Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3 disc 4
There’s medical drama in ‘Life Support’ with personal ramifications for Kira and MASSIVE political ramifications for this bit of the galaxy and beyond. They could have prepared for all this better by having Kira and Bareil be more in sync in the last episode we saw them together, but Jake’s plotline, where his age-appropriate relationship with a human girl is jeopardised by a double date with Nog, would absolutely have benefited from coming earlier in the season.
Kai Winn and Bareil are on a damaged ship that comes to he station, and he is so badly injured that he’s technically dead, but at his autopsy brilliant Bashir realises he can bring him back. Win, is pleased because they (never mind the provisional government of Bajor) were conducting secret peace negotiations with the Cardassians !!!! And Bareil was doing most of the work. She and Bareil encourage Julian to give him dangerous treatments to enable him to continue to advise her, because there were no back-ups.
It’s Bajor’s future versus Julian’s medical ethics, with what’s best for the patient shifting throughout the episode and Kira paying the personal price as Bareil becomes less and less himself. Best of all is Kai Winn, who appears to be all reasonable, having come to appreciate her former rival, but who is ultimately ruthless. Fletcher raises her game for every revelation. I also liked how Lofton conveyed how much Jake is Ben’s son in his performance. It’s a gripping episode, and I found it one of the best of the season.
My shippy little heart remembered the big reveal of ‘Heart of Stone’ - I mostly just remember the general trends of this season, like the end result of this episode’s B-plot, which is about Nog wanting to get into Starfleet. Again, I have quibbles with the scheduling of tis episode in the season. Given that her boyfriend of quite some time had just died, Kira is awfully chipper here.
Having said that, I did see some ‘they’re so married’ business before Kira and Odo chaseadfter a Maquis Macguffin who lead them to one of those Star Trek caves, with extra technological challenges while Kira appeared to be eaten by a fast-growing crystal. Odo told her the heartbreaking story of how he got his name, tried to protect her against seismic activity and wouldn’t leave her to certain death. When he admitted his feelings and Kira said she reciprocated, he realised It’s That Changeling from Before.
It was relatively subtly done, as was Nog trying to convince Sisko to sponsor his application to get into Starfleet. Sisko had to explain probity to him, but the audience, having seen Nog’s family life was not surprised at No’s ardent desire for a different career to the family business.
For some eason, it was at this point that I realised the three actors regularly playing Feregi on this show were Jewish and how problematic that is given the way that the Ferengi were depicted.
‘Destiny’ is another good episode, though its take on Cardassian women scientists is clunky.. The tension between Sisko’s reluctance to b the Emissary and a Vedek’s claim that a prophecy regarding him is lent focus by Kria’s attempt to balance work and faith. This episode made me write ‘Reaching’, because although it’s not mentioned, there must have been points here when she missed Bareil very acutely, especially as the scientific collaboration was the fruit of the Bajoran-Cardassian treaty so recently and painfully concluded.
The third Cardassian scientist was always obviously an Obsidian Order plant (or I half remembered her). I suppose everyone was too busy to notice, although we never saw Odo’s security detail tailing the scientists like they were meant to.
Sisko was struggling with his role and what the right thing to do was as the scientific endeavour went a bit pear shaped. The Cardassian’s disdain about what O’Brien had done to their tech was amusing, and it felt inevitable that the Vedek was played by Eric Aari.
I eyed th punning title ‘Prophet Motive’ askance every time I was in this disc’s menu. This ep is mainly about the impact of an encounter with the Prophets on the Grand Nagus Zek. It dismays Quark, as it could change the direction of the Ferengi race for the better. By any reasonable standard. This meant a lot of Quark-Rom interaction and the actors’ timing and way they sold their banter is brilliant. I laughed a lot while also thinking ‘hmm, isn’t this influenced by Yiddish?’
The opening left a bad taste, with Quark getting his ears seen to by a female client, with all that entails..
Still, Ferengi-Prophet interaction is a study in contrasts. I also presumed that the return of the orb would be major although it hasn’t been in an episode I’ve rewtched since.
