Let He Who is Without Sin…

DVD, DS9 S5 (Let He Who is Without Sin…)

There is much to discuss. Actually, you know, there isn't as much as the other episodes, this being the first of Season 5 to let the side down. It wasn't bad going, seven episodes in and only now do we get one which is not 'fantastic,' and is merely 'good.' Being merely good is not something that 'DS9' aspired to after its first couple of seasons, and after a string of greats this one does tend to stand out a bit more than it might have done had it been part of an earlier season - it's that Season 5 consistency I keep talking about, sometimes the high quality level was a curse. Fortunately it was something of an anomaly, and you can count the merely good episodes this season on one hand. And I was wrong, this couldn't have been done in earlier seasons, unless it had been Season 4, because this is heavily Worf's story, and if he wasn't at the centre of it, it could easily have been lost to soapiness.

Not that the idea of people going on holiday is boring in itself (looking forward, 'The Ascent' is pretty much Quark and Odo on holiday, albeit an unscheduled one, in harsh conditions), 'The Jem'Hadar' was great, putting Sisko and Jake with Quark and Nog made for a fascinating juxtaposition. But it was the holiday going awry, the adventures that ensued in spite of the holiday that made it so good. A holiday where things went right for the most part doesn't work so well. And that's where this version falls down - they even set it up in a similar way to the Season 2 cliffhanger, where Quark was the uninvited and unwanted tripper, only this time he's practically forgotten, his only point being to wind Worf up early on, and then complain about all the rain later (being an expert on the subject, since he comes from a planet that has over a hundred and seventy different words for rain, and none for 'crisp,' which were two of the fun facts I picked up from his scenes).

Quark can't be blamed for not shining in an episode that barely features him, so what brings things down? Maybe it's one of those rare things: 'DS9' doing an episode just for the sake of it. It wasn't usually the case, they went out of their way to be creative, but this time it felt like the motive was that 'TNG' had done a Risa episode, so now 'DS9' was going to do it, too. Usually that would be no problem, but Risa was never ripe with possibilities unless it be unsavoury, immoral possibilities. It's a hedonistic pleasure planet, its only purpose to provide hippy 'free love' and the casting aside of restraint and responsibility. So Starfleet officers were never going to be shown at their best there. Either they would look weak for succumbing to temptations and leaving behind the strict discipline and heroic status of a life in Starfleet, or they were going to come across as killjoy, buttoned-up grumps. This is where Worf fitted in, though it becomes more about his irritation with Dax and her ways than anything else.

The characters are more open and candid than we see them usually, which would make sense in a relaxed environment, so we hear Dax and Worf get down to the nitty-gritty about what they think of each other, and Quark and Bashir discuss Jadzia in front of her as though she were a patient of some kind. It's refreshing to hear the inner thoughts of the characters spoken out so clearly, Bashir saying that her problem is she's too much work, but you wouldn't want that kind of thing all the time. Dax is a lot of work, because she has a streak of daring and cheek, she's like a happy Vulcan in some ways. In the early episodes she was so serene and aloof, purely scientific, and concerned only with the next mental challenge to figure out. As time went on, and Jadzia grew accustomed to the vast wealth of memories and personalities vying for her attention from the symbiont, she relaxed more, her fun side was revealed, and she showed her irreverence for authority and joy for life that, I don't know, an old person might have if they'd remained young at heart. Jadzia had the excitement of youth and the wisdom of age at the same time, the ability to be self-restrained, but also sometimes acting childishly (such as when she becomes almost insubordinate to Sisko in 'The Ship').

As Martok's wife would find out, and Worf is told here, Dax isn't controllable except when she controls herself, and one of her traits is that she will chooses to be out of control. Of course all these things are taken out of hand thanks to the pride of two people quarrelling, so there's that to it as well, but her reactions in this story don't make her creditable - she says Worf is this paragon of virtue (more like a parody of virtue - sorry, I can't hear that phrase without adding Kasidy's comeback from 'For The Cause'), and he is, he's the best example of what a Klingon should be. He really is honourable, and just as with K'Ehleyr, he wants things straightened out with Dax regarding marriage. She's so free and easy it comes across as her having no reverence for such a sacred thing, but she reverses it on Worf as if he's the one being stuffy and boring. Things would change over the season, some kind of compromise would be reached between the two, and it all worked out, but that was then and this is now.

