#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 24, “The Quickening”

February 28, 2017 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Accidental allusions to sword-wielding immortals aside, “The Quickening” is a welcome episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In a series that has seemed at times too content to flesh out its key adversarial faction, the Dominion, from a distance, here one of our protagonists is thrust headlong into a civilization living with the consequences of defying the Founders’ overtures.

Kira and Dax are on a survey mission in the Gamma Quadrant along with forever-friendzoned Dr. Bashir. After following up on a distress signal (I guess distress signals are universal across species? Who knew?) they find a devastated planet and its people, who live within spitting distance of the Dominion itself. Seems these folks once told the Dominion they’d remain independent and free. In response, the Dominion attacked their world and infected the entire population with a 100%-communicable disease that strikes from birth and eventually claims its sufferer’s life, though on a completely random timetable.

The “Blight”, as it is called, is bad news, clearly, and Bashir volunteers to stay behind and do what he can. Kira is going to go hang out in a conveniently-located Nebula for a while. This is one of those aspects of Star Trek that annoys me: Why would anyone send a bunch of senior officers just dripping with valuable information into the backyard of a known threat, and arm them only with a Runabout? Egads.

Things are so bad on the planet that the “hospital” is actually more like a hotel for last hurrahs, but Bashir is optimistic about his chances of solving the Blight, and his determination is something I found very sympathetic. But I was worried that the Typical Trek Formula would thus follow, in which Bashir encounters skeptical locals and races against time, but ultimately succeeds, even saving the life of the pregnant Ekoria (Ellen Wheeler, in an excellent guest role) in the process.

Luckily, that’s not quite the case. And though I don’t want to spoil the ending here, let me just say it’s much less triumphant than expected. It gives us one of those that moments where DS9 is at its absolute best, when it allows its characters to stumble. Bashir, who’s always been keen to see the bright side in every situation, gets taken down a peg, and has to deal with the fact that he’s not going to be a miracle worker. How he will have to settle for less than perfect results, and carry on in the face of near-crippling disappointment makes this episode a pleasant surprise. This is deep, deep stuff. “The Quickening” is a credit to the series.

Damaged goods are good, I always say.

———-

I should point out that, by this episode, my darling wife had announced her disinterest in continuing the show, so they’ll be no more of her take from this point onward.

Rating: 4/5

See the rest of the review series here.


"Beacon" Part IA young couple’s miracle at the last star left in the Universe will lead to a specter from the past returning to confront mankind…and the end will become the beginning. Try Part I of the Beacon Saga Serial, for your choice of ebook platforms.

#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 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 →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 7, “Starship Down”

October 16, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Worf and enlisted men = challenges. DS9, Season Four, Ep 7: "Starship Down"

Worf and enlisted men = challenges. DS9, Season Four, Ep 7: “Starship Down”

Every show has them: episodes that ignite neither passion, nor derision. They usually have a few nice moments, but on the whole, there is nothing extraordinary to be seen. Ladies and gents, I give you “Starship Down”, a nice episode, with nice character development, and nice special effects, and a nice guest star turn by James Cromwell (albeit in alien makeup, so only his voice and stature give him away). It’s…nice. Read the rest of this entry →