Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Veritas
DVD, Smallville S7 (Veritas)
They crammed too many stories into this: we have the dynamic duo of Olsen and Lane in a team-up to get a story (amazingly the picture of Patricia Swann pops onto the screen at that exact moment), though as usual, they don't really have a clue what's going on around them. But the other stories don't happen around them, most plot lines are separate, the different sets of characters not interacting very much at all. We have Lex and his bespectacled assistant (who looks primed to sacrifice herself for him if the need should ever arise!), hunting down the mystery of the key in Patricia's locket (I wonder if his assistant stood there wondering why he was staring into space for minutes at a time, not having the benefit of vision into his memories as we did). There's the return of Brainiac who has some unexplained plan to rewrite Kryptonian history by somehow using Kara, locking Lana into an inexpressible agony inside herself, much to Clark's horror. And there's Lionel bleating to Clark or Chloe, desperate for them to believe him about something terrible that is coming.
With mention of Zod, what's the betting that it's the return of the Kryptonian criminal - Clark ignores Kara's question about whether he defeated him before. I'd love it to be Doomsday, Superman's nemesis, but as Clark finds out in what was a misstep in tone, he isn't Superman yet as he can't fly. This was thrown in as a joke, I doubt if anyone really expected to see Clark (and not alter ego Kal-El), soar through the skies with the greatest of ease. It was setting us up for a battle with Brainiac that never came, and it didn't help Clark look on top of things, in fact he looks pretty weak and useless for the entirety of this episode. James Marsters exudes effortless swagger in his role of returning villain, and I thought this was going to all be some kind of time travel story where he takes Kara to Krypton in order to affect events. That could still happen (on a TV budget?), but it's more likely we'll hear about her exploits which will somehow release Zod, or something else, back on Earth.
The flying wasn't badly done this time, and there were some artistic compositions in the visuals, the one that sticks out most to me being that final shot of Clark and Lana silhouetted by the oval window with the angel's wings by their side. I'm not sure what it means, but it sure looked good! Then again, that's something you could say about the series as a whole. We're digging into Veritas, the secret society that supposedly knew about Clark's coming before the series even began. It's wonderful to see a flashback to a time just before Lex and Lionel took their helicopter trip to Smallville on the day of the meteor shower, though they couldn't do much about the young actor who played Lex not looking like the boy in the pilot episode, but then that was seven years ago and they've had several young Lex' over the years. At least this one had already been used this season as the 'good' part of Lex' mind. They'd shown flashbacks surrounding that momentous day before, and it always sparks a little admiration that they can come up with scenes set in that time.
It's very convenient that Lex' recent shooting in Detroit should have awakened memories of his childhood that he'd previously blocked out, as I don't remember him ever saying anything about repressed memories or having any mystery about his childhood, but you have to give them some leeway in the epic retconning saga that Veritas is. If Lionel knew about the approaching arrival of Clark, as well as the other members of the group it throws up so many questions about him from the first season onwards. He very clearly spells out why he's a different man in this story, pleading with Chloe, literally on the floor grasping her garments like Gollum, as he relates how he was changed by becoming Jor-El's vessel. Chloe doesn't buy his warnings of Clark's danger, any more than Clark does, but this time maybe they should have listened to him. Glover goes into a completely different persona from the suave, in control megalomaniac of the past, stuttering and running his words together in a picture of remorse and helplessness. I wouldn't say it's a joy to see, but it does demonstrate his range more than he's often been allowed to do on the series.
The flashback scene also gives us another glimpse of Dr. Swann, even if it is his chair running in front of camera, but we also see what looks to be a young Oliver Queen (the adult version I was expecting to be in this story), as well as his Dad, and Jason Teague's Father. I wonder why they didn't bring back Genevieve Teague for this scene? The idea of there being some kind of secret envelope hidden in a Swiss bank that can only be opened by two of the Veritas members' keys does intrigue, but I'm amazed Lionel didn't simply snatch the envelope and read the research findings of Swann - some kind of defence against the coming traveller? Sounds like a useful weapon against the next Kryptonian enemy to ravage the planet, another plot convenience, though that has yet to be proved. The terrible punishment inflicted on Lana, and the distress it causes Clark, is a symptom of a cold, calculating machine, as Brainiac is, though for a moment I thought she was going to become an enemy that would fight Clark (much like her awful turn as a witch in Season 4).
This very much ends on a cliffhanger, with Kara and Brainiac zapped off into outer space, and Clark left clutching the unresponsive hand of Lana, stuck in her catatonic state. If two or three of these stories had been concentrated on, I think it would have been a better whole, and I would have liked more insight into Lex' childhood discoveries, but this has been a good patch of the season, and the mysteries unfolding have urged the story on, no matter how inconsequential certain parts, (such as Jimmy and Lois' investigations, and the naive ambush of Lionel), have been. If this all ends in a ridiculous conclusion or the stories don't make any sense, perhaps I'll look back on an episode like this with disdain, but for the moment it's a good watch.
***
Stratagem
DVD, Enterprise S3 (Stratagem)
'Enterprise' meets 'Mission: Impossible' in a bottle show extraordinaire! I'm building this up a little too much, it was no 'Shuttlepod One' or 'Hard Time' or any of the other episodes in which two characters are thrown together in either real or faked circumstances, and it wasn't the episode you'd use to introduce someone to the series. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened when I first saw this episode - I didn't want to miss it, though my cousin was staying, so we both watched it, and it probably put him off, if not Trek in general, then certainly 'Enterprise,' for life! It didn't help my appreciation for it either, as I was seeing it through his eyes, so the wonder at what's going on that should have been there at the beginning, with Archer and Degra on an alien shuttle under attack, and a story about three years passing, with the war over, paled a little. My cousin may well have assumed this was a direct continuation of a serialised story to which he wasn't privy, and that's how it appears unless you know the sequence of events and understand that this is as confusing to a regular viewer as a fresh one.
When you know what's going on the episode doesn't lose the limited charm it had before, but you find yourself waiting for something to happen. A story in which two people are confined in close quarters can be superb or merely mundane, depending on the writing and the mental stakes. Trouble is, the atmosphere never rose to a fever pitch, just degenerated into the pair shouting through the noise of a simulated attack or encounter with an anomaly. Degra isn't the most sympathetic or developed Trek character out there, and though I've nothing against Randy Oglesby, the person he's playing comes across as an uptight man in whom we don't see much beneath the surface, not a fascinating character study of a scientist bent on genocide. Can't help it, sorry, but I have to say that the 'DS9' writers could have made this something special.
The story does warm up and get going once the plan begins to go wrong, it's just such a shame the desperate straits of holding it together is only a momentary segment, then it all has to end. I wanted Archer to wrestle the knife away from Degra and keep up the charade, keep trying to convince him, keep plugging away with any facts Hoshi could dig up. There would have been added tension as we try to decide if Degra had bought into the setup fully or continues to harbour doubts, and as for trying the process again, I would have been happy to see that tried. It's a terribly morally ambiguous thing to do, deleting someone's recent memory, in fact, not ambiguous, just plain evil, when you think about it, but I can understand the reasoning, that this was their only way to access Degra's mind, but it might have been possible to do one of those trips into it as O'Brien and Bashir did to Sloan, or the nightmarish fantasy world of the clown in 'The Thaw.' Then it could have been much more fantastical and worrying, instead of everything being under control, except for the debris field interfering with the elaborate system.
