DS9: It's Only A Paper Moon

Nog is one of my very favorite characters. I've loved this guy since the first season of DS9 and every time I watch those early episodes, I love him even more. In many ways, he develops more over the series than any of the other DS9 characters. He starts out as a "typical Ferengi" but befriends Jake, learns to read, and starts thinking about things other than profit. He joins Starfleet, becomes an Ensign, and flies on the Defiant into several battles. He's courageous and gung-ho. He's anxious to prove himself. Then, in "The Siege of AR558" he wades into the ground war and ends up losing a leg. It's terrible and, while Julian gets him a shiny new one, he just isn't the same.

That's where "It's Only A Paper Moon" picks up and it's absolutely heartbreaking. My experience with war is negligible. My great-grandfather fought in World War I. My husband's grandfather fought in World War II. As a teenager I fell into a war literature phase and my favorite novel is probably still Slaughterhouse Five. But that's pretty much it. So, it is with limited experience that I watch this episode. Still, its impact on me is great.

Nog returns to DS9 with his prosthetic limb. Bashir insists that he can walk without a cane but Nog believes otherwise. He's depressed, despondent, and he needs to take a break from his reality. To achieve this, he ends up moving in with the holographic character, Vic Fontaine. Their 1950's adventure is sweet and endearing and for one of the only episodes in all of Star Trek, two non-regular cast members carry the entire story. And they carry it beautifully. I wouldn't buy this same story from our veteran members of Starfleet, battle hardened Kira or Odo, or the cynical Quark. But, coming from Nog, who's lost his unflinching optimism to the war, it's perfect. And Vic's charming, easy manner is just the thing Nog needs--until it's time for him to go.

I've read that Aron Eisenberg received a lot of letters from service men and women complimenting him on his true-to-life performance. I can't attest to that. But I can attest to the need to sometimes escape reality. I can attest to the impact stories have had on my life and their ability to bring me out of deep, dark places. I mean, in many ways, that's why this whole blog exists.

Ezri Dax

Been watching a whole lot of DS9 Season Seven lately and, boy, there's a whole lot of Ezri Dax in these episodes. It seems like she's in the center of just about every single story. It seems like bringing a brand new character in (actually two counting Vic Fontaine) was like a gift to the writers. It's as if they said, "Here's a whole new person (who we already kind of know so we're instantly emotionally invested in her) now lets write a ton of stories exploring this new character and her potential." 

That's fine with me. I really like Ezri. So, after staring at her face all day I made this: 

DS9: Take Me Out To The Holosuite

I've mentioned here before how much I love baseball. I love it. Back in May, I wrote a whole post about how excited I was to be watching DS9 during baseball season. I knew I'd be watching the seventh season, baseball-themed episode "Take Me Out The The Holosuite" right around time for the regular season to wrap up. At the time that I wrote that original post my team, The Dodgers, were the worst team in baseball. Now they're looking like a sure bet for the Post Season and they could go all the way to the World Series. In May, I was looking forward to all of DS9 but had never appreciated it as much as I do now, after watching it all in order and at such a fast clip. It's funny how things turn around.

In "Take Me Out To THe Holosuite" a jerkbag Vulcan from Sisko's past challenges the DS9 crew to a game of holosuite baseball. The Vulcans are stronger, faster, smarter, and they've been practicing. The DS9 crew has to look up the definition of a fly ball. It doesn't look good. But, ever optimistic and needing a pick-me-up in the midst of this never-ending Dominion War, the crew get some uniforms and gloves together and head over to Quark's holosuite to practice.

They absolutely suck. The big game is in less than two weeks and these guys can barely even throw the ball let alone figure out baseball strategy. The entire story is a rompy sports movie style episode with high and low points in all the right places and a great score and awesome (can I even relate to you how much a I NEED a Niners jersey?) costumes make this one absolutely wonderful. At this point, after all the story mess we've been put through--all the doom and gloom--we really needed a romp. And, after seven years of baseball references, it's about time we had a wall-to-wall baseball episode.

DS9: Dax Transformed

Here's a post with a bunch of spoilers. (And by "spoilers" I mean "stuff that happened on TV about twenty years ago.")

I don't know whether you're into Breaking Bad but a few days ago Anna Gunn (the actress who plays Skyler White) released a piece about what it's like to portray a character who's widely hated by the show's fanbase and how easily the lines seem to blur between character and actor--how people also hate her. I thought a lot about that while watching the first few episodes of DS9's seventh season.

