nice part in the middle with the singing, but that's not saying much.
That one "That is a stew-pid question" guy is unfortunately costumed.
19.
A new Dax appears on the scene. Sisko's quest leads him to the truth about his existence. The discovery that the Romulan hospital is heavily armed leads Colonel Kira to set up a blockade of Derna. Bashir, O'Brien, and, surprisingly, Quark join Worf and Martok on a dangerous mission to destroy the Dominion shipyard.
Meh. Worf and Martok are usually always fun. This one kind of bounced off me.
18.
Ezri searches for a missing Worf. Sisko makes plans to marry Kasidy Yates.
Usually I rank two-parters as one episode. Here’s a rare example where I split them as boldly as Kirk splits his infinitives and rate them separately.
The Ezri/Worf stuff isn’t so interesting to me, but it’s a nice enough arc for Worf, all told. But this chemistry isn’t quite there. Of all the TNG characters, Dorn gets the best arc; one wishes it had continued in some kind of Star Trek Worf show. But hey, it's awesome to see Picard "correcting" our perceptions of the TNG-verse. Maybe he'll show up on that and apologize for something.
Some cool space stuff. The gross-Founder stuff is just gross.
17.
When Kira says she doesn’t believe in the Prophets, what is it exactly that she doesn’t believe in? What does she think Sisko et al. see and experiences? Hallucinations? This touches the religion/ science problem of the show. Bajor is not some ungrounded theocracy; their gods live in the freaking wormhole in the sky and talk to their emissaries, FFS. Kira's attitude is a little like, what, believing electricity is the work of the devil? Despite living in a world powered by it? I mean the whole idea is that some are cynical about the Prophets, i.e. what good are these things/ how sincere is their love for Bajorans if the Occupation was allowed. Anyone can understand that. But disbelieving, as Kira goes out of her way to say? I mean what does she think is going on?
Poor Louise Fletcher. (Kai Winn, I mean.) Opposite for Nicole de Boer, here, re: Ezri. It’s part of her character, to distinguish her from Jadzia, but Ezri can’t quite sell the eternal maturity of the Dax symbiote the way Terry Farrell did, so when the script calls for her to, it’s a bit distracting. Had she more time to grow into the role, perhaps, or if we saw her more gradually coming to terms with it, who knows.
Directed by Odo. I have a note here "Those quotes at the end." But what does it mean? I looked at the transcript; which did I mean? A mystery.
16.
I give them a lot of credit for this epic-finish run of episodes. It hadn’t been done in Trek before, and I remember it as an exciting month, watching it all in 1999.
Bashir/ O’Brien, Sec. 31, Kira et al. advising Cardassian resistance. I think the biggest problem with war in Trek, like I've said a few times here, is how they try to tell WW2 (or even earlier conflict) stories with Trek tech. It doesn't make sense to "parachute" these folks behind enemy lines to help organize resistance cells, etc. Technically there's nothing inherently unbelievable about it, but something tugs at my sleeve about the concept.
Is there a BSG analog with the Founder disease? I think there is, right, with the Cylons in the later seasons? Not to mention the “dampening weapons” of the Breen are like the Cylons weapon - but that's hardly unique to either series. I haven't watched the last season in awhile; so many of the things explored in Voyager and DS9 received clearer and cooler attention in BSG but BSG would never have been what it was without their proving grounds.
15.
Ezri goes to New Sydney to find O'Brien and uncovers some disturbing family secrets. Miles goes in search of the widow of Liam Bilby, Morica Bilby, whom he befriended in an undercover operation.
This one's got a few things going against it: (1) Oh great, a follow-up to “Honor Among Thieves...” (2) O’Brien’s gone rogue! (3) The "Okay, let's give Ezri Dax her episode" deal. None of these things are awful in and of themselves - or awful to begin with, really; it's just three ideas that fail to excite me.
I think Ezri does the best she can, but she's up against a tide she can't crest. There's just no way to fit a new person in the cast in season seven of any non-Law and Order/ Doctor Who show. Or Cheers. Okay maybe it can happen, but it didn't happen here.
14.
Captured by the Breen, Ezri and Worf undergo mental torture.
Sisko agonizes over his broken engagement.
That summary amuses me. With regard to the former, I love the Weyoun neck snap. A lot of the other stuff is overwrought, though.
13.
Kor, an aging Klingon hero, asks Worf to find him a battle assignment. Martok plans a "cavalry raid" of five birds of prey, hitting several key targets behind enemy lines to throw them off balance.
Old Man Klingon. See? The old still have some value. No one should boil them down into nutrient-rich jello. At least not as a national policy.
Again with the Klingon song! Excellent.
Cool to see Kor again even if we've seen this sort of thing in Trek before. Still that's hardly a disqualifier. Part of me is torn on seeing figures from TOS (Sarek, Kor) return only to be used as examples of pitiable deterioration. But it's also part of life, and that's what drama is for, etc. I mentioned in my TNG reviews for the "Unification" episode that I had a friend who couldn't handle that kind of thing and thought it was the new shows humiliating the old, etc. I think that's a silly attitude. But there is something dramatically repetitive about it or perhaps counter-message (i.e. "the old have value! Let's demonstrate that by showing how they are defined by their diminished capacity!") that I can understand. I think anytime you can boil a story down to someone's "handicap" being an attribute you run the risk of someone's eyes rolling, but ultimately who cares.
12.
There is no frakking reason why the Klingons would spell it Sto'Vo'Kor. There needs to be a penalty for weird punctuation for aliens in Trek or elsewhere. Sometimes this stuff builds up inside of me. Anyway, Kahless Himself would have ripped those stupid apostrophes right out and cast them into the pit of eternal dishonor.