I'm not going to berate the series for trying something different, and something that suited the bare bones approach to technology of this prequel - later series' would have pulled this off in a Holodeck, so there's something appealing that the NX-01 crew are relying on flat screens and hydraulics, as well as their captain's acting ability, to succeed. The episode was a direct sequel to 'Proving Ground,' something that hasn't been as common in this so-called serialised season as might have been anticipated. Perhaps watching the two together as a feature-length episode might have made it more acceptable, but even though the episodes are strongly connected by place, the two are fairly distinct entities. After recently viewing 'Apocalypse Rising' in which Sisko and his crew try to fool a party full of Klingons and have to be drugged with anti-intoxicants to prevent them getting drunk from the bloodwine, it's fun to hear Archer doing the same thing in his charade. Bits of information that were useful included the MACO's sub-dermal transceivers, which they use to communicate. And the double fake of pretending the NX-01 had made the Xindi technology work and got them to Azati Prime quickly, in order to fool Degra into confirming it as the site of the weapon, improved the episode.
They were on a tight time limit, saying that another Xindi ship was a few hours away, and might detect them with its superior sensors, but if they could detect the Xindi, surely the Xindi could detect them. Unless they were using the debris field as a shield, in which case how could they use their sensors, wouldn't the debris foul them up too? Maybe it was like a needle in a haystack, they were on the alert, and the Xindi weren't on the lookout for them. Or maybe the Xindi did detect them and couldn't arrive any quicker? The scene with the bloodworm was quite gory for a Trek episode, Archer having to cut open Degra's wrist to extract the creature, but it did look very real, I'll give them that.
All in all, the important thing was to get the necessary information that Azati Prime was the place to go, and they did that. But instead of turning out a deeper story, that's as far as it goes. We don't learn anything new about the characters, main or recurring. We don't get any closer to an understanding between Archer and his nemesis like he did with the Xindi-Primate, Gralik. And we don't do anything special, except for some mechanics that wouldn't have been tried in that form on other Treks. You have to look hard at some of these Season 3 episodes and admit that some of them were fillers - it wasn't as bad as Season 2, with no direction, but even with a clear progression they weren't always hitting the mark, so the experiment of an ongoing story both energised and detracted in equal measure, this one not working on anything more than a basic level, and consequently encouraging very little to think, or write, about.
**
Nor The Battle To The Strong
DVD, DS9 S5 (Nor The Battle To The Strong)
This is the one where Jake grows up. We've already seen him grow physically, from a child to adult, we've seen him strike out on his career, although I suppose strike out is too strong a word for it. He's slowly been allowed to become who he's going to be, different from expectations, trying to make it as a writer. This time they work in his writing as a kind of field study article he's writing for 'The Journal' (whatever that is), about Dr. Bashir. This no doubt appeals to Bashir's ego, though we know he's actually quite a humble person (remember that episode where everyone was saying he was going to win an award and he didn't believe it - he's brash and proud of the work he does, but he also knows his limitations. Okay, maybe humble isn't the best word to describe him, but he's more self-aware now than he's ever been). Just as Bashir used to annoy O'Brien or Kira when they were stuck in a Runabout with nowhere to escape, he returns to his old manner (the Runabout again not named), and because Jake's there to hear his thoughts he enthuses unreservedly. Putting the two young men in the cast together was a good idea and surprisingly something they'd not really tried before, but then Jake was only a young 'man' recently, and before he had Nog.
I feel that Jake got a little lost in the shuffle of Season 4, and he's always been the least-used main character - even some recurring characters had more to do! But when they did choose to use him they did a good job, 'The Muse' notwithstanding, though I even came to enjoy that episode when I watched it not so long ago. Cirroc Lofton hadn't been given many chances to act in different ways, spending most scenes with either Nog or his Dad, so I liked that they set this episode up, whether intentionally or not, with that conversation on the Promenade between Bashir and him in 'Apocalypse Rising.' One of the best, and most effective tricks of this story is how they use Jake's voiceover to let us in on his thoughts, also reminding us of 'The Visitor' in which a similar device was used. And that's all it appears to be for the majority of the time; his thoughts, maybe written down for his own benefit. It's not until the final flourish, with the reveal that he's written his story, which is actually being read by Bashir and Sisko, that we see his own courage in action. Because he could easily have covered up his cowardice, fictionalised what he didn't like, but then he'd have had to live with that knowledge, and we saw how affected by his shame he was just in the short scene where he can't tell Bashir what's wrong.
Jake's been brought up to be an honourable and honest man. Usually so bright and cheerful, to see him self-pitying, crying alone, or frowning in unconcealed shock at the sights he sees, is upsetting. But he was the perfect choice for this story to happen to because of his status as a civilian. Any Starfleet officer, and certainly the hero characters, would have no qualms about being in a war-zone, of dealing with stress and the horrifying sights of death and destruction. Jake thinks he'll automatically be okay because he's a Sisko, and his Dad's firm grip on situations has always given him peace and strength, usually only having to worry about his Father's safety. But now he's out on a limb without the guidance and safe hands of Dad, unwanted, in the way, everyone too busy to see he needs help adjusting. But he soon does adjust to the sights in the ward of the dying and wounded, and you think he's overcome any nerves he felt.
It isn't until the fateful bombardment on him and Bashir that he acts on instinct and blames himself so heavily, flying from one fear to the next, falling in with a hardened soldier who dies in the grip of horror at his shame of running away. It would be frightening enough for anyone not versed in the business of war. Danny Goldring is that human soldier, in one of his many Trek faces, though they were usually alien. There were plenty of alien faces in this one, the dry Bolian one of the best, his improved makeup detail standing out with the unadorned blandness of those cloth tunics all the medical staff wore. It made them all equal with none of the rank or structure you'd usually see from uniforms and insignia, they were all just trying to save lives, getting in there and getting dirty. There were several other alien species in the facility, some assisting, others patients, though I couldn't name them - maybe they didn't have a name (but I did notice a rare later-season appearance of a 'fish-man' on one of the beds!).
The flurry of activity always impresses, making it more like the feature films in terms of pace and camera movement. The urgency is palpable and helps to convey the mood of impending danger. We've heard a lot about battles and war in the series, but we hadn't often seen such things up close, here on the edge of the field. We're shown just enough of the trauma and victims to know the result of the enemy's power, and told enough so that our imagination can fill in the looming enemy, (they should have been doing this in Season 4), making this episode one of the few that gives the impression of an unstoppable, murdering force heading right for our characters - the Klingons hadn't often been seen like the Borg, but their presence is very effective here. That is, until we get to the only criticism I have of the entire production: the versatile cave set is almost unrecognisable, with electric lighting embedded in the walls, technology and supplies all around, so I didn't have a problem with that. It's the actual sight of the Klingons attacking the cave area that could have looked better. We may have seen more than two of the warriors in the tunnel, and some may have been shot down (I'm not sure, it happened so fast), but my overriding impression is of only two Klingons shooting at Jake and that does lessen the impact of their earlier build-up. It's fortunate that their contribution was over as quickly as it began, when Jake brings the house down with his patented lightsaber phaser move!
Not that that one consideration colours the episode in the slightest for me. On the contrary it covers all the bases and does it so well, Lofton acting his socks off, the supporting cast expertly chosen, and enough scenes back at the station that we have the other characters a part of it too. But this is Jake's story far and above anyone else, learning what true courage is, the fine line between it and cowardice, and making his Dad proud. Sisko is put through it, but in a different way. Odo can't understand why anyone would inflict parenthood on themselves, and Sisko's eyes blaze with joy as he tells him he doesn't know what he's missing. At last Odo's physical condition is addressed - he jumped down some stairs chasing Yridians, forgetting he couldn't change into a bird, and damaged his fragile body. The line wondering at the Founder's use of the word 'solids' said it all, and tied so perfectly into Sisko's own worries about the wellbeing of his son: you see the writing crafted so well as if it's almost a physical entity in front of you, something relatively common in 'DS9' (especially this season), but not so much in the other series'.