One of those fun references that comes up periodically are the otherworldly species that inhabit or visit the station, which were outlandish and difficult to do without CGI (hence we never saw them, unless you count Morn, in this episode giving a flower to some older Starfleet woman!) - we hear of the Gallamite, Captain Boday again this time. He's the one with the transparent skull. This is what starts off Worf's displeasure during a small gathering with Dax, Sisko and Odo in the Replimat, but this, the only scene actually on DS9, is good fun, and even though it's only there to make sure Odo and Sisko get some exposure, it's a nice throwback to their earlier meeting together in 'Apocalypse Rising.' Odo's come a long way. We haven't seen the anguish that might have been expected of his new lifestyle, but that's because he's a very private person, and the one he might talk more openly to, Kira, has been preoccupied with the O'Brien pregnancy. I also note once again that the Runabouts are getting their maximum usage this season, as that's what Worf, Dax, Quark, Bashir and Leeta use to travel to Risa, though I was disappointed again not to be told which it was!

Now that's another thing that stops the episode gelling like the others have: Bashir and Leeta. She had only been in, what, three other episodes, beginning with the latter half of Season 3. In that one she's introduced as this ditzy Dabo girl impressed by the doctor, but either there were no references, or so few that they slipped by, forgotten, but I haven't thought of Leeta and Bashir as a couple since then, so it's incongruous and out of the blue that they're taking part in this big Rite of Separation! I reckon she made all that up as an excuse for the trip, but the single thing that sticks in my mind about them in the episode is Bashir's clothing, which looks like either pyjamas, or some Arabic style of dress. Without elaborate slippers and a turban he just sticks out as if they'd put 20th Century casual clothing on him. And they also don't have any good scenes, mostly sat around or strolling, so they were surplus to requirements, as much as I like to see a recurring character like Leeta brought back again. The only aspect of her contribution that appealed was the incredulity she inspired in Quark and Bashir when she announces she's more interested in Rom! This fits, since we know Rom's been spending time with her, the reason he knew about Bajoran mythology in 'The Assignment.' So it's fun on one level to see a continuing story drip-dripping into episodes, even in such a small and unobtrusive way.

Something else that didn't make a whole lot of sense was Curzon's retroactive demise. It might well have been just the way for such a man to go, knowing him from Sisko's stories and his memories bonding with Odo in 'Facets,' but when we saw him die on the operating table in 'Emissary,' gently smiling old man that he was, passing on his symbiont to Jadzia, who was on the other table, it didn't fit the mood described here. That's not to say it wasn't possible, as Arandis could have been the cause of his death without being there to see him die - he could have been rushed back to Trill for the transference procedure, but it's just another seedy line in the episode. It wasn't that I minded Arandis, but she was a typical Risan, vacant and uninteresting, not a proper character in the way they usually write characters on this series.

The biggest thing holding the episode back, for me the most important part of it, is that in a lot of ways Pascal Fullerton, leader of the Essentialists, was right. Only to a point, once he began to really trouble the safety of people's lives he became as much a threat as any of the other enemies of the Federation he mentions (Had 'First Contact' actually come out yet? He talks of the Borg, but tat could just as easily be referring to Wolf 359 - nice touch, anyway). But before he went too far, and Worf saw this as well, he was right that loving pleasure makes you soft and lacking a good moral calibre. The people we see on Risa are so loose and uninhibited as to make such a society decadent and one destined to perish, as the Roman Empire found out (it's even compared to that in the loosest of ways when Bashir says "When in Rome," about changing into more comfortable attire).

