SAUSAGEMAN
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"even more fascist odo" as if
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Wacky Reviews: Star Trek
- Thread starter CaptainWacky
- Start date
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
The Collaborator - Starts with Bariel having an Orb vision. He's on the station to shag Kira because that's what Bajoran priests do. She think he's going to be the new Kai after the upcoming election. Winn is also the station and pretends to be nice, as usual. She denies trying to kill Bariel that time she tried to kill Bariel. A Bajoran who worked for the Cardassians during the Occupation comes to the station and Odo arrests him. Bariel has a vision where he sees Opaka. He asks why she left Bajor. He could just go through the wormhole and ask her in person. Kira confronts the collaborator, saying he can't return home because it would dishonour the memory of every Bajoran he signed a death order for. Winn tries to make friends with Sisko (having the Emissary on her side could help her get elected) and agrees to support Bajor's entry to the Federation if he'll stand beside her, but he of course won't appear with her in public because it would look like he's endorsing her. Odo finds that Winn has looked up another collaborator on his computer, and information on a massacre where forty two Bajorans (including Opaka's son) were killed. Winn tells Kira that she's offered the collaborator sanctuary in exchange for the name of the man truly responsible for the massacre: Bariel.
Kira questions the collaborator to get to the truth. His evidence is pretty circumstantial (Bariel shouted at another collaborator!) Bariel tells Kira there's nothing to worry about. Kira is still worried and tells Odo she loves Bariel. He looks sad for a moment (he's in love with Kira!) but covers it up. Odo finds out that communication records concerning the massacre have been sealed. Kira and Odo go to Quark to use his hacking skills to get access to the sealed records. But he finds all the files have been erased. She then goes to O'Brien who does some CSI enhancing to find that it was Bariel who erased the records. Bariel has yet another vision (yeah I'm bored of them now) where he gets sexy with Winn. Kira goes to ask Bariel what's up. He says the Cardassians were going to kill 1,200 Bajorans if they didn't get the rebels so he had to tell them where the rebels were. Bariel pulls out of the election, handing Winn the victory. Kira tells Dax that none of this makes sense and Bariel never would have covered up what he did and has O'Brien go through the archives again. Kira confronts Bariel with what she's learned: there's no way Bariel could have been responsible and he's covering up for someone else. It could only be Kai Opaka, who sacrificed her own son to save a thousand others. She's sad that his actions have led to Winn becoming Kai but he says they'll have to help her now.
It's a well plotted episode. The twist about Opaka makes logical sense (though maybe would have been better if we knew Opaka more?) and is executed well. It's just not a particularly interesting episode due to Bariel being quite dull. He shows a bit more emotion than usual here but it's not enough. Louisie Fletcher is strong as usual. It's a perfectly fine episode that I just didn't feel very invested in.
SCORE: 7/10
Tribunal - O'Brien is going on holiday. He spots an old friend on the way, someone who has settled on the Cardassian side of the boarder. He has a moustache so you know he's shifty. Keiko is angry that Miles has taken so many tech manuals with him on their holiday. They get sexy(!) but Gul Evek shows up and boards their runabout. He arrests Miles and sends him to Cardassian prison. Let's just use the word "Orwelian" to describe everything about the Cardassian justice system and save time! He's stripped naked and has a tooth pulled but still manages to punch a Cardie in the buff. The Cardassians won't tell Sisko what the charges against O'Brien are. Keiko asks how they can prepare for the trial then, but the Cardassian Archon reminds us that Miles has already been found guilty. Odo usses a loophole to become assigned as O'Brien's advisor and goes to Cardassia with Keiko. O'Brien meets his lawyer Kovat, who is pretty happy considering his client has already been found guilty. He explains that the trial will show the Cardassian people that the system works and they'll be happy. Back on the station, Kira finds out that O'Brien went into the weapons locker and stole some photon warheads just before leaving the station.
Odo tells Miles that Keiko has been invited to the trial so that the Cardassian public can watch her weep. Odo questions O'Brien about any involvement he's had with the Maquis. O'Brien doesn't know what's going on, as he hasn't all episode, but makes a big speech about being an honourable man. Dax finds that O'Brien's voice print used to access the weapons locker was faked and Kira finds that the old friend he saw on the station is now in the Maquis. O'Brien's trial begins and Miles and Keiko refuse to play the roles the Cardassians want for them. Odo wants to introduce new evidence but Kovat doesn't want to hear it (he's only one year away from retirement!) Kovat keeps putting on a show about not agreeing with Odo's behaviour. Sisko and Kira question O'Brien's old friend. A Maquis operative goes to Julian in the dark and tells him that the Maquis had nothing to do with the theft of the weapons and O'Brien's old friend isn't one of them. Evek appears at the trial but won't reveal anything useful. Julian examines moustache man and finds he's a Cardassian in disguise. O'Brien takes the stand and Kovat asks him if he was abused by his parents or his wife, to show why he turned into a criminal. O'Brien continues to refuse to play along. Sisko shows up in the court with moustache man. The Archon knows the jig is up and says O'Brien is guilty but she's releasing him into Sisko's custody. Kovat is distraught to learn that he won his first case. Sisko and Odo reveal to the O'Briens that the whole thing was done to prove to the Cardassian people that the Federation were arming the Maquis.
