7-1. Image in the Sand.

Sisko has a vision...

THE PLOT

It has been three months since Starfleet took the Chin'toka System back from the Dominion - and three months since Jadzia's death and Sisko's return to Earth. Sisko's stated goal when he left was to find a way to contact the Prophets - but his father and Jake worry that he's spent all that time doing nothing at all, not even leaving the restaurant.

Then the Prophets send a vision to Sisko. He sees himself on the desert planet Tyree, digging until he uncovers the image of a beautiful woman. When he wakes, he learns that this woman was actually his mother - and that she died many years ago. When his father produces a necklace of hers, with ancient Bajoran writing on it that translates to "The Orb of the Emissary," Sisko realizes that he must go to Tyree to find that Orb.

Back on the station, Worf is despondent. Not only did Jadzia die, she did not die in battle. According to Klingon tradition, she did not enter the afterlife of Sto-vo-kor, and the only way to get her there is to win a great battle in her name... Difficult to do, when the Defiant is spending all of its time escorting convoys. When he (reluctantly) confides in O'Brien, the engineer contacts Martok - who is ready and willing to take Worf aboard his ship to make a near-suicidal attack at the heart of the Dominion!

Meanwhile, the newly-promoted Colonel Kira must adjust not only to being in charge, but to accepting a Romulan presence on the station. Fortunately, Senator Cretak (Megan Cole) proves easy to get along with. Right up until Kira learns that the "hospital" the Romulans have set up on a Bajoran moon is armed with plasma torpedoes. When the Bajoran government insists the Romulans surrender their weapons, Cretak refuses, sparking the kind of confrontation that could spell the end of the Starfleet/Romulan alliance...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: Sisko's journey in this episode (and, even moreso, the next) is very much that of a man on a religious pilgrimage. He has spent months isolating himself from the outside world, making his own world effectively smaller and simpler. He spends an entire day doing nothing but playing the piano... Music having been a common way for various religious devotees to meditate, the rhythm making it easier to let go of conscious thought. The episode ends with him again assuming the mantle of the Emissary - and, in a startlingly violent moment, literally paying for that in blood.

Colonel Kira: Now in charge of the station, with a freshly-minted promotion to colonel and an acknowledgement that she's done a fine job of stepping into Sisko's shoes. She continues to insist that she's "just keeping his seat warm" until he returns, but increasingly few people believe Sisko will return. Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner) stops just short of a condescending "Uh-huh" in response to Kira's statement. Kira is resistant to the Romulans' arrival, but finds a kindred spirit in the blunt Cretak - which makes her all the angrier when it's revealed that her apparent new friend has actually been manipulating her the entire time.

Worf: His first scene sees him upbraiding Nog for daring to be relieved at the lack of danger in their most recent assignment - as if a soldier in a shooting war doesn't have every right to be happy at an assignment that doesn't involve the specter of imminent death or dismemberment. He then tears Vic Fontaine (James Darren)'s holo-bar apart while listening to the crooner sing Jadzia's favorite song - something that we learn has happened multiple times over the past months. When he reveals the reason for his behavior, it makes perfect sense. By his beliefs, Jadzia will be denied peace in the afterlife until he wins a battle for her - Which puts Worf on his own religious-based quest, thematically linking his thread with Sisko's.

Ezri: This episode introduces Nicole de Boer, as the "new" Dax. She appears only in the very last scene - a wise choice on the part of writers Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. By holding off her appearance to the last seconds, we are allowed to remember and mourn Jadzia's absence as much as Sisko, Worf, Bashir, and Quark do. The next episode should start showing how Ezri differs from Jadzia, and will hopefully establish a working relationship with Sisko that's unique to this new character - but that will be something to discuss in the next review.

Weyoun/Damar: The disappearance of the wormhole seems to have turned the course of the war back in the Dominion's favor. Weyoun doesn't fully understand how this is true, but he reluctantly acknowledges that they owe thanks to Gul Dukat. Damar has always enjoyed his drink, but now he is constantly seen with a drink in hand. Weyoun can't help commenting on Damar's constant drinking, but he relishes the news about the Romulans' betrayal of Kira. "Romulans - So predictably treacherous!" he exults, as visions of the death of the Federation/Romulan alliance dance through his head.


THOUGHTS

Image in the Sand kicks off Deep Space 9's final season. It's less the first half of a two-parter than the middle part of a trilogy, with two of its three threads directly picking up from Tears of the Prophets. Sisko is still searching for a way to reconnect with the Prophets, while Worf is finding a way to come to terms with Jadzia's death. Only Kira's thread, with the Romulan presence on the station and on a Bajoran moon, originates here, and that thread is itself a consequence of the war situation.

It's a set-up episode, largely laying groundwork for the next installment, but that doesn't mean it isn't gripping. Sisko's emotionally raw state is tailor-made to Avery Brooks' strengths as an actor. When he demands his father tell him the identity of the woman in his vision, there's an instant in which we see the potential for violence - Something both he and his father seem to recognize, and are both frightened of. Not the kind of moment you expect from a Star Trek hero, but it works very well with Sisko's instability, and shows exactly why he needs a Dax to pull him back just as much as he needs the connection with the Prophets.

Also un-Trek like is the startling brutality of a knife attack near the end. Reminiscent of the broken bottle assault that was the only memorable moment in Time's Orphan, this sort of tangible and real violence carries an immediacy phasers don't... Particularly when the scene ends with the victim holding his wound while coughing helplessly on the ground. It's meant to be disturbing, and it is - Though I find myself wondering if broadcasters/Paramount received any viewer complaints as a result.

The attack is perpetrated by a member of The Cult of the Pah-wraiths, which has sprung up in the wake of the wormhole's collapse. Some dialogue between Kira and Odo tells us that this cult was originally dismissed as fringe cranks, but has gained momentum over the past few months. Save for the knife attack, they seem to be planted for use in future episodes, but it will be interesting to see what comes of them.