This is the sort of Sisko-emissary episode I've been lukewarm-to-negative on in the past and yet here, it's not so bad. A good season-opener.
11.
The war reaches a crucial turning point when the Dominion retakes the Chin'Toka system, the only Allied foothold in enemy space. Meanwhile, Winn learns that Dukat plans to release the Pah-Wraiths, and Damar leads a revolt against the Dominion.
Let's get back to the Breen. Who are they? Where do they come from? What do they do? Why not the Shelliak or some other race? I think we heard about the Breen in TNG, so there’s at least as much precedent, but big deal: we heard about the Xindi in TNG, too. Doesn't just make something awesome, though, because they were mentioned in TNG. I’m just curious why they introduce this generic space-baddie race into the mix at this late hour. Nothing wrong with having a heretofore unknown alien species; it’s a big ol’ galaxy and all that. But where’s the drama? It’s cool when the Romulans join the fight against the Dominion, because there’s history, there; there’s little feeling to the Breen joining or not joining.
Is this the fourth or fifth time San Fran’s been attacked on account of that's where Starfleet Headquarters is? Move that shit to the moon, FFS.
Louise Fletcher and Mark Alimo don’t have the best chemistry. The character drama is good, though. The Pah Wraiths/ fire caves angle is a good one. (Reminds me a bit, too, again, of BSG!)
The deterioration of the Founder makes no sense. Why would the splotches be on the fake tunic she wears? Just drape a sash over it. Wear a container to keep shape. Do they not have girdles? I hate the goddamn Founders.
“Attack Pattern Delta!” followed by “Abandon ship!” It's like they read my notes from last time and went back in time to live down to my grumblings. When will they listen?
10.
A Vorta defector, Weyoun-6, gives Odo valuable information in exchange for asylum.
This series of barters thing seems like they’ve done it before. I forget for what, though. Or even if it was DS9. Was it the baseball card one? I think it was something else.
Have I mentioned that I like Damar? Hey, then: I like Damar.
“Founder” does a good job with her character and arc, but the emboobened-Odo factor (and then to bring it back even in ENT, although I think this was all intentional re: the Berman Era cosmology of founders seeding the Alpha Quadrant ) never stops being weird. (I wrote these notes independently of one another; I don't keep harping on the same point, I promise.)
9.
Nog struggles with PTSD from the traumatic battle of AR-558 where he lost his leg.
Nog’s rehabilitation in the holosuite is a nice sort of thing, but one wonders if they actually are doing Vic a favor. Too much self-consciousness for a hologram can't be good, right?
Some nice interplay between James Darren and Aron Eisenberg, as actors, as people, and as Trek-people. All three. A good Trek will hit all three dynamics in important scenes.
That's all the notes I took. Too bad - I did like it, though, even if you know where all this stuff is going.
8. and 7.
Sisko leads the Federation/Klingon/Romulan alliance in the offensive on the Cardassian homeworld. Dukat and Winn journey to the fire caves to release the Pah'Wraiths before a final confrontation with the Emissary. A new chapter dawns.
I fully expected this to be #1 when I sat down. I tell this story a lot so I have no idea if I’m just saying the same crap I always say, but watching this with my then-girlfriend and then leaving Dayton was a big departure for me, and watching this episode (it was the Sunday night replay – look this up to get the time right; could this be right? Could my life in Dayton have ended, with me watching this with her the last night? It’s possible.) It was the end of an era of my life, and turning to look back at all that night in Salamanca, NY remains a holy shit moment of my youth. I projected all of my dumb young self on this montage. Still do, albeit with about twenty years more of non-dumb stuff, now, to even it out some.
I'll leave that there, just know a whole different review of this finale has nothing to do with Trek and everything to do with me. Tough to separate the two sometimes, but try I shall! All I can say is: the episode stops being about DS9 for me at certain points.
As I might've mentioned previously, the problem with this whole thing / war is it’s just not believable. Captains don’t plot the strategy with Admirals; there’s no “turning flank” in space, etc. (Or even in naval/ space-naval combat; that’s an army thing, isn’t it? Trek does that sometimes, like in STVI where Kirk says “Right full rudder.” Uhh, what? Are we adjusting our course in the water, sir? Did you forget you were in a spaceship?) It’s all fine, it’s just a bit cliched. Martok sounds ridiculous through most of it – less carried away with Klingon bloodlust and more author of Hallmark cards. ("They will songs of this day!" is his contribution to every strategy pow-wow.)
From a Trek sense, what exactly are the Pah-wraiths? Are they like those things from TNG “Power Play”? I don’t mind there being a mix of mystical/ alien with Bajor, but I probably would’ve handled all this differently. It's simply more interesting when you try to come up with some non-mystical explanation for it. It's Trek - there should be.
The Founder does an awful lot of bitching at Weyoun, but what exactly do the Founders DO? Besides hang around and gross everyone out? For the umpteenth time, the entire hierarchy and raison-d'etre of the Dominion simply makes no sense.
What They Get Wrong: Well not wrong precisely, but they fail to truly unify either the Bajor or Dominion storyline under a banner that interests me personally. They do a good enough job of tying up loose ends. As with VOY it feels like what they wanted to do was “Daybreak” (BSG) or “All Good Things” (TNG) but just couldn’t quite corral the elements. I respect the effort(s).
Also, Sisko and Admiral Deputy Dawg are mega-lame in the ashes of Cardassia. Good lord. Sounds like a book report. (Also, where are the Vulcans in all this?)
What They Get Right: Everything else: (1) Odo’s return to the Great Link feels emotionally correct, if intellectually stupid, (2) the Vic Fontaine farewell, (3) “Minsk,” (4) Gul Dukat and Kai Winn and the Pah Wraiths, (5) Sisko’s mysterious journey (I hate when gods/ prophets tell you you’re the chosen one or whatever and then it doesn’t pay off. Ditto for visions in dreams. It pays off here, as it paid off at the end of BSG.) In that sense, I guess I'm wrong above - they do corral successfully certain elements of the bigger storyline.