What's good about this episode is all the insights into Cardassian life. Thing like seeing the Cardassian citizens watching the trial on big public screens are cool! Colm Meaney and Rene Auberjonois are strong as always and Kovat is a really amusing guest character. The problem is that the episode gets repetitive: I don't know how many times O'Brien says "I don't know what I'm being charged with!" in the first half but it's a lot. The trial drags a bit too for the same reason, even though it is intersting watching Cardassian justice in action. Anyway it's a fine episode!
SCORE: 7.5/10
Kira questions the collaborator to get to the truth. His evidence is pretty circumstantial (Bariel shouted at another collaborator!) Bariel tells Kira there's nothing to worry about. Kira is still worried and tells Odo she loves Bariel. He looks sad for a moment (he's in love with Kira!) but covers it up. Odo finds out that communication records concerning the massacre have been sealed. Kira and Odo go to Quark to use his hacking skills to get access to the sealed records. But he finds all the files have been erased. She then goes to O'Brien who does some CSI enhancing to find that it was Bariel who erased the records. Bariel has yet another vision (yeah I'm bored of them now) where he gets sexy with Winn. Kira goes to ask Bariel what's up. He says the Cardassians were going to kill 1,200 Bajorans if they didn't get the rebels so he had to tell them where the rebels were. Bariel pulls out of the election, handing Winn the victory. Kira tells Dax that none of this makes sense and Bariel never would have covered up what he did and has O'Brien go through the archives again. Kira confronts Bariel with what she's learned: there's no way Bariel could have been responsible and he's covering up for someone else. It could only be Kai Opaka, who sacrificed her own son to save a thousand others. She's sad that his actions have led to Winn becoming Kai but he says they'll have to help her now.
It's a well plotted episode. The twist about Opaka makes logical sense (though maybe would have been better if we knew Opaka more?) and is executed well. It's just not a particularly interesting episode due to Bariel being quite dull. He shows a bit more emotion than usual here but it's not enough. Louisie Fletcher is strong as usual. It's a perfectly fine episode that I just didn't feel very invested in.
SCORE: 7/10
Tribunal - O'Brien is going on holiday. He spots an old friend on the way, someone who has settled on the Cardassian side of the boarder. He has a moustache so you know he's shifty. Keiko is angry that Miles has taken so many tech manuals with him on their holiday. They get sexy(!) but Gul Evek shows up and boards their runabout. He arrests Miles and sends him to Cardassian prison. Let's just use the word "Orwelian" to describe everything about the Cardassian justice system and save time! He's stripped naked and has a tooth pulled but still manages to punch a Cardie in the buff. The Cardassians won't tell Sisko what the charges against O'Brien are. Keiko asks how they can prepare for the trial then, but the Cardassian Archon reminds us that Miles has already been found guilty. Odo usses a loophole to become assigned as O'Brien's advisor and goes to Cardassia with Keiko. O'Brien meets his lawyer Kovat, who is pretty happy considering his client has already been found guilty. He explains that the trial will show the Cardassian people that the system works and they'll be happy. Back on the station, Kira finds out that O'Brien went into the weapons locker and stole some photon warheads just before leaving the station.
Odo tells Miles that Keiko has been invited to the trial so that the Cardassian public can watch her weep. Odo questions O'Brien about any involvement he's had with the Maquis. O'Brien doesn't know what's going on, as he hasn't all episode, but makes a big speech about being an honourable man. Dax finds that O'Brien's voice print used to access the weapons locker was faked and Kira finds that the old friend he saw on the station is now in the Maquis. O'Brien's trial begins and Miles and Keiko refuse to play the roles the Cardassians want for them. Odo wants to introduce new evidence but Kovat doesn't want to hear it (he's only one year away from retirement!) Kovat keeps putting on a show about not agreeing with Odo's behaviour. Sisko and Kira question O'Brien's old friend. A Maquis operative goes to Julian in the dark and tells him that the Maquis had nothing to do with the theft of the weapons and O'Brien's old friend isn't one of them. Evek appears at the trial but won't reveal anything useful. Julian examines moustache man and finds he's a Cardassian in disguise. O'Brien takes the stand and Kovat asks him if he was abused by his parents or his wife, to show why he turned into a criminal. O'Brien continues to refuse to play along. Sisko shows up in the court with moustache man. The Archon knows the jig is up and says O'Brien is guilty but she's releasing him into Sisko's custody. Kovat is distraught to learn that he won his first case. Sisko and Odo reveal to the O'Briens that the whole thing was done to prove to the Cardassian people that the Federation were arming the Maquis.
What's good about this episode is all the insights into Cardassian life. Thing like seeing the Cardassian citizens watching the trial on big public screens are cool! Colm Meaney and Rene Auberjonois are strong as always and Kovat is a really amusing guest character. The problem is that the episode gets repetitive: I don't know how many times O'Brien says "I don't know what I'm being charged with!" in the first half but it's a lot. The trial drags a bit too for the same reason, even though it is intersting watching Cardassian justice in action. Anyway it's a fine episode!
SCORE: 7.5/10
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
I feel like a "typos" reaction would be more apporpriate than the "bad spelling" one because I'm sure whatever word I spelled wrong I actually do know how to spell it.
Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
I add different reactions each time to create a bit of diversity. Theyre not supposed to be a comment.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
I did type "Louisie Fletcher" though. Maybe that's my special name for her.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
The Jem'Hadar - Sisko offers to take Jake to the Gamma Quadrant for his science class. Ben wants some father/son time, but Jake invites Nog to come with them because he's failing science. (Sidenote: We haven't really seen much of the Jake/Nog friendship this season, or Jake in general. I kind of miss it because it was well done in season one.) Quark tags along too because he wants to persuade Sisko to let him use the station's monitor for advertising. They basically go camping on Endor and Quark doesn't like it much. He has to put paste on his ears. Sisko is not open to his advertising idea. Ben and Jake's bonding time is ruined by Quark catching fire and whining. Nog runs off into the woods in embarrassment. Quark rants about the Federation only being tolerant of aliens who remind them of themselves. Then a young alien woman runs out of the woods and shoots Sisko with an energy beam from her chest. A bunch of aliens decloaks (like Tosk!) around them: they are the Jem'Hadar. Jake and Nog are left on their own. Sisko and Quark are locked behind a forcefield with the girl (Eris.) She explains that the Jem'Hadar are the soldiers of the Dominion. The Jem'Hadar have put a collar on her to stop her using her telekenetic abilities and escaping.
A Jem'Hadar troop mentions "The Founders" for the first time and Sisko wants to meet them. Eris claims the Founders are just a myth. The Jem'Hadar is disappointed he didn't get to fight a Klingon. Jake and Nog return to the runabout, but it can't just fly them back to the station. A Jem'Hadar beams onto the station out of nowhere. He tells the Federation to stay out of the Gamma Quadrant, effortlessly walks through a forcefield, and hands over a list of vessels the Dominion has already destroyed (and a Bajoran colony.) Quark decides now is a good time to bring up that humans actually used to be much worse than the Ferengi and humans don't like being reminded of their horrible history. Jake and Nog managed to disable the runabout's autopilot but then realise that means they'll have to fly the ship themselves. The Captain of the Galaxy Class USS Odyssey (obviously named after the Mario game!) is luckily on the station and has O'Brien arm two runabouts with extra torpedos to come with him to the GQ. Odo goes too, to rescue Quark. They meet up with Jake and Nog. Quark manages to get Eris's collar off and he and Sisko escape the Jem'Hadar rather easily. Three Jem'Hadar ships attack the Odyssey and the runabouts. O'Brien beams up Sisko, Quark and Eris. One of the Jem'Hadar ships goes on a suicide run on the Odyssey as it's retreating, destroying it. It's a striking visual, especially since the Odyssey looks exactly like the Enterprise (I think the DS9 companion said Ira Behr suggested actually destroying the Enterprise here, but that was pretty unlikely to happen!) Quark tells Sisko that there was no telekenetic supressor in the collar and Eris is revealed as a Dominion spy. She says "You have no idea what's begun here" and magically beams away to nowhere.
It's a great season ender! I like how it starts off quite comical with the camping stuff and ends up with a Galaxy Class starship destroyed. It really does the best job possible of putting across how dangerous the Dominion are, possibly almost too good a job because I don't think their megical transporters were ever seen again. All of the Sisko/Quark stuff is very good too.
Season two kind of has less of an identity than season one, which was more focused on the rebuilding of Bajor. There's some great episodes here, but there's also a long stretch of episodes where the a runabout just goes flying off to some weird planet for the type of adventure that could happen in any Star Trek series. That's not really using the station setting well! But the finale gives us a really clear direction for season 3: the Dominion are fucking coming!
SCORE: 9/10
A Jem'Hadar troop mentions "The Founders" for the first time and Sisko wants to meet them. Eris claims the Founders are just a myth. The Jem'Hadar is disappointed he didn't get to fight a Klingon. Jake and Nog return to the runabout, but it can't just fly them back to the station. A Jem'Hadar beams onto the station out of nowhere. He tells the Federation to stay out of the Gamma Quadrant, effortlessly walks through a forcefield, and hands over a list of vessels the Dominion has already destroyed (and a Bajoran colony.) Quark decides now is a good time to bring up that humans actually used to be much worse than the Ferengi and humans don't like being reminded of their horrible history. Jake and Nog managed to disable the runabout's autopilot but then realise that means they'll have to fly the ship themselves. The Captain of the Galaxy Class USS Odyssey (obviously named after the Mario game!) is luckily on the station and has O'Brien arm two runabouts with extra torpedos to come with him to the GQ. Odo goes too, to rescue Quark. They meet up with Jake and Nog. Quark manages to get Eris's collar off and he and Sisko escape the Jem'Hadar rather easily. Three Jem'Hadar ships attack the Odyssey and the runabouts. O'Brien beams up Sisko, Quark and Eris. One of the Jem'Hadar ships goes on a suicide run on the Odyssey as it's retreating, destroying it. It's a striking visual, especially since the Odyssey looks exactly like the Enterprise (I think the DS9 companion said Ira Behr suggested actually destroying the Enterprise here, but that was pretty unlikely to happen!) Quark tells Sisko that there was no telekenetic supressor in the collar and Eris is revealed as a Dominion spy. She says "You have no idea what's begun here" and magically beams away to nowhere.
It's a great season ender! I like how it starts off quite comical with the camping stuff and ends up with a Galaxy Class starship destroyed. It really does the best job possible of putting across how dangerous the Dominion are, possibly almost too good a job because I don't think their megical transporters were ever seen again. All of the Sisko/Quark stuff is very good too.
