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There's a way in which I really kind of love that the first few episodes of season six of Deep Space Nine are INTENSE SERIALIZED SCIENCE FICTION, and then that ends and they're like "what do we do now ... uhhhhhh ..... ummmmmmmmm .... whatever, fine, IT'S FANFIC SEASON. Let's shrink the Defiant!"
11. Waltz
Oh my god, Waltz. WALTZ. SPEAKING OF FANFIC. I can't believe this is a whole episode that is just Dukat menacingly screaming "LOVE ME SISKO!" while he alternates between attacking him and tenderly binding his wounds because HE CAN'T DIE YET, NOT UNTIL HE STOPS JUDGING DUKAT AND STARTS VALIDATING HIM.
As someone who is shamefully invested in Dukat and Sisko's ULTIMATE NEMESIS-ITUDE (sorry, Eddington!), this episode was a shining gift, and that's all I have to say.
-- OK, it's not all I have to say, actually. Here's the thing: yes, it's hilariously over-the-top, but it turns out to me there is something weirdly, viscerally satisfying in how every single villain on Deep Space Nine is absolutely desperate to get Sisko's attention and approval. It's not that that's an unusual position for a protagonist to be in -- hi, Francis Crawford of Lymond! -- but it is an INCREDIBLY unusual position for a black protagonist to be in; the usual narrative with a black protagonist is someone who has to constantly fight for respect, not someone whose respect everybody else constantly fights for. Usually I complain when three-quarters of the plots wouldn't happen without everyone being obsessed with the protagonist, but in this case, I LOVE IT, IT'S AMAZING, KEEP IT UP DEEP SPACE NINE. If you want to trap Dukat and Sisko together on a planet for half a season, I'm here for that.
12. Who Mourns For Morn?
Debi and I were like "so what could possibly top Waltz, fanfic-season-wise?" and then we looked at the next episode and were like WELL OKAY THEN.
I mean, if you take out the Morn angle, Who Mourns for Morn is a fairly mediocre Quark-has-a-heist episode, but ... look, I'm an easy sell, I am not ashamed to admit it. Jadzia once had a crush on Morn! Bashir and O'Brien are sworn to keep his seat warm in memoriam! MAYBE HE'S A PRINCE. WE DON'T KNOW. Morn, I am glad you've gotten your narrative due.
(We were both scandalized that Odo spent the whole episode taunting Quark instead of mourning Morn, but eventually decided that Odo must have been aware of the scam from the beginning. HE HAS EYES EVERYWHeRE!)
13. Far Beyond the Stars
...and here we have a very different kind of fanfic episode.
Far Beyond the Stars was actually the first Deep Space Nine episode I ever saw --
batyatoon showed it to me a few years back -- so I was braced for the primary punches. But, you know. A story about the people who never, ever get to be the heroes of their own stories -- a story about how no matter how much things change in our incredibly racist society, they never change enough -- definitely has a certain resonance, right now.
I know that none of the 50s alter egos, in this particular fanfic AU, are necessarily supposed to have anything to do with the actual characters. All the same, Debi's headcanon is that O'Brien's 50's writer character has a Japanese wife, which is why he's so determined to keep his head down and not engage with any of the racism issues and write inoffensive stries about robots. My headcanon is that Armin Shimerman's character is Jewish, and has been under fire from HUAC. And it's reeeally interesting to think about alt!Odo as, you know, someone completely unwilling to overthrow the status quo.
(Also, both of us want the fanfic romance between 50s Michael Dorn and 50s Terry Farrell. On a shallow note: holy WOW, Michael Dorn! Smiling and in a snazzy fedora! Daaaaaaaaamn. I am glad you got to have fun in this episode, Michael Dorn!
I do feel bad for poor Kasidy, who only ever gets to show up on the station to visit her boyfriend when he's having hallucinogenic episodes.)
14. One Little Ship
They shrink the Defiant. That's the whole episode. They shrink the Defiant, and tiny Jadzia and Bashir and O'Brien save the day from a bunch of Jem'Hadar. In a tiny, heroic fashion.
Never change, Deep Space Nine.
15. Honor Among Thieves
Okay, but ... if you're sending a spy undercover to infiltrate a crime ring, why would you send O'Brien? Why would you do that. O'BRIEN IS THE WORST POSSIBLE SPY ON DS9.
I could write a review of the touching bromance/father-son/Stockholm syndrome romance/whatever the heck is going on between O'Brien and the sad gangster who recruits him into crime, but instead I'm just going to take some time to list people who would be more skilled AND more narratively interesting as undercover double agents in a crime ring than O'Brien is:
- I mean, this is ... Garak's actual job ...
- ALSO KIRA'S ACTUAL JOB. Or at least it used to be. Seriously, send Kira! She's an actual terrorist and saboteur!
- AND ODO'S AN ACTUAL SHAPESHIFTER. Plus, Odo loves noir! He's had a rough season, guys. ome on. Let him have this.
- Jadzia Dax never gets to go undercover and it makes me so sad because she would be SO GOOD at it and have SO MUCH FUN
- Jake Sisko! Plucky undercover reporter! I mean, he wouldn't be good at it, but the episode would be hilarious.
The only person I can think of who's actually a WORSE choice to send to be an undercover spy agent would be Julian Bashir ... MORE ON THIS ANON.
16. Change of Heart
BECCA: I love this episode so much! ... omg, Jadzia better not die this episode.
DEBI: ...man, this episode would be perfect, if we didn't know this was the season where Jadzia died!
Fortunately Jadzia did not die this episode, so it remains a representation of fanfic season at its finest -- by which I mean, not that it's over-the-top and ridiculous, but that it's the kind of story that is almost never told outside of fanfic: a story which begins with two people in a stable, healthy relationship, and ends with two people in a stable, healthy relationship, and tells an intense and suspenseful story about those two people together without ever putting that relationship into question.
There's this weird sense in media -- but television, especially -- that stories about people in stable relationships are somehow boring, or not worth telling, and I want to sit everyone who believes that down and make them watch Change of Heart.
17. Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
So this is the episode that begins with Dukat calling up Kira on her mother's birthday to be like "HEY GUESS WHAT I BANGED YOUR MOM."
DEBI: ...but, like, why? Why did he call her up on her mom's birthday? Was this ever explained?
BECCA: Um, I'm pretty sure he has a Google calendar alert for everyone's mother's birthdays so he can call them up and tell them he banged their mom. Sisko's up next.
DEBI: Well, he hasn't banged Sisko's mom ...
BECCA: Yet. That's what time travel's for!
Okay, in seriousness, this was ... an interesting attempt at talking about a.) comfort women, a very specific reference that I'm not 100% sure DS9 knew what to do with and b.) the whole double standard and sense of betrayal during an occupation around the idea of "collaborators," and -- it was a very interesting attempt! I think almost everything about it could have been done better, but I -- do appreciate the effort? I think?
18. Inquisition
And this is the one where Starfleet decides that Bashir might be a traitor, and so they send a special crack interrogation squad to hijack him and holosuite him into confessing. To be fair to them, Bashir's been acting surprisingly ethical this season; I'm suspicious too. It's still entirely possible he's been a Changeling the past six episodes.
Anyway, they end by trying to recruit him and Sisko is like "OK, go on, next time they show up, be an undercover spy! Let's do this!"
DEBI: Becca, remember how we spent Honor Among Thieves wishing for anyone besides O'Brien to have an undercover spy story ... except Bashir ...?
BECCA: I REMEMBER.
Come on, Deep Space Nine, where is my Jake Sisko: Ace Undercover Reporter episode? I'M DISAPPOINT.
Actually though our favorite part of the episode is when it turns out that the people interrogating Bashir are part of a SECRET TORTURE UNIT inside Starfleet that wears BLACK LEATHER MURDER SUITS as their uniforms.
