Deep Space Nine 6x8 "Resurrection"

rating: ***

the story: The Mirror Universe comes here, in the form of...Bareil?

what it's all about: Three Mirror Universe episodes in Deep Space Nine ("Crossover," "Through the Looking Glass," "Shattered Mirror") presented an epic look at the future of the classic episode "Mirror, Mirror," and since the last of these was in the fourth season and "Resurrection" doesn't really seem to advance anything, fans have often considered it pointless.  That's never been my view.  I think it's a highly inventive return to the familiar alternate reality, one that sets aside the significance of it to instead focus on the possibilities of it.

The Mirror Universe was always good for showing alternate versions of familiar characters.  I mean, that was the whole point, right?  In "Mirror, Mirror," the idea was set up that everyone there was basically the opposite of how they are here, hence the name and its implication: mirror images.  The first three Deep Space Nine episodes centered around Sisko, how the rogue version of him in the Mirror Universe turned out to be far more important than he seemed (kind of like the underdog nature of the series itself, struggling for recognition under giants like Kirk and Picard).  The cleverest thing the episodes did was present Mirror Jennifer, because the Jennifer here famously died before the first episode of the series, and was a major reason why Sisko was who he was when we first met him.

"Resurrection" is, essentially, a riff on that, because it presents Mirror Bareil.  Bareil was a significant recurring character in the early seasons, killed off dramatically in the third season's "Life Support."  This was a character who famously represented the bloodless Bajorans, who seemed to suck all the energy out of the series whenever they appeared, despite the fact that they were most often represented by desperate terrorists and not the religious folk like Bareil who could drink the dry Vulcans out of a teetotaler convention (if you can image that).  He was quickly replaced by the more dashing Shakaar, who nonetheless was gone in a relative heartbeat.

So to see Bareil return again, in any form, is quite a bold creative statement on the part of the producers, one that certainly seems to have backfired, but not for lack of merit.  In fact, as a standalone experience it's the best of the Mirror Universe episodes.  The Mirror Universe tended to draw out a lot of hammy acting, in any series.  Bringing in someone as subdued as Bareil actually makes "Resurrection" a chance to sell the concept to any lingering skeptics about the idea.  It also gives the series a chance to revisit the mostly abandoned concept of Bajoran spirituality, at this point sacrificed to Sisko's impending grand destiny as champion of the Prophets, the noncorporeal wormhole aliens the Bajorans worship. 

It's a throwback and a thought exercise, and yes, ultimately a Kira spotlight, and Kira spotlights were almost always highlights of the series.  Soon she'd be tied inextricably to a romantic future with Odo; this was Kira's last stand, in a lot of ways.  Freed from the many burdens the Bajorans tended to bring with them, Kira's emotional baggage with Bareil actually turns the experience into something fresh from a very old playbook: of course the guy is a conman, in league with the Intendant, Kira's Mirror Universe doppelganger, a would-be master manipulator and maneater (and womaneater) used to getting her way, the real star of the Mirror Universe, in what amounts to her last hurrah ("Crossover" was technically an Intendant affair).

The seventh season's "The Emperor's New Cloak" is the last Mirror Universe episode until Enterprise's two-part "In a Mirror, Darkly" origin story.  The Sisko suite was really the big statement; everything else is gravy.  "Resurrection" makes a fine meal, thank you.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Because it sidesteps the major Mirror Universe issues, this one is mostly for Deep Space Nine fans.
• series - But it neatly follows the tradition of sequels to "Mirror, Mirror."
• character - This is great for Kira and Bareil (from any universe).
• essential - It's the goodbye they were previously robbed of.

notable guest-stars:
Philip Anglim (Mirror Bareil)
Nana Visitor (Intendant)

Deep Space Nine 3x13 "Life Support"

rating: ***

the story: Bashir agonizes over the need to preserve Bareil's life at the expense of his soul.

what it's all about: This is one of the best episodes of the series and yet it's also not particularly necessary to the series, almost a deepened version of the first season random death of Kai Opaka in "Battle Lines."  But it's also a powerful answer to one of Next Generation's most troubling episodes, "Ethics."  Is that intriguing enough for you?  So let me explain.