The episode definitely does what it needs to, following up on Tears of the Prophets in such a way that the cataclysmic events of that episode are shown to have impact. By leaving all threads unresolved, we are given time to absorb the death of Jadzia Dax, as well as the impact on the station both of Sisko's departure and the wormhole's collapse. At the same time, new complications are established in the rise of the cult and the arrival of the Romulans. A fine season opener, holding viewer attention throughout while promising plenty of interesting things to come.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Tears of the Prophets
Next Episode; Shadows and Symbols

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4-24. The Quickening.

Dr. Bashir encounters a victim of The Blight.

THE PLOT

A trip to the Gamma Quadrant brings Kira, Dax, and Dr. Bashir to a world ravaged by "The Blight," a virus that infects all inhabitants. "We're all born with it," Trevean (Michael Sarrazin) informs them. "We all die from it."

The Quickening was inflicted by the Jem'Hadar generations ago, when the planet refused to submit to the Dominion. The world was destroyed as an example, this manufactured virus inflicted on the survivors as an ongoing punishment for their defiance. Trevean is the closest thing the planet has to a doctor. When the virus "quickens" and begins to kill, he takes the dying in and grants them a quick death - the only mercy he has to give.

Bashir is appalled by both the disease and Trevean's solution. He insists on staying, on isolating the virus so that he can work on a cure. Ekoria (Ellen Wheeler), a pregnant young woman who fears that she may quicken before her baby comes to term, sees Bashir as her only hope and eagerly provides a place for him to work. But Trevean recalls other outsiders who promised aid and created false hope. He warns Bashir and Dax that if that's what they end up doing, then their deaths will "make the Blight look like a blessing!"


CHARACTERS

Capt. Sisko: Gets a tiny, credit-justifying cameo at the end. It's a good bit, though, as he shows his understanding of why Bashir continues to push himself with one line and one look.

Dr. Bashir: Bashir is instantly disgusted by Trevean's way of "helping" those suffering The Quickening, but it isn't until someone directly asks for his help that he resolves to intervene. He is ready to leave before that, not willing to force his help on these people. Once Ekoria asks for his aid, though, he flat-out refuses to leave. He does enjoy working on the first cure just a bit too much; when that cure fails, he admits to Dax that it was arrogant to assume that he could cure this disease in a week. With that arrogance knocked out of him by his first, truly spectacular failure, he works with grim determination to keep Ekoria alive long enough to see her baby born - Her one goal in staying alive at this point. Alexander Siddig does his usual splendid job, showing just enough of Bashir's early arrogance to contrast it with his later determination. 

Dax: Acts as Julian's support during the episode, assisting him with the patients and "translating" his medical jargon for the benefit of both them and us. She is also his human connection, keeping him from taking on too much blame for his first failure and bluntly telling him that while his certainty in finding a cure was arrogant, it is just as arrogant of him to decide that the failure to do so means that no cure exists. The last part of the episode sees her removed from the narrative. Now that Julian has had that arrogance knocked out, he no longer needs someone to "translate" between him and ordinary people like Ekoria. 


THOUGHTS

The Quickening is a fairly typical doctor-centered standalone, following a fairly typical story structure. As soon as we see the Blight-afflicted people on the ruined planet, we know the path the episode will follow. Sure enough, it follows that path.

It ends up being surprisingly compelling in spite of this, though. Writer Naren Shankar and actor Alexander Siddig take what might have been dreary filler and add texture and surprising depth. Shankar's script portrays a society that has rebuilt itself around the Blight, to the point of worshipping "The Quickening." An effective moment has Ekoria recalling how she used to check the mirror each morning to see if her lesions had turned red - the first visible sign of quickening. The people look forward to their deaths, made comfortable by Trevean, and are reluctant to accept Bashir's aid.

This leaves Bashir beating against a metaphorical brick wall not only in fighting the disease, but a culture that has elevated that disease to something practically worshipped. Alexander Siddig, who has become one of the strongest regulars over the course of the series, is wonderful portraying that struggle. Bashir is initially confident, but Siddig pulls back from overplaying the arrogance (as in Season One) so that we are always identifying with him. After his setback, he is rocked into despair for a short time, then becomes resolute as he redoubles his efforts. 

That setback, by the way, is one of the more vivid scenes I can recall seeing in a Star Trek episode.  As Bashir's cure fails, the lesions spread before our eyes, leaving the people in his makeshift clinic screaming in agony as the doctor looks on helpless.  They beg him for help.  Then, when Trevean comes with his fast-acting poison, they turn to him for the only succor available - a quick release from their pain and fear.  It's a haunting moment, both well-acted and well-directed by Rene Auberjonois, who has come nicely into his own behind the camera.

In the end, this is a formula story made more than its formula thanks to fine writing and scripting.  What might have been dreary filler ends up being something genuinely rewarding.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: To the Death
Next Episode: Body Parts


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3-11, 3-12. Past Tense.

Fort Apache: Sanctuary District, 2024.

THE PLOT

Starfleet has invited Sisko and the Deep Space 9 command crew to Earth to discuss current developments in the Gamma Quadrant. Sisko, Dax, and Bashir beam down to attend an official dinner in San Francisco. But a transporter disruption causes them to materialize at the correct destination... but more than 200 years in the past!

Early 21st century America is not a pleasant place to be. The economy is in bad shape, and Europe is in political and economic chaos. Problems of homelessness and poverty have become so vast that the system has effectively surrendered, dumping anyone with no home and job into a "sanctuary district." This is where Sisko and Bashir find themselves, in a poverty and crime-ridden ghetto. Dax, meanwhile, was fortunate enough to materialize out of sight and to catch the eye of a local media figure.

As Dax figures out where Sisko and Bashir must have been taken, Sisko makes an even more sobering realization. They have arrived mere days before a riot in the sanctuary, one which will end in a tragedy that will nevertheless begin the transformation of Earth's society. A large part of the reason for this transformation rests with a man named Gabriel Bell, whose adherence to nonviolence keeps the protesters from being viewed as the villains in the public eye. But when Sisko and Bashir are attacked by a criminal, a man is killed trying to come to their rescue. That man? Gabriel Bell...