There's also the scene between Sisko and Dax when news has come in that the Farragut has been destroyed (sniff - they helped Picard and crew get off the planet after the 'D' crashed), and he springs into action to take the Defiant. Until that point he'd been trying to keep his mind occupied (the real reason he asked Odo to come to his office), and he continues that on the ship, which is when Dax tracks him down (after which he goes off to check the sonic showers in a rare reference on the series - they seemed to mention waste extraction more and more, but the sonic showers were usually left to 'Voyager'), and shares her parental experiences with him. It's beautifully done, with Dax not explaining for the audience's benefit that she's talking about past hosts, we just instantly plug into her reminiscences. Anyone who saw this as their first episode could be nonplussed at her words until she mentions her hosts, but I think it would be a scene to make people want to know more about this character, one of the great strengths of the series: they make you want to go deeper.
And deeper you can go, almost as deep as you could wish, into the background universe they live in. Take the mention of the Rutledge and Tecumseh: the Rutledge was O'Brien's old ship, and he had a friend aboard called Raymond Boone (a false version of whom was seen in Season 2's 'Tribunal'), and we're told the commander of the Tecumseh is a Captain Raymond. Obviously it's not the same character, but I wonder if the name came to the writer subconsciously from the connection with Rutledge? The other thing about the episode is that we see the front lines of war. We'd just come from a clash with Jem'Hadar in 'The Ship,' another brutal meeting, but one in which all concerned were fully paid up Starfleet officers; we'd seen similar face-offs last season in 'To The Death,' but this time we were experiencing things from the standpoint of medics and civilians, making it a much more precarious situation for Jake to be in, and that much more alone in his mind. But the real fighters were the officers outside (in a strange turnaround the majority of the Starfleet fighters come across as either tough and unfriendly, or stupid, such as the guy that shoots himself, or the security officer at the end who leaves cover in the Klingon attack and gets shot by them, while the medical staff are cool and calm throughout).
I was intrigued to see a different (and rather cool), uniform worn by the military units as if they were special forces, black ops dark clothing with the colour band beneath the usual shoulder location in a thin strip across. I loved those uniforms! There was also talk of 'hoppers' as if we know exactly what they are, and while I never usually advocate confusing Trek with 'Star Wars' I've often thought of those troop transports from Episode II, where they hover over the ground (space hoppers!), ready to land soldiers at a moment's notice. Regrettably we aren't graced with a glimpse of these fabled craft, but again, your imagination fills in for the series on a much cheaper budget than a film would have been. This kind of technology fills me with interest and I would have loved to have seen these planetary craft - they would have been much better than the Argo of 'Star Trek Nemesis,' of that I am certain! Another technological improvement, which may well have been in other episodes, but came to my attention here, is the iPad 3 version of the Tricorder, the slimmer, blinkier model. I believe these were made for 'First Contact' and trickled down to 'DS9' and 'Voyager' (if they had schematics for new tech like this on that series, why couldn't they change into the darker uniforms too!), though the older phaser rifles are still much in evidence, and I have to admit to a soft spot for that earlier model.
In a move to include all the main cast in the episode they had an all too rare group scene at the beginning. Nowadays these non-Wardroom groupings always bring to mind the fantastic off the cuff visit to Kira's quarters in Season 2's 'The Circle,' though I'm sure there have been other times it happened. It's not like this was even a particularly funny scene (aside from Quarktajino!), and was more about men versus women concerning the touchy subject of pregnancy (culminating in more Ferengi customs - they consider pregnancy a rental!). It was a bit unfair, though, as it was two women against only four men, so Sisko should have weighed in to give his fellows some assistance. I noticed the distance between Dax and Worf, who even speaks up for O'Brien's point of view, so the writers were keeping their cards close to their chests about how they were going to progress.
One of the most impressive details of this episode is that a scene written to fill in time after it was running shorter than expected, seamlessly slots in: when Jake meets the soldier that shot himself in the foot again. It does feel different in that the guy is cleaned up and has lost the wildness in his eyes, realising his own shameful conduct, unbecoming of a Starfleet officer, but it strikes home at Jake after his experience running from the shelling. After Bashir's berated himself for being stupid enough to bring Jake to such a danger zone (in some ways he was right - he could have gone back for him right away, but he would have been disoriented and singleminded in his determination to retrieve the generator - it would have been a difficult scene for him to have to tell Sisko he lost his son). Jake's had about as much as he can take, and this is another scene which tips the balance for him. The idea of someone phasering their foot to escape the fighting is a grisly thought, and the episode is full of the imagery of the pointlessness of war. Jake's fellow workers use gallows humour to ward off their feelings, experience teaching them this is the best way to deal with it, but Jake doesn't have that experience and flies off the handle. The unnamed Bolian was the best of these characters, so dry and atypical of his species - he looked quite rounded, as many of them do, but was much more worldly than the usual Bolians who tend to be garrulous in the extreme.
The peace talks with the Klingons were quick to break down and quick to reinstate the ceasefire of 'Apocalypse Rising,' so my feeling is that some general or leader took offence at some act of Starfleet and probably without orders decided to attack. Gowron may not have known about this breach in discipline right away so he couldn't respond to keep his forces in check. There's no evidence of this, it's purely my own speculation, but it seems a reasonable hypothesis given the facts. It also gives credence to Jake's anger at the futility of war, and how no one in ten years will even remember what happened on Ajilon Prime. With the quick change in politics, it's true, and the lives lost there were futile losses, making the carnage so much more barren in meaning and purpose. The title, even following such a magnificently long one as the last episode sported, was another great naming, and especially of interest to me as it's a Biblical quotation from Ecclesiastes (sadly I didn't know the book of the Bible it came from until I read it in the Companion!), making for an excellent inspiration, just as so much has come from other parts of the Bible, Shakespeare or other literary history and film. It means some thought went into coming up with something unique, it isn't just another episode off the production line, the reason why this period of Trek was blessed with such consistency of strong writing, acting and storytelling. How long can this unbroken run of classic-rated stories continue?
****
The Bounty Hunter
DVD, Starsky & Hutch S1 (The Bounty Hunter)
My main thought was 'this guy isn't much of a bounty hunter.' When an episode is named for a guy, you expect him to live up to the name, and while I understand that bounty hunting is a real profession, and not some kind of Boba Fett fantasy figure, they could have come up with better casting and a better idea for an adversary for S&H, than Bo Rile. He's under the thumb of the silver-maned Lola, he barely shows any cunning, and he doesn't even kill anyone himself, failing in the attack on Denise, Jerry Konig's girl! He's a chubby, middle-aged bore in a brown suit, and his only claim to fame is that he makes S&H look silly (even getting away with breaking, entering, and attacking Denise, claiming he's a bounty hunter, so, like, he can go where he pleases if it's for the cause, right?), since they can't even spot that it's him running away from "Konig's" crime scenes, who looks nothing like the man, and he keeps popping up there. But then S&H, or Hutch at least, is too busy gazing at exotic dancers or thinking about his girlfriend to be much use this episode. It doesn't help that the whole production has a beige and brown veil to it in the locations they visit (some of which look familiar - the bail bonds area, the clothing store, the alley outside the Mission Ice House), the clothing that's worn and the plot, too, could be described in that way.
