What the heck is going on?
I’ve completed my re-watch of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Now it’s time to start Deep Space Nine! I am much less familiar with this show, though I’m pretty sure I’ve seen about 80-90% of the episodes. It’s been so long that I’m sure it will all feel brand new. My wife has never seen the show. She and I will go through, review every episode, and give commentary and a grade from A-F. There are SPOILERS for each episode below. Without further adieu, here’s:
“Defiant”
Synopsis
Will Riker shows up on DS9 and shows some interest in Kira. When the latter agrees to give him a tour of the station, including the Defiant, he drugs her and takes over the ship. Turns out he is, in fact, Thomas Riker, who was created by a transporter incident some time ago and is referenced in the TNG episode Second Chances. He’s trying to help steal the Defiant for the Maquis. He and his crew take Kira deep into Cardassian territory, as Sisko partners with Gul Dukat to help track the ship. A member of the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian intelligence agency, monitors the events closely. Thomas Riker is convinced that the system he’s approaching has a secret Cardassian base where they are preparing for an attack on the Federation and specifically the area the Maquis dispute. Kira is unconvinced, but as the Defiant eludes pursuit, it is confronted by a number of Cardassian ships that even Gul Dukat did not know were in the system. Sisko swings a deal that sends Riker to a Cardassian prison camp instead of death in exchange for the Defiant‘s sensor logs, allowing Dukat to learn more about what the Obsidian Order may be up to in the system.
Commentary
Thomas Riker! That came out of left field, though I will say that I just barely called it in advance. I figured Riker was acting too strange to be William and it might be a shapeshifter or perhaps Thomas showing up. But I only thought of that just before he shot Kira, and the only reason I thought of Thomas was because that episode was pretty striking to me.
Anyway, this episode was actually totally exciting. Moreover, it seemed important. It wasn’t just a set piece to throw Riker into the mix. It showed yet another escalation of the Maquis conflict in the Star Trek universe, as well as some nefarious undercurrents with the Obsidian Order and the Cardassians. It set up a lot of stuff later, though I don’t remember how much of it is cashed in on. Moreover, it didn’t feel like a setup episode, because it was exciting and had an interesting plot on its own.
The man and perhaps only problem here is how totally willing Sisko was to share absolutely top secret and vital intel on the Defiant with the Cardassians. Though the ship was intended to combat the growing Dominion threat, I can’t help but think that sharing those secrets with the Cardassians, who are clearly another major rival, would not be okay. Yes, they rationalized it some as preventing all out war with the Cardassians, but it was still tough to completely suspend my disbelief here. If the rest of the episode hadn’t been so good, I may have marked it down even more for this.
But let’s get this straight, this was a great episode. It provided a tie-in to The Next Generation that wasn’t just for the sake of a cameo, it developed the Maquis, it perhaps closed the book on a loose thread with Thomas Riker, and opened exciting new possibilities for the show. Well done.
Grade: A- “Great follow up on the TNG episode, good action. If slightly unbelievable, it was exciting enough that I was able to mostly overlook that.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “It was a good tie-in to an old TNG story and had some nice action.”
“Fascination”
Synopsis
Lwaxana Troi is back on station, much to Odo’s chagrin. But after her arrival, things begin to go haywire among the crew and visitors. People obsess over each other in ways that are clearly uncharacteristic. Meanwhile, Keiko and Miles O’Brien are reunited (oh yeah, and their daughter is there, too), but struggle because Keiko wants to stay on Bajor even longer for her botany. Miles is jealous of her time and her interactions with a male colleague, and he royally messes up. Ultimately, Bashir manages to isolate what’s happening to the station–Lwaxana’s Betazed abilities have been impacted by a fever and caused the mayhem. She gets treatment and the chaos stops. Miles reconciles with Keiko, offering to resign if necessary to let her pursue her dream. She says he doesn’t need to, and they’re happy once more.
Commentary
Yeah, this episode was silly. Surprisingly, the silliness wasn’t terrible though. It gave a more plausible reason for all the characters to act silly, because we’ve already seen how Betazed/Betazoid (which is correct, anyway?) abilities can impact all those around them. It made for some humorous scenarios to offset the drama among the O’Brien family. It was great to see how Keiko and Miles reconciled.
But speaking of Miles O’Brien, why does DS9 have it in for him so much? It’s like every episode he’s featured in he screws up big time or ends up stranded in some horrible situation. Poor O’Brien.
Another reason this episode gets kudos from me is because it used Lwaxana Troi wisely. It didn’t push her to be something she’s not, and it stayed in character for her without being completely obnoxious. I suspect Odo would disagree on that assessment, though.
Grade: B “Amazingly, DS9 has had Lwaxana Troi on it multiple times and not delivered a series-worst episode. Well done.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “There was nothing particularly special about this one, but I certainly enjoyed it.”
Links
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
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SDG.
Eclectic Theist 