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: For the sake of plot expedience, Sisko is revealed to be an armchair expert in 21st century history. Bashir knows nothing about this period of history, which allows Sisko to deliver reams of exposition throughout Part 1. This feels a bit labored, but it's necessary to give us the context to really invest in the action of Part 2. Sisko tries hard to keep from interfering with history. But when the brutish B. C. (Frank Military) forces interference on them, resulting in Bell's death, Sisko promptly steps into the role of Bell and rapidly takes charge of the hostage situation. Avery Brooks is at his best in these scenes, alternately manipulating and confronting B. C. and rather marvellously losing his temper at Vin (Dick Miller), the most argumentative of the hostages.

Dr. Bashir: A fantastic episode for Bashir. His horror at the treatment of the Sanctuary District residents is palpable. Seeing mentally ill homeless people wandering around the ghetto-like streets, he bitterly complains about a society that doesn't care. When Sisko reminds him that this is a very different time with very different resources, Bashir reminds him that the medical technology exists even in the early 21st century to help many of the people around them. The flipside of Bashir's moral outrage is his compassion. The best of many good scenes comes in Part 2, as Bashir observes the distress of one of the hostages and quietly engages her, calming her down and diagnosing both her underlying medical condition and how to help her. It's very hard to reconcile this character with the callow fop of Season One, but it does show just how far the character has come and how well the writers did at revamping him.

Dax: In contrast to the two men, who are hauled away to a ghetto when they are discovered, Dax is treated like a princess and taken to the equivalent of a palace. In part, she's just lucky. She materialized out of sight, so the police don't see her when they take Sisko and Bashir away. But there's also the other part, as writer Ira Steven Behr noted in interviews. "A beautiful white woman is always going to get much better treatment than two brown-skinned men," Behr observed, and it doesn't feel like much of a reach that the man who finds Jadzia is focused on helping her. For her part, she's not above flirting pretty heavily, and Terry Farrell has Jadzia giving a lot of nonverbal looks and cues to her wealthy benefactor that are more than a little flirtatious.


THOUGHTS

Past Tense was written and shot in the mid-1990's, but a lot of it seems quite prescient in 2011. Bad economy? A lack of jobs? People who had always been middle-class suddenly unemployed and slipping into poverty? There are even mentions of chaos and protests in Europe. All right, we don't have concentration camps for the homeless. But a lot of the context created for this episode matches up eerily well with today's situation. If things were to continue deteriorating for another 13 years, it wouldn't be a stretch to see a world much like the one glimpsed in this episode.

As a 2-part piece of television drama, Past Tense works very well. It's not perfect. There isn't quite enough story to fill two full episodes, and Part 2 has some very visible padding. The Kira/O'Brien scenes are particularly weak. The "comedy" of their search of different time periods is thin and obvious, and these scenes clash horribly with the bleak tone of the overall story. Worse is the sheer volume of technobabble O'Brien spouts to justify the time travel. There's also a frankly horrible scene in Part 1 in which Jadzia attends a "rich snob" party. The two snobs who chat with Brynner (Jim Metzler), Jadzia's rescuer,are horribly overwritten, and the acting of the two bit players is gratingly artificial.

That scene stands in stark contrast to the main body of the episode, which is filled with performances that are very sharp and feel heavily rooted in reality. The scenes in the Sanctuary District are marked by a gritty, filmic quality that's rare in Star Trek. Talk about job searches, hunger, and desperation is easy to relate to. The directing is very good, both by Reza Badiyi (Part 1) and by Jonathan Frakes (Part 2). Frakes' direction is more dynamic, but that's largely because his half is more action-heavy. Badiyi's half is largely about setting up the world in which the story occurs. Music is sparse, largely confined to the action sequences, which emphasizes the almost documentary-like nature of the early Sanctuary District scenes.

This is a very message-heavy episode, and that message is delivered with all the subtlety one expects of Trek - which is to say, none. If things are bad, no one can entirely blame you for ducking your head and telling yourself that it's not your fault. But if everyone does the same, then nothing will change. Is it heavy-handed, even perhaps bordering on trite? Perhaps. But it's still a worthy message, one that seems even more relevant today than when this episode was made. The brief exchange between Sisko and Detective Preston particularly lingers in my mind:


PRESTON: Change takes time.
SISKO: You've run out of time.


Overall Rating: 9/10

Previous Episode: Fascination

Next Episode: Life Support

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3-10. Fascination.

Dax gets a bit too close for Sisko's comfort.

THE PLOT

It's time for the annual Bajoran Gratitude Festival. Kira is presiding, and Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett) is coming to the station to act as Betazoid representative to the festival. Vedek Bareil (Philip Anglim) is also coming, much to Kira's delight, while O'Brien eagerly awaits a visit from his wife and daughter.

It isn't long before people begin acting strangely. First Jake develops a crush on Kira, proposing his undying love to her. Then Bareil, who only hours earlier couldn't wait to spend private time with Kira, suddenly is chasing down the station's corridors in search of his beloved... Dax? Dax has herself decided to proposition Sisko. It seems likely that some kind of virus is the culprit. But Dr. Bashir is too busy occupying himself with Kira to investigate. Love is in the air... and the results seem likely to spell disaster!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Though I think Avery Brooks misjudged his direction this time, he doesn't misjudge his performance. He overacts, definitely. But the wealth of expressions that crosses his face when Dax comes onto him is a wonder: Shock, resistance, a momentary temptation, amusement, and finally bemused concern. It all flashes across his face in a matter of seconds, right before a commercial fadeout, and is one of the few genuinely funny moments in the episode.