Season two kind of has less of an identity than season one, which was more focused on the rebuilding of Bajor. There's some great episodes here, but there's also a long stretch of episodes where the a runabout just goes flying off to some weird planet for the type of adventure that could happen in any Star Trek series. That's not really using the station setting well! But the finale gives us a really clear direction for season 3: the Dominion are fucking coming!
SCORE: 9/10
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
He goes camping with Odo in season 5!
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
The Search: Part 1 - The crew (without Sisko) have been running simulations and have found that they'll be defeated by the Jem-Hadar no matter what. Dax's hair is BIG. But then a ship decloaks in front of the station...a Federation ship! Commanded by Sisko! The Defiant! But the opening credits haven't changed yet so I guess they don't change until season 4. That's disappointing. The Defiant is a warship built to fight the Borg but Starfleet has given Sisko the mission of taking it to the Gamma Quadrant and finding the leaders of the Dominion (also the Defiant has terrible engines and could blow up at any time.) Two new officers come with the Defiant: the bitchy Romulan T'Rul (Martha Hackett, who will soon appear as Seska in Voyager) and the friendly security officer Commander Eddington (Kenneth Marshall.) Odo is unhappy that Starfleet have sent a new security officer to the station and intends to resign. Jake is taller than Ben now and likes pudding. Ben has brought African art to the station because he thinks of it as home now (and I suspect Avery Brooks requested it?) Kira invites Odo to the Gamma Quadrant. Sisko invites Quark(!?) because of the trade agreement he established with a member of the Dominion. Quark doesn't want to come but Sisko presents him with the sceptre of the Grand Nagus (and makes him kiss it.) We're still not ready to get on with the story so Sisko has a conversation with big-hair Dax. Odo shows up at the last minute and we get to see the Defiant launch from the station. It looks cool. T'Rul activates the cloak as soon as they go through the wormhole. I'm sure the Romulans would never let them use it without her around!
Quark and Odo end up as comically mismatched roommates. Odo's in a REALLY bad mood. Some Jem-Hadar warships show up and nearly detect the Defiant through the cloak, but they drop out of warp and cut power and go undetected. Quark meets with his business associated and he doesn't know anything about the founders, but does have a contact with the Vorta. He shows them a star map and Odo gets all weird looking at it. Quark stays behind with his greedy friend. Kira is angry at Starfleet for trying to replace Odo but Sisko tells her Starfleet likes team players. O'Brien and Dax beam down to a suspiciously unguarded Dominion relay station. O'Brien and Dax are trapped in the relay station when the Jem-Hadar show up and the Defiant can't decloak. Sisko makes the call to leave them behind. Kira tries to talk to Odo but he's being all weird and wants to fly off in a shuttle to a nebula he saw in the star map. Three Jem-Hadar ships attack through the cloak. The Defiant destroys one of them (Bashir takes the conn!) but they lose warp power. More Jem-Hadar arrive. There's a lot of shaky hand held camera work here, very different from the norm on Star Trek. Odo flees to a shuttle with unconscious Kira like a coward. The Jem-Hadar beat everyone else up. Odo and Kira come to a rogue planet in their shuttle. Changelings come walking out of a lake. They all make their faces look like Odo. A female welcomes Odo home. TO BE CONTINUED.
It's a great cliffhanger. The action on the Definat at the end is very exciting too. The Defiant itself is cool and I like the introduction of T'Rul and Eddington. But there is a lot of padding in the first half of the episode. The talk between Sisko and Dax could have been totally cut. Quark coming along is fun but probably not entirely necessary. Odo starts acting crazy even before he's looked at the star map, which is weird. He's been in the GQ before (and did he never look at a star map previously?) So yeah this is mostly all set-up and it's up to part 2 to make the story worthwhile.
SCORE: 7.5/10
The Search: Part 2 - The Female Changeling explains that they're all part of The Great Link and can merge together to share feelings and ideas. She links with Odo and he realises he's finally home. Sisko and Bashir are found by O'Brien and Dax and brought back to the station. The Female Changeling won't let Kira send any messages because the Changelings don't want "solids" finding them. Kira plans to send a coded message anyway. Admiral Nechayev welcomes Sisko back to the station with good news: O'Brien and Dax have convinced the Founders that Starfleet wants peace and they're going to sign a peace treaty. The mysterious Founders are just the Vorta, which is kind of lame. A Vorta called Borath acts kind of sinister to Sisko. Garak warns Bashir about the treaty and T'Rul is angry that the Romulans have been excluded from the treaty negotiations. Kira finds an underground power source interfering with her singal. Odo is frustrated that he's spend hours shapeshifting into rocks (on the advice of the Female Changeling) and doesn't feel anything. Nechayev acts shifty with Sisko. The FC tells Odo how the solids persecuted them for years so they went into hiding. They sent out a hundred young chagelings like Odo "a long time ago" to learn more about the galaxy but didn't expect any of them to return for another three hundred years. They do a full body link.
