Sons of Mogh

DVD, DS9 S4 (Sons of Mogh)

Kurn's first, only and final appearance on 'DS9' marked the end of Tony Todd's contribution to the series, though not quite to Trek in general, and a great shame it was. In my opinion, and anyone who's seen 'The Visitor' will attest, Todd was one of the great Trek actors in the league of Jeffrey Combs, Marc Alaimo and Wallace Shawn (who all happen to be mainly 'DS9' names), and his character, the Klingon brother of Worf was a great part in 'TNG.' I don't recall whether I was shocked or surprised at the final solution to Worf and Kurn's dilemma, but at the time I first saw it I tended not to think in those terms and just accepted whatever twists and turns the writers came up with. Now I wish there had been a furtherance of Kurn's story as it seems likely he'd have become suspicious.

He wasn't the stereotype of the idiot thug Klingon, but a more intelligent variant, worthy of calling Worf his brother, but unique in the way he was connected to such a human Klingon, but had been raised fully in the ways of the warrior - a suggestion of the way Worf might have been with a full upbringing by his people. The race have never been known for their tact and subterfuge (General Chang notwithstanding), and in the short time Noggra had to sort out the details of his apparent son 'Rodek' I don't believe he'd have been able to create a completely solid backstory for Kurn's new identity. Somewhere down the line he'd have realised things didn't add up. They should have done a follow-up where a half-crazed Kurn returns to 'DS9' and kidnaps Worf to learn the truth, knowing instinctively that the Starfleet Klingon he met in the infirmary had some answers. I believe there were plans for another Kurn story, but with so many other plots to take up (there never being a shortage of threads with which to weave the future), any ideas they had sadly never came to fruition.

Though it seems to be all about Kurn, the title is correct in giving equal billing to both sons of Mogh - the impact Kurn's dishonour is just as strong on Worf who's responsible for their once-proud house collapsing. We heard from Gowron that all Worf's lands would be seized and his family's status brought low, but there was never a mention of how the rest of his family experienced this, Kurn the man on the front line in these momentous events. It was right and fitting that he should come to the station an almost broken man, in spirit at least, and take the only way out he sees for himself. In that way he's just as selfish as Worf in doing what he feels is best for himself, but while Worf was acting on principle, Kurn is after personal honour which has been stripped away.

More Klingon culture is revealed through the Mauk-to'Vor ceremony - basically fratricide and the quick and easy way out (for a Klingon) to get to Sto-Vo-Kor. It seems to me that it would have been much more honourable for Kurn to build up his honour again in battle or in personal missions than 'giving up the ghost.' It's also hard to see how Worf thought he could get away with murder on a Starfleet-run station right under his commanding officer's nose. If he'd taken a leave of absence and gone off to some planet he might have gotten away with it, but as Sisko says, there's a line where alien cultures cannot cross. I think Worf simply pushed any rationalities to one side in a (perhaps) misguided attempt at feeling Klingon again. His brother wanted this, and he, being a Klingon, felt duty-bound to honour that. But like Dax when she went off on the revenge mission with the three old Klingons, it was done without too much forethought and thankfully came right in the end, or as right as such a bad situation could become.

I well remembered Kurn taking on jobs around the station after the death ceremony failed, but one thing I thought happened, didn't - as a Bajoran security officer Kurn allows himself to be shot by a Boslic, but we didn't actually see it. I was probably thinking of the moment when Kurn shoots the Klingon on the ship when he and Worf are undercover, one of the defining moments of the episode: Worf realises how much of his Klingon-ness he's lost when Kurn could see the intention to kill in the officer's eyes from three metres away, yet Worf didn't see it right in front of his face. This was only a temporary lapse, the episode heightening the personal struggle of Worf's two cultures while the larger, empires at loggerheads of the Klingons and Federation looms in the background. Anyone watching this far might have been confused, but in the first episode Gowron stood down from his attack so the Federation wasn't at war with them, though clearly they aren't on good terms.

I'd completely forgotten the B-story of O'Brien and Kira discovering a field of cloaked mines. It's nice to see that pairing, especially in the light of events at end of season as they were to become a lot closer. Here O'Brien helps give the episode a feeling of calm and peacefulness, his large crinkled forehead going about its business without a flinch, even when a large enemy ship appears and comes towards the little Runabout. The Yukon gets no introduction as the replacement for the Orinoco which was destroyed in 'Our Man Bashir,' only O'Brien's log to tell us this is a new ship, but at least there was that. When I say the episode is quite calm I don't mean visually - it opens with Worf and Dax fighting in the Holosuite, Worf demonstrating the effectiveness of the mek'leth as opposed to the bat'leth, even slicing Jadzia's sword in two. It's a nice scene, returning to the chemistry that began their meeting in 'The Way of The Warrior' continuing their enjoyment of fighting. I don't quite know where the closeness comes from as, apart from her introduction to Worf there's been very little going on when they appear together, but here they're quite personal.