Odo: Finally directly acknowledges his feelings for Kira, though it's obvious that he has no expectation of ever seeing those feelings returned. After an initial panic at Lwaxana's attachment to him, he shows admirable patience with her clinginess. Instead of actively trying to escape, he simply allows her to cling to him with the occasional long-suffering sigh. For Odo, that's actually downright cuddly.

O'Brien: The O'Briens are the one consistent element with dignity in this episode. O'Brien may behave a bit like a jealous ass when Keiko delivers her news about extending the dig, but this is both realistic and in-character. Very in-character; I recently reviewed TNG's Night Terrors, an episode from not long after O'Brien married Keiko. What comes out under the telepathic influence in that episode? Jealousy. A little bit of advice from Quark causes him to realize how he has behaved, prompting an offer to resign his commission to stay with Keiko - an acknowledgement that for at least some characters in the Trek universe, career isn't the center of their lives.

Vedek Bareil: After all of Winn's manipulations to force him out of the race for Kai, she turned around and made him one of his closest advisors! Bareil insists to Kira that the new Kai has actually changed under the responsibilities of her office. Me, I suspect she is following the old mafia wisdom with regard to Bareil: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Lwaxana Troi: Has heard about the discovery of Odo's people as the force behind the Dominion. Her response is to grab hold of the first excuse to get to Deep Space 9 that she can find in order to offer comfort. This being Lwaxana, that comes in the form of an amorous pursuit. Some of this is irritating - it is Lwaxana, after all. But as with Season One's The Forsaken, Lwaxana gradually reveals a self-awareness that she too often lacked on TNG, and her final scene with Odo is genuinely sweet. I'm not saying I want her back anytime... well, ever. But Lwaxana is definitely less of a caricature on this series than she was on the parent show, and Majel Barrett's performance is much the stronger for it.


THOUGHTS

Ugh.

Quick question: Why does Meridian get so much attention as a DS9 stinker, with this sitting just two episodes down the running order? Meridian was a bit dull and pedestrian, but it was also well-made and never less than watchable. Fascination, however, is just a turgid lump. A cheap-looking, blandly directed mass that is all the more irritating because of how very, very hard it strives for cheap laughs. There are one or two laughs, I'll admit, such as the sight of a very disconcerted Sisko having no idea what to think when Dax suddenly comes onto him. But the laughs are few, with most of the running time devoted to the tiresome spectacle of watching characters chase each other around like rejects from a Moliere bedroom farce. The difference being, Moliere's plays were actually funny.

This episode is Avery Brooks' third time in the director's chair for this series. After two very good episodes, I suppose it was time for him to be given a turkey. He tries to inject the proceedings with the frenetic energy of a stage comedy. But the material just isn't good enough to provoke the needed hysteria... and honestly, it's a directorial misstep to push the frenetic tone. "Frenetic" can work on stage, but on film it almost always just ends up being annoying.

A few nuggets of dignity save the episode from absolute bottom marks. The first Act isn't bad at all. A few long-absent recurring characters are brought back, we touch on the political situation on Bajor for the first time this season, and we get some good character scenes with the O'Briens, Odo, and Kira. The material with the O'Briens feels genuine throughout, with Colm Meaney projecting his usual authenticity into his scenes. Lwaxana also continues to be far less annoying on Deep Space 9 than she was on TNG, with a nub of sadness and even wisdom glimpsed beneath the surface - though she isn't half as well used here as she was in Season One's The Forsaken.

Those few kernels of worth aren't enough to save this from being a bad episode, though. Not quite the series' worst, if only because Melora continues to exist. But bad just the same.


Overall Rating: 2/10

Previous Episode: Defiant

Next Episode: Past Tense

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3-04. Equilibrium.

Jadzia's hallucination.

THE PLOT

After hearing a snatch of music, Jadzia finds herself distracted, unable to think of anything except the song that she can't quite place. After snapping at both Sisko and Kira, then suffering a hallucination, she goes to Dr. Bashir. He diagnoses a drop in her isoboramine levels, which keep the host and the symbiote in balance. He and Sisko insist on taking her to the Trill homeworld for treatment.

As the Trill doctor (Lisa Banes) focuses purely on the isoboramine levels, Sisko and Bashir follow other avenues of investigation. A Trill guardian, one of those who devotes his life to watching over the unjoined symbiotes, speculates that one of Dax's previous hosts was the issue. When Sisko and Bashir identify the composer of the music that was troubling Jadzia, Sisko begins to understand what is happening... even as the Trill doctor prepares to remove the symbiote from Jadzia's body - killing her in the process!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: The teaser shows him cooking with evident skill and joy, and reveals that his grandfather ran a restaurant in New Orleans. Though he's developed a bond with Jadzia, he confesses that he still misses Curzon. When Jadzia is in danger, Sisko is relentless in his investigation and ruthless when he bargains for Jadzia's life. "I have no interest in revealing your secret," he tells the Trill doctor, bluntly adding: "You know my terms." There's no heavy-handed moralizing ala Picard here. Sisko wants to save the life of his friend and officer, and is coldly pragmatic in making that happen.

Dax: After her blowups at her friends and her first hallucination, she doesn't try to pretend she's fine. Instead, she does the smart thing and goes directly to Dr. Bashir to find out what's wrong with her. Terry Farrell is very good, playing Dax's fear, her confusion, and even her desire to go into denial about what is happening when she talks about wanting to show Sisko and Bashir the sights at one point. She also is not simply the "damsel-in-distress" here, actively participating in the investigation by guiding Sisko and Bashir to the guardians. By integrating yet another new personality into the composite that is Dax, the groundwork is laid for potential changes to her sometimes too-calm personality, though I have doubts as to whether the writers will actually make use of this.

Dr. Bashir: Became a doctor in order to have the knowledge that the seemingly all-knowing doctors had. As he went through his studies, he decided what he really wanted most was simply to help people. That he genuinely cares about Jadzia has been shown many times in the past. Freed of the boorish behavior of Season One Julian, he is far more likable simply acting as a good friend here.


