Technically it's brilliant, the assured hand of David Livingston in control, ironic, since the title comes from the famous quote, 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?' But it isn't just his direction that works so well, it's the advance of technology that makes having two Bashirs (or even two Zimmermans - Zimmermen?), look more real than it ever had before. Duplication of characters so they could appear with themselves was something that had been done in all the series' stretching back to 'TOS' (where it seemed like every other week there were two Kirks!), but even as recently as the previous year, the 'Voyager' Season 2 episode 'Deadlock' (a very good one, too), in which two Janeways work together, there was still the impression of having the pair face each other with an invisible dividing line down the centre of the screen, only amplifying the artificiality of the situation. Technology must have moved on, because we have Bashir standing next to his holographic double, following his conversation between the EMH, the LMH and Doc Z, or walking into the Infirmary as O'Brien joyfully steers the holo-Bashir repeatedly into a wall!
I always look for the scene in which we see Doc Z and his double, the EMH, standing next to Bashir and his double, the LMH, but it never happened. The closest we get is the aforementioned scene with two Bashirs and the EMH standing together, but that cuts to Doc Z at a console. Not that that small oversight would have tipped the episode over into Perfection, as that's pretty much an impossible state to achieve (although I'd rate the 'DS9 Companion' to be about as perfect as is possible), and it remains a fantastic moment (much like Brent Spiner's three-role extravaganza in 'Brothers'). Robert Picardo, like Armin Shimerman, had endeavoured to increase the scope of his character as far as possible. While Shimerman's Quark had graced the pilot of 'Voyager,' and one of the last episodes of 'TNG,' his small role in the ninth film, 'Insurrection,' was notoriously cut out and never seen again, but Picardo had appeared in the previous film, 'First Contact,' only months prior to this episode, and in fact, had played the character of Zimmerman in a 'Voyager' story that season, so his plan was working (sadly, neither Picardo or Shimerman ever made it to 'Enterprise,' but if Season 5 had happened…).
I'm actually of the opinion that Doc Z was a more multi-layered character than the Emergency Medical Hologram. The EMH was so ernest and honest, so good at impassioned speeches in the later seasons' incarnation. He, unsurprisingly, lost the grumpy, cutting side of his personality as he became more accepted, almost a vision of what Doc Z might have been had he had the opportunity to be accepted on a ship that relied on him because it was stranded many lightyears from home. What's compelling about Doc Z is his many flaws, and the way such a genius is forced to interact with the world around him. He has a sensitive side which comes out here, that is usually covered by rudeness and directness, but all sides of his personality are explored a little bit in this episode. It seems harsh to say it, but I think this is possibly Picardo and even the EMH's best episode, although I'm lumping the actor and character together in one body since they're basically the same man.
All this without even talking about Bashir. I always liked him, being English myself, he was an example of the nation and he was often fun and always so well acted, growing so much over the course of the series - one of the funniest lines, simply because it's so true and recalls the kind of antagonism that went on in the first season or two, is Kira's comment that she used to wish he'd just shut up! It's so true, she couldn't stand the brash, cocky, self-assured young man back then, but as we've discovered in these reviews, that wasn't who he remained. He changed a lot over time, and this point of the series and season marked the next stage of development for him. It's amazing that they could add in this major revelation about his life, that he was genetically enhanced as a child, and yet you can still watch the last five years of stories and it fits in with the way he was portrayed! There may be a scene here or there where you could express disbelief that someone who was enhanced did something, or failed to do something, but I can't remember any examples of that, and there's always been a small degree of inconsistency in Trek over the years, just from the vast numbers of episodes, characters, and facts that have been created. The point is that this retcon worked tremendously, and was in line with the changing outward personality of Bashir, moving from a fresh-faced, eager beaver, to a more restrained, caring person, and onwards from this point into a slightly world-weary genius.
