Deep Space Nine 3x16 "Prophet Motive"

rating: ***

the story: Quark is horrified when Grand Nagus Zek totally overhauls the all-important Rules of Acquisition against every known Ferengi principal.

what it's all about: This is one of the finest examples of a "Ferengi episode" you'll find, as well as one of the best appearances by Wallace Shawn as the mercurial Zek.  Shawn's legacy will always be found in Princess Bride, but his Zek was more or less the Deep Space Nine equivalent of Q, an oddball recurring character who more or less made one appearance a season throughout the whole series.  What works so well this time is that his part is minimal, completely dominated by Quark's outrage at his every decision.  An outraged Quark is a very fun Quark to watch.

"Ferengi episodes" eventually became derided by fans as counter to the dark tone of the series and thus irrelevant, but they were also essential to the series, a constant reminder that things are as complicated as they seem, but in ways that could have a far greater variance in tone than fans tended to admit.  In a lot of ways, "Prophet Motive" is the "Trouble with Tribbles" of Deep Space Nine, though I wonder how much general appeal it has, because it speaks so directly to a peculiarly Deep Space Nine element: the rules by which Ferengi govern themselves, a trademark of the series, something that was always being quoted (and eventually compiled for an actual book).

"Prophet Motive" is also the first time the series hints that Ferengi society is bound for a drastic overhaul, and yes, it will center around Zek.  As Grand Nagus he's supposed to represent the perfect Ferengi, but the more we see him, the less true this becomes, especially when he at last meets Quark's mom (whom we'll meet late in the season, in the only possible purely "Ferengi episode" that could top this one in the third season).

What's interesting about the episode is that it ties the Ferengi in with the Prophets (as the title suggests), the wormhole aliens who serve as the often-unseen center of the series, noncorporeal entities who periodically visit Sisko to let him know how things are going (basically).  It's a little odd seeing someone else visit with them, let alone Quark, but the Ferengi actually took the most active early interest in the Gamma Quadrant, thanks to Zek, traveling through that other signature element of the series, the wormhole that's technically the reason anything important happens at the station.

The B-story revolves around Bashir, once again showing how far he's come, now suddenly pessimistic about his career, having been nominated for what amounts to a career achievement award and not convinced in the slightest that he has a chance to win.  But no one else believes that, which becomes quite amusing, a signature look at how life aboard the station operates differently from a starship.

It's a pretty fun episode all around.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Another episode general fans don't necessarily need to worry about.
• series - Although it spotlights Deep Space Nine at its most dynamic.
• character - Works for Quark, Zek, and Bashir!
• essential - It's one of those episodes ideal to sample if you want to see how interesting the series really is.

notable guest-stars:
Wallace Shawn (Zek)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)
Tiny Ron (Maihar'du)

Deep Space Nine 3x15 "Destiny"

rating: ***

the story: A Bajoran religious leader tries to convince Sisko that an ancient prophecy is about to be fulfilled.

what it's all about: Unlike "Life Support" a few episodes earlier, "Destiny" strikes a fine balance in its exploration of continued Bajoran/Cardassian relations, mostly because there the Bajoran element centers around Sisko while the Cardassian element features O'Brien or further inter-Cardassian intrigue. 

The intrigue is the lighted material, actually, so let's treat that first: Like a lot of spy-based storytelling in the franchise, and with the considerable ramp-up of Cardassian spy storytelling this season, there's plenty of suspicion cast about, but where "Destiny" earns points is by refusing the harsher tones typical for these scenarios.

So let's move on to juicier stuff.  There are a number of Cardassian scientists running amok in the episode, which in and of itself is a nice change of pace (like Next Generation's "Suspicions," which featured a Ferengi scientist; you just don't tend to think of these aliens in such roles).  The whole third season had a thread woven through it trying to soften the image of the Cardassians, and other than the increased profile of Dukat, "Destiny" best represents that thread.  O'Brien develops an unlikely rapport with one of the scientists, leading to an amusing clash of cultures when he becomes convinced she has the hots for him.  For a character like O'Brien, who in Next Generation's "The Wounded" was given a background of animosity against Cardassians from war-time experience, this is a welcome light treatment of the kind of depth the series was known for.

