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Aug. 2nd, 2015 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsWe're done with season six of Deep Space Nine! I am kind of having difficulty adjusting to the fact that we only have one more season to go? WHAT A STRANGE CONCEPT.
That said despite the fact that this episode DEFINITELY includes the worst DS9 episode ever, like, it's almost impossible for me to conceive of an episode worse than this.
Anyway!
19. In the Pale Moonlight
OK, it's kind of unfair for me to call out the worst episode over the cut without also mentioning that this batch includes probably one of the best episodes. Sorry, In The Pale Moonlight, I wronged you!
In the Pale Moonlight is the one where Sisko teams up with Garak for some moderately unethical diplomatic manipulation that soon escalates to highly unethical and then all the way up to HELLA UNETHICAL. It is a very dark, but extremely good episode that does exactly what it sets out to do, which is a.) poke harder at the blithe portrayal of Federation ideals than Star Trek has ever poked before and b.) let Avery Brooks roll out his very best tormented monologue while appearing in progressively less clothing.
DEBI: So what's the title of the episode quoting? "Dance with the devil in the pale moonlight --" Batman uses it too, so it must be pretty well known, but I can't remember the origin!
BECCA: Me either!
DEBI: I'm gonna look it up! ....welp, it's just Batman. This is just Deep Space Nine quoting Batman.
BECCA: Does that make Garak the Joker?
DEBI: No, it makes Garak the Devil. Does that make Sisko Batman?
BECCA: But I always thought Odo was Batman ...
It's a very good title! BUT AN IMPERFECT METAPHOR.
As a sidenote, this is also the episode where the Dominion invades Betazed, and I feel deeply cheated that we did not get and will never get an episode of Lwaxana Troi leading the resistance against the invaders, because come on!
20. His Way
...OK, look, I've been behind Kira/Odo all the way since their very first noir backstory episode, so I wish this episode about them finally getting together was ... better ...? A faux-Frank-Sinatra holosuite program takes Odo under his holographic wing to teach him seduction tactics from the 1940s. Protip: these are not good seduction tactics.
Then he makes a fake Kira for Odo to practice on, and that just escalates all the way up from 'unfortunate' to 'super creepy.'
I don't really blame Odo too much for this regrettably successful fiasco, because, as aforementioned, Odo is really just a confused nonhuman twenty-year-old in the fake body of a fifty-something man and doesn't know any better. SOMEBODY NEEDED TO INTERVENE. Unfortunately, the person best qualified to intervene here is ... Kira ......
The music was fun though?
21. The Reckoning
Things I really liked about this episode:
- watching Sisko and Kai Winn go up against each other on matters of Bajoran policy is always just really fun to watch. JESUS VS. THE POPE!
- watching Starfleet officers get really weirded out when Sisko goes full Jesus is also super fun to watch
- I am very proud of Odo for respecting Kira's wishes and letting her be possessed by a religious entity if it's emotionally significant to her. A+ boyfriending, Odo, keep it up!
Things I don't know how to feel about in this episode:
- Sisko going full Abraham (a break from full Jesus!) and letting Jake be potentially sacrificed for the epic alien battle cause
Things I wish this episode contained:
- more exploration of how Jake feels about his dad being Jesus, because what little we get is always fascinating, and, like ... if I was Jake, I would not have been as cool with how that episode played out! I would maybe have some issues! But they will probably never be explored again. ALAS.
22. Valiant
I understand from the Internet that some people really don't like Valiant? We loved Valiant. Jake and Nog are going on a diplomatic field trip to Ferenginar (which, by the way, Jake and Nog Have Adventures On Ferenginar is also an episode I would DESPERATELY love to see) when they run into trouble and get picked up by a teen adventure show about plucky teen Starfleet cadets who were out on a training mission when war broke out and have decided to keep going and COMPLETE THE MISSION!
Nog is immediately like 'this is the AWESOMEST THING EVER, SIGN ME UP' and Jake is like '...this is a war and we are children and this is a BAD IDEA ALL AROUND.'
(What Jake doesn't say: "What about our diplomatic mission on Ferenginar?" What about your diplomatic mission on Ferenginar, Nog? The diplomatic mission you were sent on, as the only Ferengi Starfleet officer? Isn't that ... kind of important ......?" THAT MIGHT HAVE HAD A BETTER IMPACT.)