6.
Kira masterminds a plot to steal the Breen energy-dampening weapon and Worf instigates a power shift in the Klingon Empire.
Lots of war-movie cliches in this Dominion War stuff. That's cool, I guess. Garak/ Kira / Rusot. Damar is awesome. “When men as honorable as Martok and Work knowingly allow corruption at the highest levels, there is no hope for the Empire.” Amen.
This Gowron/ Worf thing is great. “There can be only one answer!” Hats off to Robert O’Reily for Gowron. As I always do, I definitely recommend the audiobook version of any of the Nitpickers stuff for his and Dwight Schultz’s (and in a distant third, Tasha Yar’s) reading of it. Those books are an acquired taste, perhaps, and the DS9 one is probably not very good at all, really, but I can’t think of Gowron or Barclay without thinking of the way they read The Star Trek Quiz or the Nitpickers Guide to whatever-season.
Cardassia/ Klingon Empire: “Change or die.” Arcs! An old enemy redeemed! “Flood all compartments with the gas.” Bad-ass.
Have I mentioned how needlessly gross the changeling disease is? FFS, put a jacket on or something, you're the leader of an Empire.
5.
Dukat, now a religious leader of a Bajoran Pah-Wraith cult, holds Kira hostage. Mika, one of Dukat's followers, gives birth to a half-Cardassian child.
I gave this one a high score! No notes.
You tell me, dear reader: what was it I liked so much about it?
4.
While attending a diplomatic conference on Romulus, Bashir
becomes an unwilling pawn of Section 31.
I quite liked this one, even if (tell me if you see a pattern here) I apparently took no notes for it. Adrienne Barbeau joins the ranks of sci-fi hotties (sorry) who have played Romulan senators.
This idea ("The Federation needs men of conscience; it also needs men like Sloan") is one I've come almost one-eighty one since I originally watched it. Or rather, I can see how people like Sloan are themselves "men of conscience" as well, a view obscured at earlier points on the trail. All of which is to say: it (life, war, conscience) is a hell of a lot closer to complicated than it is to simple, and sometimes Bashir's remarks in these conversations seem a bit simplistic. Shouldn't his genetically enhanced mind engage with some of the complexities? Or perhaps the more complex the mind the less patience one has for what seem like contradictions/ trade-offs to us lesser-brained mortals.
It's an interesting topic and discussion, I don't mean to suggest it was botched.
3.
As Odo falls gravely ill to the shape-shifter disease Bashir and O'Brien must get inside the mind of Luther Sloan, who holds Odo's cure.
That Dollhouse episode where they go into the Attic came to mind a few times watching this. I keep meaning to go back and watch that show.
I’m not especially enamored with the while Section 31 angle, as I’ve said here and there, but I can see its appeal. Some good stuff from William Sadler here, and a nice coda to the whole concept. Again, this stretch of episodes is quite exciting. The last season of DS9 is like a one of those great, tumultuous years of the X-Men in the 80s. I’ve been using that as my go-to example for everything lately, but it's because, year after year in the 80s, that soap opera was so riveting and intense. A shared experience for a generation of comics readers. To a lesser extent so was the last season of DS9 and I'm happy to have been there.
2.
Sisko takes command of a new ship; Kira and Garak face a Dominion ambush on Cardassia. Grand Nagus Zek has an announcement to make, as well as the Siskos.
Hats off to Sisko/ Avery Brooks (director of this episode) and in s7 in general. Even Admiral Deputy Dog is more interesting, somehow. Michael Dorn, on the other hand, lost his acting partner, and seems a bit unmoored in s7. Ezri/ Bashir have a little more chemistry than Ezri/ Worf.
"The moral argument is dumb." I wrote this but I don’t recall what it refers to. Here's another cryptic note: "Dabo girls just Staying Alive still. Have I mentioned that yet? My brain keeps making the cross-connect. I always picture playing “Staying Alive” in the jukebox at Quark’s anyway so it makes sense."
This undoubtedly refers to both the song "Saturday Night Fever" and the movie Staying Alive, with all those crazy outfits. FWIW I watched this movie a hundred times in 1983-1984. Along with Xanadu. So two weird musicals got in my brain early on along with everything else I blog about.
Quark ("The Line Must Be Drawn Here!") gets some dynamite stuff in this episode. It's funny - we're meant to see the Ferengi as the ultimate exaggeration of capitalism, but TBH I ended up thinking he/ the Ferengi were right about a lot of things. That Rom becomes Nagus - a kinder, gentler, "more complicated" Nagus - foreshadows doom. But, a fun kind of doom. It definitely was the right note to hit in 1999.
And finally:
1.
Rom’s awkwardness is a little overdone, and I’ve some quibbles on how the Vulcans come across. Some broad strokes here and there. That's all I have for cons - what a fun and great episode otherwise.
Avery Brooks is so much noticeably more alive in this episode than others. The subject matter? Different venue? The Vulcan rivalry? Penny Johnson?
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| Bless you, madame. |
As for Solok, he's apparently had quite the non-canon career.
I feel like I should have more to say, this being my favorite episode of the last season. But there's not much to cover, really. It's fun stuff. Auberjonois gets some of his best moments of the series as the umpire. I wish this side of his character had been as much of a subplot of the show as any of O'Brien's and Bashir's holosuiting.
I may or may not return with DS9 s1-4, and I may or may not cover the documentary What We Left Behind. I hated it, so I don't want to watch it again, but hate-blogging it might be productive. I think, though, Trekwise, I may just move on to Enteprise for now.