DEBI: ... so Section 31 is Hydra?
Our least favorite part is the total absence of Garak. Where'd he go?
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/412753.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.
11. Waltz
Oh my god, Waltz. WALTZ. SPEAKING OF FANFIC. I can't believe this is a whole episode that is just Dukat menacingly screaming "LOVE ME SISKO!" while he alternates between attacking him and tenderly binding his wounds because HE CAN'T DIE YET, NOT UNTIL HE STOPS JUDGING DUKAT AND STARTS VALIDATING HIM.
As someone who is shamefully invested in Dukat and Sisko's ULTIMATE NEMESIS-ITUDE (sorry, Eddington!), this episode was a shining gift, and that's all I have to say.
-- OK, it's not all I have to say, actually. Here's the thing: yes, it's hilariously over-the-top, but it turns out to me there is something weirdly, viscerally satisfying in how every single villain on Deep Space Nine is absolutely desperate to get Sisko's attention and approval. It's not that that's an unusual position for a protagonist to be in -- hi, Francis Crawford of Lymond! -- but it is an INCREDIBLY unusual position for a black protagonist to be in; the usual narrative with a black protagonist is someone who has to constantly fight for respect, not someone whose respect everybody else constantly fights for. Usually I complain when three-quarters of the plots wouldn't happen without everyone being obsessed with the protagonist, but in this case, I LOVE IT, IT'S AMAZING, KEEP IT UP DEEP SPACE NINE. If you want to trap Dukat and Sisko together on a planet for half a season, I'm here for that.
12. Who Mourns For Morn?
Debi and I were like "so what could possibly top Waltz, fanfic-season-wise?" and then we looked at the next episode and were like WELL OKAY THEN.
I mean, if you take out the Morn angle, Who Mourns for Morn is a fairly mediocre Quark-has-a-heist episode, but ... look, I'm an easy sell, I am not ashamed to admit it. Jadzia once had a crush on Morn! Bashir and O'Brien are sworn to keep his seat warm in memoriam! MAYBE HE'S A PRINCE. WE DON'T KNOW. Morn, I am glad you've gotten your narrative due.
(We were both scandalized that Odo spent the whole episode taunting Quark instead of mourning Morn, but eventually decided that Odo must have been aware of the scam from the beginning. HE HAS EYES EVERYWHeRE!)
13. Far Beyond the Stars
...and here we have a very different kind of fanfic episode.
Far Beyond the Stars was actually the first Deep Space Nine episode I ever saw --
batyatoon showed it to me a few years back -- so I was braced for the primary punches. But, you know. A story about the people who never, ever get to be the heroes of their own stories -- a story about how no matter how much things change in our incredibly racist society, they never change enough -- definitely has a certain resonance, right now.
I know that none of the 50s alter egos, in this particular fanfic AU, are necessarily supposed to have anything to do with the actual characters. All the same, Debi's headcanon is that O'Brien's 50's writer character has a Japanese wife, which is why he's so determined to keep his head down and not engage with any of the racism issues and write inoffensive stries about robots. My headcanon is that Armin Shimerman's character is Jewish, and has been under fire from HUAC. And it's reeeally interesting to think about alt!Odo as, you know, someone completely unwilling to overthrow the status quo.
(Also, both of us want the fanfic romance between 50s Michael Dorn and 50s Terry Farrell. On a shallow note: holy WOW, Michael Dorn! Smiling and in a snazzy fedora! Daaaaaaaaamn. I am glad you got to have fun in this episode, Michael Dorn!
I do feel bad for poor Kasidy, who only ever gets to show up on the station to visit her boyfriend when he's having hallucinogenic episodes.)
14. One Little Ship
They shrink the Defiant. That's the whole episode. They shrink the Defiant, and tiny Jadzia and Bashir and O'Brien save the day from a bunch of Jem'Hadar. In a tiny, heroic fashion.
Never change, Deep Space Nine.