Anyway, there's all kinds of really interesting, meaty stuff in this episode, about, like, the Starfleet mentality, and this flawed idea of heroism, and Nog's determination to transform himself into the Greatest Starfleet Officer Ever! and Jake's arc as he consistently puts himself further and further away from the whole military mindset because he finds it increasingly creepy. It's a very good episode!
DEBI: ...so isn't this whole thing with the Plucky Crew of Cadets basically the same exact plot as the Star Trek reboot movie?
BECCA: And that's why this show is so much better than that film.
23. Profit and Lace
BECCA: Oh, cool, a Ferengi title! I used to be annoyed by Ferengi episodes, but a lot of the recent Ferengi episodes have been really good, I'm excited!
[FIVE MINUTES LATER]
DEBI: Becca, you jinxed it! You jinxed it.
WORST. DEEP SPACE NINE. EPISODE EVER. "How many offensive, stereotypical, transphobic tropes can we fit into one wacky cross-dressing comedy episode?" "ALL OF THEM!"
I'm even more offended because the last cross-dressing Ferengi episode ("Rules of Acquisition") was so much fun, and partook of so many good cross-dressing tropes. This is the POLAR OPPOSITE of that.
24. Times Orphan
Molly gets accidentally sent to the past and returns an aged-up feral child! Nobody gets her any professional therapy, nor do they get her parents professional therapy, nor does anyone consult any experts on the situation at all. Instead, they decide the only solution is to send her back, alone, as a teenager, to the feral past that she got trapped in, because obviously she was happier there, while Debi and I scream "THIS IS TERRIBLE PARENTING" at the screen.
Fortunately, this is a bog-standard O'Brien Suffers episode, so everything gets reset at the end and Molly is fine! OKAY.
Between this and the episode where Odo's abusive father comes to teach him how to take care of his new Changeling blob baby, I am concerned about the notions the Deep Space Nine writers seem to have about effective parenting. They get it so right with Sisko! How do they get it so wrong everywhere else??
On the bright side, Worf and Jadzia have an adorable babysitting subplot where Worf bonds with the Littlest O'Brien and it's FANTASTIC. A whole episode of this please! On the less bright side, we know that the only reason we're getting this is because Jadzia is dying in two episodes and they want to make it maximumly angstful, which takes away some of the shine. >:(
25. The Sound Of Her Voice
Poor Kasidy! She finally gets to show up for an episode in which Sisko does more than hallucinate, pass out, and babble in a Jesus-like fashion, and he spends the whole time giving her the cold shoulder because he's weirded out that she's invading his personal military space. I love Sisko, and I love Kasidy, but I have concerns about this relationship.
Anyway! This is the one where they establish a radio connection from a woman who's trapped on a planet, and Bashir and Sisko and O'Brien all take turns baring their souls to her, and when they get there it turns out they're too late to save her life, which was inevitable, but that she was also back in time like six months from them anyway, which seems ... like kind of a pointless reveal ...? I'm not sure what the purpose of that was.
In the B-plot, Quark attempts to outwit Odo while Jake lurks in the background serving hilariously little purpose. I'm OK with this! In fact, I wish Deep Space Nine involved like 50% more of Jake lurking in the background of unrelated plots serving hilariously little purpose. It just adds a certain something.
26. Tears of the Prophets
Jadzia dies. We knew this was going to be the one where Jadzia died. NONETHELESS.
In other news, Dukat shows back up at Cardassian Headquarters for more hilarious Sisko-focused nemesis-ing:
DUKAT: Hey guys guess what, I am BACK and I have a plan that's going to make Sisko MISERABLE!
WEYOUN: ...Dukat, the point of us being here is to win the war...?
DUKAT: Oh, yeah, it'll definitely do that too.
[THIRTY MINUTES LATER]
DUKAT: Well, that plan was a rousing success! :D
WEYOUN: What do you mean?? that plan was less than useless as far as the war effort went, we lost a valuable military base and the wormhole is completely shut!
DUKAT: Yes, but I made Sisko kind of depressed, and that's good enough. :D
At the end of Season Six, I am angry about two thing: Jadzia's death (I know, I know, Terry Farrell wanted to leave the show, I'm still mad) and the massive wasted opportunity involved in the word 'Profits' and 'Prophets.' So many titles involving one or the other of these words, and NOT ONCE has this pun been made! Come on, DS9 writers!