Kira talks to inaminate objects thinking they might be Odo in a funny bit (also there seems to be a monolith like in 'The Alternate' so I guess that planet was the Changelings' old homeworld...maybe?) A Jem-Hadar randomly beats up O'Brien in Quark's. Eddington is a jerk about it. Ben and Jake eat potatos and Ben still things something is wrong (all his scenes are like this.) Dax s being transferred to another ship. Sisko yells at Nechayev about all the weird shit that's been going on. She reveals that the station is being handed over to the Jem-Hadar. Sisko is worried about what this will mean for Bajor but the treaty's already been signed. Odo is enjoying being a changeling now and wants to stay behind. Kira has one last request, she's found a mysterious door blocking the path to the power source. Garak tells Sisko he's heard rumours that the Bajorans and Romulans have formed an alliance to fight the Jem-Hadar. T'Rul is shot by the Jem-Hadar and dies in Garak's arms. Garak then decides to make the station part of the episode more fun by being awesome and sedating Eddington. Garak helps Sisko, O'Brien, Bashir and Dax escape but is killed in the process. Hey, maybe none of this is real! They get in a runabout and pretty easily destroy the wormhole with a few torpedos. Odo opens the door and he and Kira find Sisko and the others (including T'Rul) inside. The Vorta are running a simuluation in their brains to find out what Starfleet will sacrifice to stop a war. The Vorta is pretty rude to Odo considering what we're about to find out. The Changelings are the Founders! The FC explains that years ago they set about opposing order on a choatic universe. It's nice how they made Odo's obsession with order a racial trait. Odo is disgusted, of course (because he's not a fascist) and turns down a chance to join the Great Link. She lets him go because "no changeling has ever harmed another" and releases Sisko and the rest (T'Rul is definitely not dead but will never be seen again, sadly.) Odo is sad to leave but at least Kira holds his hand.
To be honest, I've never been a big fan of this two parter. Part one is good but padded, part two...it's not that I'm totally against "it was all a dream!" episodes. I loved TNG's 'Future Imperfect' for example. The problem here is that the station storyline is REALLY OBVIOUSLY not really happening because of how everyone but the main characters acts. There's no real atmosphere or anything to the fake station scenes, it's all just "okay, get to the part where they wake up." Also the whole point of the Dominion running the simulation is to find out what Starfleet will do now they know what a huge threat the Dominion is. They find out that Starfleet will be willing to blow up the wormhole. And then...everything just goes back to normal. Sisko doesn't blow the wormhole up when he gets home. The Dominion doesn't instantly show up and invade before Starfleet has a chance to destroy the wormhole. It was all pointless! The Odo stuff with the Female Changeling is good though, and I do like what we find out about his character and the Dominion. It all seems to make sense and there's some nice continuity with previously established facts about Changelings. And, even though he isn't real, Garak gets some funny lines. But yeah I still don't love this episode.
SCORE: 6.5/10
Quark and Odo end up as comically mismatched roommates. Odo's in a REALLY bad mood. Some Jem-Hadar warships show up and nearly detect the Defiant through the cloak, but they drop out of warp and cut power and go undetected. Quark meets with his business associated and he doesn't know anything about the founders, but does have a contact with the Vorta. He shows them a star map and Odo gets all weird looking at it. Quark stays behind with his greedy friend. Kira is angry at Starfleet for trying to replace Odo but Sisko tells her Starfleet likes team players. O'Brien and Dax beam down to a suspiciously unguarded Dominion relay station. O'Brien and Dax are trapped in the relay station when the Jem-Hadar show up and the Defiant can't decloak. Sisko makes the call to leave them behind. Kira tries to talk to Odo but he's being all weird and wants to fly off in a shuttle to a nebula he saw in the star map. Three Jem-Hadar ships attack through the cloak. The Defiant destroys one of them (Bashir takes the conn!) but they lose warp power. More Jem-Hadar arrive. There's a lot of shaky hand held camera work here, very different from the norm on Star Trek. Odo flees to a shuttle with unconscious Kira like a coward. The Jem-Hadar beat everyone else up. Odo and Kira come to a rogue planet in their shuttle. Changelings come walking out of a lake. They all make their faces look like Odo. A female welcomes Odo home. TO BE CONTINUED.
It's a great cliffhanger. The action on the Definat at the end is very exciting too. The Defiant itself is cool and I like the introduction of T'Rul and Eddington. But there is a lot of padding in the first half of the episode. The talk between Sisko and Dax could have been totally cut. Quark coming along is fun but probably not entirely necessary. Odo starts acting crazy even before he's looked at the star map, which is weird. He's been in the GQ before (and did he never look at a star map previously?) So yeah this is mostly all set-up and it's up to part 2 to make the story worthwhile.
SCORE: 7.5/10
The Search: Part 2 - The Female Changeling explains that they're all part of The Great Link and can merge together to share feelings and ideas. She links with Odo and he realises he's finally home. Sisko and Bashir are found by O'Brien and Dax and brought back to the station. The Female Changeling won't let Kira send any messages because the Changelings don't want "solids" finding them. Kira plans to send a coded message anyway. Admiral Nechayev welcomes Sisko back to the station with good news: O'Brien and Dax have convinced the Founders that Starfleet wants peace and they're going to sign a peace treaty. The mysterious Founders are just the Vorta, which is kind of lame. A Vorta called Borath acts kind of sinister to Sisko. Garak warns Bashir about the treaty and T'Rul is angry that the Romulans have been excluded from the treaty negotiations. Kira finds an underground power source interfering with her singal. Odo is frustrated that he's spend hours shapeshifting into rocks (on the advice of the Female Changeling) and doesn't feel anything. Nechayev acts shifty with Sisko. The FC tells Odo how the solids persecuted them for years so they went into hiding. They sent out a hundred young chagelings like Odo "a long time ago" to learn more about the galaxy but didn't expect any of them to return for another three hundred years. They do a full body link.