Let's close this out with a special "The Way You Look"-themed Ending Screencaps.
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| Cheers, folks. |
"Image in the Sand" --
ReplyDeleteI am grossly far behind on my DS9 rewatch. It's been two months since I watched an episode! Which actually played alright with this one. Those gaps between seasons sometimes serve a purpose.
This is an okay episode. I have a hard time believing -- or accepting, maybe (it's believable enough) -- that Sisko has just been totally incommunicado all that time. This guy, man. Way to leave your co-workers and friends hanging, pal.
Kira's new hair: hate it.
Ezri showing up at the end: man, she's even cuter than I remembered. Not sure she matches up to Jadzia in that regard, but few do.
Not a bad episode. At this point, any DS9 episode that doesn't make me actively angry feels like a bit of a win.
Yes sir to that last sentence!
DeleteJust a few days ago I was in not quite an internet-fight/ not quite a flame-thread, but I was the line voice saying "Maybe DS9 isn't the best Trek ever". It's funny how people will jump in from all corners to defend that show. There's a "Community" episode where Jeff observes this is how people usually act about Barenaked Ladies. (The band, not the phenomenon.)
So that's become my new kinda go-to/ exit strategy about it: DS9 is kinda the Barenaked Ladies of the Trekverse for me.
Oh by the by: I just oredered Lower Decks s1. I've been you-tubing bits of it with Evelyn and really enjoying it, which I was happy to discover. So I'll have to give that a whirl before the blog walls come crumbling down!
That's good to hear regarding "Lower Decks." It stumbles every once in a while, but overall it's a lot of fun. "Prodigy" looks good, too, so the future of Trek may be in animation. Odd, but I'll take what I can get.
DeleteHardcore Niners -- and there seems to be no other kind -- baffle me. I mean, I guess they don't, not really; if that was the Trek that introduced you to Trek, then sure, maybe I get that. But otherwise, it's just so glaringly NOT what Trek is (or ought to be) (to me) that I'm left kind of just looking around bemusedly.
I know little about Barenaked Ladies, the band. ARE there people who hardcore stump for them? I guess there must be. Hey, enjoy it, y'all!
"Shadows and Symbols" --
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on this one. It's just kinda meh. I thought Michael Dorn was sleepwalking through it, which is atypical for him. Avery Brooks was giving it his all, though, so there's that.
I've been trying to think of something to respond here, and really can't. This episode just bounces right off me.
DeleteI'm about to watch more "Lower Decks" though and am happy about that. And when I wake up tomorrow there'll be a new episode of "The Delta Flyers." So, Trekw-ise, I'm good, I guess.
"Afterimage" --
ReplyDeleteI think I liked this one a lot, but will confess that I may just have enjoyed the opportunity to look at Nicole de Boer for an hour. I remember liking Ezri pretty well the first time I watched this series, and so far that's maintaining.
All too understandable.
DeleteI fell behind on my comments, so here's a bit of catch-up:
ReplyDelete"Take Me Out to the Holosuite" -- I've got little to add to what you said here. I remembered hating this episode, and maybe I even did in the longago, but not this time. I loved it, beginning to end. I tend to do that when DS9 settles down and actually manages to BE Star Trek for an episode. And on the rare occasions when Avery Brooks isn't sleepwalking or has more than two minutes of screen time, I can even love Sisko. I sure do here.
"Chrysalis" -- I can imagine somebody getting emotionally invested in this one, but boy does Bashir seem loathsome in it. And like you, I did NOT need a sequel to "Statistical Probabilities."
"Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" -- I'm heavily resistant to Trek trying to treat religion earnestly. This might make me a bigot of some sort, I dunno. But this episode does it well enough that they manage to even make it work as a pro-Ferengi-religion story. This is surely some sort of achievement. I don't actually like the episode all that much, but I do respect it a bit.
"Once More Unto the Breach" -- Good acting throughout this one. I even like the little Quark-and-Ezri subplot.
Re: earnest religion. The spiritual element of any sentient being is interesting to me, even moreso in Trek because you can really play around with the concept. That said, the more one literalizes things - and one has to with Trek - the more limits you put on the "religious" aspect of Trek. (Think of Uhura at the end of "Bread and Circuses," for one of the most egregious - and one that'll never be repeated barring some reversion of society to the British country and church model - examples). I kind of like aspects of this in DS9, at least more than you do. But, they blow it. Basically, the problem with trying to deal with God/afterlife/what have you in Trek is the same as anywhere else: you have to invent something to make it work as a story, otherwise it's just a big shrug. And whatever you invent will be imperfect. The human dilemma, in many ways!
DeleteAnyway, the older I get, the more appeal Conan/Crom has to me, for all things. https://youtu.be/RBMY3VV5AMA?t=70
"The Siege of AR-558" --
ReplyDeleteI like this one a little better than you do, but also fundamentally agree with what you say about it. This is Behr and company wanting to do a WWII story, which is understandable, but isn't really what they were hired for. Or at least shouldn't have been. But it's a relatively well-made episode, which counts for something.
I was happy to isolate that little bit about Behr; I think the Lost in Space angle explains a lot. Anyone who likes LIS more than TOS will turn a Trek franchise into something that is not Trek. I think Descartes wrote a theorem on this once.
DeleteIf not in actuality, then in spirit, I bet.
Delete"Covenant" --
ReplyDeleteMaybe the performances? I didn't have much use for this one, personally. Marc Alaimo was good, though, and I guess the idea of him as a Jim Jones type makes a certain amount of sense.
Damn, I have no idea! Don't make me watch it again... I'll have to, though. Ah well. Apparently I liked it so why the idea makes me groan I don't know... frakkin' DS9.