That said despite the fact that this episode DEFINITELY includes the worst DS9 episode ever, like, it's almost impossible for me to conceive of an episode worse than this.
Anyway!
19. In the Pale Moonlight
OK, it's kind of unfair for me to call out the worst episode over the cut without also mentioning that this batch includes probably one of the best episodes. Sorry, In The Pale Moonlight, I wronged you!
In the Pale Moonlight is the one where Sisko teams up with Garak for some moderately unethical diplomatic manipulation that soon escalates to highly unethical and then all the way up to HELLA UNETHICAL. It is a very dark, but extremely good episode that does exactly what it sets out to do, which is a.) poke harder at the blithe portrayal of Federation ideals than Star Trek has ever poked before and b.) let Avery Brooks roll out his very best tormented monologue while appearing in progressively less clothing.
DEBI: So what's the title of the episode quoting? "Dance with the devil in the pale moonlight --" Batman uses it too, so it must be pretty well known, but I can't remember the origin!
BECCA: Me either!
DEBI: I'm gonna look it up! ....welp, it's just Batman. This is just Deep Space Nine quoting Batman.
BECCA: Does that make Garak the Joker?
DEBI: No, it makes Garak the Devil. Does that make Sisko Batman?
BECCA: But I always thought Odo was Batman ...
It's a very good title! BUT AN IMPERFECT METAPHOR.
As a sidenote, this is also the episode where the Dominion invades Betazed, and I feel deeply cheated that we did not get and will never get an episode of Lwaxana Troi leading the resistance against the invaders, because come on!
20. His Way
...OK, look, I've been behind Kira/Odo all the way since their very first noir backstory episode, so I wish this episode about them finally getting together was ... better ...? A faux-Frank-Sinatra holosuite program takes Odo under his holographic wing to teach him seduction tactics from the 1940s. Protip: these are not good seduction tactics.
Then he makes a fake Kira for Odo to practice on, and that just escalates all the way up from 'unfortunate' to 'super creepy.'
I don't really blame Odo too much for this regrettably successful fiasco, because, as aforementioned, Odo is really just a confused nonhuman twenty-year-old in the fake body of a fifty-something man and doesn't know any better. SOMEBODY NEEDED TO INTERVENE. Unfortunately, the person best qualified to intervene here is ... Kira ......
The music was fun though?
21. The Reckoning
Things I really liked about this episode:
- watching Sisko and Kai Winn go up against each other on matters of Bajoran policy is always just really fun to watch. JESUS VS. THE POPE!
- watching Starfleet officers get really weirded out when Sisko goes full Jesus is also super fun to watch
- I am very proud of Odo for respecting Kira's wishes and letting her be possessed by a religious entity if it's emotionally significant to her. A+ boyfriending, Odo, keep it up!
Things I don't know how to feel about in this episode:
- Sisko going full Abraham (a break from full Jesus!) and letting Jake be potentially sacrificed for the epic alien battle cause
Things I wish this episode contained:
- more exploration of how Jake feels about his dad being Jesus, because what little we get is always fascinating, and, like ... if I was Jake, I would not have been as cool with how that episode played out! I would maybe have some issues! But they will probably never be explored again. ALAS.
22. Valiant
I understand from the Internet that some people really don't like Valiant? We loved Valiant. Jake and Nog are going on a diplomatic field trip to Ferenginar (which, by the way, Jake and Nog Have Adventures On Ferenginar is also an episode I would DESPERATELY love to see) when they run into trouble and get picked up by a teen adventure show about plucky teen Starfleet cadets who were out on a training mission when war broke out and have decided to keep going and COMPLETE THE MISSION!
Nog is immediately like 'this is the AWESOMEST THING EVER, SIGN ME UP' and Jake is like '...this is a war and we are children and this is a BAD IDEA ALL AROUND.'
(What Jake doesn't say: "What about our diplomatic mission on Ferenginar?" What about your diplomatic mission on Ferenginar, Nog? The diplomatic mission you were sent on, as the only Ferengi Starfleet officer? Isn't that ... kind of important ......?" THAT MIGHT HAVE HAD A BETTER IMPACT.)
Anyway, there's all kinds of really interesting, meaty stuff in this episode, about, like, the Starfleet mentality, and this flawed idea of heroism, and Nog's determination to transform himself into the Greatest Starfleet Officer Ever! and Jake's arc as he consistently puts himself further and further away from the whole military mindset because he finds it increasingly creepy. It's a very good episode!