Kira talks to inaminate objects thinking they might be Odo in a funny bit (also there seems to be a monolith like in 'The Alternate' so I guess that planet was the Changelings' old homeworld...maybe?) A Jem-Hadar randomly beats up O'Brien in Quark's. Eddington is a jerk about it. Ben and Jake eat potatos and Ben still things something is wrong (all his scenes are like this.) Dax s being transferred to another ship. Sisko yells at Nechayev about all the weird shit that's been going on. She reveals that the station is being handed over to the Jem-Hadar. Sisko is worried about what this will mean for Bajor but the treaty's already been signed. Odo is enjoying being a changeling now and wants to stay behind. Kira has one last request, she's found a mysterious door blocking the path to the power source. Garak tells Sisko he's heard rumours that the Bajorans and Romulans have formed an alliance to fight the Jem-Hadar. T'Rul is shot by the Jem-Hadar and dies in Garak's arms. Garak then decides to make the station part of the episode more fun by being awesome and sedating Eddington. Garak helps Sisko, O'Brien, Bashir and Dax escape but is killed in the process. Hey, maybe none of this is real! They get in a runabout and pretty easily destroy the wormhole with a few torpedos. Odo opens the door and he and Kira find Sisko and the others (including T'Rul) inside. The Vorta are running a simuluation in their brains to find out what Starfleet will sacrifice to stop a war. The Vorta is pretty rude to Odo considering what we're about to find out. The Changelings are the Founders! The FC explains that years ago they set about opposing order on a choatic universe. It's nice how they made Odo's obsession with order a racial trait. Odo is disgusted, of course (because he's not a fascist) and turns down a chance to join the Great Link. She lets him go because "no changeling has ever harmed another" and releases Sisko and the rest (T'Rul is definitely not dead but will never be seen again, sadly.) Odo is sad to leave but at least Kira holds his hand.
To be honest, I've never been a big fan of this two parter. Part one is good but padded, part two...it's not that I'm totally against "it was all a dream!" episodes. I loved TNG's 'Future Imperfect' for example. The problem here is that the station storyline is REALLY OBVIOUSLY not really happening because of how everyone but the main characters acts. There's no real atmosphere or anything to the fake station scenes, it's all just "okay, get to the part where they wake up." Also the whole point of the Dominion running the simulation is to find out what Starfleet will do now they know what a huge threat the Dominion is. They find out that Starfleet will be willing to blow up the wormhole. And then...everything just goes back to normal. Sisko doesn't blow the wormhole up when he gets home. The Dominion doesn't instantly show up and invade before Starfleet has a chance to destroy the wormhole. It was all pointless! The Odo stuff with the Female Changeling is good though, and I do like what we find out about his character and the Dominion. It all seems to make sense and there's some nice continuity with previously established facts about Changelings. And, even though he isn't real, Garak gets some funny lines. But yeah I still don't love this episode.
SCORE: 6.5/10
Eggs Mayonnaise
All In With The Nuts
I think they felt it could be left as is for the time being because of Odo's decision not to join the link. Because he is on the other side of the wormhole (and there are 99 returnees still to think about as well), the Dominion aren't in a hurry to escalate things since the other Alpha species haven't really gotten involved yet, only in the simulation.
I liked this 2-parter for the sheer discovery of the new story elements (which would reshape the series starting with S4). Yeah it was a dream episode and it wasn't as tight as it could have been, but they had a lot of characters and story pieces to resolve, and the show hadn't gotten as good at juggling so many things at once at this point. But they will learn soon enough...
I liked this 2-parter for the sheer discovery of the new story elements (which would reshape the series starting with S4). Yeah it was a dream episode and it wasn't as tight as it could have been, but they had a lot of characters and story pieces to resolve, and the show hadn't gotten as good at juggling so many things at once at this point. But they will learn soon enough...
Eggs Mayonnaise
All In With The Nuts
Meanwhile Kira is waiting for him to tip off Rom to set off a bomb or something to stop the Cardies from taking down the MINE FIELD to the wormhole. Sounds like season 6.
(How do you mine a wormhole in space? They set off a flat linear field of charges. Couldn't you just enter it from another angle?)
(How do you mine a wormhole in space? They set off a flat linear field of charges. Couldn't you just enter it from another angle?)
Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
I guess you have to approach the wormhole from a particular angle or it won’t open up, and it’s that angle which was mined. I think we only ever saw it open in the direction of the station, but there may be an occurrence I’m forgetting.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
The House of Quark - Quark has no customers but a drunk Klingon, who tries to stab Quark but falls on his own knife and dies. Quark quickly realises that if people think he's killed a Klingon in self defence it'll be good for business. Meanwhile Keiko's in a bad mood (what else is new?) because she's had to close the school due to families leaving the station out of fear of the Dominion. Odo tells Quark that the dead Klingon was the head of an important family, but Quark still won't tell the truth. He likes having the respect of his customers. But he does quickly tell the truth to the Klingon's brother when asked. But the brother tells him to keep up the lie because if he brother died a dishonourable death that dishounour would spread to his family. Miles cooks a nice meal for Keiko and they have sex (sadly not onscreen!) but she's still sad when he leaves for work. The dead Klingon's widow Grilka shows up and abducts Quark, taking him to the Klingon homeworld. It's explained that if the Klingon had died a dishonourable death Grilka may have been allowed to be head of the house (as there is no male heir) but the shifty brother is trying to bring about the fall of the house. Then an old Klingon marries Quark to Grilka! O'Brien goes to talk to Sisko about Keiko (Dax makes a brief appearance and thankfully her hair is back to normal.) He gets her a cargo bay to turn into an arboretum.