I'm not saying that having fun and enjoying life is bad, that's the intimation of the Essentialists - that they're old fogies (admittedly they are in look and dress), who don't 'get' Risa, and can't have fun so they want to stop others from having it, but actually they were right about needing to stay alert and be toughened up ready for whatever might come next. It wasn't the best time for Dax and the others to hear a message like that, when they were on holiday - as Dax said, she'd had plenty of time saving the galaxy and now it was time to enjoy herself. True, there is a time to work hard and a time to play, that's just a balanced life, but the Risan's lifestyle was unbalanced by their dependence on pleasure. If only Risa had been shown as more than a place where young, bathing-suit-wearing models hang on your every word - such a beautiful world must be full of pastimes that don't involve innuendo - walking in the mountains, bathing in the ocean, seeking out new life and undiscovered species… To boldly go on the holiday of a lifetime! I can just see the adverts now, but the trouble is this is not a family place, you couldn't take children there! So Risa isn't coming across as a three-dimensional place, too much time is spent concentrating on the alluring aspects of its culture. This is why I felt Worf was right to teach them a lesson and revert the planet's weather to its natural, uncontrolled state: rain. Us English people would have been right at home there!

That which makes this a watchable episode is the meeting of minds between Dax and Worf, a coming together, an understanding of why they are the way they are. Worf's story about killing a young boy when he played football (or 'soccer' as American Klingons call it!), as a thirteen year old is riveting and so, so sad. I was racking my brain trying to remember where I'd heard a parallel in what he says - he's stronger and bigger than those around him and so all his life he's held back, frightened that he may one day lose control and hurt someone. And then it hit me (not Worf, fortunately!), he is 'The Incredible Hulk,' or the Dr. Banner of that personality. It's a connection I'd never ever considered before, but it's a potent association. On a lighter note, I couldn't help but make another association a little bit later: when he picks up Pascal one-handed, then throws him against a wall, Darth Vader came to mind. Hmm… Who'd win in a fight between Worf and Vader, or even a three-way match with Hulk, too…?

Enough with the green man, we've got to talk about blue ones - we have another Bolian, this being the season of Bolians, it appears. He doesn't get much of a character, being more of a background role, but he shows that even some Bolians can be tough (in sharp contrast to the weedy Boq'ta of 'Empok Nor'). Like the one in 'Nor The Battle To The Strong' he shows some compassion, not wishing Pascal to go as far as he wants, though he doesn't oppose his leader in the end. There were other blue people in the background in various scenes, but they were too far away to be certain of their race. We should be grateful that we never had to endure the sight of Worf stripped naked, since the episode ends before he gets as far as taking off the baldric. We've seen Klingon anatomy now and again - his brother Kurn's exoskeletal chest, his own ridged spine, but we've never had a fully shirtless Klingon running around, and that would be interesting from an anthropological perspective, but a headache from a makeup one (like Captain Boday), so it's probably best they avoided that (probably the same reason O'Brien wasn't in the episode at all!) - I must say I was surprised at how much Worf had mellowed from his 'TNG' days. In 'Conspiracy' he growls "Swimming is too much like… bathing." Yet Dax persuades him to take a dip with her as the suns set over the mountains.

It's an idyllic end, but an ending to an episode that gives mixed messages. On one hand it's saying anyone who makes rules or gets people to be serious and not do whatever they wish, is a wrong-headed, censoring dullard. On the other, they display just the kind of jealousy and misunderstanding that can result from a lack of boundaries and being willing to talk about things. Trek has often tried to express its desire that we all accept 'infinite diversity in infinite combinations,' but if you stop and think about what that really means (anything goes? Literally anything? There's no caveat there), 'anything' cannot be acceptable. Risa is a case of Trek trying to get a liberal message across, but failing; putting a Starfleet officer in the position of looking less heroic (Dax or Worf, they're interchangeable), while also having them stand up to terrorism. It's all a bit of a free-for-all muddle. Mind you, I'll grant them this: if Tim Smitt had modelled The Eden Project on Risa, attendance would probably have been much higher… Oh, and did you see de Horta? No, not the rock-guzzling silicon-based alien creature - one of the extras in the end credits was called DeHorter. Made me smile, that.

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