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Aug. 17th, 2014 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsinnerbrat has been waiting REALLY IMPATIENTLY for me to get to writing up this set of episodes so we can rant about the WORST DEEP SPACE NINE EPISODE EVER.So here it is, folks: the set of writeups that includes the worst Deep Space Nine episode ever,
15. Sons of Mogh
This is the episode in which we ONCE AGAIN MARVEL at Bashir's UTTER LACK OF MEDICAL ETHICS. OK, the episode isn't about Bashir at all, it's about Worf's brother turning up on the station and demanding that Worf murder him FOR HONOR after screwing up their family's Klingon Empire status, and Sisko's like "nobody's murdering anyone for honor on MY station and I do not CARE about your 'cultural beliefs,'" and finally Worf decides to fix the situation by ... erasing his brothers memory (without consent, so far as we can tell) and giving him to a new family ...?
Like, OK. We don't actually blame Worf for this, because his brother did ask Worf to kill him, and by completely wiping his memory and personality that is pretty much essentially what Worf did, in a way that wouldn't get blood on Federation carpets. As far as we know this is totally not unethical in Klingon terms. The other two people involved here are Dax and Bashir, which is no surprise because Dax's ethics are as flexible as a boa constrictor and Bashir will basically do ANY KIND OF DOCTORING for the lulz, like, consent forms, what consent forms, who needs them! (Can you imagine Sisko's face if he found out about this genius plan? Go on, try. It's hilarious.)
There's also a B-plot in which O'Brien and Kira come back from a field trip and find some Klingon mines, which is clearly very restful for Kira because when she's on a field trip with O'Brien absolutely no relevant conversation is required, and she gets to have a nice long nap.
16. Bar Association
NEWSIES ON A SPACE STATION!!! This is the one where Rom and the rest of Quark's employees decide to form a UNION in order to get better treatment from Quark. Needless to say, I loved it, mostly because I got to sing 'THE WORLD WILL KNOW' very loudly at Debi every time there was a momentary pause in the dramatic speeches. Or ... when there wasn't a pause in the dramatic speeches. I really like Newsies, OK? The B-plot is also great, since it's pretty much just Worf storming around the station being cranky and hating everyone, ugh, PEOPLE, THE WORST.
17. Accession
I don't think I'm every going to get tired of Sisko's OVERWHELMING JUDGINESS.
SISKO: Ugh, I hate being a Bajoran religious figure and having to take time off from my job all the time to preside over weddings and Bajoran Bar Mitzvahs, it's the WORST.
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: Worry not! I'm a famous Bajoran poet and I just spent 150 years in the wormhole, and I am totally the Emissary, so you can retire now. :D
SISKO: Great!
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: Aaand as the Emissary, I think the Federation sucks ....
SISKO: .....
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: ...and Bajor should return to the caste system that it had a hundred years ago that has never been mentioned until now.
SISKO: ...............
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: Look, what's all this judginess, I thought you hated being the Emissary.
SISKO: I did, until I saw how much you SUCKED AT IT.
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: Wanna make something of it?
SISKO: Yes! I challenge you to an Emissary-off! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, where by 'here' I mean in the wormhole with the wormhole aliens, who love me, and also love being judgy. Wormhole aliens, this dude wants to return Bajor to a caste system, which is MORALLY WRONG!
WORMHOLE ALIENS: Well, we love Sisko, and if he says this caste system thing is for losers then it sounds like it's pretty much for losers.
SISKO: Suck on that.
BAJORAN ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELER: ....enjoy the next thirty years of Bajoran Bar Mitzvahs, man.
And, I mean, on the one hand, I am pretty dubious about the sudden appearance of a caste system in Bajor's history just so that it can resurface and everyone can be really morally judgy about it? (Though I would have loved it if it had been something briefly mentioned as a worldbuilding fact that never came up again.) ON THE OTHER HAND .... comical scenes of Kira attempting to fulfill her artist-caste destiny trying to do kindergarten art projects, and failing at them. COMICAL SCENES OF KIRA FAILING AT ART. I'm sorry, I'm easy.
18. Rules of Engagement
Another Serious Worf Episode! But one that ends with fewer screaming ethical issues than Sons of Mogh, so. This is the one where a savvy Klingon lawyer turns up and tries to cause an international incident by accusing Worf of accidentally-on-purpose destroying a Klingon transport ship (with KLINGON CHILDREN on it!!!) As courtroom drama goes, it's better than any of the other courtroom drama episodes this show has had so far, anyway. Also, it involves really dramatic diplomacy, and Sisko LOVES dramatic diplomacy ... so much ...