Gowron makes his first DS9 appearance, as Grilka presents her new husband to him as the new head of her house. The brother just wants to kill Quark in combat right there but Gowron is actually quite fair and orders further investigation. Quark suggests to Grilka that they have a more equal partnership. She admits her drunken husband blew most of their money and owes debts to his brother. Quark wants to go over the financial records and she lets him even though that's not how Klingons do things! (Why do they even keep ledgers at all then?) Bashir tells O'Brien that Keiko won't be happy until she can be a botanist again. Quark finds that the evil brother has been scheming and plotting like a Ferengi to seize all the house's assets. They present the evidence in front of the Council and we get the classic shot of Gowron looking confused by a calculator. The brother reveals the truth, that the drunk died by accident and presents a witness: Rom. Quark and Rom try to escape so that Quark won't have to face the brother in combat but Grilka and he old man catch them. Grilka decides to let Quark leave anyway because he has no honour. Quark surprisingly shows up to answer the challenge with a bat'leth. But just as the fight starts he throws it aside and says he won't fight because they all know he doesn't have a chance and they just want their precious Klingon honour satisfied. The brother is going to murder him anyway but Gowron stops him and declares the brother has no honour. The whole coucnil turn their backs on him, like they did Worf that time. Gowron makes Grilka the head of the house and praises Quark's bravery. Grilka grants Quark a quickie divorce by slapping him and spitting on on him, then kisses him. Klingons are weird. Miles gets Keiko a botany job on Bajor for three months. Rom reveals that he's proud of Quark for putting honour above profit. This is the first time Rom feels like Proper Rom!
I often complain about not liking Ferengi comedy episodes. I've seen this used as an example of a Ferengi comedy episode that actually works. Well, that's not the case, because this isn't a Ferengi comedy episode. A Ferengi comedy episode would be one with multiple Ferengi in it (basically any episode with the Grand Nagus.) This is a Quark centric episode and it's the best Quark centric episode yet. It's funny, yes, but it doesn't teach Quark himself as a joke. He uses his unique Ferengi skills to solve a Klingon problem and impressed everyone: Grilka, Rom and even Gowron (who fits in perfectly in DS9.) Anyway, yeah, the Quark story here is very good, like I said it's the best Quark's been so far and Grilka is a fun guest character. The O'Brien subplot isn't so great since Keiko being sad is getting pretty old now and it all just feels like an excuse to get rid of her for a while so Miles can hang out with Julian and actually have some fun. But it's not like that takes up a lot of time! I'm torn on giving it 8.5 or 9, to be honest...ah, what the hell...
SCORE: 9/10
Gowron makes his first DS9 appearance, as Grilka presents her new husband to him as the new head of her house. The brother just wants to kill Quark in combat right there but Gowron is actually quite fair and orders further investigation. Quark suggests to Grilka that they have a more equal partnership. She admits her drunken husband blew most of their money and owes debts to his brother. Quark wants to go over the financial records and she lets him even though that's not how Klingons do things! (Why do they even keep ledgers at all then?) Bashir tells O'Brien that Keiko won't be happy until she can be a botanist again. Quark finds that the evil brother has been scheming and plotting like a Ferengi to seize all the house's assets. They present the evidence in front of the Council and we get the classic shot of Gowron looking confused by a calculator. The brother reveals the truth, that the drunk died by accident and presents a witness: Rom. Quark and Rom try to escape so that Quark won't have to face the brother in combat but Grilka and he old man catch them. Grilka decides to let Quark leave anyway because he has no honour. Quark surprisingly shows up to answer the challenge with a bat'leth. But just as the fight starts he throws it aside and says he won't fight because they all know he doesn't have a chance and they just want their precious Klingon honour satisfied. The brother is going to murder him anyway but Gowron stops him and declares the brother has no honour. The whole coucnil turn their backs on him, like they did Worf that time. Gowron makes Grilka the head of the house and praises Quark's bravery. Grilka grants Quark a quickie divorce by slapping him and spitting on on him, then kisses him. Klingons are weird. Miles gets Keiko a botany job on Bajor for three months. Rom reveals that he's proud of Quark for putting honour above profit. This is the first time Rom feels like Proper Rom!
I often complain about not liking Ferengi comedy episodes. I've seen this used as an example of a Ferengi comedy episode that actually works. Well, that's not the case, because this isn't a Ferengi comedy episode. A Ferengi comedy episode would be one with multiple Ferengi in it (basically any episode with the Grand Nagus.) This is a Quark centric episode and it's the best Quark centric episode yet. It's funny, yes, but it doesn't teach Quark himself as a joke. He uses his unique Ferengi skills to solve a Klingon problem and impressed everyone: Grilka, Rom and even Gowron (who fits in perfectly in DS9.) Anyway, yeah, the Quark story here is very good, like I said it's the best Quark's been so far and Grilka is a fun guest character. The O'Brien subplot isn't so great since Keiko being sad is getting pretty old now and it all just feels like an excuse to get rid of her for a while so Miles can hang out with Julian and actually have some fun. But it's not like that takes up a lot of time! I'm torn on giving it 8.5 or 9, to be honest...ah, what the hell...