It's not that it's a terrible episode and I wouldn't call it out as the worst of the season because it's not boring and there is some enjoyment to be had in seeing S&H do their typical thing of darting round the city on a mission, talking to a few oddballs and nagging at each other in that warm way. At the same time, it's not a very good story and there isn't much action going on, the highlights in that department being the confrontation at the abandoned dock/dump area where they once again take on a shooter with a rifle and have to get to him before he kills them, just as in 'Texas Longhorn' and 'Jo-Jo.' To give Bo his dues, he did get the upper hand in that shootout, knowing when to scarper, but he gets his comeuppance at the paint factory in the best part of the episode: Starsky (his stunt double anyway), leaps through a stack of metal cans, taking Rile down a staircase, then they tussle around shelving full of paint tins that splash all over them (reminding me of the 'Smallville' episode 'Shimmer'), and Hutch (stunt Hutch), throws him around a bit too. I don't usually notice Hutch's double, but in this episode I saw him twice - in this fight, where no matter how hard he keeps his head down, you can see in the body language that it isn't Hutch, and when he takes Rile down as he's trying to kill Denise.
Both times Hutch does his trademark move of leaping onto the baddie's back to tackle him to the floor (or was that Starsky's move?). Both S&H also do the roll over the bonnet of the Torino as if they know this is the last episode so they're going to get in as many of the expected cliches as possible. That runs to the pop culture references too, as if they'd stored up all the unused credits of the last few episodes and crammed them all into this one. I lost track of how many there were, but Starsky's weird book of 'facts' was responsible for such subjects as Big Foot and The Red Baron; we see a villain reading a Marvel Comic ('Werewolf By Night' - ironic, considering he looked a bit like one); George Brent and Bette Davis come up thanks to the Hollywood clothing store; 'Police Story' is mentioned (presumably a cop show); and there's even time for Starsky to do his Bogart impression ("You better believe it, shweetheart!"). Something I learned was the origin of the word 'geek,' according to Starsky the name for circus performers with repulsive acts in which ugly people run around gobbling up snakes and chicken heads. The funny thing is they're discussing this from his book, and then the modern interpretation of the word is seen in his and Huggy's realisation they've both read the same book, and their enthusiastic discussion of it!
The running jokes are more apparent than they have been in recent episodes, with the book being the main one, Starsky's complete belief in its stories giving Hutch reason to tease him. The other thing going on is Hutch's preparations for his two-day fast with girlfriend Abigail, meaning he's eating fruit all the time (if I was him, I wouldn't have consumed anything while in the environment Monty lived in!), and the kind of weird health food Starsky always has such aversion to. The other biggie is the much-missed "I'm Starsky, he's Hutch," the variation this time being from a guy with a speech impediment who calls them Starchy (or Starpy) and Hup, making it "I'm Starchy, he's Hup." Eddie Hoyle was a nice old guy, one of the victims of society that S&H like to be befriend, it seems, though I knew he wasn't going to die as he's one of the few who comes back in Season 2. His treatment at the hands of Bo, and mind of Lola, make them more villainous than they would have seemed otherwise, and he was a likeable character in the quirky vein.
There were things in the plot that didn't go anywhere, unfortunately something of a flaw for the series. This time it was Jim Nedloe and his wife, set up as if they're going to be integral to the story, and then all but dropped, Nedloe's trip to intensive care only there to show how dangerous Bo Rile is, that he'll go to the lengths of shooting a cop if it keeps the cover story going. It was another time when I found myself wishing Nedloe, or even his wife had been a character we'd known before the episode or had had meaningful scenes with, as that would have given us some connection to them and would have given his attack meaning. We don't know them, they aren't so well written that we want to know them better (see my review of 'DS9' episode 'The Ship' for an example of that being done right), so there's no cost in seeing them hurt, except to send a message to S&H, and get Dobey riled up.
The thing is, there's a negative feel running through the episode and it ranges from characters, to the places they inhabit. We have two people with speech impediments (one, Konig, so Bo can imitate his voice and fool Denise, and the other Eddie, to gain sympathy), with little reason except to use them because of it, and Monty Voorhees, a former 'geek' circus performer, shown living in a mess. But there's no sympathy for him, and S&H feel perfectly justified in antagonising him with nasty teases which is one of those things that tells of its time, and something modern policing wouldn't allow. Monty seems like a bit of a victim himself, so there isn't the usual amusement from these quirky characters, they're not really funny at all, and so when they are made fun of, it's S&H that look bad. There's a degree of bad taste, or at the very least, a lack of professionalism from the detectives, which isn't usually the case. Take the black couple at the beginning, Jim Nedloe and his wife - S&H are having some banter and wife-beating comes up as a joke! I know it's not to be taken seriously and it's far too easy to find fault in a politically correct way, but it stood out to me as not being quite appropriate. There's also the way they charge around waving their guns and frightening the general public, before imperiously holding up their badges to quell any fear two young men with large guns might have on innocent passersby, but by then it was too late.
I didn't like the seedy aspect to the episode, either, not that the Jungle Club was the worst place they've visited (look out for the guy behind the goldfish bowl - I'm sure he's a stock extra that's been in other episodes, such as 'Texas Longhorn' with the blood clinic where he stares at S&H like… well, a goldfish), but it seemed like the makers were really proud of this set they'd built, so we had to see it for as long as possible - let's get people watching with all the 'exotic' dancing, regardless of plot (and embarrassingly, like the sleazy shot of Huggy in the cinema, used in this season's opening credits so you're constantly reminded of that scene, they liked the dancing so much they used it in other seasons' opening credits!). The only good things about it were the monkey with the flashing eyes, and the traffic lights pinched from Starsky's home set!
I felt Denise was a weak character, who, considering her job, wasn't exactly the most upright person to be trying to 'reform' Jerry. She was also very gullible both times she was rung up by Jerry's killers. But it was Hutch who was at his worst, gazing at the blonde dancer for ages in the same episode in which his girlfriend features most! Again, it made him look bad, and only if it turned into some shamefaced joke on him at the end, would it have made sense for the story. Instead, we get him and Starsky having dinner at his place, made by Abi, and the joke's on Starsky (whose wacky jumper and squirming at the food is admittedly comical), and then it ends with a dull line about Starsky keeping an eye on Hutch. And that's it? I wanted something that felt like an ending, with Huggy and Dobey along, but maybe they didn't know this was going to be the last episode of the season?
It was good that Abi was in the series so much, from her introduction in 'The Deadly Imposter,' return in 'Silence' and the odd mention in other episodes, culminating here in her definite position as Hutch's girlfriend, and it was something I'd never noticed before, even watching the episodes in order, because it's so underplayed. I'm not sure if she came back in Season 2, but I have a memory of him having to say goodbye to some blonde girl, so maybe it was her - I'll pay more attention in future. That's one good thing about writing down your thoughts in review form after each episode: it gives you a more cohesive sense of the season as a whole, and little references dropped here and there become recognisable as parts of S&H's lives, something you might not always understand if you watch episodes singly, since they were designed to be viewed without prior knowledge so people weren't put off by thinking they'd missed important information.
It has also made it possible to see its developments as a weekly creation. It began as one thing, sort of nudged into something else, and by this episode had merged those two sides, though not in the most accomplished way. The pilot was all about S&H against a corrupt city, a corrupt police authority, only able to fully trust and rely on each other. Then with Captain Dobey becoming their strong advocate, even while chewing them out on a regular basis, they weren't alone any more and so they could have a bit more fun, and they also had help from Huggy Bear, so there became more of an ensemble feel. That's why the first half of the season works better, and once Dobey and Huggy's roles were stripped back again, after they'd begun to build them up, Huggy losing his locale and sense of place, Dobey appearing in less scenes (though in this one he does get out of the office, and shows frustration at the injustices of perpetrators getting off to shoot cops), it returned more to the idea of S&H out there on their own, though never in the same isolation thanks to them having so many friends on the street or in the force. I've been judging episodes on whether they fall into the hard and dirty negative category or the promising and hopeful positive. Later episodes have blurred the boundaries a little, but the distinction still held true throughout.
