Things Past

DVD, DS9 S5 (Things Past)

Time travel was achieved in more ways than one this time, while also featuring no time travel at all. Work that one out! The time travel to which I refer is the real world making of the series, since they were recreating the impression and period in history (the other form of time travel, a representation of the station's own past), that had been first seen in Season 2, 'Necessary Evil,' a past in which the Cardassians were in full control of their mining station Terok Nor, as it was known then, during the Occupation of Bajor. Like 'The Assignment' was a reversal of the O'Brien/Keiko roles from Season 2's 'Whispers,' 'Things Past' flips Odo and Kira's - clever, since she only shows up at the end. It would have been very satisfying to see her Occupation self again, as seen in 'Necessary Evil,' and though we got to revisit her younger years later in the season (the flashbacks in 'Ties of Blood and Water'), that was before she came to Terok Nor. We'd already seen her first meeting with Odo, in the former episode, where she convinces Odo of her innocence in a murder, later discovered to have been a lie.

Whom among the DS9 occupants can say they don't have any secrets (even Morn was found to be more than just the barstool-warmer he appeared), and yet as surprised and shocked as Odo was back then, Kira is equally disappointed. You'd think she'd go easy on him since the same situation they'd gone through three years or so before was repeating, and, give her her dues, she does concede that no one who lived through the Occupation went unscathed, it's just that she saw Odo as the only good man, the true bearer of justice, and it pains her to see her faith in him, if not shattered, then deeply blemished. But maybe the truth coming out at this time was a good development for the pair, though they didn't know it. Odo already knew Kira was an imperfect being, but she saw him as being above such petty things. Now that she sees he's just as vulnerable to his own weaknesses as everyone else it should make him more real, more truthful to his real self.

I think Odo would have done whatever he could to keep this dark secret from her, if he could, which is what makes his anguish so keen and his guilt so visible as soon as he realises the time and place he's experiencing. I'm sure Odo would have wanted to keep the secret safe and secure inside him for all time if he could, though it was healthier for him to admit it and release the guilt into the open. As much as he didn't want Sisko and the others to know, he cares most about Kira's perception of him, and perhaps it was another of his attempts to give her what she wanted: an impossible picture of him as this dependable individual who could always be counted on, who made the Occupation that little bit fairer for her people on the station.

You have to wonder how many different scenarios they could come up with for an altered reality - we've seen before in more recent seasons that Starfleet officers often go through a list of possibilities because it's something that's happened so many times. They didn't need to do that on 'TOS' or 'TNG' because the variety hadn't unfolded into a myriad different adventures then, but now we've had parallel universes, we've had alien fabrications, we've had Holodeck scenarios, alternate perspectives, even trips into a person's mind. And still they engineer a new way to put the protagonists into this kind of story! This time it's a telepathic connection, a sort of shared dream world, couched in an easily relatable period of their recent history. Part of the impact stems from Sisko and the others' attempts to understand what exactly it is they're playing out, only Odo aware of the ramifications, though even he doesn't realise this is all unravelling out of his own head. If he'd known that, he might have opened up a bit earlier, but he just hoped upon hope that he could get through this without the truth being known, and as a last resort, change the course of history.

Except this is not the history he knows should be happening, small details aren't right. Thrax is the piece that doesn't fit into his nightmare. I'm not so sure we ever got to meet Thrax as I believe Odo said he had left before he was appointed to the post (by Dukat, as seen in 'Necessary Evil'), so it seems more feasible that Thrax was a cover rather than an accurate representation of the man, that Odo's subconscious mind used to hide the fact it was he who caused the controversy, allowing three innocent Bajorans to be executed. Thrax is Odo, Sisko even notes how the Cardassian isn't the usual brutal type, but a thinking man, like Odo. But why did Odo allow the injustice? Did he believe it was necessary to provide an example for the Bajorans so they would be more law-abiding? Was he lazy, overlooking the evidence that he pleads with Thrax is there under his nose? Or was he trying too hard to appear detached from either side, to keep aloof, impartial justice his badge of outsiderness?

Kurtwood Smith was a good choice for the foil of Odo, as a version of the Changeling (Thrax even morphs, literally into one of Odo's people, as if even Odo's own subconscious would betray him to his friends' minds that he and Thrax are the same), in his second of three Trek roles I can remember (the Federation President of 'Star Trek VI' and another villain with an 'x' in his name, Annorax of 'Year of Hell,' one of the great 'Voyager' two-parters). I used to get confused about who Thrax was (not in the dream world sense, but the actual person), because Odo makes the same mistake - a hook-nosed Bajoran, one of the three that was killed, appears to him on the Promenade, though the others don't see him, and refer to Thrax (up on the second level), confusing Odo. It was also because there's a picture of hook-nose that stayed in my mind because it's so striking, and adding these things together I believed this was Thrax, partly because he's such a nondescript or atypical Cardassian, as Sisko notices.

