#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 17, “Accession”

May 25, 2014 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Deep Space Nine, "Accession"

Juxtaposition in progress. DS9, Season Four, Ep. 17, “Accession”

Since this Bajoran-related episode is in large part based on their religion, I think it’s appropriate to begin with a confession. I’m writing this review at 10:51 PM on a Sunday night leading into Memorial Day, but I’m profoundly distracted because I am both tired and we’re expecting my second child in just a few short days. I have other things on my mind, and as such, I’m going to skip assigning this episode my usual star rating. It just wouldn’t be fair.

Sometimes the arrival of an unexpected event–or even an expected event whose ramifications one hadn’t time to fully consider–can derail the order and structure of our carefully arranged lives, and leave us to consider how we’ll react to our newfound role. “Accession” is razor-focused on this theme, but it deftly avoids being ham-fisted about it. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 15, “Sons of Mogh”

April 7, 2014 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Kurn from Deep Space Nine: "Sons of Mogh"

Family problems. Kurn from DS9, Season Four, Ep 15: “Sons of Mogh”

By the very nature of all the writing that I do, and how busy I stay, I usually only get the chance to post one of these episode reviews weeks after I’ve seen the subject. That’s usually a good thing, because I have time for any initial emotional reaction to settle and can be more objective about what I did or did not like about the latest installment.

This time, when I came back to write another review, I realized that I’d forgotten I’d watched “Sons of Mogh”. If you think that means I wasn’t engaged with this entry in the series; that I might have seen significant problems with it–well, you’re right. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 12, “Paradise Lost”

January 19, 2014 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Twitter hastag: #DS91sttimeTalk about missed chances. If you hadn’t told me this episode concluded a midseason two-parter, I would have thought it was one of Trek’s many botched wrap-around season opener/cliffhanger duos. It left a taste in my mouth like that of “Time’s Arrow, Part II”, from The Next Generation. “Homefront” was intriguing, the sense of dread steadily escalated, but “Paradise Lost” just couldn’t stick the landing.

As might be suspected from “Homeworld”, “Paradise Lost” further explores Sisko’s hunch that something just isn’t right with the recent acts that have been perpetrated against Earth, in particular the sabotage of the entire planet’s power grid (which, kids, I’m still struggling to see as possible in the 21st century, to say nothing of DS9’s setting). Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 11, “Homefront”

December 21, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Joseph Sisko and son, from Season Four, Ep 11, "Homefront"

Joseph Sisko and son, from Season Four, Ep 11, “Homefront”

Well, that didn’t take long. Just when I’d started complaining about this season spending too much time away from the core Dominion plot arc, we’re thrown into a terrorist attack taking place on Earth itself in “Homefront”. This gives us a strong episode, and one that resonates with a post-9/11 audience even more than it must have back in the late 90’s. More on that in a moment.

The episode opens to Dax and Sisko observing the wormhole’s odd activity–it’s been opening and closing like a revolving door at a busy downtown office, but there’s no sign of any ships leaving it. That should have screamed “get a perimeter around it, and start scanning”, but it’s basically shrugged off by Sisko, while the Bajorans on board see it as a possible sign from the prophets. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 10, “Our Man Bashir”

December 6, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Season Four, Ep 10, "Our Man Bashir"

Season Four, Ep 10, “Our Man Bashir”

Several years ago I was at Dragon*Con waiting for the start of an event in one of the grand ballrooms. Said event was running behind schedule, so the organizers had several people playing “You Don’t Know Jack”, live, while everyone else waited for the real deal to start. I’m pretty sure the demo of the game (which was all it really was) wasn’t supposed to run nearly an hour, but it did.

I knew the main event was delayed, and no announcement had been made as to why, as the organizers apparently thought “…Jack” would keep us sufficiently distracted. I had a lot of laughs, true, but I kept thinking to myself “man, this is taking a while”.

That’s what this season has felt like. We know the Dominion is circling ever closer, but the showrunners don’t seem to be interested in going to the show’s core plot just yet. So we keep getting distractions.

We’ve had an homage to old alien invasion flicks, a send-off to Indiana Jones, and now it seems we’re going to be delving into James Bond territory. “Our Man Bashir” is very much like “Little Green Men”, in that the plot is outlandish, and it makes few apologies for it. Read the rest of this entry →