DS9 – Homefront

Plot – The episode opens with a clever piece of misdirection on the part of the writers with the wormhole opening and closing at random, making it look as if the Dominion are somehow sneaking cloaked ships into the Quadrant. I like a story plotted so neatly that the very first shot is the sleight of hand that the writers pull to convince you of Dominion duplicity.

A changeling terror attack on Earth opens up an insane amount of storytelling opportunities and dramatic avenues to go down. It was the bravest direction the writers could have taken because it forces humanity to look at themselves and question who they really are in moments like this. Defiant or cowardly? Hostile or understanding? Lives have been lost and there is a being that can turn itself into anyone or anything on the planet. How long will it be until the next attack? ‘We’re not looking to destroy paradise, Mr President….we’re looking to save it’ says Sisko but it is a fine line between precautions and martial law.

The demonstration that Sisko and Leyton pull off for the President by showing him how easy it would be for a changeling to infiltrate his office, kill him and replace him, is highly effective.

Character – Jadzia and Odo are a pairing that isn’t given a great deal of consideration across seven seasons. I can only think of a handful of occasions when they are paired up together and only one episode where it is the central feature (Shadowplay). She’s behaving very mischievously here, deliberately destroying his sense of order in his quarters much to his chagrin. It reveals how the changelings like a sense of order to their lives, which humanoids often lack. It goes some way to explaining why his people are attempting to impose that very sense of direction into their lives on Earth and beyond.

Sisko was promoted at the end of the last season and now he is being promoted again as acting head of Starfleet Security. It’s almost enough to go to your head. The way up from here is to ascend to Godhood, which fortunately is a development that is coming Sisko’s way. His admission to Odo that he wished he had never found his people is said in a moment of desperation but it’s his true feelings spilling out.

What a lovely way to re-introduce Nog to the series, who left for Earth in Little Green Men, and catch up with how he is getting on in the Academy. The Jake/Nog scenes have always been a likeable ingredient in this show but one strand that has been developing since Heart of Stone are the Nog/Sisko scenes, which are a highlight here. Avery Brooks has this awkward, humorous tic when Nog is trying to extract favours from him that is a joy to watch.

Performance - Watch how effortlessly the Sisko’s are moulded into a family unit in Homefront with the introduction of the glorious Brock Peters as Joseph. He’s not above telling off his son, even if he is head of Starfleet security but he clearly loves him and his grandson deeply. He’s also one of those stalwart old men who refuses to slow down in his dotage, despite his declining health and will stick up for what he believes in, especially if people are trying to push him around or make him do things against his will. Watching both Ben and Jake having to deal with charming old curmudgeon is delightful and the chemistry between Brooks, Peters and Lofton lifts from the screen. It feels like they truly are a family. You might be one of those people that say that the scenes between the Sisko’s help to pad out this episode but given the real sense of warmth between them, the character development they receive and how they use the intimacy of this group of people to show the differing reactions to the changeling threat I simply cannot join you in that opinion. I like how they try and gently bully Joseph into taking the advice of the Doctors and how he cuts through all of that by threatening to set Jake to work in the kitchen and makes a grand statement that he is only willing to say once. He is clearly the head of this household.

Production – The cliff-hanger is trying to be a super dramatic moment by showing Starfleet military officers beaming onto the streets of Earth but it feels far too low budget to really have the impact it was going for. We needed to see soldiers beaming into every corner of the world really, to sell the idea.

Best moment – ‘Then the Andorian says…that’s not my antennae…’ Quark is telling Morn obscene jokes again, but this time he doesn’t get it at all.

Bashir’s panic when Odo offers to go visit people for him whilst he is on Earth. It’s over a year until we find out about his dark history but it is being set up perfectly here.

Odo unveiling the changeling impersonating Leyton is a great moment because it proves that even though things are afoot in Starfleet, there is a genuine threat and they can infiltrate high ranking officers. All the acts of retribution that happen after this are happening for a reason, and not just because the Admiral is paranoid. The threat is there, and he is trying to make sure the response is suitable.

The best scene amongst a sea of awesome scenes featuring Joe Sisko comes towards the climax when he is adamant that he is not going to have a blood screening because that is taking away his rights as a human being. He defies security and his son’s pleas for him to capitulate. When he is arguing and preparing food at the same time he cuts his hand in a moment of fury and Ben leans in to see if it changes into changeling goo. What follows is the best ever example of seeing fear in the face of the changeling threat. Joe is horrified that his son would for one second think he was an infiltrator and bares his teeth when he accuses him of having a mind twisted by paranoia and suspicion. It’s loaded with drama and you can see both points of view easily and that makes the conflict far more complex because there isn’t an easy side to fall on. Which then makes both of their reactions authentic. Joe’s anger expresses that of the whole of humanity, the ones who refuse to give in to fear.

Worst moment – They needed to show a President who would be excellent during peacetime but falls apart during the threat of war, which they do convincingly in the script. I’m not sure that Herschel Sparber is up to the task of bringing the complexities of this man back to life. Either that or the director (the usually excellent David Livingston) asked him to play it far, far too quietly.

A reason to watch this episode again – A society losing its identity in paranoia and suspicion following a terror attack? Does any of this ring true right now? Taking place precisely in the midway point of DS9, this is a good chance to assess where the series was right at its heart, what lessons it had learnt and where it was going. This is a fine episode, one that presents the ultimate shock impression of Earth under the thrall of a changeling attack. Does the home planet continue to allow civil liberties in the wake of a terror attack or does it impose martial law in order to protect everybody? The Gene Roddenberry approach is to have a feeling of moral superiority and behave like nobody can touch them. The Ira Steven Behr approach is to face your demons an prepare for the worst. Homefront is the happy medium between those opposing points and both arguments are made. It’s intelligently written, sensitively acted and tightly directed. Homefront has a terrifying premise and takes it to an extreme but always tells its story through the characters we know and love so it is entirely relatable. Halfway through its run and DS9 is knocking them out of the park.

****1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's review: