Deep Space Nine 4x12 "Paradise Lost"

rating: ****

the story: Martial law has been declared, and everyone's a potential shape-shifter...

what it's all about: "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" was supposed to a cliffhanger/season premiere straddling the third and fourth seasons, originally.  This would explain why the basic premise of "The Adversary," which ended up being the third season finale (as a standalone story) is similar to what was postponed in favor of the Klingon reboot "Way of the Warrior" that opened the fourth season instead.  And yet, "Adversary" doesn't really prepare you for what "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" accomplish once they finally happen.

The recap at the start of "Paradise Lost" includes the crucial scene from "Homefront" where Joseph Sisko angrily rejects the notion that he needs to prove he's human.  I already discussed in my "Homefront" review how crucial Joseph, as Sisko's father, is as a general addition to both the series and franchise (as a main character's parent, he's really second only to Sarek in importance), but he's also absolutely critical to understanding how well this particular story works, because he's a running commentary on his son's doubts and the ultimate resolution of the crisis. 

Sisko's conversation with a Founder (a shape-shifter; a changeling; Odo's people, although strangely this is a story that involves him but not in the way they usually do, as more observer than participant), in the guise of O'Brien, is one of the more chilling scenes of the whole franchise (sort of like Voyager's "In the Flesh," in which Starfleet Headquarters is recreated by Species 8472, complete with the perennially disarming groundskeeper Boothby).  This sequence alone justifies the two-part story.

There's a subplot in both episodes involving Nog's early days at Starfleet Academy, which in "Paradise Lost" becomes a little like the Deep Space Nine version of Next Generation's "The First Duty."  But this is among the material that really only pads out the relevant stuff, which again mostly focuses on Sisko, his dad, and that scene with the bogus O'Brien.

Because this is ultimately an allegory for the Red Scare, the period of the early Cold War when Americans were being summoned to the House Un-American hearings to prove whether or not they'd ever had communist sympathies.  In more recent times, the Department of Homeland Security that was created post-9/11 and the fears that Trump intends to in effect reintroduce the Red Scare concept to combat terrorism (also of note: Japanese internment camps during WWII, of which Sulu actor George Takei has eloquently given testimony to).  All of this symptomatic of a state of paranoia, and the excessive responses that can arise from it; that's what "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" are all about, what Sisko and his dad spend so much time talking about. 

Surprisingly, this is a concept that was dropped from the further Dominion arc (with a few exceptions, such as finding out about the Martok and Bashir doppelgangers; in a lot of ways Ron Moore essentially took this as his main premise on the Battlestar Galactica reboot), with the shape-shifters over time being reduced to conversations between Odo and the Female Founder.  So this is a more crucial moment than it might have originally seemed, both as more relevant than ever after 9/11, and for everything that didn't happen later in the series.  Clearly it was something that needed to be done, and it's actually probably a good thing that it happened before the war actually began, which also lends it further significance, as a commentary on how wars happen to begin with, not so much the obvious provocations, but the fears that build up on both sides.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A Cold War allegory for a concept originally conceived at the height of the Cold War.
• series - Crucial to the Dominion arc.
• character - This remains a Sisko spotlight.
• essential - It's far more significant in hindsight that it might have seemed when originally broadcast.

notable guest-stars:
Brock Peters (Joseph Sisko)
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)
Robert Foxworth
Susan Gibney

Deep Space Nine 4x11 "Homefront"

rating: ****

the story: Shape-shifters on Earth mean a huge crisis...

what it's all about: If somehow Deep Space Nine had ended after four seasons (as Enterprise did later), I think the legacy of the series would be "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost," especially post-9/11, when this story became hugely relevant.  The rampant paranoia and the questionable decisions members of Starfleet make are unlike anything else found in the series or the franchise, save perhaps "Conspiracy" from Next Generation, an episode that notoriously dropped off any further significance when its storyline was never revisited.  (In that instance, somewhat the episodic nature of Star Trek at that point both at its worst and arguably best.)  Yet "Homefront" directly impacts the budding Dominion arc, which had been developing in fits and starts since the end of the second season with the introduction of the Jem'Hadar and Vorta, as well as "The Search" at the beginning of the third, in which the Founders are revealed, and a few stabs at the reaction they engendered, such as "Way of the Warrior" at the start of this season.

