DS9: “Rapture” and “The Darkness and the Light”

Date: July 29, 2020

Season 5, Episodes 10 and 11

Musical Accompaniment: We’ve progressed to songs that start with the letter ‘G’ today.

Interstellar News: A lot can change in a year, and a lot has. I’m not up for ratings tonight, so you won’t be getting any on these.

Favorite Quote from “Rapture”:

Sisko: Your son. You can stop worrying about him. He forgives you.

Whatley: How the hell did he know that Kevin and I weren’t getting along?

Bashir: He’s the Emissary.

Bashir explaining away nothing.

So what had happened in “Rapture” was…: Starfleet members are sporting new uniforms and the Cardassians have finally returned the painting of the lost city of B’hala. Sisko is intrigued and heads to the holosuite to study it but is electrocuted by the save file. He’s fine but starts having visions and being very Emissary-like. Bajor’s petition to join the Federation is approved and the signing is going to be on DS9, but Sisko is fixated on finding B’hala. Yates returns and he takes her to Bajor and they find B’hala, to the joy of Bajorans everywhere. Bashir wants to operate to stop the headaches and save Sisko’s life, but Sisko won’t do anything to harm the visions. Kai Winn comes aboard and she and Kira snipe at each other as always, but she’s willing to help Sisko. Winn and Sisko use the Orb of Prophecy and Sisko warns Bajor not to join the Federation just yet, but then he collapses and Jake makes the decision to go ahead with the surgery. Sisko wakes up with the visions gone but is content with Yates and Jake as his little family.

“Make up something.”: I guess I never understood why Bajor was so important to the Federation because they sent Sisko there before anyone even knew the wormhole existed. They’re a planet on the mend overcoming a 50 year military occupation, what could they have to offer? Putting that aside, I love the passion Sisko has for a puzzle… it’s no wonder he has an aptitude for engineering. It’s a nice personality quirk the writers really followed up on across several episodes now. This episode also does a nice job of showing that not only has Sisko embraced his title as “The Emissary” but he really is it too and so much so that even the Kai is won over enough to help him. The Kai also gets a bit of a punch in to Kira because everyone suffered during the occupation and Winn believes Kira has forgotten that. Jake has to make a very difficult decision and Sisko knows, especially after the events of “The Visitor“, how much Jake needs him. Sometimes it’s hard to balance being a captain, a dad, and a religious icon and Sisko shows us even he falters when forced to choose. The thing is, though, we always have to choose.

Favorite Quote from “The Darkness and the Light”:

Dax: You know the Rules of Acquisition?

Worf: I am a graduate of Starfleet Academy. I know many things.

Dax is shocked and Worf is, well, Worf.

So what had happened in “The Darkness and the Light” was…: A Bajoran vedek that was once a part of the Shakaar resistance cell is killed and Kira get a recorded message “that’s one”. Kira hears from a woman who helped smuggle them information and asks Worf and Dax to pick her up on the way back, but she’s killed in a transporter accident (that’s two). Number three is a man named Mobra and, while everyone is looking into verify this, Kira goes to her quarters to find Lupaza and Furel. While she is out, however, they are killed so Kira steals the lists of suspects from Odo and goes in search of a Cardassian named Silaran. Silaran was the servant of a Gul whose house Kira and the others bombed, which disfigured Silaran and killed many other innocents. Silaran only wants to punish the guilty so he plans to take the O’Brien baby out and then kill Kira but he tries to sedate her and it doesn’t work due to the herbs Bashir gave her, and she kills him.

“The light only shines in the dark and sometimes innocence is just an excuse for the guilty.”: This was a super dark Trek episode and it brought me back to Private Practice when Violet’s baby was forcibly taken out of her. I will forever be horrified by Fala’s transporter death, that has to be the most horrible way to go and no one should let Barclay see this episode. Both sides have a valid argument. The Bajorans were occupied by a hostile force and did everything they could to repel their invaders, and everyone who wasn’t Bajoran was an enemy because they were not wanted nor invited. The Cardassians who weren’t part of the military just went where they were told, it didn’t matter where they cleaned the house just that the house was clean no matter the planet or circumstance. They shouldn’t have been the ones targeted. What you get when you look at it from an outside perspective is that both sides we right and both were wrong and everything is a shade of grey. While there are some great parts, like Nog showing how his lobes can be an asset, I don’t understand why no one has alerted Shakaar and the DS9 crew seems to be the only ones investigating this. I mean Shakaar is the First Minister and it was his cell, so there should be something resembling hunkering down or everyone being on high alert. I almost buy that Silaran is the guy who put this all together, only because he’s likely not done anything else with his last 10+ years, but how did he afford everything and how did it go off without a hitch as he’s clearly missing some marbles. In the end, I’m left feeling empty about this episode.

TA Out!