A couple weeks ago I attended the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention and sat in on the DS9 main cast panel. Each cast member took questions from the moderator but Nicole De Boer (who played Ezri Dax) began her answer with a sort of apology about how she almost didn't even feel like she belonged up there with everyone else--that the part she played was smaller etc. There's a lot of fan hatred directed at Ezri. People didn't like the fact that they replaced Jadzia; they didn't like the actress; they found her annoying etc.

Here's the thing though, I actually really like Ezri. The more I watch her (especially at such a fast clip, all in order, which I'd never been able to do before) the more I like her. I think that if you're going to knock off one of your main characters in a senseless, less than honorable way, you'd better have something good in the works for her replacement. And I think they accomplished that with Ezri's entrance into Season Seven. She's awkward, unsure, and only wants to please. She didn't ask to be joined. She didn't undergo years of training and testing and studying in the hope of getting a symbiont. She was just minding her own business, serving as assistant ship counselor, when the Dax symbiont took a turn for the worse and absolutely had to take root in someone's gut right-freaking-then.

Ezri just wants to belong. She wants to sort out her life and develop lasting relationships with people who she is strangely connected to. I get that. I've only got about 20 episodes of DS9 left and while I miss Jadzia, I'm happy to have Ezri around for the rest of it.

DS9: Season 6 Essentials

Ok, so this one is a bit of a hard call. Season Six is easily the most serialized season so far. The first six episodes are basically one long story. I only ever do a list of five essentials so I'm just going to suggest one of those episodes and assume you can continue with the rest of the essentials from there.

Episode 130- Sacrifice Of Angels
-This is the episode where Sisko and the crew make their big push to get back on the station. Lots of plot stuff happens here--very dramatic and important stuff.

Episode 134- The Magnificent Ferengi
-Watch this one for some SERIOUS Ferengi hijinks. I mean, for real. Seven Ferengis and Iggy Pop. You absolutely cannot go wrong. Also, if you're going to watch the rest of these, you're really going to be glad you had a Ferengi romp in this list. Trust me.

Episode 137- Far Beyond The Stars
-In spite of my qualms with this episode I still think this is a beautifully done, beautifully written, and expertly costumed and designed episode. The idea to plunk all our DS9 friends into the 1950's is bizarre and just the right kind of quirky for me. Also: it's totally iconic. You can't not watch this one.

Episode 149- The Sound Of Her Voice
-Ok, this may at first seem like a strange addition. There's literally zero attempt at furthering the season's arc. The plot rests solely on the Defiant crew reaching a marooned captain before she runs out of oxygen on a desolate, L-class planet. On the way to her, each member of the crew takes turns talking to her so she isn't alone in what could be her final hours.
I selected this one because the crew's confessions to Captain Lisa Cusack are revealing and heartbreaking and made even more poignant in the very next episode--the season finale.

Episode 150- Tears Of The Prophets
-The Season Finale. Lots of feels. Lots of plot. If you don't watch this one you're going to be REALLY confused in the next season.

Runners Up:

Episode 136- Who Mourns For Morn
Confession: I only JUST (like last week) realized that Morn is an obvious tribute to Cheers' Norm complete with anagrammed name. I feel like a real petaQ.
Anyway, this episode is all about Morn cacking and Quark having to chase down the secrets Morn left behind. If you're at all interested in Quark's most dedicated patron, you need to watch this one.

Episode 138- One Little Ship
Here's an episode where half the DS9 crew shrinks down to the size of a tennis ball and pilots a teensy runabout around the Defiant. As ridiculous as this sounds, this one is actually surprisingly great.

DS9: The Reckoning

So today I watched a straight-up Harry Potter battle take place on Deep Space Nine. Sisko gets a call to come to Bajor to see some new artifact that literally has his name on it (and by name I mean "Emissary" Yeah, I know I was looking for something a little more specific too but whatever) and he heads down there with Kira and Jake and they all stand around gawking at the artifact until Ben gets a crazy prophet vision. Benjamin decides to bring it back but gets super pissed off at the thing and goes all Hulk-Smash on it. Some crazy energy things fly out of it and zoom around the ship and lo-and-behold they're wormhole aliens/prophets. It's obvious that a big battle's going to happen but Sisko's all, "You can't take the sky from me."