19. Hard Time
OK, guys, this is it. We got here. This is THE WORST DEEP SPACE NINE EPISODE SO FAR.
So the plot of this episode is that O'Brien got falsely accused of a crime and spends a subjective twenty years in TERRIBLE PRISON in the course of an afternoon, because alien technology can do that. Then he comes home and has terrible PTSD for the rest of the episode, then a heartwarming speech from Bashir, of all people, fixes him, and then he's BASICALLY FINE.
As storytelling, this is HIDEOUSLY IRRESPONSIBLE. It's basically just torturing a character for no point; also, it's grim and boring to watch; also, it's a terrible treatment of PTSD; also, like, if you have sufficiently advanced technology that you can make people spend twenty subjective years in prison, why make it pointlessly awful prison? Why not actually make it rehabilitative? BECAUSE THE POINT OF THIS EPISODE IS TO MAKE O'BRIEN SUFFER POINTLESSLY, that is why. For the course of forty minutes. After which he'll be fine.
(Apparently the writers of the Deep Space Nine team like to make O'Brien suffer on a regular basis because they expect the viewers identify with him most, which is also really annoying, because, like, that is writing for a real specific audience, guys, O'Brien is NOT my everyman, because, like many people watching your show, I am not in fact a middle-aged white dude.)
So we were angry watching this episode, and then we were even more annoyed because we couldn't find it on any worst-of lists. Instead everyone lists the one where they all get trapped in a board game. Listen: a.) that episode is a hilarious treasure and b.) even if it weren't, I would watch it over this one ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.
20. Shattered Mirror
...but then everything is better because we got a Mirrorverse episode, although it is not the greatest of all Mirrorverse episodes. Mirror Jennifer comes through the wormhole and appeals to all of Jake's mommy issues in order to get him and Sisko through to help them with some kind of convoluted Mirrorverse plot; sarcastic amoral Mirror O'Brien is SO MUCH BETTER than regular O'Brien, a point which we might have dwelled on a little longer than necessary given the terribleness of the previous episode; evil Nog is fabulously evil; Kira continues to hit on everything in sight; and Garak hilariously tries to seduce Worf, which would make this episode worth it even if everything else had been terrible. AMAZING. Politically speaking I probably shouldn't love the Mirrorverse's commitment to making all the bad guys an evil polyamorous blob as much as I do, but ... it's hilarious ...
21. The Muse
Plot 1: Odo and Lwaxana Troi have to get FAKE MARRIED for REASONS. And Odo has FEELINGS and super wants to adopt Lwaxana's baby and be a dad and actually, OK, this is pretty cute, in a totally-fanfic sort of way. Deanna probably should have shown up to her mom's wedding, though.
Plot 2: a creepy older alien lady psychic vampire hits on Jake Sisko in order to steal his writing juices???? I need help reacting to this.
The creepy alien psychic lady also apparently inspired Keats. We have decided that this is probably the famous Klingon poet Keats, Son of Togh.
22. For the Cause
Probably my favorite of the bunch! (Except maybe the Newsies episode.) Sisko's girlfriend Kasidy turns out to be smuggling medical supplies to the Maquis, and it's EVERYTHING I WANT about lovers-on-opposite-sides-of-a-conflict and DUTY and IDEALS and ATTEMPTS AT STEALTH and FRAUGHT EXCHANGES ABOUT RUNNING AWAY TOGETHER WHICH THEY TOTALLY CAN'T DO, SEE ABOVE RE: DUTY AND IDEALS.
I was spoiled for Eddington turning out to be Maquis (which is also GREAT, we still love Eddington so much, and honestly we should have been prepped when he said he came to the station to make friends because EVERY TIME a friend turns up on DS9 from somewhere else they turn out to be Maquis) but I didn't know it would be this episode, and I had NO IDEA about Kasidy's smuggling or that she would end up in prison (I saw a sixth-season episode once in which she was around!), so the whole Kasidy/Sisko plot turned out to be a wonderful tragic id-candy surprise present for me.
...the Garak/Ziyal subplot not quite so much, but on the other hand, it did give us a scene with Garak tailoring one of Quark's amazing suits, which was everything that is beautiful.