THOUGHTS

Season Two of Deep Space 9 ended with a run of very good to excellent shows. Season Three has thus far extended that winning streak, with all four of the Season Four episodes I've reviewed thus far being good ones.

Equilibrium mixes a science fiction medical mystery with a conspiracy thriller, to very good effect. The made up science surrounding Jadzia's condition feels convincing, with just enough information imparted to make the Technobabble (Medobabble?) fit what we already know about the host/symbiote relationship. There is sufficient development of the medical scenes to sell that both Bashir and the Trill doctor genuinely want to stabilize Jadzia to keep the current joining viable. What we already know about Trill society also makes it believable that, when it comes to a choice, the symbiote is ultimately more valued than the host - a chilling thought, one that could make for a genuinely scary story if the show is ever interested in exploring that further.

The investigation into the past of the Dax symbiote also expands on the relationship between these two living beings, as we see Dax's past impacting Jadzia. Even in personality, as Dax's distress first manifests through uncharacteristically aggressive behavior by Jadzia. The secret at the heart of the mystery makes sense, and would be something worth revisiting in my opinion, along with the notion that past hosts' secrets can impact the current host.

The episode is well-directed by Cliff Bole, who draws a fair amount of atmosphere out of Jadzia's hallucinations and out of a scene late in the episode in which Jadzia literally embraces Dax's past. It's a shame the show's first visit to the Trill homeworld shows us so little of the planet, but given the need to get through the story and the limitations of the budget, that's hardly a major gripe.

Another good episode. I'd say Deep Space 9 has improved every bit as much between its first season and here as TNG improved between Seasons One and Three - and given how much a better a start Deep Space 9 had, that says something about how good a show it is by this point.


Overall Rating: 7/10

Previous Episode: The House of Quark

Next Episode: Second Skin

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2-19. Blood Oath.

A final mission for some old friends.

THE PLOT

80 years ago, a pirate known only as The Albino was conducting raids against the Klingon Empire. The Empire assigned three of its best captains to destroy his operation: Kang (Michael Ansara), the strategist; Koloth (William Campbell), the icy killer; and Kor (John Colicos), the full-blooded warrior. The captains succeeded, but the Albino escaped and took revenge, arranging to fatally infect each of the three Klingons' first-born sons. Kang's son was also the godson of Curzon Dax, who along with the three captains swore a blood oath to hunt down The Albino and take revenge.

Now the three old Klingon warriors have come to Deep Space 9. Dax realizes instantly what this must mean. She privately doubts that she can murder anyone in cold blood, even the assassin of her godson. But when Kang refuses to acknolwedge her as the Dax he knew and releases her from Curzon's oath, Dax becomes determined to make him change his mind and see it through - even when Kang indicates that this will be a one-way mission!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Attempts to stop Dax from pursuing Curzon's blood oath. He takes an authoritarian stance, ordering her to stay on the station. When it is clear that this won't work, he tries to reason with her. The one thing he doesn't attempt to do is to forcibly restrain her, which perhaps demonstrates the level of respect Sisko has for Dax. Under similar circumstances, I would fully expect Sisko to call security on his other officers, but he allows Dax to leave.

Major Kira: She also attempts to talk Dax out of the blood oath. She uses Dax's own words about each Trill life being separate and individual - that Jadzia is not bound by any of Curzon's obligations. She also speaks as the voice of experience when it comes to killing, advising Dax of the personal cost of what she proposes to do.

Dax: This is an excellent episode for Terry Farrell. The Trill/host divide has been an interesting area to explore in previous episodes, which have mostly fallen on the side of the personality being more Jadzia than Dax. Here, we see the other side. Jadzia may be very different than Curzon, but she still carries all of his memories and the emotions that go with them. The Albino's murder of Curzon's godson weighs on her just as it did on him. The Blood Oath Curzon swore may not technically bind her, but she insists on upholding it, even if she has to fight Koloth, Kang, and Sisko to be allowed to play her part. Farrell does a splendid job throughout this episode, and does some particularly good nonverbal acting in her final scene, a wordless tag that is flawlessly played not only by Farrell, but also by Avery Brooks and Nana Visitor.

Klingons: This episode reunites TOS viewers with the three most memorable Klingons from the 1960's series: Kor (John Colicos), Kang (Michael Ansara), and Koloth (William Campbell). It's not surprising that Kang and Kor come across more strongly than Koloth, given that they were stronger characters to begin with. It is interesting the way in which the characters have been developed. The coolly diplomatic Koloth is now referred to by Kor as a "stone face" who "feels too little." Kor, the most outright warrior-like of the TOS Klingons, has become a creature of appetites for - well, basically for "wine, women, and song" - while ruminating on his days as a warrior, and clearly regretting that those days are now behind him. Kang is the leader, stubborn and fatalistic, and the most inclined of the three to dismiss Jadzia as not being the same person as Curzon. In his own way, he is also trying to protect Dax, believing that their mission is a strictly one-way affair.


THOUGHTS

Blood Oath is an irresistibly entertaining episode. Its main drawing point may be "episode with the TOS Klingons," but writer Peter Allen Fields has crafted a story that uses those three characters for something other than just a big TOS reunion.

In fact, other than building on their 1960's characterizations, this episode has no real connection with TOS. The words "Kirk" and "Enterprise" are never uttered. Nor are the words "Tribble," "quadrotriticale," or "Organian." Instead, the three Klingon warriors are united with Dax on a quest, in a story that owes more to Akira Kurosawa's samurai pictures than to 1960's Trek, and I think the episode is much the better for it. This is a good story first, and features the three TOS Klingons mainly as a bonus for fans. You could watch this episode without having seen a second of 1960's Trek and not feel as if you were missing anything.

This is a tightly-paced episode, one which effortlessly mixes thoughtful moments into a genuinely exciting storyline. The final action scene, as Dax and the Klingons infiltrate The Albino's lair, is unusually well-executed for 1990's television. All of the performances are good, with the scenes between Michael Ansara and Terry Farrell particular high points.