But the meat and crux of the episode belongs to Sisko, who's given one of his rare opportunities to stare that vexing declaration from the first episode - he's the "Emissary of the Prophets" - in the face.  An overzealous Bajoran badgers him throughout the episode concerning what he should be doing, which is tough enough for a Starfleet officer, I'm sure, but moreso when you're a Starfleet officer who's been deemed a religious figure and you still haven't figured out what that even means.  This was an element of the character that had never really gelled before, but "Destiny" goes a long way in explaining it, and how it continues to affect Sisko, without asking anything more from him, this time, than grappling with its religious overtones.  But the big payoff, which is rare for material like this, is at the very end of the episode, when the Bajoran, having realized he was wrong, proceeds to rattle off more prophecies...Deep Space Nine was surprisingly good for tossed-off punchlines like that, very much in the spirit of how the original series would conclude on some jab between Bones and Spock.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one's really for series fans.
• series - An amusing look at ongoing concerns.
• character - Sisko's enigmatic religious significance returns to the spotlight.
• essential - This is an early look at the more lighthearted side of the series.

notable guest-stars:
Erick Avari
Tracy Scoggins

Deep Space Nine 3x14 "Heart of Stone"

rating: ***

the story: Odo and Kira are forced into a peculiar dilemma, while Nog decides he wants to join Starfleet.

what it's all about: Part of me wants to downplay "Heart of Stone," because so much of it is kind of frustrating to watch, but another part of me wants to trumpet how significant it all is, and that it's worth whatever hassle it might otherwise represent.

The trouble spots all occur in the Odo/Kira scenes, which after a while become tedious: Kira becomes trapped in one of the Planet Hell cave sets, literally stuck in stone, and Odo must desperately find a way to free her.  It becomes more all the more bizarre, because the stone grows around her. 

This is another instance where the B-story really should have been the lead story, something that was no doubt increasingly difficult to decide in a series where multiple stories increasingly became the norm, a truly serialized nature that to that point was unprecedented in franchise lore.  The B-story is recurring character Nog's equally desperate attempts to convince anyone that he's serious about joining Starfleet, that it isn't just another of the kinds of jokes he used to bring to B-stories all the time.  No doubt this decision to relegate him to the B-story, despite the fact that his plight had far more interesting material to explore, was motivated by the fact that he was a recurring character.  When Garak received a whole episode to himself in "The Wire," the producers probably let it slide because a series regular, Bashir, was every bit as essential (to a certain extent) as he was to its plot.  Nog kind of ping-pongs through most of the rest of the cast.  He wouldn't be trusted to truly carry an episode until the final season ("It's Only a Paper Moon"), at which point those producers were probably kicking themselves.

When the Odo/Kira lead story reaches its climax, it ends up being nicely justified, although in an odd way.  It was nice to force them into an isolated experience, but the ending reveals that they were never free to truly express themselves to each other, because one of them wasn't really them at all, but the Female Shapeshifter merely pretending to be Kira.  But it's at least a story that acknowledges what had really only been teased and hinted at previously, that Odo is desperately in love with Kira.

Would this have been better to simply cut to the chase and have Odo talking with the Female Shapeshifter directly all along?  Again, I think it was the producers not yet willing to trust themselves, because after all this was what they'd already done at the beginning of the season in "The Search," and so they were probably afraid of duplicating their own efforts.  Wasn't the Female Shapeshifter merely checking up on Odo?  Well, no.  This was her finding out, along with the rest of us, the source of Odo's internal conflict, why he would reject the long-wished-for prospect of returning to his people in exchange for a continued life of inexplicable exile among people who generally fear him and what makes him different.

It's an odd episode, then, but another crucial one.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This one's for fans of the series, folks.
• series - It helps demonstrate what sets Deep Space Nine apart.
• character - By going deeper with these characters than had been done previously.
• essential - It's a crucial one, really.

notable guest-stars:
Aron Eisenberg (Nog)
Salome Jens (Female Shapeshifter)
Max Grodenchik (Rom)

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 3x12 "Past Tense, Part 2"

rating: ****

the story: Sisko and Bashir must figure out how Gabriel Bell originally resolved the historic hostage crisis that helped end the oppressive Sanctuary Districts.