Delete"It's Only a Paper Moon" --
ReplyDeleteGiven my resistance to Nog, I should hate this episode, but I don't; nearly the opposite. My only real complaint with it is how big the club seems compared to how demonstrably small the holosuite is when you get a look at it in deactivated mode. I can suspend disbelief, but only so far.
My understanding of the holosuite is that its dimensions inside are close to infinite, are they not? Or is that they're overdoing it once inside? I always assume the holodeck combines elements of all other Trek (replicator, transporter, whatever) to make the experience what it is. But you're undoubtedly referring not to the concept but to the visual from the episode, which is totally fair.
DeleteI can only imagine the fictional characters I'd hang out with in crisis-times and the trouble I'd have leaving. I imagine most of the DS9 audience is with me there; there but for the grace of God go all of us.
"Prodigal Daughter" --
ReplyDeleteI think they actually do pretty well fitting Ezri in as a main character in the seventh season. And am I crazy, or has she had as much screentime as Sisko thus far? I swear Avery Brooks must have had it in his contract that he only had to work a week each month.
Anyways, not all that great an episode. I've seen lots worse, but I'm already forgetting it again.
I think they make a valiant attempt. It could have been worse. It's a tough road to walk. Good point on Sisko, though. I wonder about that guy in general.
Delete"The Emperor's New Cloak" --
ReplyDeleteI slept through much of this one, and wasn't exactly reluctant to do so. Even with this being another deBoer-heavy episode!
I remember nothing about it either, except mirror-yadda.
Delete"Field of Fire" --
ReplyDeleteThat's three Ezri-laden episodes in a row. I'm with you, I didn't need to see another serial-killer episode like this. And it's a Vulcan who's the killer?!? Fuck that.
It's only logical that... wait.
DeleteSteeeeeeeewpid.
And they even went back to this well - three or four times - on VOY! Ah well. Even with such missteps, the Berman/Braga verse maintained warp integrity.
"Chimera" --
ReplyDeleteI had to consult the internet to be sure of it, but that's J.G. Hertzler under a different name playing Laas the creepy changeling. Laas should 100% have gone to Klingon prison for murder.
Good acting in this one, but I'm with you, I hate the changelings and their stupid faces.
Good on Martok - I never would've guessed that!
DeleteBuuuuut. Thespain kudos aside, yeah, holy moley. Changelings Go Home.
"Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang" --
ReplyDeleteIt's an entertaining episode. The cast has fun. Harmless, enjoyable stuff. But for Christ's sake, this is happening while there's a war on!
It's impossible for me to take this show's core conceits seriously when the show itself doesn't take them seriously except every six episodes or so when it remembers to.
What do you mean? After D-Day the Allies stopped every few days to help their imaginary friend pay his rent! "Hang on, Europe, Vic Fontaine's in trouble! Fuggedabottit!"
DeleteBut like you say: it's fun/ harmless, yadda yadda. Sometimes you've got to let the cast blow off steam/ change it up.
I think there might have been a way to integrate it into the war plotline as a sort of extended bout of whistling past the graveyard (like "It's Only a Paper Moon"), but they didn't even make a feint in that direction.
DeleteI wasn't watching the show anymore when this episode first aired. I'd love to know what I'd have thought about it back then. I bet I'd be a bit more positive.
"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" --
ReplyDeletePretty good episode. I remain distinctly non-enamored of Section 31, but this episode is entertaining enough that I can set that to the side, especially since it at least gives me the out of being on Bashir's side.
Would a Section 31 have to exist in a real Federation? Likely. Do I need Star Trek to be something other than an admission of reality? Sure do. Reality fucking blows. Sucks AND blows. We need to be able to approach it from an angle whereby it's possible to at least temporarily fantasize that someday, it might not. Can't do it with fucking Section 31s running around.
Still, it's a good episode.
I don't know if I ever mentioned it in any of these reviews, but you can see how things like Section 31 (like rebooting your universe, or blowing up the Enterprise) can be seen as some exciting, bold thing to do/ introduce. Once. And then you're stuck with the diminished results post-"shock." Here I don't mean diminished as in the show got worse (episodes like this, like you say, are pretty good, so they add to the positive aggregate of the show, right? Math in one direction?) but the Trekverse got that much smaller, that less impressive/ inspiring, for Starfleet just being another MACV with a Phoenix Program and Plumbers, etc.
DeleteThe Trek fandom/ verse these days seems filled with folks who disagree with the above, and I bow to the inevitable. But that's how I feel about it. Even while dissecting turbulent reality and metaphorizing the crazy 60s, TOS uplifted and did not diminish the spirit/ one's civilizational optimism.
"Penumbra" --
ReplyDeleteThis one's alright, I guess. Penny Johnson Jerald is fine as hell in it, so it's got that going for it. I like the scenes between her and Avery Brooks pretty well.
I would more or less say the same about the Worf/Ezri scenes. I don't think their chemistry is as strong as when it was Jadzia in the mix, but it does feel to me like a modified version of the same chemistry. Close enough that it makes sense why they both still feel the attraction, but far enough that you can tell it ain't gonna work. Or maybe I'm just reading into things, who knows?
We seem to have entered the stretch of the series where I remember nothing. I saw these episodes only a single time, and they did not stick with me at all.
Ahh, Penny. If this blog taught me anything the past ten years it's that Penny Johnson and Michelle Forbes show up, sooner or later, on everything, and this is never an unwelcome development.
DeleteYes good call - modified version of same chemistry. That seems to be how both performers and writers/crew approached it.
"Til Death Do Us Part" --
ReplyDeleteI'm all for holding Ira Steven Behr accountable even for things for which he is not accountable. That purple goatee did him in permanently in my eyes.