If we're going to mention inconsistencies then this story has one of the biggest in Trek history, although it's only a line of dialogue. Rear Admiral Bennett should have known better than to say the Eugenics Wars and Khan had been two hundred years ago, but in his defence, he'd just come from a meeting, he was just going to a meeting, and his secretary was pestering him to sign various orders, his wife wanted to know his opinion on some new curtains, and he'd just been reading a 23rd Century book all about Khan, so (just like the writer of the episode, Ron Moore), he had the two hundred figure in mind, and forgot that he was now over a hundred years after that. That's the excuse I like to imagine for him, and Sisko wasn't going to correct him in front of civilians, so he got away with it. Either that or he was referring to a little known second Eugenics Wars which occurred in the 2090s, and got muddled about Khan. Right?
I have to single out the directing in this episode with high praise. It's not that we have shot after shot which takes your breath away in its complexity or scope, or that it's so expertly formed that it tells the story without you even noticing the technical side, but it does tell the story and tell it well, with certain choices staying with me after the episode had ended. A minor example is the way the holo-communicator was shot. Yes, it's the return of that technological advancement that meant a person appeared to be standing in the room talking to you, when in fact they were projected holographically, first used in 'For The Uniform.' This time it was made clearer that the person in question (Rear Admiral Bennett), was not real, by a stronger lighting contrast, so that he's bathed in brightness, like an angel. But what was different, and hadn't been done before, was the camera move which circles the subject, moving right behind him so we can see a three-dimensional entity, something not possible in the cramped confines of the Defiant, where the technology had appeared before. Other, more noteworthy shots include the view of the Dabo table at the end, with all the customers cheering (Livingston certainly got his crowd of extras this time!), the camera zooming in to follow a Klingon that breaks from the crowd, then goes in even further as he stomps up the staircase, picking out the dartboard right at the back of the bar as a dart hits the spot!
The interviews Doc Z conducts with Bashir's colleagues is also done superbly well, with one of those exceedingly rare times when characters are allowed to talk directly to camera, not breaking the fourth wall (as in last season's 'Rules of Engagement'), but as part of the story, since the audience is sitting where Zimmerman is. Not only the framing (with the bold curve of the wide window behind), but the way each question is actually addressed to the person who will appear next, though it seems like he's talking to the current interviewee. Granted, the credit must also go to the writing, but it's the direction that pulls it all together. These moments of comedy or deft control of a scene never overshadow important moments. The critical scene when Bashir tells O'Brien the tale of his childhood, is stripped bare of cuts, moves or any other device, it simply features Bashir perching in front of camera as if the audience is his confessor, his friend in the background. I can't imagine a scene like that being allowed to happen today where it's always cutting to stop people getting bored or losing interest with their short attention spans, but anything else would have taken away that direct cord to Bashir and lost some of that tension. A good director knows when to stay in one place - Livingston knew what he was doing.
One character that didn't know what he was doing was poor O'Brien. By this episode he doesn't know whether he's coming or going, you can see the expressions on his face morphing constantly as Bashir talks to him. And it's no surprise he's confused - he'd just spent several weeks with a fake Bashir (the changeling imposter), and now he learns the real Bashir is something of a fake too! Yet he doesn't lay into his mate, he responds as a true friend, encouraging the doctor with his words about Bashir not being a fraud - his ambition and compassion, his personality and interests, none of these were part of his enhancement, and he is who he is because of himself. The greatest proof of Bashir's true self is when he knows the secret will be out soon, Doc Z planning to inform Starfleet, and his Father advises him to fight it, take it all the way up the legal chain. Instead, Bashir wants to come clean, not make the problem worse or resign and cover over his life of lies. There's one of the best, if not the best, display of parental affection and honesty in the scenes between the Bashirs. His Mother appealing desperately to make him see that they were never ashamed of him, but wanted him to have a better life. Then his Father takes the fall for the crimes, allowing Julian to continue his Starfleet career.