In short: A good one.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Profit and Loss
Next Episode: The Maquis

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2-17. Playing God

A close encounter in the wormhole.

THE PLOT

A guest comes to the station: Arjin (Geoffrey Blake), a young Trill initiate who is to be mentored and evaluated by Dax. She will supervise him for two weeks, and make a recommendation as to whether or not Arjin is ready to serve as host to a symbiote. It's not an experience Arjin looks forward to: As Curzon, Dax was notorious for washing out initiates. Jadzia is just as nervous, because she was one of the initiates Curzon attempted to eliminate, and she is determined not to be as harsh as her predecessor.

While flying a routine mission through the wormhole, Dax and Arjin encounter an anomaly. When they bring it back to the station for study, they discover that it is a "proto-universe," a newly-born universe that is going to steadily expand into a full universe of its own. Initially, Sisko favors containing it so that it will collapse back into nothingness. But when Dax discovers evidence of life in the proto-universe, a new solution must be found. And it must be found quickly - before the proto-universe expands and, in so doing, destroys the station!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: His friendship with Jadzia Dax has grown to a point at which he clearly trusts her as much as he did Curzon, albeit in a different way. It seems clear enough that Curzon, the "old man," was a mentor to him - a favor he seems to be repaying now to Jadzia, the young woman. When he sees Jadzia being too soft on her initiate, when confronting the young man's inadequacies would actually make him more likely to reach his potential, he speaks up. When Jadzia protests that Sisko doesn't know "what Curzon did to (her)," Sisko challenges her assumption that Curzon was her enemy, pointing out that she toughened up under Curzon's abuses and made it through a program where most initiates fail.

Dax: One thing I love about Deep Space 9 is that almost all the regulars are interesting. Dax has the built-in complexity of being essentially two distinct beings in one: Jadzia and Dax, with the line separating the two always interesting to explore. Here, we see Jadzia determined not to put her new initiate through the same hell through which Curzon put her. Jadzia bears a lot of lingering resentment toward Curzon, whose treatment was evidently not so much strict as downright abusive.

We also continue to see Jadzia's delight in unusual experiences, from her love of Klingon cuisine to her collection of lost composers. When she hears that O'Brien is trying to root out Cardassian voles on the station, she gets instantly excited, chirping that she's "never seen a Cardassian vole," and getting down on hands and knees to crawl into a duct for the pleasure of coming face-to-face with one. Jadzia's entire personality seems to be dominated by a near-obsession with experiencing as much of life as she can.

Quark: Seeing a downcast Arjin trying his hand at drowning his sorrows, Quark shows his compassionate side and asks the young man to tell him what's wrong. When Arjin says he believes he's thrown his chance at becoming a joined Trill away for a pointless outburst at Jadzia, Quark "reassures" him by telling him about his own past indiscretion, which cost him a lucrative future. When asked how he recovered, Quark responds that he never did. He's now "tending bar at Wormhole Central," he tells Arjin, adding that "You only get one chance at the Latinum Ladder. Miss it, and it's gone." What really makes this anti-pep talk funny is Armin Shimerman's delivery. This isn't Quark being snide - This is Quark genuinely trying to be helpful, without even the tiniest awareness that he's actually making the young man feel much, much worse.


THOUGHTS

Playing God is an entertaining episode, which gets a lot of mileage out of Terry Farrell's energetic performance as Dax. The identity issues surrounding such a composite character add extra levels to her character, which lends the episode more interest than it otherwise might have. It's also well-paced, with a scattering of genuinely amusing scenes, notably the one with Quark giving his reverse pep-talk to the hapless Arjin.

For all its virtues, there are two problems limiting this episode's success. One is minor bit of sloppiness. The subplot with the Cardassian voles is clearly there to provide an excuse for the release of the "proto-universe." Fair enough, and the voles are a passable way to show the ongoing issues with inheriting a space station from the Cardassians. But once they've fulfilled their role in the plot, they vanish - never to be mentioned again. There's no indication that the voles will be a continuing issue for O'Brien, and no indication that the problem's been solved. Having done their job as a plot device, they are just forgotten about. A minor annoyance, but still an annoyance.

A bigger problem is the acting of Geoffrey Blake as Arjin. His wooden performance fails to convince at any point in the episode. This is particularly true of the climax, in which Dax and Arjin pilot a runabout through the wormhole and have to avoid nodes (think a videogame level and you'd not be too far off). The scene has some rather nice-for-the-time CGI, and Terry Farrell is good throughout. But Blake remains wooden in a climax that largely focuses on his struggle to pilot the ship through what is effectively a minefield. Because he doesn't show the emotion, it all comes off much flatter than it would have with a stronger actor.

Lest I come across as too harsh, let me restate that this is entertaining. It's briskly-paced, with a terrific performance by Terry Farrell. It's a perfectly adequate script, minus the sloppiness with the voles. But a weak guest performance and a general contentment of the episode to be average when it certainly could have been better combine to keep this as just OK, and highly expendable.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Shadowplay

Next Episode: Profit and Loss

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2-4. Invasive Procedures

"So alone..."  Jadzia, without her symbiote.

THE PLOT

A plasma storm has led to an evacuation on Deep Space 9, leaving Sisko to run the station with only a skeleton crew. While the storm is raging, the station receives a distress call from a ship requesting emergency docking clearance. But the emergency is a ruse.  When O'Brien and Odo go to greet their guests, they find themselves victims of an ambush by two Klingon mercenaries and their employer, a Trill named Verad (John Glover).