This episode falls back into negativity through the strange more than wacky people they meet (such as Voorhees), the rundown parts of the city they go to, and the lowdown things that take place. At the same time there's never a mood of despair or S&H taking their lives into their hands for the protection of the city - they have plenty of banter, and it's more about Bo and Lola trying to keep the wool pulled over their eyes, than any danger to themselves or people they care about. So it was an uneasy mishmash of style and content that doesn't end the series on a high. Season 1 was generally much more serious and realistic (in this episode we actually see Hutch reload his gun, for once!), compared with later series, but Season 2 was the better season because although it moved into more humour, playing up their characters, it also had better action and stories and was a bit freer in what it could do, summed up in the change of title music. Season 3 was the pendulum swinging back to Season 1 seriousness, and 4 was the other way, and it's an interesting progression to watch, and one I look forward to commenting upon.
**
Looking For Par'Mach in All The Wrong Places
DVD, DS9 S5 (Looking For Par'Mach in All The Wrong Places)
Having help from Worf in his Klingon wooing was quite the turnaround, as the frowning warrior had shown little but contempt for Quark and his snivelling Ferengi ways. But even Worf wouldn't lower himself to challenge the bartender to a death match. Thopok, Madam Grilka's bodyguard, is utterly disgusted with Quark and against, his elder's, Tumek's, advice and age-old experience, he cannot contain his revulsion to the Ferengi. There's a nice twist in the casting this time - though Tumek had been in 'House,' Thopok was a new character, but both Joseph Ruskin and Phil Morris had an association with Trek dating back decades, both having been in 'TOS,' (Ruskin as a younger man, Morris as a young boy!), and both going on to be in 'Voyager,' though sadly, not in the same episodes. Grilka's retinue is filled out from when she was in danger of losing control of her house, having lost her husband to Quark in an accident, she grew mildly fond of him for his quirkiness and hidden depths. As much as he always kids himself that profit is his ultimate goal, he really isn't such a 'good' Ferengi as all that, which is why he's hung around and, if not thrived on DS9, made plenty of friends and vindicated Sisko's decision to have him be at the centre of a community. Just like the Cardassian, Natima Lang, Grilka sees more in him.
Joyfully however, and true to his character, Quark never loses his essential Ferengi-ness to all the Klingon ritual and regalia he puts on. He wears the clothes of Kahless (literally, it appears, as Kahless was short and stout in his 'TNG' appearance, and wore that muffled fur outfit, and they never threw anything away if they thought it could be reused, so it was very likely the actual clothing of the Emperor in production terms!). Even after learning choice Klingon phrases, battling the night away in the Holosuite, and going out of his way to be true to the lady's cultural traditions, he'll suddenly come out with a 'romantic' line that being a Ferengi means he's always looking to acquire items of great worth. This is too much for Grilka, but even then he follows it up with a statement that she is worth more than all the Latinum in the Quadrant, mollifying her pride excellently. But Quark is at his best when he's put on the spot and has to lie like Garak to keep himself alive.
The situation: a bat'leth about to bear down on him. The problem: Worf's super-cool holographic puppeteering signal has been lost, meaning Quark can't fight like one of the best Klingons around any more. Just as in 'House' he's forced to improvise, but the clever thing is that they were able to come up with another way of getting him out of a fight with a Klingon, on the Klingon's terms, yet one that would be accepted by viewers! It makes me wish Quark had been thrown into the same problem every season like the annual torture O'Brien episodes, just to see what the writers would come up with next! The technology was so simple in concept, yet also a marvel in terms of using existing and understood tech in a completely new way. But as we see, anything can go wrong, especially something new. This is where Quark's wit comes in and he's forced to improvise a Ferengi tradition out of thin air to give Dax time to repair her handiwork. The whole sequence is fantastic, from Quark striding in dressed as a full Klingon (the fourth cast member to do so this season, after Sisko, O'Brien and Odo), to his delight at being able to parry and block Thopok's assault, his dismay at losing Worf's control, and the speech of love he rattles off on a whim. But my favourite moment is when he feels the holo-device reactivate, stops in mid-flow, whirls around, and throws a look back over his shoulder, saying 'back to the fighting.'
Quark's (or really, Armin Shimerman's) comic timing is impeccable, but he's not the only member of the cast allowed to shine. Some of them add more humour in their body language (Bashir straightening up as if stretching when Quark finds him eavesdropping on the 'O'Briens' arguing; Dax trying to poke her head around Worf's huge form to see into the bar; Morn, unexpectedly being given a flying lesson by Worf), but with Rene Auberjonois it was all in the voice. He's been plenty sarcastic before, but rarely has it flowed so freely and with as much glee as he displays to Kira when she defends O'Brien after he's complained about the Chief's work standard of late. She says she feels like a member of the family and Odo digs the boot in, twists it around and enjoys himself more than he has for a long time ('What member of the family do you feel like? A sister? Daughter…? Cousin…?'), parting with a jab at her calling him 'Miles.' It's a scene of gold, and this episode would undoubtedly stand high in the pantheon of those episodes that show 'DS9' as the funniest, lightest series of them all, while also pulling off the deepest, darkest stories, too. What I love almost as much about that scene is that it shows Odo back in his rightful place, Kira there for her briefing, they've gone back to how they were before Shakaar came to the station in 'Crossfire.'
If there could be a complaint it's that we still haven't dealt with Odo's new life as a solid, beyond the first episode. But as I've noted before, there are so many stories and characters to peer into that it would take a good few episodes before we'd caught up with everyone, and that's one of the great charms of the series: each season looking forward to getting to a Garak episode, or seeing how the O'Brien's are faring, or whatever. In this the O'Briens are faring very well, too well as it turns out, in what may be one of the most bizarre twists of the series: O'Brien and Kira realise they're becoming too close for good sense and decency. What's worse (and makes it ever more funny), is Keiko's belief they've been fighting, leading her to do everything in her power to get them together! I don't know who to pity more, but I'm glad this didn't properly turn into 'Deep Soap Nine,' and that it was all done in an amusing way, not a serious one.
Something I felt that was beginning to come through for perhaps the first time, was that the series was starting to ponder its end. It seems a strange thing to say at the start of a fresh season, but there were little signs here and there that more was behind than in front - they had passed well into middle age. The most pertinent example for me, was O'Brien admitting he had recently begun to daydream of home in Ireland, not something we've ever heard from him before. He was always happy tinkering with this and that on the Enterprise, and then having full-time engineering problems on the station. Maybe I read too much into it, but like Odo's unrealised desire to be accepted by his people (which probably came before this episode, so I was wrong, there was a slight feeling of the end before this point), O'Brien is mentally preparing for his next stage in life, the place he would go to once the series had run its course. There are other things that signal… not quite the home straight, but the road towards the end: Dax and Worf finally get together.
To be honest her sudden interest in the Klingon does come unexpectedly, but not illogically. They'd long been friends, ever since he found the Klingon holo-programmes she had on the Holosuites and realised the depth of her Klingon understanding. But they'd always been colleagues both professionally and personally, rather like Julian and Miles. But Dax' advances still seem to come out of nowhere, to some degree, the catalyst being Worf's infatuation with Grilka, someone he tries hard to impress. But seeing as Dax got a rare belly laugh out of him at the end, she was destined to be the perfect match, I can't remember him ever laughing before or since. She even becomes the only other person in history, to my knowledge, to wear Worf's baldric! As ever (this being a Ron Moore Klingon episode), we get more of the culture displayed, whether that's the battle of Kahless and Lukara, or Worf's Klingon attempt at being noticed in the bar. Despite all the shouting and bravado, the old Tumek turns aside Worf's heated display and informs him, rather coldly for a Klingon, that Grilka is not someone he should pursue. There's a sense of talking down to Worf, but Tumek does it such a way that all parties are respectful and he is given his marching orders briefly and simply. I thought of K'Eleyr when Worf's asked if he's had any dealings with Klingon women, but she was the antithesis, reviling the traditions and being half-human with it.