I love to see the history of Deep Space Nine brought to life, even though these were Odo's memories. The same could be said of 'Necessary Evil' in that they were flashbacks rather than actual time travel, though we'd visit in real time for the Season 6 episode 'Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night,' to see another of the suicide attempts on Dukat's life. I think that was the only other time Terok Nor was seen, but it made such an impact whenever they redressed those sets: DS9, the Bajoran facility, is bright, clean and open, with plenty of space, neon lights glowing and the hustle and bustle of a shopping mall. Even in the present you can sense the evil times of its past, like a house that has not forgotten its history, in the dark corridors and unexplored depths of the mining sections (see 'Civil Defence'). Just as much as seeing the segregated station with its high fences, gloomy murk and cruel dungeon or prison-like depiction, is getting to see earlier versions of some of the people we know so well in the series: Quark is harsher, obnoxious and condescending, but we also know he was more benevolent and goodhearted than his landlords, so it's probably more of an act to keep on side with the Cardassians. He didn't have to offer the Bajorans work. One thing, though - whenever I see him in this time period I wish, just for the sake of authenticity and an in-joke, that they'd given him Rom's nose again, as that's the nose he has in 'Emissary'!

Dukat is the only other character from the past we meet this time. I'm sure the writer's relished playing with the old Dukat, his personality before he became complex, a kind of hero taking on the Klingons in his little ship! Back then he still considered himself the 'hero,' as if he was the champion of the Bajorans rather than their oppressive master. Dax does an admirable job of playing the role of the downtrodden, frightened Bajoran girl she appears to be, but there's a cold echo of these two characters later meeting in Season 6, probably because we never usually see them together. Here, foreshadowing what would happen between them later, Dukat is apologetic about what's happened to her or her people in the Occupation, even admitting that he sees the Bajorans' behaviour in trying to kill him as his own fault - it shows he could be as deluded against himself as for, since usually he's saying what a great help he was to that people in those days. It's a tenuous connection with 'Tears of The Prophets,' but in that terrible moment he also claimed he had no intention of harming his victim, just as he takes on a Fatherly view of himself in this, as if the Bajorans were his errant children.

The stuff with Dukat was completely supplemental to the main event, he only needed to be there for the attack on his life by the Bajoran Resistance, but it gives Dax something to do and keeps you believing that there's a way out of the puzzle if they can just do the correct action, when in truth nothing they do makes any difference, such as when Dax arrives to free her trapped crewmates in a scene so heavily reminiscent of 'Star Trek V' that I actually shouted out "Do ye not know a jailbreak when ye see one?" - how I'd have loved Dax to say that line, or an approximation! But it's all a red herring, because after getting far enough to escape through an airlock after a fight with Thrax and his men they find themselves inexorably back in the holding cell, as if 'history' cannot be changed and they must be executed. What ship did they plan to escape on, that's what I'd like to know - it would have been terribly embarrassing to arrive at the airlock and find nothing moored there! I wonder whether it would have been better to keep the audience in as much suspense about the situation they were in as the participants. We know it's all playing out mentally because Bashir and Worf have the bodies arranged in the Infirmary, but if we hadn't had any of those scenes, the various ideas of a shapeshifter trap or some other anomaly that sent them to an alternate reality would have been kept alive.

Even so, Odo's extreme anguish means the ending has a lot of bite. When he persuades Thrax to at least listen to what he's got to say, then breaks the laws of the universe he knows mean so much to his Starfleet fellows by telling the Cardassian who they really are, then comes the most alarming moment: Thrax says he knows who they are and must carry out his orders as before. Whenever a person inside another reality turns around and says they're on the same level as those visiting it, it's a nightmarish moment, and for Odo it couldn't be a more apt word to describe the hellish guilt he goes through. But I can't help but see it all as cathartic therapy for Odo that his own mind has forced him to address something so twisted up inside him. It's meant that he takes no pleasure in the compliments of people on his devotion to truth and justice, and nothing but the truth, when they praise his great example to those he worked with, as in the teaser aboard the Runabout (another not to be named - maybe they forgot they even had names and had O'Brien paint over all the designations?). Now that Odo's had to confront himself and his actions he can begin to work through them, to accept the past for what it is and move on.

I thought it was left open to begin with, whether the others had retained a memory of the events they'd witnessed once they woke up, because they don't rush over to Odo and demand if it was true, or why it happened. Maybe they were too dazed, because Odo clearly felt he had to write a report, which is what Kira read. It reminded me of Jake's position at the end of 'Nor The Battle To The Strong' - the line between justice and inequity closer than you think, or something, but Odo didn't have the support of a Father to reassure him. Mind you, he hadn't willingly shared his secret past so it wasn't quite the same situation, but there were parallels. For Odo, this whole experience was a cruel torture, he's always been the most private and self-contained individual, so to have shared one of his deepest sorrows and lowest point with others, and to have done so through his own subconscious desire to reach out, must have been painfully wrought, just like in 'Heart of Stone.' The scientific explanation made perfect sense, and though there is some irony that he achieved The Great Link through a telepathic bond after he'd been turned 'human,' it tells you once again how strong the need for his own kind is within him, a hint to his future as well as dealing with his past.