The Klingons quickly gain control of the station, thanks to inside information provided by Quark. Once everyone has been taken hostage, the Trill reveals what he is there for. He has come to take what he sees as something rightfully his: Jadzia's symbiote!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Remains calm as he tries to find a way to return the symbiote to Jadzia before it is too late. When the procedure has been done and Verad comes back to Ops, Sisko plays on his friendship with Dax to try to convince him to voluntarily return to Jadzia. When that fails, he plants doubts in the mind of Verad's girlfriend (Megan Gallagher), which proves effective in making her doubt her relationship with this changed Verad. He also displays an icy anger when Verad/Dax disappoints him. Avery Brooks plays the scene in which he promises that he will see Verad again with steel. Watching, you know that you do not want to be Sisko's enemy. It would be... unhealthy.

Dax: Resigns herself to Verad's procedure in order to prevent her friends and colleagues from being harmed, and urges Julian to accede to his demands as well. Once the symbiote is removed, Jadzia is left more vulnerable than we have ever seen her, weakly crying to Bashir that she has "never felt so alone" and that she's "empty inside." Verad Dax's refusal to risk returning to Jadzia after the procedure again raises the question of how much of the personality we see is Jadzia and how much is Dax. Certainly, Dax without Jadzia seems to lack the courage and self-sacrifice that we have seen, which gravely disappoints Sisko.

Dr. Bashir: Though he performs the procedure, under protest, he does everything in his considerable powers to stabilize Jadzia afterwards. When his Klingon guard sneers at him for wasting his time on someone who "will be dead in a few hours," Bashir snaps back, earning a modicum of respect from the warrior for his display of will.

Quark: I'm not sure I entirely believe that Quark wouldn't be prepared for the Klingon mercenaries to try to take his "merchandise" by force. With the unsavory types Quark deals with almost daily, he would surely be ready for those who would prefer to rob him than pay him. It would make the scene in which Quark is captured more interesting if some attempt to defend himself is thwarted, rather than having him simply mewl about his poor treatment. He fares better in the second half of the episode, in which he feigns an escape attempt in order to be taken to the infirmary, where his quick thinking helps to turn the tables - and redeem him enough for him not to be blown out an airlock for his part in getting Verad and the Klingons aboard!


THOUGHTS

Invasive Procedures falls well short of the 3-parter that opened the season, and also of the last Trill-focused episode, but it's still a solid and enjoyable piece.

As with Season One's Dax, the episode takes a well-worn story type and uses it to develop the intriguing Trill/symbiote relationship. The Season One episode was a courtroom drama. This episode is the requisite hostage episode. Dax was a well-executed courtroom episode, and this is a reasonably well-executed hostage story. But once again, the real interest comes from the development of Trill society, of the thin line that separates Jadzia from Dax, and of the friendship between Sisko and Dax.

The earlier episode dealt with Sisko's uncertainty at maintaining a friendship with a Dax so different than the one he knew. Since then, he has formed a friendship with Jadzia that is very much its own relationship. A lot of that comes from Jadzia's own qualities, including a strong amount of empathy and a quality of self-sacrifice. "Verad Dax" is still Dax, but lacks the traits Sisko valued in Curzon and in Jadzia. He lacks empathy, and it is probably as much the Dax symbiote as Verad speaking when he says, "What is the life of one girl to the knowledge of eight lifetimes?" Sisko has a typically direct, almost wordless response that recalls what he said to Q when he announced: "I'm not Picard."

I do wish we had seen more of Jadzia without Dax, to get some sense of her unique personality. To me, it's a missed opportunity not to have a big scene or two in which we see her interacting with the others as just her, a chance to see how Jadzia alone is different than Jadzia Dax.

A good episode in any case. Season Two is off to an excellent start so far!


Overall Rating: 7/10

Previous Episode: The Siege

Next Episode: Cardassians

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1-18. Dramatis Personae

A possessed Sisko builds an alien device.

THE PLOT

A Klingon ship explodes immediately after coming through the wormhole. The first officer is barely able to beam over, and he is dying from weapons burns.  His only word, as he slips into death? "Victory."

As Odo begins investigating what the Klingons had been doing in the Gamma Quandrant, the members of the Ops crew begin behaving oddly. Sisko becomes secretive and suspicious of Major Kira. She, in turn, seizes on a minor policy disagreement toward a Cardassian ally to begin plotting against Sisko, while the members of the command crew begin talking about choosing "sides."

As Odo pieces together what happened on the Klingon ship, he realizes that the exact same pattern is occurring on the station.  While he works to find a way to defuse the tension, Kira ratchets it up - moving toward open mutiny!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: The teaser shows an example of Avery Brooks putting a beat into his character that isn't always there on the page. Sisko insists on a diplomatic solution to Kira's problems with the Valerians. Kira reluctantly agrees to "do it (his) way," momentarily forgetting that she's addressing her superior. Brooks puts a note in his reply of "Good," that serves as an unmistakable reminder of which of the two of them is boss. Then he fixes her with a look - one which would inspire anyone with an ounce of sense to get out of his office, and get out right now. That last, silent look is a beautiful bit of nonverbal acting, a sign that Avery Brooks has become confident enough to play even the more generic material in a distinctive manner. Compared with his bland performances early in the season, it represents considerable progress. It goes without saying that he has great fun with the "crazy Sisko" scenes later in the episode.

Kira: Continues to cling to resentments from the Cardassian occupation.  She has to be reminded by Sisko both about the need for evidence to proceed against a race, and that he is the one in charge. She trusts Odo to a very strong degree, but knows that he is not corruptible. Her friendship with Dax is strong enough that "infected Kira" believes that Dax might side with her against Sisko. Interestingly, "infected Kira's" interactions with both Odo and Dax carry a strong sexual note, as if she's attempting to literally seduce both of them to her side.

Odo: As a shapeshifter, lacking a humanoid brain, he is able to throw off the alien effect (rather violently). Once he's back to himself, he realizes how strange his colleagues' behavior is. He engages in his usual investigative technique of talking to Quark, then moves decisively in figuring out exactly what is happening and in using the various insecurities - of Sisko, of Kira, and of Dr. Bashir - to his advantage in solving the problem.