From this, Worf goes into disinterested brooding (I love that he uses the Defiant as his own, personal house, blasting Klingon opera on the bridge, or talking to Dax in the mess!), until the initial disgust he feels that Quark should be the chosen one for Grilka's affection turns to inspiration as he lives out his Klingon traditions vicariously by sharing them with Quark. His eyes light up as he explains the intricacies of the rituals, and he just seems happy to pass on what he knows, despite Quark being a pretty dismissive student, only interested in the grand prize, not all the legwork, though I had the impression he came to enjoy the customs because he was taking part in them with Grilka. Maybe Worf even gained a new respect for Quark because of all this? Quark is praised by Grilka in the strongest manner for a Klingon who has had relatively little respect for other races, like most of her people, who tend to see themselves as best. His bar-tending is complimented highly (digression: seeing the Bolian, I thought he was a customer wandering behind the bar until I noticed him as the bartender - it makes sense as there's no Rom for backup any more, and Quark wouldn't trust his Ferengi employees!), but even more precious is being likened to a Basai Master, a poet! I found that interesting because we've previously heard of a Dahar Master, the title afforded to Kor, meaning a great warrior, so these could be among many 'Master' titles in the Klingon culture. It's great to still be digging deeper into the most fully realised alien race in Trek.
Captain Sisko makes only a cursory appearance to throw his baseball at Dax (this sounds more violent than it actually was), and I think the reason he was kept out of the picture, just as Kira was busy with her O'Brien problem (digression: the Runabout she leaves on is once again not named), was so that he couldn't interfere with the battle to the death, something I'm sure he wouldn't have sanctioned on his station. Worf and Dax seem fairly blase about their plan, Worf sounding mildly surprised that Quark's still alive when the sensor is damaged, but other than that not showing concern, even though this is supposed to be a fight to the death! He and Dax even say they can't attend the battle, but I have to presume that was because of it being a custom rather than them being busy with a shift at Ops or some other mundane duty. It's the way he says it… The difference between the fight in 'House' and this one, is that this time Quark isn't alone in Klingon space, cut off from all his friends and the familiar surroundings of DS9, as he was before. There he had to think on the spur of the moment and the reward was his life. This time he has to think on the spur of the moment, but the reward is Grilka, so the stakes are somewhat lowered. Thanks to so many funny scenes, what might have made a lack of tension compared with the earlier episode didn't matter in the slightest. It's all just good fun, bookended by a bewildered Bashir.
Something else I appreciate with the series is their careful selection of titles. They aren't worried that a title is too long or too short, sounds wrong or flippant, or even has any meaning at all ('Rocks and Shoals'?), it's all about the craft of the final product and sticking something on the front end that's different and suits the episode. For trivia's sake, this was the second longest title in Trek history, beaten only by one from 'TOS,' and that tended to be more flowery and varied, so 'DS9' was really only following in its ancestors footprints. Andrew Robinson had only appeared once so far this season, and that was in a recap of the Season 4 cliffhanger, but his character had been mentioned in each episode so far, I think. Well this time Garak didn't appear, but Robinson was behind every shot, directing his first Trek. I can't say I noticed a style, there weren't any shots that jumped out at me that were so good, but the episode was excellently directed in spite of that. The story was so enjoyable that the mind was never drawn to the technical side of it, so the direction never pulled me out and presented the performances as it should.
****
Traveller
DVD, Smallville S7 (Traveller)
It says something about the characterisation of Lionel that even after all the evil acts he's committed over the course of the series and prior to it, the belief in his current state as Clark's most powerful ally made me doubt the apparent evil intentions that kidnapping Clark painted. Because he's been this person to stand by Clark's side, and I've never been able to understand it fully after who he used to be and with so many of the decisions he's taken for the good of Clark. For a long time I distrusted him, but I'd got to a point where I saw things his way, he was always plausible, even caught on the hop (as he was at the end of this episode). He must have kidnapped Clark to protect him, to prevent his 'enemies' from getting to him, whoever those enemies were. It didn't help his case that he hired Mr. Former 33.1 Security as his main man, but that actually made him look better in the light of the guy's hatred of all meteor freaks and that he relished torturing them and wanted them all dead, against Lionel's orders. But Lionel ends up killing him, as he tends to do with people that take part in his plans. They can't talk. And the 'enemy'? Turns out it was Patricia Swann, Dr. Virgil's daughter!
Not only do we get to meet the daughter of Christopher Reeve's great character (and she actually looks a little like him - same chin or something?), but it's also revealed that Swann was in cahoots with the Luthors when his daughter was a child! Not only that, but there was a group of four rich families, the Luthors, the Swanns, the Teagues (who ended up dead in Season 4), and the Queens. So Olly Queen has that connection in a way, and they all apparently knew of the impending arrival of a traveller from the stars. It isn't explained how all these people knew these things, or why Swann was happy to work with such people as the Luthors and Teagues (I can't believe they changed that much since then), and if it's all tied up with some kind of astrology or something, then it will have been a very weak retcon. Otherwise it's a brilliantly conceived backstory that does well in connecting many of the dots of characters we've known, or known about.
Patricia was a likeable character, she had an honest face as if she was like her Father, so Lionel's apparent attempt to 'save' Clark by getting all the paperwork on Veritas (the secret society formed to watch for the Traveller), looks shadier and shadier, especially as we can easily believe Patricia's assertion of the evidence of his implication in the murders of its members. But it's Lex that has her killed, all for the precious locket she wore, though whether that had any special significance beyond confirming who had had her murdered, I'm uncertain. I was looking forward to Clark getting to know her and having another ally, unlooked for. Or she may have proven to be another dangerous association that we'd never be one hundred percent certain he should trust, though there was never a hint of her being anything more than a good person hoping to continue her Father's work. But we never got that chance, and seeing her killed hurt the episode, for me. She was a character worth exploring.
I though they'd probably leave Clark's confronting of Lionel for another episode, but true to the energetic and no-punches-pulled style of the episode, they cut right to it near the end. It doesn't turn into anything spectacular, but it is a major change to have Clark no longer trusting in Lionel any more. As with Lex, they've had their ups and downs, but Lionel's always talked his way back into Clark's good graces or done something that proves his good nature. This time his panted out explanation fails to convince the last son of Krypton any more than it does us: he supposedly built the highly impregnable facility with its Kryptonite-barred cage in case any other of Clark's people came. He needed the Veritas information to prevent anyone else from using it against Clark (how can you be sure of that in these days of easily copyable documents and infinite digital storage space?). All Clark knows is that Lionel was revealed behind the broken screen of his prison, that he killed the one man who might have testified, and that the suspicion that he wanted Clark to himself rather than share him with anyone else has been the only thing giving Lionel reason to help. The same could be said for his plans against Lex - does he really care about his sons devastating potential for destruction, or about preserving things his way?
With the seeds of doubt fully grown thanks to Patricia's words how can Clark ever return to the safety of Lionel's broad wings? At least he can count on the friends he's always had: to save Clark, Chloe and Lana must first save Kara from Lex. They couldn't know how close it was to Lex trying out his procedure on her and probably finding out every Kent family secret worth knowing, but it was a tense and frantic moment when the Luthor mansion is infiltrated and they plead with Kara to leave with them. I wanted that mansion under siege to go on longer, as well as seeing the escape, but we can't have everything. There was something about the episode that helped it turn into one of the best episodes of the season - a confident and solidly active story where things don't stand still and revelations and questions flood your mind. It brings to mind the style of the Bourne films with that connection to the characters and their narrative (even features a hero who's lost her memory!), and beats along, the music, the camerawork, everything keeping the episode breathing fast.