They key to any character can sometimes be summed up by their occupation, and doctors in Star Trek are thusly strongly geared toward medical dilemmas (Phlox features perhaps the best, and yes most controversial, one in Enterprise's "Similitude").  "Ethics" was a rare episode where a guest character was doing all the heroics, but Dr. Crusher wondered if it wasn't at the expense of morality.  Usually in this franchise, it's the main characters who're inexplicably capable of solving any crisis, sometimes debating internally the implications of their actions (this would be a more or less accurate summary of the entire original series), so half of what made "Ethics" so impactful was that this standard was completely subverted.  I mean, it's another Star Trek standard for its main characters to question the implications of other people's actions, so that in itself wasn't really the crux of "Ethics," so much the fact that this was a case of those actions clearly leading to a beneficial outcome, but still being capable of being wrong.  It was one of the first steps to broadening the scope of Star Trek storytelling, which Deep Space Nine was by definition committed to exploring in full.

So "Life Support" was an episode that needed to happen (alas, poor Bareil!), whether or not it had anything to do with the course of the series itself.  I mean, the death of Bareil was one step in making the budding romance between Odo and Kira possible, and the portrayal of Kai Winn's cold logic was key in her development, but at this point, with Bajoran/Cardassian relations taking a backseat to the emerging threat of the Dominion, it was almost beside the point.  That the negotiations Winn needs Bareil so badly to keep going are not themselves the lead story is telling.  If this had been a second season episode, say, they would have been

But the whole point is to present Bashir with a medical dilemma so awful, even he backs away from it eventually.  This was in effect the death of Bashir's innocence, an arc in and of itself throughout the season.  He began the series a hopeful and painfully naïve young doctor, the most eager new resident of the station by far, who helped mire the first season in a tone that was later difficult to reconcile with what would follow.  When asked to replace one and then another and then another organ of the unfortunate Bareil, he begins to wonder how much he can take away before Bareil is no longer Bareil.  He reaches the point when asked to replace the poor man's brain.  Too late?  Probably.  But that's not the point. 

There are Star Trek fans who think Deep Space Nine is just too dark to like, and perhaps more than any other episode "Life Support" reflects that view, because maybe it is too dark.  Winn's callous disregard of Bareil's life is hard to watch after a while.  Here she truly becomes a villain, a role she'd been flirting with since she debuted at the end of the first season, but one she embraces with seeming relish during the course of the episode, without ever looking back.  She never really regains a sense of the ambiguity that otherwise defines the series around her.  That would probably, more than anything, explain why it's hard to give an episode like this my full support.  Like Bashir, I stand in horror of it.

If there's anything standing in the way of all that, it's the B-story, which features Jake Sisko standing in equal horror of his friend Nog, as if he's just discovered that Nog is a Ferengi.  It's a turning point for them, too.  They'd never be the mischievous friends who were such a defining aspect of the early seasons again.  This is the point where Nog begins to turn his life around, the start of another season arc.  It seems only fitting.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Stands in the great tradition of Star Trek medical dilemmas.
• series - Seems a little out of step with the rest of the series.
• character - Still, features strong material for Bashir and Nog.
• essential - It's a turning point for them, a true defining moment.

notable guest-stars:
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)

Deep Space Nine 3x10 "Fascination"

rating: ***

the story: Lwaxana Troi's visit unleashes a lot of awkward romantic confessions...

what it's all about: "Fascination" is one of those episodes that could have been a disaster.  If it had been done in the first season, it would have been a disaster.  In fact, it looks almost exactly like a first season episode, except the third season saw such an advanced understanding of the series, this would have been very hard to accomplish.  So while it's something of a farce, "Fascination" also happens to have the distinction of being grounded thoroughly in the lore of Deep Space Nine, with a lot of interesting and fruitful observations to make.

The presence of Lwaxana is itself a notable aspect of the episode, even though it serves in that regard as somewhat trivial compared to the two other episodes of this series she appears in ("The Forsaken" and "The Muse"), she at least helps Odo realize that he has feelings for Kira, which is crucial to the whole series arc for both of them.  For the rest of the episode, Lwaxana is a glorified McGuffin, the magical reason why everyone's acting strangely.

So let's put her aside.  There's also Bareil, the normally stuffy, repressed Bajoran love interest of Kira, who joins everyone else in the complicated tangle mentioned in the story summary above.  But it gets better!  There's Jake Sisko admitting he loves Kira, which is one of the most hilarious things the series ever did, and because this is how complicated things get, Kira's too busy kissing Bashir to really notice (Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor were married for a time after this; must have been terrible days on set!).  And so on.

But the real meat of the episode, it turns out, is O'Brien and Keiko continuing to hash out the status of their relationship, which was a recurring element of the season.  While everyone else is worried about whether or not they're being honest, these two are agonizing over very real concerns, and it grounds the whole thing nicely.  That and a look at Bajorans celebrating one of their favorite holidays, one of the few times a holiday is celebrated at all in Star Trek lore.