Almost done season four! The rest of the episode titles for this season are SUPER DRAMATIC, I'm looking forward to them.
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Date: 2014-08-17 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 05:46 pm (UTC)IDK, Sweden still had statare until 1945, who had crap living conditions and could only change employers once a year, and that's not something people usually talk about nowadays except in literature studies. I could see this as something that Bajorans just kind of know and that doesn't come up in conversation with the Federation because there's so much other stuff going on, not least with the Cardassian occupation and all. A hundred years can be a long time sometimes.
O'Brien is NOT my everyman, because, like many people watching your show, I am not in fact a middle-aged white dude.
That is exactly my problem with a lot of O'Brien eps, and certainly this one. They don't bother to make his eps about him, specifically, because they assume that the audience will see themselves in him. Which I don't. So they just come off as pointless "bad things happen to O'Brien" eps. Plus, as you point out, horrid lack of consequences.
Listen: a.) that episode is a hilarious treasure and b.) even if it weren't, I would watch it over this one ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.
I thought the board game ep was so much fun! I would have loved to be in that game, if I'd had prior warning.
I probably shouldn't love the Mirrorverse's commitment to making all the bad guys an evil polyamorous blob
Yeah, on one hand it's not nice to use super seductiveness into a villain trait, but on the other, super seductiveness.
Odo and Lwaxana Troi have to get FAKE MARRIED for REASONS.
I love their dynamics so much. Lwaxana has more layers than she lets through.
And I was kind of okay with Deanna not being there, because I never liked her much. Then again, I was 12 or so when I watched TNG, so my opinion might be different as an adult.
Sisko's girlfriend Kasidy turns out to be smuggling medical supplies to the Maquis
I really like Kasidy, and I like that it shows two people both convinced that they're right being on opposite sides while still caring for each other.
Garak/Ziyal, sadly, always just seems like a desperate attempt wiping out the hoyay vibes. Which, if even your actor is on board with letting his character swing both ways, you might consider going with it.
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Date: 2014-08-17 05:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 05:57 pm (UTC)I didn't mind about the O'Brien episodes at first but now I'm just like, STOP. PLEASE. I DON'T CARE.
I love the whole Kasidy thing so much! Like, not just that they're both right, but they both absolutely get why the other person thinks that they're wrong. And they know the stakess, and respect each other for it that much more for having those stakes to begin with. MY FAVORITE THING.
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Date: 2014-08-17 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 06:04 pm (UTC)BASHIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR >:(
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Date: 2014-08-17 06:11 pm (UTC)And, I mean, in a way it's nice to have Sons of Mogh to enter as REALLY DEFINITIVE EVIDENCE in The Case Against Julian Bashir, Worst Doctor Ever.
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Date: 2014-08-17 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 06:35 pm (UTC)That's true, it would have been cooler if they had Chechov's Gunned it. But that would require them to have foresight that I, based on other information, don't think they had.
they both absolutely get why the other person thinks that they're wrong.
I know! It's such a mature way of dealing with issues and one of the reasons I love this show.
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Date: 2014-08-17 06:36 pm (UTC)That lawyer's parents are so disappointed in him.
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Date: 2014-08-17 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-17 07:13 pm (UTC)I do think O'Brien is the most everyman-like main character on DS9. You have the Emissary of the Prophets, a former freedom fighter, a woman with memories of seven past lives, a shapeshifter, a hot shot medical genius with [spoiler], a blackmarketeer who comes from a culture more alien than Wall Street ...and the chief maintenance guy who worked his way up from transport operator and has arguments with his wife over who's moving for whose career.
*Until the next episode, because 90s TV.
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Date: 2014-08-17 07:24 pm (UTC)Ha, but you forgot about the plucky teenager who has first dates and heartwarming field trips with his dad and dreams of being a WRITER!!! ...I don't actually identify with Jake Sisko either, but that would be the easy/obvious slot. I actually often find it easier to identify with Odo or Kira than O'Brien though -- like, while their situations are alien, you know going in that they're alien so the emotions of their situation can transcend that. Whereas O'Brien is so emphatically real-world, and so emphatically real-world not me ('ugh! women! who can understand them! amirite?) that I can't imagine identifying with him, really. It's a lot easier for me to jump all the way over to 'ugh! humans! who can understand them! amirite?'