what it's all about: The second part of the story is obviously the resolution, but it also serves to emphasize the significance and impact of "Past Tense" as a whole.  Technically, Gabriel Bell is a character we barely glimpsed last time.  We spend this episode with Sisko posing as Gabriel Bell, and yet for any fan of the series, this becomes an iconic name.  So does B.C., the guy who antagonizes him every step of the way, the guy who makes it so easy to believe all the assumptions that made the Sanctuary Districts possible.  Which is to say, why it's so easy to believe stereotypes, believe whatever you want to believe, the worst of everything, without even needing someone like B.C. to confirm it for you.  He becomes a convenient excuse.  But there's Sisko/Gabriel Bell, fighting that idea tooth and nail, summoning all his great abilities, but mostly his humanity, to end the cycle of oppression we find it so easy to impose on ourselves.  (I write this particular review days after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States.  The irony of this is not lost on me.)

If the first part of the story spelled everything out, the second part is about realizing that the first part wasn't kidding around.  The desperation of the hostage crisis, which in and of itself is a fairly common trope in storytelling, is amplified by its context, not merely the desperation of an isolated individual or even criminals, but the fight for positive change.  If this seems like wishful thinking, so be it.  That's Star Trek in a nutshell, which always put forth the theory that the path to radical change involved radical events, such a third world war.  Actually, in a lot of ways "Past Tense" might be viewed as a dramatic retelling of the classic episode "Mirror, Mirror," in which change comes about because someone finally took a moral stance on an immoral situation.  That both happen to feature characters literally ripped away from their own realities and forced into nightmarish scenarios is merely a quirk of fate, like the rest of it.

But "Past Tense" may best be understood as the clearest statement of the third season on the nature of Sisko's leadership, of Sisko himself, who stakes a personal claim on the battles he wishes to win.  In the later Dominion War it became personal because the enemy literally beat at his doorstep.  Here he willingly internalizes someone else's struggle, regardless of the possible consequences to himself.  That goes beyond the impulsive heroics of Kirk, the intellect Picard usually employed, the sheer willpower of Janeway, or fearlessness of Archer.  This is not so say he was better than any of them, but this speaks to why Deep Space Nine came to mean something more to its fans, why it remains a cult within a cult.  It has uncommon courage, both in storytelling and characterization.  It wasn't afraid to make a stand.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The social element, again.
• series - The characterization.
• character - Of Sisko, chiefly.
• essential - It's a classic.

notable guest-stars:
Frank Military (B.C.)
Clint Howard

Deep Space Nine 3x11 "Past Tense, Part 1"

rating: ****

the story: Sisko, Bashir, and Dax end up in early 21st century San Francisco, where they are confronted with the horrors of the Sanctuary Districts.

what it's all about: If it sometimes seems I express the merits of Deep Space Nine with excessive hyperbole, I want you to understand that nothing could be further from the truth with the breakthrough two-part "Past Tense."  This is the "City on the Edge of Forever" of thfranchisee Next Generation era.  It's brilliant, timeless social commentary that's still very much relevant today, when we're still grappling with issues of economic equality, brought home in the most deliberate manner when Sisko must assume the identity of the man who's not only destined to play a huge role in the historic moment everyone realizes change is necessary, but is also destined to die in the effort...

Talk about desperate straits!  Star Trek at its best almost should be preachy.  It's one of the few creative outlets that actively embraces, not merely on an occasional basis, but as a general rule, the need to advocate for a better tomorrow, even the newer movies that tend to be dismissed as generic action vehicles despite being anything but.  But being preachy and actually earning it are two different things.  At its worst, the franchise's efforts could be considered a little on the nose, but "Past Tense" is a deliberate, considerate contemplation on poverty and how easy it can be to dismiss it as a necessary evil of a functioning society. 

This was one of the rare instances where Star Trek visited the present, well almost the present, so that there could be no mistaking because of the way people were dressed that it was addressing the here and now.  The first part of the story is all set-up, of course, and finds its best material as Sisko and Bashir struggle to understand what's happened, and just how significant everything is.  There may be a level of convenience built into the story, but that shouldn't distract you from its impact.

Besides, the fun really begins next episode...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The best tradition of Star Trek's social conscience.
• series - It's hard to imagine another series doing something quite this deep.
• character - Fun fact!  Alexander Siddig was originally considered for the role of Sisko.
• essential - One of the best episodes of the whole franchise.

notable guest-stars:
Frank Military (B.C.)

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)