"Fascination" is indeed fascinating.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one looks like a typical anything goes farce you'll find elsewhere.
• series - But it's another one perfectly grounded in Deep Space Nine logic.
• character - Good character work all around, especially for the O'Briens.
• essential - I'll stop short of calling it a classic, because it points more than it leads.

notable guest-stars:
Majel Roddenberry (Lwaxana Troi)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Hana Hatae (Molly)

Deep Space Nine 2x24 "The Collaborator"

rating: ***

the story: Kira finds herself caught in the middle of Bajoran politics.

what it's all about: "The Collaborator" is basically the Bajoran edition of the Cardassian-centric "Duet" from the first season, Deep Space Nine's first acknowledged classic.  "Collaborator" is a huge step forward from the awkwardness of the Bajoran trilogy that opened the season, a sign of the increased maturity the series experienced during the course of the second season.  It definitively closes out the original Bajoran narrative that had been embodied by Kai Opaka in the series premiere, "Emissary," who was eventually supplanted by Vedek Bareil and the eventual Kai Winn, who are engaged in bitter politics throughout "Collaborator."  Actually, the episode may best be summed up as a commentary on the nastiness of election cycles.

It's a very Deep Space Nine story.  Next Generation had a Klingon saga including similar battles, and on a smaller scale, the battles over Worf's personal honor.  But "Collaborator" ratchets up the stakes by pitting two familiar recurring characters against each other, one who had been portrayed as a good guy all long (Bariel) and the other a bad guy (Winn).  Since it's Bajorans, who tend to be about as lively as your average Vulcan, don't expect to be jazzed by the results.  It's cerebral material, and as with the best of Deep Space Nine, explores moral gray areas, so that you're no longer sure whether good guys are so easy to identify.  It's an episode the series desperately needed, not just another Bajoran problem but one that deepened the species and its status as victims of Cardassian oppression for decades.  Suddenly matters aren't quite so simple.

After this one, Winn's role in the series had been solidified, and she finally becomes one of its great characters, villain or otherwise.  That's reason enough to care, right?

criteria analysis:

• franchise - You don't need to care about the rest of the franchise to like this one.
• series - A big one for the perennial Bajoran problem.
• character - It's Winn who wins.
• essential - By revealing just how delightfully nasty she can really be.

notable guest-stars:
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)
Camille Saviola (Opaka)

Deep Space Nine 2x16 "Shadowplay"

rating: ***

the story: Dax and Odo investigate a colony in the Gamma Quadrant whose inhabitants are disappearing.

what it's all about: Concerning the pettiness of fans watching Enterprise a decade later as they viewed the similar episode "Oasis" (which happened to feature Rene Auberjonois, who portrayed Odo in Deep Space Nine), it's worth noting the extremely myopic view they'd developed at that point, saying it was a rip-off of "Shadowplay."  But if you want to be that reductive, "Shadowplay" is basically a rip-off of Next Generation's "The Survivors."

Consider this an object lesson in storytelling.  Stories that are similar to each other cannot otherwise be exactly the same.  It's always worth at least trying to consider each version on its own merits, because the truth is, there really aren't any new stories, only new versions.  If you've found what you think are new stories, you've merely failed to understand them.  Look deeper.

The deepest and most relevant level of "Shadowplay" actually harkens back to the original series, "The Galileo Seven," in which Spock elicits new levels of sympathy from his peers and perhaps fans alike (he didn't truly gain equal status with Kirk until the second season).  To this point in Deep Space Nine, Odo's gruff exterior and heaviness of his stories (such as "Necessary Evil" a few episodes earlier) probably made it hard to appreciate him, and yet his relationship with a charming little girl in "Shadowplay" helps break the ice considerably.  That's the heart of the story right there.

What's great about this is that it reveals Odo to be ultimately more approachable, given the right circumstances, than another Star Trek character with similar problems, Picard, who despite several chances never had an experience like this.  In a lot of ways, this led to Odo's relationship with Kira (it's ironic that the subplot of "Shadowplay" actually features her onetime lover, Vedek Bareil).  The heart of the series blossomed into having arguably the biggest heart of the whole franchise, and this is the first time fans really get to see it.