And yet, never before is the whole idea so potent than when the story is largely focused on the good guys acting like bad guys because they're scared.  Isn't that exactly what people have been saying, the past fifteen years, about what happened after 9/11?  Maybe this needs to be emphasized about "Homefront," and that's why I'm choosing it as the leading point of the episode, and its sequel.

From a president who waffles over how to respond (actually the opposite of what happened in the real world) to Starfleet hotheads dictating the course of action (in its basic framework, the story kind of borrows the typical Hollywood framework, which could also be seen in 24, which was actually conceived before 9/11 but eerily debuted at around the same time; Kiefer Sutherland also stars in Designated Survivor, which certainly follows the template, although just as engagingly).

Oddly, it's the rare Deep Space Nine story that does not actually involve the eponymous station, making it one of the rare Star Trek stories to have taken main characters into an arena totally unrelated to their duty stations (away missions don't count).  It's a huge crisis, and it means Sisko is actually given a new assignment, albeit temporarily. 

So the premise is excellent, and what grounds it is actually fairly personal, the introduction of Sisko's father, Joseph.  This is actually one of the things about the season that most blatantly demonstrates the fresh start the season hoped to be, because early in the series it was heavily implied that Sisko's father was dead, so to suddenly see him alive and kicking (most definitely kicking!) is a shock, but a welcome one, because he adds considerable spice to the Sisko family, and a welcome addition to the series repertory of recurring characters, older than the norm by far, a member of a previous generation much like the elder Klingons who had previously filled that function on a less personal basis.  It's actually the one instance in the whole franchise, aside from Sarek, where the aged parent of a main character becomes a significant character, too.

But this is all setup, in an odd quirk of the series (Enterprise would later echo it in its fourth season), a mutipart episode that has different names for each installment, which had already occurred in the second and third seasons, and would again once storytelling became more serialized, especially at the beginning of the sixth season and end of the seventh.  The second half of this story is as important as this one, even if both episodes effectively tell one long one.  In Voyager midseason two-part episodes would eventually be aired in two-hour blocks (that was the benefit of airing on a network instead of in syndication).  But Voyager never had a story quite like this one...

I'll leave further discussion to "Paradise Lost," which comes next.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Adds to the crisis trope frequently found in Star Trek.
• series - Tells a major story of the Dominion arc.
• character - A considerable focus on the expanding Sisko family.
• essential - Becomes more and more significant as the years pass.

notable guest-stars:
Brock Peters (Joseph Sisko)
Robert Foxworth
Susan Gibney
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)

Enterprise 4x9 "Kir'Shara"

***

Like "Awakening," but in different ways, "Kir'Shara" stands out in the Surak Trilogy as potentially a classic episode, particularly for its work with some recurring characters from the series.  Regard it as nearly essential viewing.

For a while, actually, "Kir'Shara" was one of my personal standout episodes from the series.  It is, however, necessary to see the previous two episodes to understand what's going on, and the flaws in the previous entries are part of the overall experience, which means if the first two acts have flaws, so too by extension does "Kir'Shara."

Vulcan intrigue continues as Archer and T'Pol continue their desperate quest to redeem the faithful of the original teachings of Surak.  To further complicate matters, the Andorians arrive on the scene.  Remember that in the first season, Vulcan-Andorian relations were an essential ingredient of the ongoing story of the series.  And as always, the Andorians are represented by Shran, whose importance to Enterprise would've finally been acknowledged in the aborted fifth season, in which he would have been elevated to regular cast status.