15. Honor Among Thieves
Okay, but ... if you're sending a spy undercover to infiltrate a crime ring, why would you send O'Brien? Why would you do that. O'BRIEN IS THE WORST POSSIBLE SPY ON DS9.
I could write a review of the touching bromance/father-son/Stockholm syndrome romance/whatever the heck is going on between O'Brien and the sad gangster who recruits him into crime, but instead I'm just going to take some time to list people who would be more skilled AND more narratively interesting as undercover double agents in a crime ring than O'Brien is:
- I mean, this is ... Garak's actual job ...
- ALSO KIRA'S ACTUAL JOB. Or at least it used to be. Seriously, send Kira! She's an actual terrorist and saboteur!
- AND ODO'S AN ACTUAL SHAPESHIFTER. Plus, Odo loves noir! He's had a rough season, guys. ome on. Let him have this.
- Jadzia Dax never gets to go undercover and it makes me so sad because she would be SO GOOD at it and have SO MUCH FUN
- Jake Sisko! Plucky undercover reporter! I mean, he wouldn't be good at it, but the episode would be hilarious.
The only person I can think of who's actually a WORSE choice to send to be an undercover spy agent would be Julian Bashir ... MORE ON THIS ANON.
16. Change of Heart
BECCA: I love this episode so much! ... omg, Jadzia better not die this episode.
DEBI: ...man, this episode would be perfect, if we didn't know this was the season where Jadzia died!
Fortunately Jadzia did not die this episode, so it remains a representation of fanfic season at its finest -- by which I mean, not that it's over-the-top and ridiculous, but that it's the kind of story that is almost never told outside of fanfic: a story which begins with two people in a stable, healthy relationship, and ends with two people in a stable, healthy relationship, and tells an intense and suspenseful story about those two people together without ever putting that relationship into question.
There's this weird sense in media -- but television, especially -- that stories about people in stable relationships are somehow boring, or not worth telling, and I want to sit everyone who believes that down and make them watch Change of Heart.
17. Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
So this is the episode that begins with Dukat calling up Kira on her mother's birthday to be like "HEY GUESS WHAT I BANGED YOUR MOM."
DEBI: ...but, like, why? Why did he call her up on her mom's birthday? Was this ever explained?
BECCA: Um, I'm pretty sure he has a Google calendar alert for everyone's mother's birthdays so he can call them up and tell them he banged their mom. Sisko's up next.
DEBI: Well, he hasn't banged Sisko's mom ...
BECCA: Yet. That's what time travel's for!
Okay, in seriousness, this was ... an interesting attempt at talking about a.) comfort women, a very specific reference that I'm not 100% sure DS9 knew what to do with and b.) the whole double standard and sense of betrayal during an occupation around the idea of "collaborators," and -- it was a very interesting attempt! I think almost everything about it could have been done better, but I -- do appreciate the effort? I think?
18. Inquisition
And this is the one where Starfleet decides that Bashir might be a traitor, and so they send a special crack interrogation squad to hijack him and holosuite him into confessing. To be fair to them, Bashir's been acting surprisingly ethical this season; I'm suspicious too. It's still entirely possible he's been a Changeling the past six episodes.
Anyway, they end by trying to recruit him and Sisko is like "OK, go on, next time they show up, be an undercover spy! Let's do this!"
DEBI: Becca, remember how we spent Honor Among Thieves wishing for anyone besides O'Brien to have an undercover spy story ... except Bashir ...?
BECCA: I REMEMBER.
Come on, Deep Space Nine, where is my Jake Sisko: Ace Undercover Reporter episode? I'M DISAPPOINT.
Actually though our favorite part of the episode is when it turns out that the people interrogating Bashir are part of a SECRET TORTURE UNIT inside Starfleet that wears BLACK LEATHER MURDER SUITS as their uniforms.
DEBI: ... so Section 31 is Hydra?
Our least favorite part is the total absence of Garak. Where'd he go?
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/412753.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.