I agree that the Breen belong more to Star Wars than to Star Trek. I think most of this show's writers would have been better-suited to work in the Lucasverse rather than the Roddenberryverse.
I don't mind this episode too much, though. Dukat's dastardly plot here is prettttty goddamn dastardly, and even somewhat plausible. I don't always think Dukat is as great a character as he is made out to be, but sometimes I do, and I almost always think that no matter what, Marc Alaimo playing the role is in the very upper echelons of actor/character pairings in all of Star Trek. I've got numerous criticisms of this series, but they'll get some praise from me once in a while as well, and that's one of the big ones.
Yep, I'll agree with that on Dukat/ Alaimo.
DeleteI was shocked by how un-Dukat-like Alaimo is in that DS9 documentary. Speaking of, I didn't care for Ira prior to watching that, and then my opinion of him fell through the floor afterwards. I've yet to meet anyone else who has a negative view on that documentary, and it baffles me. If I had a little more time, I'd hate watch it and set everyone straight with an exhaustive list of notes.
Trek people are like that sometimes. I've never met one who didn't concede any of my my-God-this-is-unforgivably-lame points on Star Trek VI or Generations. And yet! They still think of them as good movies, etc. or Insurrection as bad. Or the first JJ Abrams as "the first real Trek in a long while" etc.
Grumble grumble. Ah well. Exhibit #55 to an empty courtroom of why the franchise has moved on without me. But dang it! I'm not wrong.
"Strange Bedfellows" --
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I didn't get the sense that Kira was swearing off the prophets here; quite the opposite, if anything. She came off as a more genuine believer than Kai Winn did. I just can't get invested in any of this jazz with the prophets, though; it's one of the big stumbling blocks that keeps me from loving this series.
There are some quality Jeffrey Combs moments elsewhere in the episode, though, so this one isn't a complete loss. I even like some of the Ezri/Worf stuff, which brings a fairly unenjoyable subplot to a reasonable conclusion.
I'll have to watch it again, as I got the opposite, or get the opposite, whenever Kira talks about the Prophets. It's like she's talking about some childhood faith she had in Jesus or something. The difference between Earth-religion/man-Jesus and Trek-Bajor-Prophets-wormhole is pretty big. And obvious, I'd think. Anyway, I don't think they handled this aspect of the show very thoughtfully. It's more just the cliched "Prophecy" thing from any show (which practically only one show in the history of man handled well - BSG) plus some vague cynicism of Earth-bound stuff. Someone should've worked this out more.
DeleteI think it really just comes down to the fact that Trek is ill-suited to do sincere portraits of faith. You can't have decades of stuff like Trelane and Q and then suddenly decide that worshipful religion meshes with those stories. It just doesn't. So why anyone ever thought it was a good idea to go this route for *an entire series* is truly befuddling to me.
DeleteThat could be it. And the times Christianity appeared in TOS were always weird, too. ("Bread and Circuses" and what not.)
DeleteI don't think it's un-doable. I just think Ira et al. weren't the guys to do it. I think sci-fi/religion worked pretty damn interestingly in BSG, for example.
I definitely don't think they really handled the occupation/ Bajor/ the Prophets too sensibly. Although I do enjoy the last episode and how they wrapped up the arc. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense, conceptually, over the series.
I lean toward agnosticism, if not outright atheism, but I've got no problem with sci-fi and religion mixing. I agree, they did it right on BSG. I just don't think it's a good fit for Trek, or at least has not been for the most part.
DeleteAnd I definitely agree that for the most part, DS9 did nothing to move the needle on that. Lots of folks seem to disagree, though, so what do I know?
"The Changing Face of Evil" --
ReplyDeleteIn and of themselves, I don't mind the Breen all that much. They're too heavily Return of the Jedi inspired, and the thing where they talk gibberish and everyone who needs to just magically understands them is silly. But I don't mind them that much...
...except for the way they are used in this final season. The writers had clearly written themselves into a corner with the Dominion, having created an enemy the Federation (and indeed the combined forces of the Alpha Quadrant) could not defeat. So they introduce the Breen to shift the balance of power. Guys, that's cheating.
Well, at least Moore learned his lesson and gave us BSG. BSG's successes make DS9's failures more palatable to me.
Right, I've no problem with the Breen themselves. They're just some generic action figure race. But that's neutral - it's the purpose to which they are used and way they are wielded in this last season that's mega-lame.
Delete"When It Rains..." --
ReplyDeleteI honestly can't remember if there is a BSG analogy to the illness the Founders have. This tells me that it is well and truly time for a BSG rewatch. It's been that for a while now, to be honest.
Either way, yuck, don't care for the reveal that this was all a Section 31 plot one bit. I'd forgotten this, too. So all that railing I did a few years back about Starfleet being willing to commit genocide on "Discovery" turns out to have precedence in the earlier shows, eh? How disappointing. I'll give DS9 credit for at least having Bashir be appalled and determined to find a way to undo the harm. At least there's that.
The "war" makes no absolutely no consistent or gd sense in DS9. Adding in Section 31 to give the Founders the disease... gee, didn't they do this in TNG with the Borg, and decide against it? I mean, I'm fine with someone exploring the idea as a story, but wasn't that established precedent of some kind?
DeleteThe Founders disease is so gross and so nonsensical. And even the magic fix is so nonsensical. The more I think about the Changelings and the Founders and Ira Steven Behr the angrier I get whenever anyone says "DS9 is, like, my favorite Trek...!" Go back to SPahn Ranch, psycho!!
"Tacking Into the Wind" --
ReplyDeleteThe Gowron stuff was all well-played, but do I buy any of it? Not really. The idea is that pretty much anyone could challenge Gowron for supremacy at any point during any random day, right? Which must mean he's having to carve up fools all day long, right? I don't buy him as someone capable of maintaining his grip on the Empire via means such as that. Worf would have dispatched him in five seconds; he ain't throwin' Worf through no panes of glass, that much I can state with certainty.
