I really just want to be left alone. *EVERYONE COMES IN*
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:
“The Homecoming”
Synopsis
Quark gives Major Kira an earring from a freighter captain, and Kira immediately recognizes it as belonging to Lia Nalas, a major player in the Bajoran resistance. She begs Sisko for the use of a runabout to seek him out, and ultimately is granted it. Chief O’Brien goes with and they manage to free Li and a few others from the illegal prison camp. Gul Dukat calls to apologize to the Bajorans, claiming they had no knowledge of the illegal camp. Meanwhile, Sisko converses with Li and discovers that the man has been harboring a secret: he isn’t the hero he is portrayed as. A simple incident caused him to be venerated, and he is uncomfortable in the spotlight that is placed upon him. Sisko responds by telling him that although he may not in actuality be the leader the Bajorans believe him to be, he can become that leader for them. Minister Jaro on Bajor, however, pulls a political maneuver that seems to leave Li exiled on DS9 rather than having him on the surface, recalling Major Kira and putting Li as the Bajoran liaison officer.
Commentary
Okay, I think it is fair to say that Kira should be in some major trouble here. But I guess Sisko caved into her request for no apparent reason, so it was fine. Speaking of which, how does Sisko constantly allow himself to get talked into other people’s harebrained schemes? One of the themes of DS9 so far seems to be that Sisko will basically allow or endorse anything, so long as someone feels passionate enough about it. I vaguely recall him being a bit of a hardliner from watching the series before, so maybe that changes at some point.
Anyway, the core of the plot here was decent. It had a good setup for more development, and I like seeing more political intrigue on Bajor. It’s always interesting to see how the areas around DS9 are developing and interacting, and this makes it fairly clear that Starfleet and Bajor aren’t always going to see eye-to-eye (as if that was a question before). The action in the episode was pretty solid too. I was enjoyable, but a bit unbelievable.
A fun tidbit from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion- apparently they filmed parts of the episode at a working rock quarry in Soledad Canyon, north of LA. This meant it was super hot and really not fun to work in with temperature shifts that were dramatic and dangerous. Apparently the actors hated it because it was truly hellacious, but they used the location more than once.
Grade: B+ “Kira should be all the court martialed.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: B+ “It created a good set up for what was yet to come.”
“The Circle”
Synopsis
Sisko protests Kira’s replacement, but Minister Jaro points out it is a promotion for Kira. Meanwhile, a Bajor-first/Bajorans-only group called The Circle has taken to scrawling their graffiti over the station and Starfleet fears violence may spread to the station as well. Odo discovers that The Circle is getting weapons from the Kressari, and goes to investigate further. He discovers that the weapons ultimately come from the Cardassians, thus undercutting the whole purpose and core values of The Circle to begin with. It appears as though the Cardassians are trying to get rid of the Federation in order to come back to take over DS9. The Circle kidnaps Kira. Quark says he discovers The Circle’s headquarters, and Sisko and a team rescue Kira. Sisko asks Admiral Chekote from Starfleet what to do about the impending crisis and is ordered to evacuate.
Commentary
I left out a ton of plot here, to be honest, just to make the synopsis work. This is an episode that does not let up whatsoever. Boom. Boom. Boom. Major plot point after major plot point is thrown at the viewer, non-stop. It’s exciting, and it is mostly done well. The only real complaint here is that there is so much going on and it moves so quickly. But they put some of the rumblings of Bajoran politics into the end of Season One, so it doesn’t feel quite as rushed as it may have otherwise. Another big surprise is the order from Admiral Chekote to abandon DS9. You’d think that Stafleet, with its “Explore everything” mandate, would be loathe to lose the base, especially with evidence of the Cardassian involvement. On the other hand, the Prime Directive may have been part of the reason to evacuate. Whatever the case, a few hiccups don’t take much away from this otherwise great episode.
Grade: A- “Good development of many plot threads.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “It was my favorite part of the three-parter.”
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!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!
Star Trek: DS9- For more episode reviews, follow this site and also click this link to read more (scroll down as needed)! Drop me a comment to let me know what you thought!
SDG.
Eclectic Theist 