S5E9, “The Ascent” (story: Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe)

Maybe the least SF and the most DS9 episode yet. Very little plot, all talking, and pretty much just about few of the characters. And like other DS9s in this genre, really good.

By now we are just accepting the convenient fiction of Odo’s legal pursuit of Quark, understanding it will take whatever direction it requires to accommodate the plot. The series has managed to invent its own trope at this point, that Odo is attempting to build a lengthy case on Quark, but Quark is too clever to have anything pinned on him. But of course neither of those are true. Odo has cornered Quark on maybe a dozen unambiguous felonies, but never actually follows through on prosecuting him. Quark has had several chances to take Odo down or otherwise make his life extra miserable, and he always holds back. We have this thing with our cats where one of them will pick up a new habit that’s sort of annoying at first, but then becomes routine, and eventually sort of lovable. A lot of mornings Artie is waiting outside the bathroom door when I get out of the shower. Ultimately he’s there to get in some begging for his morning treats, but while he’s at it he’ll demand a bunch of petting and attention. He’ll bat at my hands, walk between my legs, wail pitifully. If I take a step toward the door he’ll rush in front of me to get down the hall first, only to realize I’m not done yet and come back for more harassment. Some days I can’t get away from him and it’s exasperating. But then other mornings he’s not at the bathroom door at all. And I’m like, “Well, where is he?”

Similarly, Odo and Quark need each other. Quark’s ongoing minor trade violations give Odo something to stake out when nothing more serious is happening, and Odo’s stiff omnipresence gives Quark someone to insult (especially since Rom got himself together). But they wouldn’t have it any other way. Sometimes Odo needs someone to do the dirty work, and Quark needs to be in a situation where he knows precisely what he can get away with.

I’m not certain this has been the case from day one, but Behr & Wolfe have become outstanding dialogue writers. This is a Quark & Odo showcase of loving hatred. There’s some sort of contrived plot here about Odo arresting Quark and very slowly transporting him to authorities, but it turns out that Odo’s just trying to bore Quark into a confession because he’s got no hard evidence. Just as that revelation surfaces, their ship goes down on the coldest warm-looking planet in the galaxy, and they get to suffer together a while because the ship is damaged in exactly such a way that necessitates a long survival trek. Huge shrug on all that, but some totally brilliant conversational writing throughout.

We need about ten minutes more show, so meanwhile back on DS9, Nog has been assigned back to the station for field studies. Jake seriously needs to not live with his dad anymore and Nog needs quarters, so they room together, and some low-level hijinks ensue. Nog has become a highly polished Starfleet cadet with a rigid schedule of exercise and chores. Jake is a slovenly artist living off his dad. He is supposed to be writing but is mostly idling his days away playing PADD games. They soon get mad at each other and decide it won’t work, but Sisko and Rom agree the boys need each other to balance out their worst tendencies and force them to stick it out. Then they resolve to not be mad at each other. Well then.

Overall: Probably both threads needed a little more going on, but both are entertaining and do something meaningful, so largely a successful episode. 4 out of 5.

S5E10, “Rapture” (story: LJ Strom)

New uniform time! Like my own closet, they are mostly grey and black with a little splash of color. They also look like they have thick, warm layers, which, as the cursed North Carolina summer has extended itself most discourteously into October, make me sweaty just looking at them.

While wearing these new uniforms, an episode takes place. It is about Sisko getting obsessed with a statue and some symbols. They turn out to point the way to a lost Bajoran city. Sisko keeps insisting he’s not the Emissary, but honestly he walks right into this stuff. It’s a busy one for him because his girlfriend also gets out of jail. She is welcomed home by Ben and Jake both. I guess they forgave her.

Her return sets up higher stakes for Sisko’s increasingly nasty Bajoran Orb migraines. The more visions he receives, the worse they get. Eventually Jake and Kasidy both are worried, and Julian wants to do some brain surgery. Brain surgery is healthy for brains but not for visions, as it will oh-so-ironically damage the receptors he needs for visions. Here’s the dramatic crux of the episode, as Sisko tries to balance his obsession with the visions (and loads of peer pressure from the always-gently-encouraging-others-to-kill-themselves Kai Winn) and not wanting his brain to melt. He slips into unconsciousness, so the decision falls to Jake. Well, there’s no decision between his Dad and the understated snottiness of Winn.

So my main qualm with this one is that the ultimate decision is no decision at all. The Bajorans want his visions, but they are killing him. Listen, they aren’t getting the visions either way, right? What am I missing? Either he gets brain surgery, and no visions. Or he dies, which also precludes visions. So that’s that. I think maybe they are going for yet another way that the prophets are tantalizingly almost proven to be something more than a spooky religion, but now, once again, we’ll never know. I’m pretty much over that thread of the show (e.g., “Destiny” and “Accession“), but I did like the Kasidy/Jake/Ben dynamics, and that probably saves this one from getting completely hokey.

Random note: Sisko yanks a data chain right out of the computer without ejecting it first.

Overall: 3 out of 5.

S5E11, “The Darkness and the Light” (story: Bryan Fuller)

I don’t think I liked this one especially much. I can concede it has some excellent scenes, and is generally a very good, dark, murder mystery episode that is well made and will appeal to a lot of viewers, especially genre fans. But I didn’t especially like watching it. I’m not interested in serial killer stories, which this emulates, or disturbing violence, which this contains. That is, without a larger lesson or additional themes, but this is a little weak on that front I think.

Beyond just not wanting to watch a bunch of people get murdered, I don’t think this story has much meaning until the last ten minutes, when we learn it’s all been Prin’s long-planned revenge plot. Who’s Prin? Exactly. We never heard of this guy. He was the innocent bystander victim of an wartime assassination bombing by Kira et. al. of Yet Another Horrible Cardassian Viceroy type. That guy deserved what he got but Prin lost his whole family and was disfigured. We are going to have sympathy for him on this. War sucks, and makes people do terrible things, for sure. This is something to dwell on—but we are up against the end of the show here and obviously he’s gone crazy in the interim years and now we just want Kira to escape. Oh good she did. Episode over!

The prior 40 minutes kind of want to be horror, kind of want to be a police procedural. But there are flaws: the suspect list comes out of nowhere, and I’m not sure why Kira has become Prin’s focus of torment anyway when he just knocks off all the other people more casually. They were all in the same cohort. I’m not sure there’s an explanation other than “because Kira is the DS9 character.” I don’t want to get picky really, just that there are so, so many murder stories like this in the world. They all need to be clever in their own way. If the lesson here is: be respectful of innocents during wartime, I don’t think they need to go on killing sprees later to get that across.

Overall: I think it’s a 3 out of 5 for me though YMMV.