DS9: “Accession” and “Rules of Engagement”

Date: July 20, 2020

Season 4, Episodes 16 and 17

Musical Accompaniment: iTunes on random.

Interstellar News: We had to watch these episodes on DVD because there was an internet outage, which also explains why this is being posted a day late.

Favorite Quotes from “Accession”:

Today is a Good Day to Die: “Now?!” (Worf’s reaction to Keiko’s second pregnancy announcement)

Dax: So you’re off the hook. How does it feel?

Sisko: It feels good. No more ceremonies to attend, no more blessings to give, no more prophecies to fulfill. I’m just a Starfleet officer again. All I have to worry about are the Klingons, the Dominion and the Maquis. I feel like I’m on vacation.

This may sound sarcastic, but if you listen to how it’s delivered… it’s super sincere.

Sincere Sisko: “I don’t doubt I can find someone to fill your post. But to replace you?”

So what had happened in “Accession” was…: O’Brien and Bashir clean up because Keiko’s finally back and, surprise, she’s pregnant. O’Brien was hoping he and Keiko would have more alone time together and it’s hard for him to have to go home each night instead of gallivanting about the station with Bashir. Keiko, seeing how unhappy both men are, arranges for O’Brien and Bashir to spend some time while she is working and Molly is sleeping.

Kira brings a newly wed couple to be blessed by the Emissary and Sisko complies, begrudgingly. A badly damaged ship comes through the wormhole carrying a Bajoran man named Akorem Laan, a famous poet from 200 years ago who claims to be the Emissary. Sisko stands aside but is shocked when Akorem wants Bajor to return to an enforced caste system, one that makes them ineligible for Federation membership. Bajorans meet this with a mixed response but many know it is not their place to question the Emissary. Sisko has a vision of Kai Opaka and, after a man is killed on the station, believes it’s time to visit the wormhole aliens. Akorem and Sisko go and the aliens verify Sisko is the true Emissary and agree to send Akorem back to his own time, just without his memory. A wormhole alien tells Sisko that not only are they of Bajor, but so is he.

“The Sisko is of Bajor”: I always talk about how I wear a lot of hats at work. Sometimes it’s my professor hat, other times it’s my advisor hat, and sometimes it’s my former student hat, and it reminds me of how Sisko has been and what he will continue to do as the Emissary. Sometimes he’s wearing his Starfleet hat and other times it’s his Emissary hat, but he makes sure that he doesn’t mix the two. I understand the fine line he has to walk for the Prime Directive, but to be honest I feel Starfleet’s orders to have him bring Bajor into the Federation is the biggest “fuck you” to the Prime Directive. I did think Sisko should have traveled to see the prophet’s earlier or hell, gone to visit an Orb or even Kai Opaka. I get that we wouldn’t have had an episode if they did that and Sisko was all too willing to find someone else to take the title, but there were three easy ways to tell and it took them 40 minutes of episode to figure it out, sigh. I was also curious how, after 200 years, all of the Bajorans suddenly knew who was in what caste. Also, what about all of the non-Bajorans on Bajor?

Odo and Kira talk just for a brief moment where Odo is trying to make sense of faith and Kira trying to explain everything away and it’s very much like my struggle with organized religion. If there is one entity out there that controls everything, how arrogant are we to think any one religion has figured it out? My thought is if you are a good personal and follow your own moral code (don’t kill people, don’t kick puppies, give when you can, treat others as you wish to be treated, tip well, and love more than you hate) then wherever you go or whoever you become after this life is over can’t be all that bad.

Favorite Quote from “Rules of Engagement”:

Worf: Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform.

Sisko: Wait till you get four pips on that collar. You’ll wish you had gone into botany.

Don’t let Keiko hear you say that!

So what had happened in “Rules of Engagement” was…: Worf has a nightmare and wakes up in a holding cell because there’s about to be an extradition trial between the Klingon Empire and the Federation with a Vulcan admiral as a judge. The episode is a mix of testimony mixed in with flashbacks and it’s Dax followed by Sisko and then Quark. Odo is trying to investigate on his end and then O’Brien testifies making things more clear. The Defiant was running protection for a Cardassian medical convoy when the Klingons attacked and Worf fired on a decloaking ship that was apparently filled with civilians. The Klingons want the medical convoys to stop and they believe that Worf was itching to fight and it’s their jurisdiction to try him for his crimes. Odo comes through, however, and the list of those who “died” in Worf’s attack is the same list of passengers that was lost in an accident three months earlier. The admiral dismisses the case, the Klingon advocate is stunned, and Sisko uses this as a teaching moment for Worf.

“There is nothing honorable about killing those who cannot defend themselves.”: I will say I think this is the first admiral that hasn’t completely sucked, but then again everyone else did the work for her. I loved the way they interspersed the flashbacks with the testimony, and Quark’s was clearly a moment of levity that was needed in such a heavy episode. Of course it’s front heavy looking like Worf is just a bloodthirsty Klingon but we all know he’s just not. No matter what the Klingon advocate did it was never going to be enough to prove that Worf just lost his temper… oh wait, there was the scene where Worf totally punched him out, whoopsies. I also loved the ending where Sisko uses this as a teachable moment to help Worf become a better officer. All that being said, I’m not sure I understand why this episode happened in the first place. Maybe the Federation was trying to get the Klingons back to their side by playing nice? I also don’t understand why Sisko yells at Worf for the decision he made, because in the heat of battle I can see Sisko or anyone making that same decision… but it is always good to check what you’re firing at I guess? I give 5 months of probation to Worf for this one.

TA Out!