Dax: Her behavior is the most peculiar. She becomes giggly and absent-minded, seeming constantly distracted from what's going on around her. I could speculate that because she's a hybrid species, half Jadzia and half Dax, that the effect only really struck Jadzia, creating some confusion. That would also explain why she ends up siding with Kira. Dax has known Sisko for a long time... but Jadzia has known Sisko and Kira equally long. Her interactions with Sisko have been occasionally strained by the commander's adjustment to her new persona, while there has been no strain at all in her friendship with Kira.

There's also an amusing running gag involving Dax trying to tell stories about her friendship with Sisko, and being constantly cut off. Perhaps the crew are starting to weary of her constant anecdotes, but generally like her too much/are too polite to tell her so in normal circumstances. Or perhaps it's a side effect of the alien influence, resisting any serious reflection about actual friendships.

O'Brien: Becomes a complete martinet. There are other words that could be used to describe "infected O'Brien," but for the sake of politeness, we'll stick with that one. This doesn't seem to have any deep basis in O'Brien's regular character, but it does at least allow Colm Meaney to do some entertaining scenery-chewing.


THOUGHTS

What If Wishes Were Horses was to Shore Leave, this episode is to The Naked Time. The characters fall under the influence of an alien influence and behave out of character. But unlike the lackluster TNG variant, this episode has a clever setup all its own.

One aspect of the episode that I really enjoyed was the way in which the behavior starts out rooted in the characters' actual traits. The teaser reminds us that Kira and Sisko often disagree about policy matters, and that Kira still sometimes chafes at working under Federation command.

The script is mostly well put-together, making use of all of the featured regulars. Even Quark, who's largely on the periphery, gets a couple of very good scenes, while all of the command staff get several strong moments. The clock Sisko puts together is a very impressive prop, by the way, and I do hope it stays in his office. I don't for a second blame him for still being fascinated with it at the end.

The Valerian subplot, having done its job of setting up a genuine disagreement between Sisko and Kira for the infection to play on, is then largely forgotten. There's no payoff to Kira's suspicions about gunrunning, and no acknowledgement at the end that there might even be a problem with them. That, however, is my only significant complaint about a highly entertaining episode.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Forsaken
Next Episode: Duet


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1-16. If Wishes Were Horses

A bedtime story summons Rumpelstiltskin

THE PLOT

The space station finds itself affected by strange energy from a plasma field, one that makes tangible figures from people's imaginations real. The long-dead baseball great from Jake's holosuite program follows him home, alive and confused. O'Brien tells his daughter a bedtime story... and finds himself visited by Rumpelstiltskin (Michael John Anderson). Dr. Bashir dwells on his fruitless pursuit of Dax - only to find a too-willing Dax waiting in his bedroom, even as the real Dax works in Ops.

Initially, this situation falls somewhere between an annoyance and an amusement. But as Dax, O'Brien, and Bashir study the plasma field, they discover the energy is caused by a rift in space. Initially too small for their sensors to detect, it is now expanding rapidly. The last recorded instance of such a tear resulted in the obliteration of an entire star system!


CHARACTERS

Commander Sisko: Makes the closest connection with his "visitor," baseball player Buck Bokai (Keone Young), of any the three main players.  He enjoys reflecting on both baseball and imagination, and is happy enough to indulge this opportunity. He also trusts his instincts, which enables him to put the pieces together at the climax - perhaps a little bit too quickly and easily for it to be dramatically convincing.

Dax: Though she isn't actively encouraging Julian's attentions, she also isn't discouraging him. She is happy to casually flirt, and to tease him about his other romantic liaisons when he tries to press his pursuit of her. It would be a little cruel, if it wasn't obvious that he's enjoying their eternally unconsummated dance as much as she is.

O'Brien: Conjures up a vision of Rumpelstiltskin - a magical dwarf who made a deal with a desperate woman to save her life, in exchange for a horrific price. The price from the story is a thought that terrifies O'Brien. Perhaps it has crossed his mind that he might at some point have to choose between family and duty. Sisko is able to take that decision away in this episode, though it might be interesting to genuinely confront him with such a decision in the future.

Dr. Bashir: On that note, it's interesting to observe how Julian reacts to a completely, enthusiastically submissive Dax. He instinctively pulls away, even before he knows this isn't the real Dax, because he senses that this situation is not right. He enjoys the pursuit; but for all of that, he doesn't necessarily want her to just hop into his bed.

Quark: With Starfleet personnel - and, more particularly, their families - coming to the station, Quark sees an opportunity for profit in "family entertainment." In a very amusing scene, he more or less describes Disneyland to Odo - amusement park rides with Ferengi ready to sell useless knicknacks at inflated prices everywhere the family turns. Once the rift hits, Quark's own imagination goes to less family-friendly areas, sticking him purely in "comedy relief" mode for the remainder of his appearances.


THOUGHTS

A lightweight episode, but an entertaining one.  If Wishes Were Horses once again shows Deep Space 9's strength with character pieces.  Dax, Bashir, and O'Brien get particularly good material, and the actors play their scenes well.  This is a lightweight fantasy episode, Deep Space 9's equivalent to the original series' Shore Leave.

And as long as it stays within the range of entertaining gags and good character material, it works quite well.  Things fall a lot flatter when it shifts gears into trying to create a sense of jeopardy.  Trying to meld comedy/fantasy visions of Rumpelstiltskin and a sex-charged double of Dax with a threat to a full star system is a tonal clash at best, and the scenes involving the rift feel tacked-on, as if someone in the production office felt a "threat" was needed in an episode that didn't call for one.  Whatever the case, this otherwise amiable entry comes crashing to a halt every time the focus shifts to the rift (which thankfully isn't very often).

There's not a lot else to say. Making allowances for this being 1993, the rift effects hold up reasonably well, and it's mostly good fun, with the actors seeming very comfortable in their roles by this time.  Disposable but enjoyable, and well worth the ride.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Progress
Next Episode: The Forsaken


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