It begins like that, with a good opening sequence in which Clark's barn becomes a brawling pit for special forces types in black, shooting their Kryptonite infused taser weapons which looked both visually stunning and also had the virtue of being a logical and alluring weapon that takes us to the next stage of weaponry against those with superior meteor-induced abilities. You're left bewildered as to who could be behind it - has Lex finally worked out what Clark is, could it be the government, or is some other evil force at work? It's surprising when we find out that Lionel's behind it, but as I said, I believed in his best intentions even then. Amidst such pulse-pounding danger and mounting intrigue, there were a few moments of beauty that kept the series true to its visual identity of bright colours and optimistic nature. When Kara receives her powers and memory back at the Fortress after Chloe's taken her there, she's lifted, glowing into the sky. And the Kent farm looks as bright and happy as ever (except in the teaser when the barn is inexplicably dark and sinister). There's even another hint towards the man the Traveller, Clark, will become, and this time he doesn't frown at the thought of it when Patricia tells him she hopes to see it one day. Sadly she'd never get the chance.
No Jimmy or Lois in the story doesn't hurt it in the least, there was far too much going on, and in the secret realm that those characters haven't been initiated into yet. There was more than enough to concentrate on without them having to be worked in somehow. I wonder if the Veritas sign is connected to the mystery in Lex' family crest or stained glass window? It seems certain that the organisation will become more important from now on, even considering they're all deceased. Can it be right that Lionel had a hand in the deaths of Oliver's parents? That would make this Green Arrow a part of the 'Smallville' world, distinct from his 'true' backstory since Lionel was a creation of this series. With next episode's title the actual name of the secret society I anticipate developments with interest. They finally gave Kara her character back, and I'm glad it happened in a story where that part of it was essential, but also wasn't the main part of the story. They really packed it in this time, as if it was a second launching point for the season. I just wish it was like this every week!
***
The Ship
DVD, DS9 S5 (The Ship)
Weyoun, the last member of the Vorta that we saw (Season 4, 'To The Death'), is mentioned by Kilana in a move that would begin to show that that particular member of the race was not going to be forgotten and moved on from as the others had. Thinking of him did make me wonder if she met a similar fate, being killed for failing her mission (though technically he was executed for not showing trust in his men), as we never hear of her again. It wasn't the Founders who killed Weyoun, but they wouldn't look kindly on her failure. Never mind, you can always grow another. Perhaps her clone 'tree' or whatever they call it, was deleted from the records so there would be no more Kilanas? She did seem an abnormal representative of her race: all the others wore strict clothing and had the same bland, black haircut and pale faces. She's a bit more rouged and made-up, adorned with earrings, long, auburn hair and brighter clothes. Was she a bit of a rebel in Vorta circles, failing to conform to their identikit style? I don't remember it ever being explained why the Jem'Hadar ship crashed. Maybe it was crewed by rebels and Kilana's ship was in pursuit, or it could have been attacked by another race. Had they been experimenting with new technology that had gone wrong? It just sails out of the sky and 'Boom!' smashes into the planet. We don't see the impact - it would be left for 'Voyager's 100th for that (on ice rather than desert).
We'll never know the reason why it crashed, and why the Jem'Hadar had all their bones broken (I know they suggest it was due to the inertial dampers being offline, but what other evidence is there? And the Changeling survived). One minor detail of the episode does stand out a little, and that's the limp Jem'Hadar arms which don't hold up to scrutiny. I always feel the arms don't look right dangling so loosely, but hearing that every bone in their bodies was broken on impact with the atmosphere does give good reason for their jelly-like state, beyond the real world answer that they were dummies. It also explains why the shapeshifter is ailing and stays hidden until it can't hold its shape. I'd never seen this episode on DVD before (I'd been going through the series on video until I got the DVDs, and so I first saw the new format at the end of Season 5 or in Season 6). It's never bothered me before, but with crispness and sharpness of DVD (who needs HD!), it occurred to me that maybe sometimes watching on a small screen on video gives a situation like this (dark, smoky and close), more depth and character because of the grainy indistinctness. I've never thought that before and it may just be a whimsy, but it flashed into my head as I watched the shots inside the ship, where it appeared less murky and easier to see further than I remembered. At the same time I revelled in details such as the Benzite makeup or the texture of Sisko's face, so sharp and real.
The Jem'Hadar were different in some ways with this appearance. They had more defined ridge protrusions than I felt we'd seen before, and some were almost bare-chested as they scrambled down the boulders to attack Sisko's team. They were also bad shots, though the story required them to at least hit the minor characters, even though they weren't wearing red. Mind you, if the Redshirt rule still applied, Sisko and Worf would have been casualties. They weren't above making main characters suffer, as happened to Jadzia in both 'Rocks and Shoals' and 'Change of Heart,' though I want to say this was our first exposure to the anticoagulant Jem'Hadar firearms. The knife one uses when he sneaks around in the ship had been seen before in 'To The Death,' but what I found more telling of that sequence was that he beamed in fully visible, then his chameleon ability kicked in as he ran off as if it could only work when in motion - maybe kinetic energy powers the technology? More firsts for the species were a look inside their ships, and the discovery of the personal viewscreen technology, sadly not in operation. I have to ask what kept those dead Jem'Hadar attached to the floor! Being such a sparse environment there were no chairs or anything for them to be entangled in, so unless the shapeshifter was covering the entire bulkhead and holding them in place for some kind of ruse, they could only really have been wedged under the consoles.
The death of the Changeling is one of several we'd seen, each having died in a different manner: there was Mirror Odo exploding like a watermelon. There was fake Krajensky, burning up in the warp field to crumble into dust. There was false Martok going off like a firecracker, and now this one, oozing to the floor and crumbling into a pile of black ash. I'm always impressed when I see the CG ooze turn into the ash, then literally breaking down under its own weight and scattering on the floor. It's both gruesome and saddening - this Changeling is somewhat more sympathetic thanks to its plaintive death wail and that we never saw it alive, so had no reason to think ill of it. Sisko is just as distraught as Kilana at the needless loss of life for all parties, and if only they could have trusted each other… It's not like the Dominion to allow an enemy to have their way, but maybe it was the despondency over the death of one of the Founders that meant they couldn't even be bothered to finish the small Starfleet band off, and let them take the ship - Kilana's beamed away, so presumably there are other Jem'Hadar aboard her ship, not counted guilty for letting one of their 'gods' die as they didn't go down to the planet.
There's talk of suicide and beliefs thrown in here and there, though the issues are somewhat sidestepped - Sisko admits only to believing in… things, though his deeply religious experiences with the Prophets were beginning to change his mind, and O'Brien shows disregard for Worf's insensitive view on euthanasia (I don't think Worf was really going to administer a beating to O'Brien, he was just roughing him up a little - even in anger he knew the engineer was no match for him physically, and O'Brien may have been a soldier, but he wasn't in great shape). These themes add much to the episode just by being broached at all. Worf's point of view is alien, and O'Brien forcefully doesn't share it (a bit like McCoy's regret at turning off his Father's life support machine). There's also the Jem'Hadar, who have previously stated, like a proud custom, that they go into battle as dead men to 'reclaim' their lives with victory. Aliens and their customs are what make episodes of Trek more than space action with funny-looking people.