Still, it's well-done here.
The Founderona -- Odovid? -- IS gross, isn't it? Is the idea that they're all drying out? Good job on the gross-ass makeup; it's offputting and I hate it, but have to tip my hat toward it even so.
Pretty solid episode. Some strong Nana Visitor action, including her looking rad in a Starfleet uniform. And Damar...! Sneaking in in this final season to be one of the show's best characters! DS9 isn't fully my thing, but aspects of it such as the arc Damar goes on make it impossible for me to write the series off, even when I sometimes wish I could.
My take on the Gowron stuff is he's very good at defending his throne by such means. But that he's also probably surrounded himself with cronies and human/Klingon shields who sometimes take the dagger for him. I think from the very first in TNG it's been clear Worf could take Gowron if he had to, and how satisfying is it, after years of such subtleties, to see it happen? For me: pretty cool.
DeleteThat said, DS9 didn't do much for the Klingons besides make them look less than what they were on TNG, IMO.
The Founders disease is just so gross. ANd makes no sense. Goddamnit, DS9!!
"Extreme Measures" --
ReplyDeleteDollhouse! Good call, this is a bit reminiscent of that, though DS9 beat them to it. Never could get too interested in that show, which was not bad but also never managed (for me) to come together.
Does it seem kind of odd that Bashir would be able to just read the cure for the Odo plague off a PADD in some dude's brain? I can't imagine that Sloan himself actually engineered the virus, or the cure either; so it's a stretch to think that he'd know it well enough to have it memorized. But whatever, I hate Section 31, so of course this is bullcrap.
I'll just say again: nothing (nothing!) about the Changelings or their disease makes the slightest bit of sense.
Delete"The Dogs of War" --
ReplyDelete(1) I want to love this one, and get close, but ultimately there's a lot that distances me. A lot that pulls me close, too, though; so in many ways, this is a representative episode of DS9.
(2) I just can't get onboard with Quark when he's still saying things like literally saying he ought to be able to require sexual favors from his employees. I know that that's the shtick, that he's a backwards cretin; but you can't watch this series and not love Quark thanks to Armin Shimerman's all-time-great performances in the role. I just can't make those things work together; and I've tried.
(3) Is this just because I myself would like to somehow find a way to convince that one dabo girl to spend some naughty time with me? I mean, I've got to face facts; it might be. So maybe my issue is that I'm not really any better than Quark. If so, I'd never accept a show making ME seem so much fun, either; so there's that. Anyways, M'Pella is really, really hot. Make of this what you will vis a vis my own morality.
(3) A better version of this show could have really made something of the Julian/Ezri dynamic. I don't think they have good chemistry at all, at least in this episode. This is a very subjective thing, of course, but I just don't feel it. The show also never quite convinced me that Ezri would be this awkward; deBoer plays it well, but wouldn't Dax's experience kick in at a certain point?
(4) Speaking of no chemistry, I thought Avery Brooks was bad in the scene where he finds out Kasidy is pregnant. Brooks plays Sisko as such a weirdo sometimes, man; did he think that stuff was charming? It struck me as pure creepy. If I were Kasidy, I'd have run screaming out of that room straight for the nearest abortion kiosk on the promenade, gotten on my freighter, and never come back.
(5) The stuff with Damar and Kira and Garak on Cardassia is great. So is everything with Rom. Impossible to write the episode off; too much of it works. I just wish I could get onboard with the rest. Ultimately, it's one of those things where if someone tells me they've got this one ranked as an A+ masterpiece, I don't disagree with them so much as I envy them.
(2) and (3) Hey, all fair. It's not your fault - they try to walk two lines with Quark, and better writers would've integrated these aspects in a way that the audience wasn't left trying to resolve contradictions in tone/ approach. The Bajor/prophets thing is certainly like this, as well.
Delete(3) Good points. This rewatch left me kind of cold on Ezri Dax, for mainly that reason: you can't watch six seasons of Jedzia and then start over as some awkward girl. There's no "old man"ness, there, with her.
(4) Oh boy do I agree here.
"What You Leave Behind" --
ReplyDelete(1) Having this episode be entwined with a major change-of-life moment in the real world is a satisfying thing, I'd imagine. Art is good for that sort of thing. I think it's probably a big part of the reason why art matters to people, and always will.
"All I can say is: the episode stops being about DS9 for me at certain points." -- I'm increasingly inclined to lean into that sort of thing. I don't always; I also like to try to keep business and pleasure separate in that sense (to strain the metaphor). But in the end, it's the sort of thing you refer to that really matters, isn't it?
(2) "Uhh, what? Are we adjusting our course in the water, sir? Did you forget you were in a spaceship?" -- Yeah, this stuff is tiresome. Goes all the way back to "Balance of Terror," though, so it's arguably an indispensable part of the franchise; not one of my favorites, though. And the space-battle stuff in this finale is kind of dull; seems like they could, and should, have been a bit more imaginative with what they were doing.
(3) "From a Trek sense, what exactly are the Pah-wraiths?" -- Fucking lame, is what they are. And the resolution here, not just with them but with the entire Sisko/prophets angle as well, is just a series of womp-womp noises. THIS is the grand culmination of Dukat?!? Of Kai Winn? Of Sisko himself? None of it works for me, at all. And while I neither needed nor wanted any of that stuff to be a more prevalent part of the series finale, if it was going to be this lame then it ought not to have been a part of the finale at all. A series of bad ideas, executed badly in the final execution.