It can never be a bad thing to meet a character's family because it's part of their history, it deepens our understanding of them, makes them more real. It had worked with Sisko's Father, the O'Brien family, Quark's, Worf's ("I have all the diagrams!"), even Odo meeting his people, solidifying these fictional creations even more than seeing them go on through their daily lives or off for adventures. Bashir's parents are maybe not what could have been expected. It would have been easy to jump to the conclusion of an Admiral Paris type, who drove his son hard, who never lived up to those parental expectations; someone posh and high up in the Federation, maybe; a brilliant scientist Mother who gave the doctor his curiosity and compassion for others. When it comes to it though, we find a man that has struggled through life, but it's easy to see where Bashir's puppy-like enthusiasm came from, as Richard is full of himself and always has something to say, while his wife, Amsha, is more reserved, a little more understanding of her husband than Julian, and together they make a family that could easily have been revisited. At the same time, I'm glad they came on for this one story and never showed up again, as it couldn't have been improved and it would just have been a cameo with no deeper meaning. Bashir's genetic heritage did come to the fore in two of Season 6's best episodes, 'Statistical Probabilities' (where he's charged with helping other 'enhanced' humans), and 'Inquisition' (where his history becomes a curse).
I haven't even got to the other story of the episode - I couldn't exactly call it the B-story because both Bashir's and Rom's trials are linked together through Doc Z, in the best tradition of 'DS9,' right down to a perfectly intertwined ending in which Bashir sees off his parents at an airlock, then leaves, and in the same shot Zimmerman and Leeta exit a Turbolift, heading for the same airlock, a bit like the ending to 'The Begotten' where Odo and Kira's stories both conclude at the airlock - almost makes me wish every story could finish there! Neither Rom nor Leeta have yet featured heavily in the series, though Rom had been more regular in his appearances in the first couple of seasons. It's easy to forget that the two characters didn't come into their own until the latter part of Season 5 onwards, as they were such a part of the broader canvas of life on the station. But just as Martok and Ziyal had been set up to be recurring characters in the previous two-parter, Rom and Leeta reached their proper places here. It gives the story a wider view than if it had been all closed doors and private conversations about the LMH or Bashir's secret, showing life on the station goes on, even when one particular character is going through a tough time.
What makes it work even better is how it brings out a different Doc Zimmerman, one that is lonely and full of persuasive charm instead of blunt and unimpressed (the way he asides 'let's go' to Bashir, instead of waiting for Sisko to dismiss them! And Captain Archer thought he came up with that one first…). We hear a little about his life on Jupiter Station, a place we'd eventually visit in the 'Voyager' episode 'Lifeline,' and how he'd love Leeta to come and live there. This story was ripe with the possibility of writing out both Bashir and Leeta - he could easily have resigned in disgrace, and she could have gone with Doc Z. Maybe she knew Rom would eventually measure up to the task and lose his inhibitions, or maybe she really was impressed with the Doc's offer of a new life. She certainly hadn't been singled out working for Quark, and working for a human was always going to be a better proposition than for a Ferengi (if you were female, of course). We hear a little about Ferengi marriage rituals, and that, as in most aspects of their culture, it's a contract, which can be for only five years! We hear the name of Rom's previous wife, Prinadora for the first time, though Quark's scolded him about her before now - in his own crude Ferengi way, he tries to cheer up his brother, never really understanding him, but going as far as Quark would go in being affectionate.
Rom's use of his lobes to listen in on Leeta and Zimmerman's conversation had been done in similar fashion by Quark in 'Looking for Par'Mach in All The Wrong Places,' and we know well the capabilities of a Ferengi's lobes, so why not show one actually tuning in like a satellite dish! Another thing: was the woman that Doc Z follows into the ship at the end, a Boslic? We hadn't seen one this season, but she had the same kind of forehead and clothing, just not the striking purple hair, but is that a feature of Boslic physiology, or just a preference of the Boslic Captain that was friends with Quark? I also have to point to the music, which is so confident and appropriate, a deeper theme within the storytelling that can go unnoticed. It has such a powerful effect in the background, something that took a step up this season, to be even stronger than it had been, but still not in your face. As is often the case, all components click together to form a more than delightful, perfectly judged mix of two stories, both equally amusing and sad, but ending happily, with the heroic values of self-sacrifice and honesty that you hope for in the best examples of Trek, every character getting their moment (even Morn!), a forty-four minute ride of delight: Jules didn't sparkle, but this treasure does.
*****
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