I also laughed at the B-plot about Bashir’s discomfort about getting nominated for a top Federation medical prize. I kept expecting his mixed feelings to be about more than thinking he was too young for it. Still, it emphasised how supersmart and brilliant a doctor they have on Deep Space Nine.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/421233.html.
Kai Winn and Bareil are on a damaged ship that comes to he station, and he is so badly injured that he’s technically dead, but at his autopsy brilliant Bashir realises he can bring him back. Win, is pleased because they (never mind the provisional government of Bajor) were conducting secret peace negotiations with the Cardassians !!!! And Bareil was doing most of the work. She and Bareil encourage Julian to give him dangerous treatments to enable him to continue to advise her, because there were no back-ups.
It’s Bajor’s future versus Julian’s medical ethics, with what’s best for the patient shifting throughout the episode and Kira paying the personal price as Bareil becomes less and less himself. Best of all is Kai Winn, who appears to be all reasonable, having come to appreciate her former rival, but who is ultimately ruthless. Fletcher raises her game for every revelation. I also liked how Lofton conveyed how much Jake is Ben’s son in his performance. It’s a gripping episode, and I found it one of the best of the season.
My shippy little heart remembered the big reveal of ‘Heart of Stone’ - I mostly just remember the general trends of this season, like the end result of this episode’s B-plot, which is about Nog wanting to get into Starfleet. Again, I have quibbles with the scheduling of tis episode in the season. Given that her boyfriend of quite some time had just died, Kira is awfully chipper here.
Having said that, I did see some ‘they’re so married’ business before Kira and Odo chaseadfter a Maquis Macguffin who lead them to one of those Star Trek caves, with extra technological challenges while Kira appeared to be eaten by a fast-growing crystal. Odo told her the heartbreaking story of how he got his name, tried to protect her against seismic activity and wouldn’t leave her to certain death. When he admitted his feelings and Kira said she reciprocated, he realised It’s That Changeling from Before.
It was relatively subtly done, as was Nog trying to convince Sisko to sponsor his application to get into Starfleet. Sisko had to explain probity to him, but the audience, having seen Nog’s family life was not surprised at No’s ardent desire for a different career to the family business.
For some eason, it was at this point that I realised the three actors regularly playing Feregi on this show were Jewish and how problematic that is given the way that the Ferengi were depicted.
‘Destiny’ is another good episode, though its take on Cardassian women scientists is clunky.. The tension between Sisko’s reluctance to b the Emissary and a Vedek’s claim that a prophecy regarding him is lent focus by Kria’s attempt to balance work and faith. This episode made me write ‘Reaching’, because although it’s not mentioned, there must have been points here when she missed Bareil very acutely, especially as the scientific collaboration was the fruit of the Bajoran-Cardassian treaty so recently and painfully concluded.
The third Cardassian scientist was always obviously an Obsidian Order plant (or I half remembered her). I suppose everyone was too busy to notice, although we never saw Odo’s security detail tailing the scientists like they were meant to.
Sisko was struggling with his role and what the right thing to do was as the scientific endeavour went a bit pear shaped. The Cardassian’s disdain about what O’Brien had done to their tech was amusing, and it felt inevitable that the Vedek was played by Eric Aari.
I eyed th punning title ‘Prophet Motive’ askance every time I was in this disc’s menu. This ep is mainly about the impact of an encounter with the Prophets on the Grand Nagus Zek. It dismays Quark, as it could change the direction of the Ferengi race for the better. By any reasonable standard. This meant a lot of Quark-Rom interaction and the actors’ timing and way they sold their banter is brilliant. I laughed a lot while also thinking ‘hmm, isn’t this influenced by Yiddish?’
The opening left a bad taste, with Quark getting his ears seen to by a female client, with all that entails..
Still, Ferengi-Prophet interaction is a study in contrasts. I also presumed that the return of the orb would be major although it hasn’t been in an episode I’ve rewtched since.
I also laughed at the B-plot about Bashir’s discomfort about getting nominated for a top Federation medical prize. I kept expecting his mixed feelings to be about more than thinking he was too young for it. Still, it emphasised how supersmart and brilliant a doctor they have on Deep Space Nine.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/421233.html.