That's what happens when you look beyond the surface details of a story.  It's also worth noting how essential the charismatic child actor Noley Thornton is to the success of the episode.  She'd previously appeared in Next Generation's "Imaginary Friend," but her role is more substantive and endearing in "Shadowplay."  She helps make Odo approachable just by showing how easy it can be.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A lot of episodes are technically similar to this one.
• series - But this one proves itself pretty series-specific.
• character - It's a key breakthrough in the depiction of Odo.
• essential - I won't, however, call it a classic, so this building block episode should be understood in its proper context as a good but not great experience.

notable guest-stars:
Noley Thornton
Philip Anglim (Bareil)

Deep Space Nine 2x3 "The Siege"

rating: **

the story: The rogue Bajorans calling themselves the Circle have sieged Deep Space Nine!

what it's all about: The biggest problem with the ambitious three-part episode that opened the second season is that it spent so much time focusing on Kira, it kind of almost totally forgot Sisko.  Now, this is a problem.  A lot of fans think Sisko in the early seasons is pretty weak, and while on the whole this isn't really true, his appearances in material like "The Siege" certainly don't help.

Again, this is a problem, because by this third episode in the arc, it's arguably Sisko's turn at driving the story, and instead it just seems as if he's trying desperately to play catch-up the whole time.  And thus we discover the essential weakness of this arc: the series was by no means ready for it.

As we would see later in the series, whether in "The Search" or "The Way of the Warrior" (which are, essentially, similar stories that opened the third and fourth seasons, respectively), or even the comparatively minor but vastly superior "Civil Defense," getting Sisko right is absolutely imperative in pulling off a story like this.  If you put the station in peril, its commander has to have a commanding presence.  Which just doesn't happen in "Siege" (not to be confused with the seventh season "Siege of AR-558," another episode unfortunately regarded as vastly superior). 

Simply put, if you're going to pull the trigger on a big moment, such as putting the station in peril, you really need to think it all the way through, especially if you try to do it so near the beginning of the series.  This is probably the very episode the producers started to realize the importance of this, because by the end of the season, a truly credible threat (the Dominion) was introduced, and it ended up defining the series far more than Bajoran politics.

Again, this is not to say fans who think Bajoran politics ruined the early seasons are right.  Clearly they could produce great drama, with or without direct Cardassian involvement (although that's another gaping hole in this episode, the absence of Gul Dukat, which even by the two-part "Maquis" later in the season, and the Dukat-heavy third season and beyond, had been identified by those same producers).  But you can't let Bajorans overrun the station.  You just can't.  I don't care how many admirals are telling Sisko they can't do anything about that sort of development. 

Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this was exactly the episode that needed to happen, not just to galvanize the storytelling, but to clear the Bajoran problems that were the original basis of the series.  The bottom line, though, is that "Siege" feels like an underwhelming conclusion to what should have been a shining creative moment for the young series.  There's something wrong with that, anyway.

Still, the best moment in the episode, Dax joining Kira in some antiquated fighter unit, helps shine a renewed light on Dax, her lively personality, which would come up again later in the season ("Playing God").  Seeing these two women bond is probably one of the better moments hindsight can give, from an era where that has become increasingly important.  This had never happened before in the history of Star Trek, but soon, in Voyager, it would become a welcome new staple.  So that's the best way, probably, to think of "Siege."

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Not essential to the franchise per say.
• series - Pretty important to the series.
• character - Has good character work from Dax and Kira.
• essential - Not essential.

notable guest-stars:
Frank Langella
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Hana Hatae (Molly)
Steven Weber
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)

Deep Space Nine 2x2 "The Circle"

rating: ***

the story: Kira is replaced in her position aboard the station, so she decides to go to Bajor and see if there's anything interesting happening there.

what it's all about: This second chapter in the opening trilogy (trilogies were a big thing in Enterprise's final season, but arcs tended to go longer after this initial extended effort) of the season sounds a little flippant in that description above, doesn't it?  That's probably because "The Circle" might be considered filler.  But really, it's just Deep Space Nine testing the waters of serialized storytelling, which it really wouldn't try again (as opposed to heavily-interrelated storytelling, which began in the first season and continued steadily throughout the series) until its final seasons.

What "Circle" has going for it is a further exploration of Bajoran life and politics.  As such, we again meet two crucial Bajorans, Vedek Winn (later to be better known as Kai Winn, a position she parlayed from being analogous to the Catholic pope to being prime minister as well) and Vedek Bareil (Kira's love interest for the first three seasons), as well as enjoy the continued killer uncredited appearances of Frank Langella (that's probably the biggest selling point of this whole trilogy right there) as the main villain, the secret conspiracy leader who's about to play his hand and/or be exposed.  We'd met Winn and Bareil last season ("In the Hands of the Prophets"), and so seeing them again was a sign that this was indeed going to be a series where seeing familiar faces would take far less time than in Treks past, as the whole premise of a station-bound series had always promised but to this point seldom delivered.

