Deep Space Nine 2.25, 2.26
“Tribunal”. Otherwise known as “Time to Torture Miles Some More”. Yay! Those are always good ones. And Avery Brooks directed, too.
I loved the bit at Ops with O’Brien’s head popping up in the turbolift. It was pretty funny listening to Mr. b talk back to the screen when Miles was suggesting going back to pick up Molly. No. No you do not bring your kid on your romantic getaway. I do love that they show Keiko and her husband as a normal couple, that are honestly in love with each other and do find each other attractive, while still being annoyed with each other’s daily quirks.
It’s interesting how they’re able to subvert the courtroom drama trope by playing with the rules of the Cardassian legal system. When Gul Dukat mentioned earlier they always know the verdict going in, it really changes all the roles. I liked the logic behind it all, as explained by the judge with the weird hair. She truly believed that this was the best way - for the good of Cardassia. There were a lot of nice character moments. How Keiko immediately pled her case to Odo when he was the one that responded to her instead of Sisko. The way that Odo took it upon himself to be the nestor. O’Brien’s reaction to being tortured and having his molar removed. The Conservator’s response, “They’ll kill me!” when Odo pointed out he won his case. Even though it’s kind of recycling from Tribbles to have a deep cover operative look like a human, I thought that was used wonderfully here. Especially when Makbar didn’t even bother to acknowledge the guy, and Sisko didn’t even have to say or threaten anything, just his presence was enough to get Miles freed.
For some reason I convinced myself that the first appearance of the Jem’Hadar was the baby. So I was pleasantly surprised when “The Jem’Hadar” turned out to be the one where the Siskos and the Quarks go camping!
Everything fit together so perfectly, from Ben pressing his son to dig deeper and try harder, to Jake truly being excited when he realizes the possibilities at hand, to Nog being inevitably invited. And then Quark taking the opportunity to sell his televised advertisement scheme. Hee! I love that Quark hates nature and that he’s such a bug snob. Every time I see Sisko interacting with Nog I find myself thinking ahead to Nog’s tenure in Starfleet. I have a quibble with Benjamin’s shirt. It looks very home-sewn. And yes, I’m using that as a pejorative. I just don’t see the commander of a station wearing something that poorly constructed. Compared to Quark, who is overly-flashy, yes, but also sharp, it just makes him look like the stereotypical country cousin to Quark’s city cousin. Maybe that’s intentional. Or maybe the costume people gave the orange and red shirt assignment to the intern.
At any rate, it was great having Jake and Nog be smart and scared and competent and untrained and intuitive and inexperienced. All of their actions rang true to me as young boys who had their parental guardians suddenly taken away, who are trying desperately to help as well as escape. I loved the mess that Jake made dismantling the autopilot and the exasperation when they realized they had to fly manually without the autopilot. And that Miles didn’t even *blink* at their pile of chips when he beamed onboard and took over.
Now the business with Eris. First of all, do we ever see the psychokinetic power again? I couldn’t remember the specifics of this episode so when she failed to identify herself as a Vorta, I totally filled in the blanks in my own head that she was a related species that happened to have the glowy chest power thing. Clearly some elements hadn’t been finalized yet, like the Jem’Hadar’s tubes being black instead of white. But it really took a long time before it finally dawned on me that she was fucking with them. Oh sure, something with a complicated locking mechanism, look here’s a Ferengi with just the right lock-picking capabilities. And Sisko sure was able to beat down that Jem’Hadar easily. So yeah, obviously they let them escape. They didn’t need to blow up an entire galaxy class startship. That’s a helluva way to prove a point. I loved Kira’s reaction when she realized the number of casualties she just witnessed.
Through it all we don’t hear mention of the Vorta species. We never get a solid (*ahem*) confirmation or denial that Eris’ was NOT a Founder. I love how slippery this all is. It’s hard to remember what it was like being in the dark and not knowing so much about the Dominion already. Especially when I hear Talak’talan wistfully wish he could have met a Klingon and then I’m immediately transported to the prison colony fight club. So much goodness to come!
