Plot – Like so many DS9 episodes this leaps straight into the plot without an explanation, avoiding a lot of the fluff that clogs up so much of this franchise. There’s a terror attack in motion and at the point of the explosion in the pre-titles sequence we have no idea why or who is responsible.
I really like the fact that DS9 has to deal with consequences because of its stationary setting. How many times have ships blown up beside the Enterprise or Voyager and they just warp away at the end of the episode never to think of that situation again? DS9 by its very nature has a busy feel when things like this happen because it’s on their doorstep and its not going anywhere. There are political and personal ramifications to these terror attacks. ‘An accident involving a Cardassian ship in Bajoran space?’ says Odo.
‘It’s a bad treaty. The Federation gave away too much’ ‘Several Cardassian colonies wanted to stay on the Federation side of the zone too’ sums up the two sides of this argument perfectly for a conflict that runs for four seasons of DS9. It’s great that Berman chose to go for an unsolvable political dilemma for the Federation to deal with that spilled out over three shows. It was complex, involving and powerful. To watch the Maquis storyline play out you have to watch TNG’s Journey’s End, then this DS9 two parter, then TNG’s Pre-Emptive Strike, then VOY’s Caretaker. A storyline that stretches across three shows set in the same universe like that has only been attempted a few times (to my mind I can only think of the three Stargate shows and RTD’s Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood).
Here DS9 feels like a dangerous place where treacherous things are being plotted by terrorists disguised as everyday visitors. It is where the show really starts to criticise (as well as promote) the sacrosanct values of the Federation. Dukat is especially critical at one point but the two highest positions of Federation authority (Sisko and Cal Hudson) also offer strong opinions about the hypocrisy of bureaucracy and an argument that it isn’t easy to be a saint when you’re not living in paradise.
Character – Kira and Dax discussing the Galamite Captain (and his transparent skull) is the sort of girl on girl chat that TNG was going for in TNG with Beverly and Troi but always felt forced on that show. Here it’s witty, opinionated and a little bit racist. It feels like a real conversation between two women. ‘When I kiss a man goodnight I like to know where I’m kissing him…’
Quark and Sekona are another example of two alien races having dialogue where there are no humans involved. It’s a personal belief of mine that Star Trek is often at its best when exploring its alien characters and so scenes between Bajorans and Trill and Romulans and Ferengi make for much more enjoyable viewing than those between purely human characters. It’s not often that you will see Quark floored by a business request but a Vulcan asking him to procure weapons is a glorious surprise for both him and the audience.
Scenes featuring Dukat are always spectacular but when he is paired up with Sisko then truly special things are afoot. It’s silky charm, acid retorts and intelligent collaboration all the way. Sisko distrusts Dukat intensely but it’s clear that he can’t help but admire his ability too a little, and the fact that he needs him is irrefutable.
Performance – There’s a comment on Avery Brooks’ performance as Sisko in the first few seasons of DS9 – ‘Of all the humans I’ve met you strike me as the most joyless and least vulnerable…’ I don’t think that is necessarily true but both of those criticisms are stripped away entirely when he shaves his head and grows his beard.
Production – This is early DS9 so it doesn’t have the money pumped into special effects that it would later and so a lot of this episode is talk rather than action. That’s fine, because the talk here is riveting but contrasted against latter seasons this is clearly a little more ponderously paced and overly chatty.
Best moment – Two men of colour in powerful positions of authority greeting each other warmly. How television has progressed since the Original Series for the better. It’s sad to say this was quite daring in the 90s and is much more commonplace now but it’s refreshing to see regardless.
When the murdered man is brought back to the colonies by the Cardassians and their representative is attacked by a human – that’s when the shit really hits the fan.
Kira and Sisko’s conversation about the colonists and the Cardassians. Wowzas, now that’s real drama. Two allies on opposing sides of the fence and not afraid to push their opinions even if they cause fireworks. The dialogue sizzles.
Dukat punches a Vulcan woman in the face without apology. I want to hate him but his sheer brazenness wins through.
Worst moment – Bernie Casey’s oddly stilted performance. For once the writing is bang on the money in terms of the relationship between two Captain’s and it is the performance of the famous guest star that mars. A shame because it is the emotional lynchpin of this epic; weirdly the chemistry is there between Casey and Brooks but when it comes to delivering the Star Trek exposition he is entirely at sea.
A reason to watch this episode again – ‘They’ve managed to start their own little war out here…’ Terror attacks, torture, murder, moral ambiguity and nasty politics and all that good stuff that makes powerful drama (I bet Gene Roddenberry was spinning in his grave). There are no easy answers and that’s not the sort of Trek that I was used to when this episode first aired. It was refreshing, and made me hungry for more.
****1/2 out of *****
Clue for tomorrow's episode:
https://www.theincomparable.com/randomtrek/
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