DEBI: ...so isn't this whole thing with the Plucky Crew of Cadets basically the same exact plot as the Star Trek reboot movie?
BECCA: And that's why this show is so much better than that film.
23. Profit and Lace
BECCA: Oh, cool, a Ferengi title! I used to be annoyed by Ferengi episodes, but a lot of the recent Ferengi episodes have been really good, I'm excited!
[FIVE MINUTES LATER]
DEBI: Becca, you jinxed it! You jinxed it.
WORST. DEEP SPACE NINE. EPISODE EVER. "How many offensive, stereotypical, transphobic tropes can we fit into one wacky cross-dressing comedy episode?" "ALL OF THEM!"
I'm even more offended because the last cross-dressing Ferengi episode ("Rules of Acquisition") was so much fun, and partook of so many good cross-dressing tropes. This is the POLAR OPPOSITE of that.
24. Times Orphan
Molly gets accidentally sent to the past and returns an aged-up feral child! Nobody gets her any professional therapy, nor do they get her parents professional therapy, nor does anyone consult any experts on the situation at all. Instead, they decide the only solution is to send her back, alone, as a teenager, to the feral past that she got trapped in, because obviously she was happier there, while Debi and I scream "THIS IS TERRIBLE PARENTING" at the screen.
Fortunately, this is a bog-standard O'Brien Suffers episode, so everything gets reset at the end and Molly is fine! OKAY.
Between this and the episode where Odo's abusive father comes to teach him how to take care of his new Changeling blob baby, I am concerned about the notions the Deep Space Nine writers seem to have about effective parenting. They get it so right with Sisko! How do they get it so wrong everywhere else??
On the bright side, Worf and Jadzia have an adorable babysitting subplot where Worf bonds with the Littlest O'Brien and it's FANTASTIC. A whole episode of this please! On the less bright side, we know that the only reason we're getting this is because Jadzia is dying in two episodes and they want to make it maximumly angstful, which takes away some of the shine. >:(
25. The Sound Of Her Voice
Poor Kasidy! She finally gets to show up for an episode in which Sisko does more than hallucinate, pass out, and babble in a Jesus-like fashion, and he spends the whole time giving her the cold shoulder because he's weirded out that she's invading his personal military space. I love Sisko, and I love Kasidy, but I have concerns about this relationship.
Anyway! This is the one where they establish a radio connection from a woman who's trapped on a planet, and Bashir and Sisko and O'Brien all take turns baring their souls to her, and when they get there it turns out they're too late to save her life, which was inevitable, but that she was also back in time like six months from them anyway, which seems ... like kind of a pointless reveal ...? I'm not sure what the purpose of that was.
In the B-plot, Quark attempts to outwit Odo while Jake lurks in the background serving hilariously little purpose. I'm OK with this! In fact, I wish Deep Space Nine involved like 50% more of Jake lurking in the background of unrelated plots serving hilariously little purpose. It just adds a certain something.
26. Tears of the Prophets
Jadzia dies. We knew this was going to be the one where Jadzia died. NONETHELESS.
In other news, Dukat shows back up at Cardassian Headquarters for more hilarious Sisko-focused nemesis-ing:
DUKAT: Hey guys guess what, I am BACK and I have a plan that's going to make Sisko MISERABLE!
WEYOUN: ...Dukat, the point of us being here is to win the war...?
DUKAT: Oh, yeah, it'll definitely do that too.
[THIRTY MINUTES LATER]
DUKAT: Well, that plan was a rousing success! :D
WEYOUN: What do you mean?? that plan was less than useless as far as the war effort went, we lost a valuable military base and the wormhole is completely shut!
DUKAT: Yes, but I made Sisko kind of depressed, and that's good enough. :D
At the end of Season Six, I am angry about two thing: Jadzia's death (I know, I know, Terry Farrell wanted to leave the show, I'm still mad) and the massive wasted opportunity involved in the word 'Profits' and 'Prophets.' So many titles involving one or the other of these words, and NOT ONCE has this pun been made! Come on, DS9 writers!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-03 11:27 am (UTC)That's the plot of several tie-in novels, most notablyThe Battle of Betazed.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-03 10:40 pm (UTC)...are the tie-in novels any good?
no subject
Date: 2015-08-04 01:22 pm (UTC)