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Date: 2014-08-17 08:04 pm (UTC)*Picard wakes up on a planet*
Some stranger: "Hi, Joe!"
Picard: "But I'm Picard, not Joe!"
Stranger: "Oh shit, Joe. Sounds like you've got amnesia."
PicardJoe: "OK. Sounds plausible."*lives out his life as other dude whom we have never met before and whose hobbies are practicing the flute and being boring*
*dies*
Ghostly stranger: "The past 50 years of your life were a simulation so our culture could be remembered."
JoePicard: "Ah, makes sense. No hard feelings re: the kidnapping and gaslighting."*Picard wakes up on the Enterprise*
Doctor: "You've been unconscious for two days! Ready to go back to work?"
Picard: "But of course. It's not like it's subjectively been half a century since I've been near a starship. BTW, I can play the flute now!"
*end credits*
"Hard Time" was everything I wanted after that.
My really unpopular opinion: I liked "Sons of Mogh" too. There's major ethics fail, of course, but I was interested by the divergence in Jadzia and Worf's reactions. In many ways Dax is more Klingon than Worf -- she fits into their culture with an ease that wound-up Worf, who grew up idealizing Klingon culture from a distance, will never have. But when not just the laws but the fundamental values of the Federation and of the Klingon Empire come into conflict, it is Worf who holds the Klingon view and Jadzia who just can't understand.
It's a lot easier for me to jump all the way over to 'ugh! humans! who can understand them! amirite?'
*nods* The writing of gender relations on Star Trek is one of those things that pulls me out of the show, and the O'Briens are the main place it comes up, so I don't blame anyone if they don't like Miles because of that. (I like him, but I compartmentalize.) But I think he's still the "ordinary person" the same way Xander is on Buffy. As much as I dislike Xander, he's the obvious buttmonkey of the show, and same with Miles. I don't think it's coincidental that the "ordinary person" on each show is male, but that doesn't change the fact that they are the "ordinary person" of the show. I never get the sense that Jake entirely escapes the role of kid in the minds of the writers. His and Nog's suffering episodes (which both do get) are always framed as learning/growth experiences in ways that Miles' aren't.
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Date: 2014-08-18 04:38 am (UTC)I actually also like some of the Worf & Jadzia stuff in "Sons of Mogh" -- and I don't really have a huge problem with their involvement in the way it plays out, because, like, as aforementioned, Worf is traumatized and the Trill have their own weird ethics anyway (although Debi pointed out that GIVEN JADZIA'S OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with repressed memories going sour, she might have a little more to say about that.) Mostly what I have a problem with is the fact that the show pretends that because three characters with either nonhuman ethics or no ethics (LOOKIN' AT YOU BASHIR) think it's OK, that we should all just accept that it's ... totally okay ..
It's not that I dislike Miles exactly -- I'm pretty OK with him! I quite liked him early on! But the more he's shoved into my face as the person I'm supposed to identify with (in all his frequent casual bigotry towards anyone who isn't just like he is) the more frustrated I become at his existence. I guess I also don't really feel like DS9 needs an obvious buttmonkey? I didn't feel like Buffy needed one either; those episodes tended to make me frustrated too. And when I was a teenager I did identify with Xander!
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Date: 2014-08-18 07:01 pm (UTC)Haha, good point.
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Date: 2014-08-20 11:47 am (UTC)(Eventually I need to actually watch and finish this series. I wandered away when they kept adding more O'Brien/Bashir interactions and taking away Garak/Bashir, not even because they were my otp...though they were...but because I just really hate O'Brien, haha.)
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Date: 2014-08-20 06:16 pm (UTC)(Hahaha, I actually liked O'Brien much more when he clearly barely tolerated Bashir and hated every second he was forced to spend in his company, because ... it was hilarious! Then Bashir brainwashed him into loving him, which was funny for a while, but now we've hit 'I LOVE BASHIR MORE THAN MY WIFE.' Which is sort of unfortunate. And now they just go around being jerks together. As opposed to Bashir and Garak, like, not that they weren't both jerks, but at least we are all expected to understand really well that Garak has no morals and that's what makes him interesting!)
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Date: 2014-08-21 01:52 am (UTC)The O'Brien Clone question, where I first mentioned the "suffer" rule.
Eddington is here to make friends? I laugh.