Klingon anatomy has always been one of those things that have been kept under wraps ready to serve the story if need be, as in 'Ethics' where we saw Worf had an exoskeleton on his back, but for the first time we see a Klingon chest when Kurn bares it so Worf can plunge the knife in, and it looked as fearsome and rock hard as the forehead ridges, perhaps more so! The reasons for not showing alien anatomies was to give future stories more possibilities and because it was difficult enough doing a forehead prosthetic, so a full-body would take even longer. Since almost all races wear clothes there's no need to see underneath, but it does make you wonder what Ferengi or Cardassians look like. The only action figure of Kurn in the Playmates range is taken from this episode and bizarrely has his chest fully bared so children can recreate their favourite brother killing brother scene! It may not have been a positive episode in some ways, but 'DS9' was never a children's show and it does at least distinguish between that ritual and suicide. Though I thought the whole point of 'Ethics' was that Worf wanted to commit ritual suicide so there may be a little inaccuracy or crossed wires somewhere…

Worf's interaction with Odo takes another turn as he becomes indebted to the constable for giving Kurn a job as a deputy. It was interesting to me that Odo calls it his 'detachment' rather than the station's security as if he's yielded some responsibility to Starfleet and the rarely seen Eddington. His choice to do this and fit in better would cause him regret in one later episode this season as he might have seen it coming if he'd kept all security to himself. I like the fact that Dax, familiar with Klingon ways, stands up for Worf in front of Sisko, and later O'Brien, not as knowledgable, but one who knows the man, also tries to put in a good word for him. It seems Worf has a few friends, despite his desire for solitude as vocalised to Odo recently. Bashir feels comfortable making a joke about how ugly/uglier Worf is in his undercover get-up and Worf shows how much he's relaxed into station life by noting that he got it. Kurn and Worf's mission onto the damaged cruiser seemed a bit flawed to me. Surely the Klingons would have known at least Worf was on the station and he doesn't look that different. The Mogh family scandal must have been well known to most Klingons, I'd have thought, but they find it easy to get the files on the mines - then again they wouldn't have known Kurn was on DS9 and he was the one who used security codes and knew about the false file directories.

The detonation of the minefield is a good visual moment, seeing the Birds of Prey decloak and clear out as mines burst in a shower of yellow, though it wasn't as impressive as the mines of the end of Season 5/beginning of Season 6, which looked much more spectacular on destruction. One thing I noticed was that people seem to sleep with their arms up in the air! First Kurn does it when he's asleep in Worf's quarters (he moans for something for his head, then complains the bed's too soft and comfortable - maybe secretly he enjoys a plumped pillow!), and then Kira does it when she's dozing on the Runabout! It also shows how little sleep she gets as she mentions she doesn't have seven hours when she's on the station. Doesn't look bad for it though.

There was a question in my mind about the Boslics. The dialogue indicated that the ship Kurn checks cargo for was full of Boslics as Odo makes a joke about how many Worf's brother has killed (another person comfortable enough with Worf to have a laugh!), and later it's said Kurn took a shot from a Boslic, but we don't see a single Boslic in the episode, the aliens look more Tellarite than anything else. How do I know? Because the only Boslic we've seen is the freighter captain that occasionally turns up with 'special' cargo for Quark. Unless all the women of the species look different to the men, they should have had smooth foreheads with a line down the centre and a shock of purple hair. Worf also uses the name of a Vulcan from 'Enterprise' as his false identity: Commander Soval!

I still haven't quite made the case for this being a peaceful episode. I think it's in the wistful, haunting background score that had come in this season. It speaks of things that cannot be avoided, of great sadness and loss and underscores Worf's final scene as the man without a family, finishing with that brilliant shot of Worf coming out of the Infirmary and walking off into the unknowing crowd on the Promenade. It was also in the fact that it was mainly a personal thing and there's not a lot of threat in the wider environment. Things with the Klingons don't go too badly and O'Brien and Kira are never really in danger or meet resistance. It wasn't quite true Worf had no family as Alexander was still around, but I think what he was saying is that he no longer has a family name, or one that other Klingons would accept. He's come full circle to the complete rejection by his people and it would take someone special to reinstate him and return him to his rightful warrior path. But that was not to be for another season.

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