I loved the bit at Ops with O’Brien’s head popping up in the turbolift. It was pretty funny listening to Mr. b talk back to the screen when Miles was suggesting going back to pick up Molly. No. No you do not bring your kid on your romantic getaway. I do love that they show Keiko and her husband as a normal couple, that are honestly in love with each other and do find each other attractive, while still being annoyed with each other’s daily quirks.
It’s interesting how they’re able to subvert the courtroom drama trope by playing with the rules of the Cardassian legal system. When Gul Dukat mentioned earlier they always know the verdict going in, it really changes all the roles. I liked the logic behind it all, as explained by the judge with the weird hair. She truly believed that this was the best way - for the good of Cardassia. There were a lot of nice character moments. How Keiko immediately pled her case to Odo when he was the one that responded to her instead of Sisko. The way that Odo took it upon himself to be the nestor. O’Brien’s reaction to being tortured and having his molar removed. The Conservator’s response, “They’ll kill me!” when Odo pointed out he won his case. Even though it’s kind of recycling from Tribbles to have a deep cover operative look like a human, I thought that was used wonderfully here. Especially when Makbar didn’t even bother to acknowledge the guy, and Sisko didn’t even have to say or threaten anything, just his presence was enough to get Miles freed.
For some reason I convinced myself that the first appearance of the Jem’Hadar was the baby. So I was pleasantly surprised when “The Jem’Hadar” turned out to be the one where the Siskos and the Quarks go camping!
Everything fit together so perfectly, from Ben pressing his son to dig deeper and try harder, to Jake truly being excited when he realizes the possibilities at hand, to Nog being inevitably invited. And then Quark taking the opportunity to sell his televised advertisement scheme. Hee! I love that Quark hates nature and that he’s such a bug snob. Every time I see Sisko interacting with Nog I find myself thinking ahead to Nog’s tenure in Starfleet. I have a quibble with Benjamin’s shirt. It looks very home-sewn. And yes, I’m using that as a pejorative. I just don’t see the commander of a station wearing something that poorly constructed. Compared to Quark, who is overly-flashy, yes, but also sharp, it just makes him look like the stereotypical country cousin to Quark’s city cousin. Maybe that’s intentional. Or maybe the costume people gave the orange and red shirt assignment to the intern.
At any rate, it was great having Jake and Nog be smart and scared and competent and untrained and intuitive and inexperienced. All of their actions rang true to me as young boys who had their parental guardians suddenly taken away, who are trying desperately to help as well as escape. I loved the mess that Jake made dismantling the autopilot and the exasperation when they realized they had to fly manually without the autopilot. And that Miles didn’t even *blink* at their pile of chips when he beamed onboard and took over.
Now the business with Eris. First of all, do we ever see the psychokinetic power again? I couldn’t remember the specifics of this episode so when she failed to identify herself as a Vorta, I totally filled in the blanks in my own head that she was a related species that happened to have the glowy chest power thing. Clearly some elements hadn’t been finalized yet, like the Jem’Hadar’s tubes being black instead of white. But it really took a long time before it finally dawned on me that she was fucking with them. Oh sure, something with a complicated locking mechanism, look here’s a Ferengi with just the right lock-picking capabilities. And Sisko sure was able to beat down that Jem’Hadar easily. So yeah, obviously they let them escape. They didn’t need to blow up an entire galaxy class startship. That’s a helluva way to prove a point. I loved Kira’s reaction when she realized the number of casualties she just witnessed.
Through it all we don’t hear mention of the Vorta species. We never get a solid (*ahem*) confirmation or denial that Eris’ was NOT a Founder. I love how slippery this all is. It’s hard to remember what it was like being in the dark and not knowing so much about the Dominion already. Especially when I hear Talak’talan wistfully wish he could have met a Klingon and then I’m immediately transported to the prison colony fight club. So much goodness to come!