In "Kir'Shara," however, Shran has his darkest moment, against another recurring figure, Vulcan ambassador Soval.  In contrast to Shran, Soval had routinely been viewed as a quasi-villain, always getting in Archer's way, the very embodiment of the somewhat cruel nature of the Vulcans that many fans saw the Surak Trilogy as correcting to more closely match later characterizations, notably Spock and his father Sarek.

The highlight of the episode is Shran's interrogation of Soval, reminiscent of Garak's with Odo in the third season of Deep Space Nine ("The Die is Cast"); in hindsight it only loses some of its luster because it is tangential to what leads to the resolution of the story.

As I said in my thoughts on "Awakening," the whole point of the Surak Trilogy, aside from a redemption of sorts for Vulcans in Enterprise, is to set up the menace of the Romulans, which would play out in later episodes, but would also have theoretically have led to a full-blown Romulan War arc, had the series lasted past this season.

If you watch only one episode in this trilogy, "Kir'Shara" would be that episode.  But watch "Awaking," too, and then you might as well include "The Forge," too.  But there are other episodes you need to watch, too, to understand what these stories are really gearing toward.  So half of what this trilogy accomplishes is really only half the story...You may enjoy how that works itself out, or you may consider it a headache you can do without, and that's part of why I cannot fully endorse the whole story.  But it's definitely worth consideration.

In truth, I'm still working on this season myself, so I don't think it's too much a stretch to assume others probably should be doing the same.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Jeffrey Combs
Gary Graham
Robert Foxworth

Memory Alpha summary.

Enterprise 4x8 "Awakening"

***

At this point I'm hesitant to add the full endorsement to the Surak Trilogy, but its borderline status means you probably ought to consider it premium material regardless.

"Awakening" sees T'Pol and Archer enter the heart of Vulcan territory, with Archer harboring Surak's katra (his soul; if you still don't know what I'm talking about, rewatch The Search for Spock).  While they're trying to accomplish the transfer of the katra into the appropriate hands, the rest of the Vulcans are immersed in still deeper political intrigue, embroiled in a crisis that is being manipulated by the Romulans (but more on that in later episodes).

Like most of the season, the Surak Trilogy comes on a little suddenly and abruptly, as if some of the creators were becoming angsty about the future of the series (with good reason, because this was the final season), perhaps even desperate.  If any one of these stories had been strung out over more episodes, or even covered in a single episode, the series might have been in better shape on the other end.  The fourth season is exactly like the first season in a lot of ways.  "Awakening" is itself like a cross between a few first season offerings, such as "Desert Crossing" and "Fusion."

While both Archer and T'Pol are indeed at the center of the story, they're busy experiencing it more than participating in it, which is something the fourth season continually did with the main characters, until the final episodes (ironically enough), with a few exceptions.  As interesting as "Awakening" is, it's emblematic of the flaws that exist in the season, even as it exemplifies what also helped make it work.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Gary Graham
Robert Foxworth

Memory Alpha summary.

Enterprise 4x7 "The Forge"

***

Perhaps the essential three-parter in the fourth season, the Vulcans take center stage in Enterprise for the first time since the first season.

"The Forge" kicks things off in dramatic fashion with a terrorist attack (other than Deep Space Nine, Enterprise is the place to look in Star Trek if you want to look at the franchise's thoughts on this prescient topic, and its conclusions may surprise you) that claims the life of recurring character Admiral Forrest.

The attack draws attention to a group of radical Vulcans with ties to the historical figure of Surak, who came up with all the central tenets of logic that have been overlooked or distorted since his time.  Critics of the show's handling of Vulcans saw this as an opportunity to make amends, though I don't think you need to adhere to that interpretation to enjoy this historic moment.

T'Pol is necessarily at the heart of this story, complicated family connections and such.

As with any multi-part episode, "The Forge" is not much of a complete experience, so you need to keep watching.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Vaughn Armstrong
Gary Graham
Robert Foxworth

Memory Alpha summary.