SCORE: 9/10
Eggs Mayonnaise
All In With The Nuts
I'm so glad you're doing this. :day:
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Equilibrium - Sisko is making dinner for everyone and mentions his father's restaurant in New Orleans. Dax says none of her hosts had any musical ability but manages to play a mysterious tune on Jake's space keyboard. She can't get it out of her head even the next day and accuses Sisko of cheating at chess. She threatens to beat up Kira too. Angry Jadzia is not really all that convincing. She then has a weird vision of a man in a mask and goes to Julian. She apologises to Sisko for all the "horrible" things she said to him ("you cheat at chess" isn't really that horrible!) Julian finds that her technobabble Trill chemical levels have fallen and Jadzia is worried she could be in danger of rejecting her symbiont. Sisko and Bashir take her to the Trill homeworld in the Defiant. Jadzia goes to Julian's room and admits she's always been scared of doctors so she's worried about going home to be examined. She stays the night (they have bunk beds.) A doctor starts to treat Jadazia on the Trill Homeworld (they just keep calling it "the Trill homeworld" instead of coming up with a cool now) but she has another hallucination of the masked man before attacking Julian (after seeing him as a Trill doctor.) Jadzia takes Sisko and Bashir to see the Guardians, the carers of unjoined symbionts, to find out more. The symbionts swim around pools in a big cave.
A socially awkwardly Guardian tells Jadzia that her hallucinations are actually memories. Sisko finds that the music Jadzia can't get out of her head was composed by a man named Joran and she has a memory of him stabbing someone in the neck. The mask man is revealed to be Joran. Dax goes into neural shock and the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with her. Sisko and Julian confront the guardian but he starts acting shifty and won't help them. They think someone's warned him off. Bashir finds that the file on Joran has been purged. Joran died the same day the Dax symbiont was put into Kurzon. They find Joran's elderly brother is still alive and he tells them that Joran was a candidate to be joined and murdered his doctor after he was refused, but his brother told him that he actually was joined. Sisko works out that Joran was Dax's host for a whle and it's been covered up. They confront the Trill doctor and Bashir asks what happens when a symbiont joins with an unsuitable host. The doctor claims unsuitable hosts reject the symbiont, but Joran had the Dax symbiont for six months and that's what she's trying to cover up: far more Trills are suitable for joining than the public believe. The doctor doesn't want the truth coming out because it would lead to chaos and Sisko promises to keep her secret if she heals Jadzia. The only way to do so is to give Jadzia Joran's memories back. Jadzia goes into the Trill pool and welcomes Joran inside of her.
It's a pretty interesting episode at first as we wonder what's wrong with Jadzia. Her acting angry wasn't all that convincing, as I said, but hey at least she's doing something! Sometims she can be too passive so it's good to have an episode that puts her through the emotional wringer. And it mostly works, but it's a bit weird that Jadzia ends up in a hospital bed AGAIN in a Jadzia centric episode and Sisko and Bashir kind of take it over. And will Dax's character really change after this, or will they just barely mention Joran again until 'Field of Fire' in season 7? I thnk we all know the answer! But yeah it's good to learn a bit more about Trills and stuff.
SCORE: 7/10
A socially awkwardly Guardian tells Jadzia that her hallucinations are actually memories. Sisko finds that the music Jadzia can't get out of her head was composed by a man named Joran and she has a memory of him stabbing someone in the neck. The mask man is revealed to be Joran. Dax goes into neural shock and the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with her. Sisko and Julian confront the guardian but he starts acting shifty and won't help them. They think someone's warned him off. Bashir finds that the file on Joran has been purged. Joran died the same day the Dax symbiont was put into Kurzon. They find Joran's elderly brother is still alive and he tells them that Joran was a candidate to be joined and murdered his doctor after he was refused, but his brother told him that he actually was joined. Sisko works out that Joran was Dax's host for a whle and it's been covered up. They confront the Trill doctor and Bashir asks what happens when a symbiont joins with an unsuitable host. The doctor claims unsuitable hosts reject the symbiont, but Joran had the Dax symbiont for six months and that's what she's trying to cover up: far more Trills are suitable for joining than the public believe. The doctor doesn't want the truth coming out because it would lead to chaos and Sisko promises to keep her secret if she heals Jadzia. The only way to do so is to give Jadzia Joran's memories back. Jadzia goes into the Trill pool and welcomes Joran inside of her.
It's a pretty interesting episode at first as we wonder what's wrong with Jadzia. Her acting angry wasn't all that convincing, as I said, but hey at least she's doing something! Sometims she can be too passive so it's good to have an episode that puts her through the emotional wringer. And it mostly works, but it's a bit weird that Jadzia ends up in a hospital bed AGAIN in a Jadzia centric episode and Sisko and Bashir kind of take it over. And will Dax's character really change after this, or will they just barely mention Joran again until 'Field of Fire' in season 7? I thnk we all know the answer! But yeah it's good to learn a bit more about Trills and stuff.
SCORE: 7/10
SAUSAGEMAN
Registered User
I'm glad you also thought the Search was mediocre. The Quark sceptre kissing scene is fantastic and I love it.
This looks very good
https://io9.gizmodo.com/gaze-into-the-eyes-of-a-high-definition-garak-in-the-de-1828683163
This looks very good
https://io9.gizmodo.com/gaze-into-the-eyes-of-a-high-definition-garak-in-the-de-1828683163