(4) "The Founder does an awful lot of bitching at Weyoun, but what exactly do the Founders DO?" -- I guess the idea is that what the Dominion has left at the end of the day is power, and nothing else. So when they exercise it too vigorously, they alienate their allies, and the entire thing collapses under its own weight. Nice idea. I think someone rewriting this entire series could rework it into something that actually works, but it does not work for me here...
(5) ...especially given the entire season's Federation-as-creators-of-biological-genocide angle. That stuff angers me; I do not accept it as something anyone who is serious about Star Trek would have gone about in this manner. You could salvage even that with a rewrite; a rogue faction in Starfleet creates the plague, administers it, is discovered. Then the Federation decides to give the cure to the Founders even though it will probably cost them the war. This either causes the Founders to reconsider, or causes their allies to do so; the Dominion is defeated not just by collapsing under the weight of their own deficiencies but by the Federation persisting in exhibiting their own ideals no matter what the potential cost. THAT'S Star Trek. I don't what this shit here is, but I know what it isn't.
(2) That's a good point - it's a Trek tradition! I should celebrate it as adorable ratehr than grumble.
Delete(3) I hear ya, altho I think ultimately it all worked for me. Not as a mind-blowing piece of entertainment, just they tied it together bare-minimun-wise for it to make enough sense. Like I say I'd rather they approached the whole thing in more of a "Power Play" or Trek-canonical way, but, like it or not I guess I should acknowledge this sort of anti-Trek approach was written into the DS9 charter. So they didn't WANT to do it that way: they wanted more X-men-y stuff than TOS/TNG-y stuff. So for me, okay, the whole prophecy/ Dukat-transformation/ unleash the pah wraiths and they need the emissary to stop it - or rather, with their perception of time, the Prophets SEE the emissary doing it - I mean, okay, it's not how I'd personally wrap it up. (Ditto for the founders/ dominion/ grossness), but the math adds up enough for me to satisfy the bare minimum of Trek/ storytelling. I fully respect contrary views on this, as I think they should've set the bar higher/ differently. But like I say, the show they were making will I guess always be at odds with what I prefer.
(4) Oh I get it for sure. And the whole WW2 parallels as well. I just don't think it makes any sense for the Founders to have gotten this way. Nothing about the Dominion ever adds up for me. It's just part of my general bitching: the parallels of power-corruption seem more apt for 20th century earth, even with the shapeshifting. All it would take is one shapeshifter discovering any of the thousand ways to time travel in Trek, with a tuny glob of antimatter, to end the whole damn thing. But ah well.
Delete(5) Your angle is much, much better, here, and has the added virtue of Trek ethos as I understand them. Like I say, I guess they were purposefully doing a different show, but FWIW I'd rather watch the one you describe. (Here and elsewhere.)
(5) Behr all but spells it out in the "What We Left Behind" documentary that their desire to do a different type of show is what led them to all of these sorts of decisions. And Rick Berman all but spells it out that he wishes Behr hadn't, but that he allowed himself to be persuaded. It all disgusts me; and the fact that so many people stand up and cheer for it makes it all the worse.
Delete(6) "Also, Sisko and Admiral Deputy Dawg are mega-lame in the ashes of Cardassia." -- Boy, they sure are. Admiral Deputy Dawg ... that got a lol outta me.
ReplyDelete(7) "Odo’s return to the Great Link feels emotionally correct, if intellectually stupid" -- I agree; it makes no actual sense, but works all the same. Somebody was probably thinking about how satisfying it might be for Odo to return in a movie or whatever. Too bad Rene Auberjonois passed away; this would be ripe as hell for one of the new shows to pick up and run with.
(8) "the Vic Fontaine farewell" -- As with the entire Vic Fontaine character, this should not work, but does.
(9) "Sisko’s mysterious journey (I hate when gods/ prophets tell you you’re the chosen one or whatever and then it doesn’t pay off. Ditto for visions in dreams. It pays off here, as it paid off at the end of BSG.)" -- I don't think it did pay off, personally. They hint that Sisko's journey lies in the past, but nothing comes of that. I thought I remembered that they went back in time and he was somehow responsible for trapping the Pah wraiths in the fire pit or whatever, but no, that's not there. He just shows up to illogically stop the newly Carrie White-ified Dukat. None of it seems inevitable, or earned, or satisfying. Not to me, at least. but I've been so uninvested in that entire aspect of the series that I might be missing something.
(10) Why/how do the wraiths turn Dukat back into a Cardassian when they resurrect him? That don't make no sense. If this was how Dukat, one of Trek's great villains, was going to go out, then I'd rather he had been used the way Damar was used instead. Imagine that! If the final arc of episodes had had to be about Dukat and Kira actually becoming allies to save Cardassia! I think they'd taken him too far down the path of villainy for that to be feasible, so I'm kind of glad they didn't try.
(11) Ultimately, I end the series feeling much the same about it as I've felt all along: it's just not for me, and was a misstep in the grand scheme of the franchise. I know tons of people disagree with me, and hey, so be it.
At the same time, there are a lot of individual episodes that I genuinely love, and any series you can say that about is a series that cannot be shrugged off. That, too, must be remembered.
It's been fun revisiting it all with this blog as a companion!
(6) I mean! Man. Admiral Deputy Dawg and Hallmark Martok are a bit much, the last eight or nine episodes. The Admiral is lame for seasons and seasons, though. He and Sikso should have had more of a Michael and Toby relationship ("The Office").
Delete(9) I have a feeling a close rewatch of the show would prove you correct here and I'd have to revise my take. Thankfully, I'll never know! But, I suspect you've the more sensibly-observed take on this.
(11) Agreed on all counts! Look fwd to the official S7 WNBHGB entry.
(6) By all rights, Sisko ought to hate Ross. But Sisko is so inconsistently written that he could be either Michael or Toby in this scenario, depending on what episode it was.
Delete