Take the Runabout scene where we see a rare appearance from a member of the Benzite race (just mentioned in the previous episode), Hoya, (played by Hilary Shepard - I was surprised when I realised she was the same actress that played Lauren, one of the genetically-engineered savants of Seasons 6 and 7!), was the first (and possibly only), female of the race we saw, and the first not to feature breathing apparatus, as well as being a fully-fledged Starfleet officer (the dark red uniform suiting her light blue face very well). If we're talking obscure alien species we have to mention the guy in the Away Team (yes, Sisko leads an Away team - I love it!). If Benzites are on the third or fourth tier of recognisable aliens, somewhere beneath Bolians and Yridians, then T'Lor is perhaps the most unknown of all returning aliens. He's a member of the Tiburon race, the same as strange Dr. Sevrin of 'TOS' Season 3 episode 'The Way To Eden.' Those distinctive ears were not a trait to be easily forgotten, and what a brilliant and unexpected link to 'TOS'! I never even noticed the first few times I saw it, until I read in the 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' the entry featuring a closeup of T'Lor's head! Sevrin didn't have head ridges, but that can be explained if T'Lor was of mixed parentage. In that case I wonder what race he inherited the bobbly head ridge from - those dinosaurs from the Delta Quadrant? Who knows, but I adore the nooks and crannies of the Trek universe that lead to such rampant speculation!
Quark, Bashir and Kira don't take part in the meat of the story again, with a fun scene in which Odo takes great pleasure in arresting B and Q for smuggling illegal creatures. It's such a relief to see him back in his old uniform, the sarcastic attitude on full blast and showing who's boss in the law department. Even wearing a uniform, and breaking the law unintentionally, you deserve to get at least a bit worried about your state of freedom, in Odo's book! It reminded me of the scene where Quark was hauled into Sisko's office for vole fighting in Season 3, and though they hadn't found a way to use those characters yet in a story, I liked the reminder that they were still around - so many characters to catch up with, new ones being added every season, that unless it became purely serialised with no individual stories it was going to take a few episodes for us to take a peek into everyone's lives.
One character who took a backseat in the first episode gets more of the limelight in this: Dax. She's one of the few that can talk to Sisko on an equal level, so it was important that she should be along on the mission when Sisko was under such stresses, though why they thought it was a good idea to check out a planet in the Gamma Quadrant for potential mining, seems bizarre! Had Starfleet gone soft, or did they think the Dominion had? They weren't exactly at war with them, had even had about as friendly contact as they were going to get in their last two encounters (hunting down rogue Jem'Hadar and taking Odo to be judged), but even so, it is farfetched that they thought they could get away with mining in the Dominion's home Quadrant! Having Dax along was useful for Sisko, but even she comes close to being insubordinate when she flashes a 'Yes, sir!' in his face after he's snapped out orders at them all, but she's there later to comfort and console, and help him see the losses of the crewmembers in practical terms. She isn't whom the episode is about, but provides her supporting role admirably, even getting in a fight - taken unawares by a Jem'Hadar, without a weapon she gives a good fight, coming back for seconds in the fray, though it's Muniz that saves the Chief's life from a Jem'Hadar knife blade.
Muniz wasn't quite a recurring character, he was more of a bit-part, who'd been in a couple of episodes, his biggest role being in 'Starship Down' where he's a nervous junior engineer in the middle of a war situation (against a Jem'Hadar warship again, interestingly). He hadn't been built up into this big pal of O'Brien's, but that doesn't make his death any less poignant thanks to the quality of the writing. My favourite line of the episode is O'Brien's reply to his delirious joy at a firework only he can see: 'Yeah. That was a good one,' O'Brien repeats, rich with meaning as if he's summing up his friend and accepting that he is going to die. Worf's klingon attitudes to death cause anger for O'Brien who wants to believe 'Quique' will make it, as much for Muniz' mental wellbeing as for O'Brien's hope that he will. Another thoroughly affecting moment is when Sisko hands out orders to each of the surviving crew, then turns to the almost unconscious Muniz and orders him to stay alive.
Sisko's put through it in this one, it almost makes his assignment to a Klingon party look like… well, a party. This time it's hot and cramped, like a submarine, with constant bombardment from outside as the Jem'Hadar vessel pounds the area to shake them up. His crew are coming to blows, the tension's rising and he has to deal with a volatile diplomatic situation with a devious opponent in the Vorta. She tries to be all nice and apple pie to him, (after the Jem'Hadar have come tearing down the rocks, killed one, fatally maimed Muniz and blown a Runabout out of the sky!), once her men no longer have the upper hand, and Sisko can be reasonable, as he says, but Kilana's playing any game she can to wrest control since the prize she's after is greater than he could guess - if it weren't for that Changeling, the Jem'Hadar wouldn't have hesitated to beam in and carry out hand to hand slaughter, which would certainly have made it a different episode (more like 'Impulse' from 'Enterprise,' perhaps?).
Was it worth it? That's the question the episode boils down to. Sisko has to deal with losing people in close quarters in ways that show his vulnerability. But that comes after he's secured his people and the ship, he's made the big decisions and stayed in command of himself and retained discipline among his people. Later he has time to question his choices, and as Dax says, that's what it comes down to. None of the people who died (Hoya, T'Lor, Muniz, Bertram and Rooney - I always think of the England footballer when I hear that name!), were forced into Starfleet, and like many of those that have been lost in the course of duty, they knew the dangers of the life they signed up for. You can't imagine Kirk, or even Picard, sitting down at the end of an episode and ruminating on those they lost, and it's not something Sisko does on a regular basis, but in this particular case it was about the sacrifice of soldiers and whether any military target can ever be worth it. But if it saves lives in the future… The technical knowledge and tactical scans taken from the captured ship would be useful to the coming war effort, just as the ship itself would come to be.
There's actually a lot left to the imagination in this episode. Although we do see the brilliant flashes as the Jem'Hadar ship falls through the atmosphere, and the Runabout's explosion, (connection between planetscape and space usually consisting only of beaming from one to the other, making this rather special and putting it more into reality), we don't see the ship crash to the surface. Nor do we see the salvage operation with the Defiant tugging it out (it would be done with CGI these days, the sand draining off), or the Jem'Hadar mass suicide, perhaps more chilling because we're told about it rather than witnessing something gory (again, nowadays we'd probably have to endure it for the sake of 'realism'). We don't even see the fabled gun turret they keep talking about! But what we do see is almost film quality: they actually built a huge portion of ship embedded in a sand dune! They'd accomplished this feat before, with the transport Dukat and Kira search for in 'Indiscretion' (shot at the same location I believe), but this time they sell it as a recent event with a fiery graze into the ground over a huge area. The inside of the ship isn't much to look at, being a sparse Jem'Hadar environment, and mostly dark, but to create the style and build it upside down on a TV schedule… Well, it just shows the ambition to put on screen standards of production Trek had rarely achieved.
O'Brien and Worf's differences are made up by the end when he comes to sit with his comrade over the body of Muniz (in a torpedo tube as any self-respecting Starfleeter should go out!), in the cargo bay, (or was it the hold of the Defiant - if so it was the first, and probably only time we saw that part of the ship), a bit like 'Hard Time' when Bashir and O'Brien end up in a similar position. Worf's understanding of what O'Brien had gone through seeing one of his own suffer and die, had increased, and he had softened to his human comrade's impression so that no hard feelings remained between the two Enterprise friends. Muniz gave a lot, and got to be a hero saving O'Brien's life - written as well as he was here, it makes you wish he'd been in more episodes! The actor, F. J. Rio, would return as a couple of characters in 'Voyager' ('Repentance'), and 'Enterprise' ('Cogenitor'), but it's Muniz, and this episode in particular that I remember him best from. The success of the mission, in spite of the loss of life would mean a daring plan could be carried out during the Dominion War. Remember this episode, and Muniz, when you're watching that.
****
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