DS9, Season 5: “Apocalypse Rising”

Date: July 24, 2020

Season 5, Episode 1

Musical Accompaniment: Ambient Worlds presents: Laketown (a LOTR inspired track)

Interstellar News: This was a rough week and I’m pretty sure I saw someone trying to build an ark yesterday…

Favorite Quote:

Kira: Don’t forget, this is still your fault.

Bashir: My fault?

Kira: You performed the transfer from Keiko to me.

Super meta conversation, and hilarious bit back and forth, considering Visitor and Siddig (Kira and Bashir) knocked boots and created said baby.

So what had happened was…: Dax and Sisko come back from a meeting with Starfleet and the Federation and they’re sending Sisko, Worf, O’Brien, and Odo undercover to try and flush out the Gowron changeling. The three humans are made to look like Klingons and Dukat comes in his Bird of Prey ship to escort them to where Gowron will be while Worf tries to teach them how to be Klingons. Martok arrives, they put their mini golden Death Star destabilizes in place, wait a really long time to turn it on, and get caught before they can. Martok lets them out of jail because he believes Gowron is a changeling and he wants them to kill Gowron, but Odo’s brain is always working and he exposes Martok as the changeling. Martok is immediately shot by every Klingon in the place and explodes to death while Gowron is grateful but can’t stop the momentum of war just with a snap of his fingers.

“Glory to you and your house.”: Okay so I was wrong, but I’m glad Odo got his mojo back and it was very satisfying to see how quickly the Klingons all rose to the occasion of obliterating the changeling. Sisko obviously had a hard time speaking with the teeth implants or flappers or whatever they used, you could hear a bit of a lisp and some of his normal tone and inflection was off but damn was he having fun as a Klingon. O’Brien was obviously uncomfortable but did the best he could and Odo was just a mess until he realized he still had “it”. I don’t understand why they waited so long to turn on the emitters or why Sisko had to stop when his fake Klingon name was called or, for that matter, how Martok knew it was Sisko. I’m also confused why they didn’t just chop off a hand or a finger or a leg or something that would prove Gowron was a changeling… hell you can probably tear off their clothes or something. Another thing that didn’t make sense to me is how no one notices when they go off to regenerate? One thing is clear, Gowron drank the changeling Kool Aid because it meant he could lead his people into glorious battle, even if they weren’t winning.

Last post I talked about the conversation I imagined Kira having with her boyfriend, but the one she had with Dukat was absolutely fabulous and delivered perfectly. Dukat, naturally, shows his true colors when he blows up the other Klingon ship instead of letting ONE OF THE FOUR KLINGONS ON BOARD talk when the holofilter stopped working. It’s a not-so-subtle way to remind us that Dukat is still a bad guy. Kira also is completely unafraid of Worf or O’Brien and clearly explains that their opinions are fine to express but it’s her orders that are to be followed and she’s not dealing with any of their shit. I also really liked that there was a female Klingon being inducted to the Order of the Bat’leth and they all cheered for her as they did the men that came before her, it was a nice touch.

I very much liked this episode and the twist of who was really the bad guy but I still felt like things were missing and I can’t quite place it. I’ve noticed most of the season openers have not opened with a roar or a bang but more like a purr of a really loud cat. Using the “Louie” scale, this episode gets a 7.

TA Out!