DS9: “The Ship” and “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places”

Date: July 25, 2020

Season 5, Episodes 2 and 3

Musical Accompaniment: iTunes on shuffle, lots of punk music today

Interstellar News: I have been tired all damn day. I was also able to watch the first two episodes of The Umbrella Academy in preparation for Season 2 to come out next Friday.

Favorite Quote from “The Ship”:

Worf: It’s an old Klingon tradition. When a warrior dies in battle, his comrades stay with the body to keep away predators. That allows the spirit to leave the body when it is ready for the long journey to Sto’Vo’Kor.

O’Brien: That’s a fine tradition. What are you doing?

Worf: We will both keep the predators away.

Worf apologizing not by saying “I’m sorry” but by showing changed behavior and obvious contrition.

So what had happened in “The Ship” was…: Our fearless heros are on Torga IV conducting a survey when a ship crash lands and everyone aboard is dead, some Jem’Hadar and a Vorta. Another Dominion ship enters the area, destroys the runabout, and tries to negotiate with Sisko. Sisko and Kilana obviously do not trust each other but it’s obvious she wants something from the ship and Sisko needs medical attention for his crew. Both sides suffer losses, five on the Federation side and one Founder plus all of the Jem’Hadar on the Dominion side. Kilana realizes she should have told the truth, Sisko realizes it’s much harder being a captain in real life, and O’Brien makes a touching tribute to Muniz.

“Please, stop bleeding before I run out of clothes.”: I’m so glad DS9 took the time to give us a look at all of the people involved in running the station and going out on missions. We’re always seeing the same few people doing the same few things, because that’s how TV works, but it’s always fun when there are others to follow even for just an episode and just how those people have an effect on the characters we see each episode. O’Brien is the top of the Engineering food chain and has a whole host of folks under his command, even though he’s not an officer, he needs to manage who is on what shift and who attends what missions. It was totally his call that Muniz was there on the mission and he blames himself for Muniz dying, even though it’s the Dominion that interfered.

This episode does a great job of showing just how high tensions can get, that not every interaction between our regular stars is always peachy keen, and that even though they are fictional, they’re still people and we should care about what happens to them regardless of if their name appears in the credits. Muniz had two appearances before this and bantered well with O’Brien and Worf, but Sisko’s chat with Dax at the end shows just how well he knew those under his command. The whole point of the episode is that even though their deaths happened and they knew it could, death is never easy for anyone who is left behind. It’s sometimes worse when you are one making decisions that can lead to someone else’s death, because you look if there is any way to make different decisions. Sisko looks back and realizes he could have trusted Kilana, but that’s only hindsight. Overall and excellent episode, but it still leaves me with the question: why did the Founder die? An 8 gun salute for Muniz, Hoya, Rooney, T’Lor, and Bertam.

Favorite Quote from “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places”:

Worf: I am a fool.

Dax: You’re in love. Which I suppose is the same thing.

Dax is really fucking smart. Guess that’s what happens when you’ve lived for almost 300 years.

So what had happened in “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” was…: Bashir is caught by Quark eavesdropping on the other O’Briens (Kira and Miles) arguing just as Keiko comes down the hall. O’Brien massages Kira and suddenly things get awkward because they realize they have developed intimate feelings for one another. Instead of discussing this with Keiko like fucking adults, they try to be separated from each other. Kira defends O’Brien when Odo begins bitching and Odo, being the ultra-observant man that he is, teases her about it. Kira decides to take a trip but Keiko doesn’t want her to go alone so orders O’Brien to do so, but they decide O’Brien will stay and say she left without him while Kira will go visit Shakaar.

Grilka is back and her House is in financial trouble, so she asks for Quark’s help. Worf is instantly smitten but a dishonored outcast, so he does everything he can to help Quark win her favor. Dax joins in too and soon they help Quark sweep Grilka off her feet, unfortunately her bodyguard takes offense and challenges Quarks. Dax affixes a device to Quark that allows Worf to make the movements and Quark to be his puppet. During the fight there’s a technical glitch so Quark improvises and then eventually defeats Thopok. Grilka and Quark go off while Dax has to literally physically attack Worf to show him she’s interested, and all four wind up in the infirmary where Bashir decides he’s a no question zone.

“I do not like the uncertainty of that arrangement.”: There are so many things happening in this episode. Let’s start with the O’Brien triad. O’Brien is a spectacular ponce in this episode. It’s one thing to develop feelings for someone who you are not married to, it’s another thing to attempt to act on them without checking with your spouse first. Kira had to practically throw O’Brien out of the runabout because he was not thinking with the head between his ears. I am a firm believer that it is completely possible to be a friend to someone you are romantically or sexually attracted to, because I’m living proof. I’ve slept in the same room or bed with men I’ve been interested in and nothing happened because they weren’t, just the circumstances led us to a situation where it made sense to stay in the same place. Anyway, back to the episode.

The weird foursome thing happening between Quark, Grilka, Worf, and Dax was hysterical in parts and all to relatable in others. It’s incredibly hard to like someone and for them to not have a clue, but it’s wonderful when they finally get it. There seems to be a lot of that on the station (cough Odo and Kira cough) but I’m sure it’s hard to live in the same place as all of the people you work with. One beef I have with Worf is when he was asked if he’s ever courted a Klingon woman and he says no, what was K’Ehleyr… chopped vole liver? So I get she’s half human but the other half is Klingon and she actually lived on the damn planet! I also love how damn fantastic and perceptive Odo was during his brief stint onscreen and Bashir capped off the episode nicely by realizing he just wanted to treat patients more than know the gossip behind how they got there. 7 smacks to the back of the head for O’Brien, a la Gibbs.

TA Out!