One of the profits suddenly decides to live inside Kira. She's all, "The reckoning is upon us!" (allow me to point out a side note here: the Bajoran monk who originally showed Siko the artifact said there was nothing about any "reckoning" in the prophecies at which point I must ask--"What kind of BS religion is this?") and she's got a sort of Dark Willow vibe going on.

Six years as a sideman, now I get to be the Slayer.

Kai Winn (who reminds me a lot of Dolores Umbridge) fills Sisko in on what's about to go down. Basically, the prophets will take control of one person (Kira) while the Pah Wraiths take over someone else and they'll fight to the death to decide the fate of the Gateway To The Celestial Temple aka DS9. And who do the Pah Wraiths choose as their vessel of doom?

How Ood. 

Yep. Sisko's own kid. If the Prophets defeat the Pah Wraiths, it'll mean 1,000 years of peace and prosperity for Bajor but that means that Benjamin pretty much has to be willing to sacrifice his son. As I promised you at the beginning of this entry, a Harry Potter battle ensues:

Expelliarmus! 

I love "The Reckoning." I think bringing back the Pah Wraiths is a great idea as they make fantastic villains. I've been getting pretty fatigued with the Dominion War lately so it was nice to get a good "I am the Emissary and that means I'm magic" episode. I love Kai Winn. Well, I love to hate Kai Winn but I actually love the way Louise Fletcher plays the character. Terry Farrell is especially great in this one too. And you get a straight-up wizard duel on the Promenade. Definitely worth a watch.  

DS9: In The Pale Moonlight

Sometimes I forget that there's a war going on in Season 6 of DS9. They talk about casualties and troops and Dominion ships. We sometimes see Jem'Hadar wandering around with their Vorta. Klingon ships occasionally dock and talk about their victories. Otherwise though, most of these wartime episodes are pretty much like any other DS9 episode. And, really, that's ok with me. I love the regular episodes.

Then you get a rude awakening with "In The Pale Moonlight." Suddenly Sisko's getting casualty reports every other day. They're constantly talking about how they're losing the war, how hopeless it all seems, how the entire war effort often seems to rest on Sisko's shoulders.

This episode comes on the heels of two pretty disturbing ones. "Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night" features Kira uncovering her mother's secret past as Gul Dukat's concubine during the Bajoran occupation. Then, the Michael Dorn directed episode "Inquisition" is creepy and atmospheric in its telling of Bashir's interrogation at the hands of a villainous internal affairs agent. I suppose I was in kind of a dark and depressed mood by the time "In The Pale Moonlight" came up in the queue.

Dude, quit looking at me. Just pretend I'm not here. 

This one is all about Sisko's morally ambiguous choice to enlist Garak's help in bringing the Romulans into the Dominion war. I love the idea for this episode. I love Garak's role in all of it, Quark's delight/Bashir's righteous disgust in Sisko's actions, and the cheeky Romulans themselves. There's something about it though, that just isn't working for me. I think it partly comes from Sisko's Captain's Log segments. Throughout the episode, he tells his story to the computer because he can't really tell anyone else. But, in an artsy move (that they've actually done before on DS9), Avery Brooks is monologuing right into the camera. This should serve to bring the audience in but it just doesn't work for me. It pushes me away.

Dude, seriously. This is not ok.

This episode is lauded as one of the most effectively dramatic in DS9 and the darkest in all of Star Trek. But I can't really see it that way. DS9 is already a morally ambiguous show. It's all shades of grey and it has been for the better part of six seasons. Sisko isn't Picard or even Kirk. This isn't the first time he's toed the line between good and bad. Remember the time he wasted an entire planet to get one guy? His ethical freakout straight into the camera over whether the ends justify the means just seems to be coming out of nowhere. And as for this being the darkest episode of Trek--let's not forget that time Archer straight-up Jack Bauer-style tortured a guy in an airlock. How about Picard's admission at the end of Chain of Command. Or the time Janeway literally killed one of her own officers (ignoring his pleas to her to let him live) to get two of them back. Heck, what about the time Kirk split into two guys and one of them tried to rape Yeoman Rand.

Oh, come on! 

As I said, there's a lot to love about this episode. I just think there's a little too much put on it. And, aside from the mytharc advancement, I think both "Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night" and "Inquisition" are more worth the watch.