Winn ended up becoming a crucial recurring character throughout the series, and so each and every early appearance is important in seeing how she developed into the monster fans best remember her as, a crass opportunist for whom events like this were made.  If you want to view the trilogy, and this second act, as important for any other reason than putting Kira in the spotlight and trying to make the most of Bajoran drama, then this is how to do it.  Her absence from the previous "Homecoming" installment seems odd in hindsight.  Actually, if you like Star Wars and don't mind comparisons from the prequels, watching Winn in these moments is like seeing Palpatine blatantly manipulate everyone before he completes his transformation into the Emperor, hiding in plain sight.

The scenes with the hero from "Homecoming" are almost meaningless by comparison.  I remember the character's name (Li Nalas) perfectly well enough, and apparently the actor, Richard Beymer, was in West Side Story (the creators of this series loved vintage Hollywood, as you'll see later in the season), but he leaves no real impression in the series, which was otherwise gifted with an abundance of memorable characters.  That will always be a drawback of this ambitious early arc-heavy effort.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one's pretty series-specific.
• series - See above.
• character - Come to see Kira, stay for Winn.
• essential - It's actually pretty important to where Winn ends up later in the series.

notable guest-stars:
Frank Langella
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)

Deep Space Nine 1x20 "In the Hands of the Prophets"

****

As a season finale, "In the Hands of the Prophets" is a little unconventional.  In a lot of ways, it's a regular episode that's another sign that Deep Space Nine was finally finding its legs, and that in itself is something to cheer, but every other finale in the series had something more dramatic to say, at least more obvious.  Then again, perhaps the episode does exactly what it's supposed to.  Well, let's have a closer look.

Keiko O'Brien, stalwart wife of Chief O'Brien, is finally starting to feel like she's not completely out of place on the station, having opened a school on the Promenade and accepted any student who wishes to attend.  Earlier in the season it was a struggle just to get Nog, Jake Sisko's Ferengi friend, to take regular classes.  Now she's got Bajoran kids in the classroom.  This is a problem, because Keiko has to navigate certain beliefs, such as what exactly the wormhole aliens are.  To Bajorans, they're the Prophets, the central tenet of their religion.  To Starfleet, they're simply noncorporeal beings.

Okay, so this becomes a sticking issue for ambitious Bajoran politicians, especially Vedek (later Kai) Winn, who makes her first appearance in the episode, as does Vedek Bareil, the more moderate voice who becomes a recurring love interest for Kira.  Winn escalates the situation into a whole fiasco, forcing everyone to the mat, including Sisko, whose posting at the station is supposed to help smooth Bajor's transition into stability and readiness to enter the Federation.  It is quickly proving to be exactly the opposite.

Considering that the first three episodes of the second season are an extended Bajoran crisis, "In the Hands of the Prophets" has a great deal more significance than it can sometimes seem.  This may be due to the fact that most fans found Bajoran problems to be exceedingly tedious.  In later seasons, Bajoran affairs practically become invisible, and not just because Dominion concerns lead to an extended war arc.  The first season finale is perhaps the statement of a series that would undergo a somewhat radical transition, and so any ongoing perception of its impact may become malleable, when the truth is at the time of its original airing, "Prophets" could not have been more important, both to that moment in the series and for the series in general.

Deep Space Nine was meant to accomplish a lot of things, and one of them was to explore the original intentions of Star Trek in a dynamic and new way.  This is one of those episodes that provides that potential any number of unexpected benefits.  The theme of faith and science did not ultimately receive a lot of traction, so this is in that sense an experience that still stands out as unique, even though there are many other elements floating about so that you don't have to think of "Prophets" strictly as a morality play.

Coming off the heels of "Duet," "Prophets" will always seem like something of a letdown, but in its own way, it's just as noteworthy, and just as enduring an episode for anyone looking to examine the long-term development of the series.

So yes, one of the things you begin to realize about Deep Space Nine is that you can learn something important about the series in every episode, if it's done right.  Finally we're at the point where the show itself seems to have learned that.  If nothing else, that's a fine note to end a season on.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Philip Anglim (Bareil)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)

Memory Alpha summary.