It's only the present that has little bearing, this time. It's a shame the standard uniforms were barely seen when you realise that in only a couple of episodes they'd be gone forever (except on 'Voyager'), and the next one was mostly off-station and out of uniform. It's not that I loved those shoulder-colour versions, though I preferred them to the 'TNG' chest-colour variety, the 'TNG' films' style was the best-looking uniform they ever came up with! It was completely fitting that the grey-shoulder design should graduate to 'DS9,' both for its contrast and for its tone, which suited the series down to the ground. Maybe they deliberately kept the old uniforms to a minimum so as to prepare for the new and make the change less jarring. Then again, if they'd been wearing the new ones on Terok Nor they'd have faded into the background like camouflage!

Also in the 'present' were parallels with a different reality: 'The Matrix.' This was actually made before that great film, but you can see similarities in the way the four are lying on beds when 'jacked in' to Odo's mind. Even more can be seen when Garak gets belted in the face and blood trickles down his cheek as he's lying in the Infirmary - if they kill you in the Matrix you die in the real world. None of which explains a small, but noticeable inconsistency in the present, from Worf of all people: he says the Runabout's coming in, and to prepare Landing Pad 1, but they've always been designated by A, B, or C, not numbers! If this was Season 4 you could put it down to inexperience with the station, so maybe they built an extra pad, or changed the designation, or… could it be that they simply forgot? Such an important detail of the series? The Runabouts still get a raw deal even though they're being used more often - they never get named and now this…

Garak's someone I should talk about. He's always one of the most anticipated people to catch up with when a new season begins, and aside from a recap at the beginning of 'Apocalypse Rising,' he hadn't been seen. Eight episodes in and it was about time we had him play a part in proceedings! But it wasn't like he was essential to the story, the role could have been just as easily filled with O'Brien or Bashir, but they chose Garak. It's a bit like 'Mission: Impossible' where they had this large selection of people they could use, and would select a team based on their characteristics - we'll have this spy, this science officer, this security man, and Mr. Phelps, I mean Sisko, if you choose to accept it. I felt Garak was added more for the sake of using him than any other reason, but his Cardassian nature does create some amusement - his assumption that his old codes would work, or coming up with a plausible explanation to give to the Command as a last resort.

His 'hobby' of pickpocketing is another as is his reaction to the racial slur of 'spoonheads,' from the Bajoran Resistance member, the guy that earlier had enjoined them to wake up from what he assumed was a chemically induced stupor and show themselves to be people, not slaves for the Cardassians to push around (he also had one of the best lines - responding to Sisko's assertion that they aren't who they seem to be, 'I hope not, because you seem to be wasting my time!'), is funny, but it still felt wrong for such a moniker to be used, maybe because we're so incredibly politically correct and have to be extremely careful about what's said nowadays, more so even than when this episode came out, giving it more shock value than humour. I wonder if the line came up because they'd just been handing round spoons to eat the soup with, or whether they'd been looking to get the reference in after it had been heard in the background of a previous episode or cut scene?

We get more station history laid down, with details of Thrax having been in charge of security nine years before, and Odo seven years, though if it was proved false it could easily be explained away as Odo's memory playing tricks. Levar Burton, back for more directing duties, seems to like 'DS9,' that's the impression I get. He always does a grand job, here expertly recreating the time period, but also injecting a mood of horror into, mainly, Odo's perspective as he almost falls apart from the writhing emotions he feels. For a man without a face he can really project such intensity of feeling in his whole bearing and when you know what's really happening you can't help but feel so sorry for him.

Trivia buffs, look out for Ensign Jones, who is the security man that beams to the Runabout with Worf and Bashir. Dax pulls Leeta's name out of the air when past Dukat asks who she is, and Nana Visitor's back after being absent from three episodes - her scenes in 'Tribble-ations' were shot prior to the rest of it as she was having her real baby, that is Bashir's, I mean Alexander Siddig's, not Colm Meaney's, I mean Chief O'Brien's. It gets so confusing, but it looks like she was back from her few weeks of absence for her meeting with Odo, thematically linking this even more strongly with 'Necessary Evil,' the other side of the coin playing out. While Odo became physically human in Season Four it’s only now that he finally admits, is forced to admit that he is ‘just an imperfect humanoid like everyone else.’ The lesson here is that no matter how good your reputation, you can never be perfect, and the downside to people thinking well of you is that they can be shocked when you're revealed to be only human, an imperfect creation. Honesty is the best and easiest policy in the long run, as deceit can be painful, more painful perhaps than revealing imperfections and mistakes.

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