"Hard Time" I like a lot. I would have liked it if we saw indications in later eps that O'Brien was still suffering and improving over time (a modern show would, I imagine, have that, but DS9 was still 90s), but in itself I found it gripping.
And I'm disappointed you got spoiled, because it would have made Eddington's defection probably more engaging. But yes, the Kasidy-Sisko stuff was fantastic.
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Date: 2014-08-21 01:23 pm (UTC)The other thing I'm unfairly bitter about re: Hard Time is that Bashir is the one who delivered the inspirational lifesaving speech. BASHIR. BASHIR.
Eddington IS here to make friends! Only friends can turn out to be secretly Maquis on Deep Space Nine. FRIENDSHIP WAS THE MISSION. Although in the end it probably only succeeded with Morn.
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Date: 2014-08-22 09:03 am (UTC)FOILED BY HIS OWN GENRE-SAVVY.
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Date: 2014-08-22 09:50 am (UTC)I HAVE had traumatic experiences, but given that my experience with PTSD differ wildly from his (as in: mine lasted longer than a week) I can't see myself in him, and watching him suffer elicits no response other than boredom. I can't relate to him because his experience is so wildly different from my experience, and the more crap he goes through the less I relate to him.
Which is a shame, because I EAT UP portrayals of trauma and recovery that actually sync with my own experiences.
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Date: 2014-08-22 09:55 am (UTC)Ziyal: HELLO Cardassian guy who is the only Cardassian on the station and is also mysteeeeeeeeeerious and possibly a spy. Hanging out with you will certainly piss off my dad and my foster mother, so we should HANFG OUT.
Garak: Ahahahaha NO, young child. You are a CHILD and also kind of my niece if you squint also I am terrified of your foster mother. Also I have a boyfriend, and yes, it's an open relationship and he's shagging the entire station, but he would DISAPPROVE though I don't know why it's not like HE has morals. Anyway, I'm gay.
Ziyal: Oh. I mean: LOL kidding I just want a Cardassian friend to hug a hot rock with. LOOK HOW MUCH SEXUAL TENSION WE DON'T HAVE.
Garak: Oh well, ROCK-HUGGING I can do.
tl;dr: I friend-ship it, but nothing is going to sink Garak/Bashir. NOTHING.
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-22 10:12 am (UTC)Because memory wiping is equivalent to murder, and Worf is A-OK with killing a family member when it DOESN'T threaten his job (and is willing to risk his job for it.) So of course he will opt for the equivalent option that for some reason the Federation will have no problem with.
Jadzia - as Becca reports, I'm like "Jadzia you know repressed memories are bad!" but this is a thing where I'm going with "she wants what's best for Worf" rather than "what is ethically correct" because... eh, when you live for that long maybe you value subjectivism, and subjectivism from the POV of the people you want to sleep with, more than a younger person's ideas of morality.
Bashir - Bashir has no ethics and probably just wanted to see if he COULD do this thing.
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-22 10:22 am (UTC)With O'Brien, it's like they go, "Oh, it's O'Brien. Obviously you care about O'Brien. That goes without saying," and doesn't put in any of the work.
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:23 am (UTC)The reason I didn't think it was Eddington was - partly because everyone ALWAYS thinks Eddington is evil or a Changeling or something GET A NEW PLOT DS9 - but also that at the beginning of the episode someone said the agent had been on the station for six months (period of time Kasidy and Ben have been doing it) and Eddington's been on the station for nearly two years.
Conclusion: Eddington did genuinely come to the station to make friends (and get promoted). But when he made NO FRIENDS and when everyone suspected him EVERY TIME there was a mysterious villain on board and when WORF TOOK HIS BLOODY JOB (Ex Security chief Worf turned up in red like, two episodes after Sisko told Eddington "just keep at it you'll be on command track soon.")
After THAT, Eddington was clearly like "OKAY FUCK IT JOINING THE MAQUIS. I'M GONNA BE SISKO'S NEMESIS."
Ssssh don't tell Eddington Sisko already has a nemesis.
Them's my headcanons.
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Date: 2014-08-22 10:34 am (UTC)But with O'Brien, it's like "this is a metaphor for being in prison for 20 years" and "this is a metaphor for discovering you're an evil clone" and "this is a metaphor for being from an alternate future after your best friend killed his version of you."
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Date: 2014-08-22 04:03 pm (UTC)