DS9: “Empok Nor”, “In the Cards”, and “Call to Arms”

Date: August 7, 2020

Season 5, Episodes 24, 25, and 26

Musical Accompaniment: The Search for Spock soundtrack, along with other Trek instrumentals.

Interstellar News: The Lucky Devils and Witchy Ways Kickstarter has smashed six stretch goals and still has 24 days to go!

Favorite Quote from “Empok Nor”:

Garak: Maybe it’s true. Maybe you’re not a soldier anymore.

O’Brien: You’re right. I’m an engineer.

The last think Garak hears before O’Brien blows up (almost) up.

So what had happened in “Empok Nor” was…: Nog and O’Brien are fixing a conduit at Quark’s but the entire system is shot. O’Brien takes an engineering team, plus Garak and Nog, to visit Empok Nor – a Cardassian station just like DS9 that was abandoned a year ago. Garak gets them into the station unharmed but unknowingly awakens two cryogenically frozen Cardassian soldiers who destroy the runabout and jam the com systems. The team splits up to find a way to call for help but Pechetti and Stolzoff are killed by the Cardassians. Garak kills one of the soldiers and discovers they’re under the influence of some type of drug. The other solider kills Boq’ta, Garak kills the Cardassian, and then kills Amaro because Garak’s apparently also been affected by the drug. Garak captures Nog and lures O’Brien in for some hand-to-hand combat, but O’Brien engineers a distraction and gets him, Nog, and Garak back to DS9 where Bashir fixes Garak up.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but that was the plan.”: The music in this episode was absolutely excellent but everything else was just sort of meh. I loved seeing the security guards and engineers talking about the mission before the left the station and they generally had a good sense of camaraderie, so it was an absolute shame that they all died. It was good that we got to know a bit about them before and saw scenes where it was just them, just as it was good to have the mystery of the reactivated soldiers. The real terrible part is when Garak turns on Amaro because you realize the drugs have affected him to and he becomes the villain. I wonder if Garak chose to fight without weapons because somewhere his brain was telling him he couldn’t kill O’Brien and Nog or if it was because the drugs just had to make him prove himself, but either way this gives you a glimpse deeper into Garak’s psyche and it is a dark place. I loved Nog trying to play 90’s action hero with a gun as big as he was, but that doesn’t make up for the episode feeling like it went on for too long without a big enough punch. 5 very hungry voles for this episode.

Favorite Quote from “In the Cards”:

Nog: Where’re we going?

Jake: Let me introduce you to a new human expression. We’re going to beard the lion in its den.

Nog: Lions, Gigers, bears.

Jake: Oh my.

A Wizard of Oz reference, huzzah!

So what had happened in “In the Cards” was…: The senior staff are having dinner but everyone is depressed and, to top it off, Kai Winn is visiting the station in order to meet with Weyoun. Quark is running an auction that’s mostly junk aside from a mint baseball card and Jake decides he must have it for Sisko and it must be a surprise. Jake guilts Nog into parting with his latinum (an amount that is familiar to those of us who have watched “Progress“) but they lose the lot to a shifty man named Dr. Geiger. Geiger, however, is willing to trade them the card for some items. They complete some work for O’Brien in exchange for one, rescue Bashir’s teddy bear from Leeta for another, listen to Worf’s operas for a third, and work on Kira’s speech for a fourth. Meanwhile Geiger is making progress but is right under Weyoun’s quarters and Kai Winn is told to stall the Dominion for as long as she can. After getting yelled at by Sisko, Weyoun beams Jake and Nog aboard to find out what they and Geiger have been up to. Weyoun eventually believes the boys are innocent, gives Jake the card, and talks genetics with Geiger. It turns out the boys helping everyone turned their moods around and Sisko loves his card.

“The entire future of the galaxy may depend on us tracking down Willie Mays and stopping him.”: What a damn feel good episode. Nog and Jake are a really good team and they play off each other well. Jake’s determination to get the card and keep it a secret do make it plausible that they were up to something nefarious in the eyes of Weyoun who doesn’t know them, but he realizes that they’re just kids. This is very much like a more adult version of “Progress” where they keep bartering their services, but this time it’s for Sisko instead of for profit. Their actions wind up helping everyone on the station and it’s such a delight. Nog and Jake also touch upon something I’ve been trying to wrap my head around forever. So if Terrans don’t have money, then how do any of the Starfleet officers have money to spend at Quark’s or anywhere else that uses latinum for that matter?

Winn coming aboard, at first, is such a bother for Sisko but she finally is asking for his help and he gives her the best advice he can at the time. I also loved when she grabbed Weyoun’s ear at the end and tells him they are certainly not alike at all. Weyoun is such a fun character and I’m glad they figured out a way to explain his coming back from the dead because he brings so much good humor to every scene he is in. This whole episode just feels right to me and it feels like the calm before the storm because I just know the finale is going to be bananas. 10 mint condition baseball cards, all of “The Great Bambino“.

Favorite Quote from “Call to Arms”:

Rom: My job is here with Chief O’Brien.

Leeta: Then I’m not going either.

Rom: You see that, Nog. We’ve barely finished saying our vows and we’re already having our first fight. We’re really married! You’ve got to go, Leeta. The problems of two newlyweds are but a small thread in the tapestry of galactic events. You might not understand that today, or even tomorrow, but some day you will. So get on that shuttle and don’t look back. Nog, take your Moogie to the docking ring.

Nog: Nice speech, Dad.

Rom is super adorable.

So what had happened in “Call to Arms” was…: Leeta and Rom argue over wedding dresses and then ask Sisko to preside at their wedding in two weeks, just as the fifth convoy of Jem’Hadar ships comes through the wormhole. Jake gets a job with Starfleet News Services, which will become important later. The Dominion has signed a nonaggression pact with the Romulans and several other groups, essentially isolating the Federation, so the Federation decides to mine the wormhole. Rom, in between panicking about getting married and remembering things he’s forgotten to do, comes up with a way to do so. Weyoun comes to give Sisko an ultimatum, remove the mines or else, and then agree to compromise – which neither side actually believes.

Sisko urges Bajor to sign a nonaggression pact so that they’ll be safe, so Rom and Leeta get married and all Bajorans leave the station. Martok hails DS9 to warn that the Cardassians and Dominion are coming and the battle ensues. Martok helps defend the Defiant so Dax and O’Brien can finish mining the wormhole and, once everything is complete and the shields are down, Starfleet evacuates DS9. Dax and Worf agree to get married when everything is over, Garak goes with Starfleet, and Kira, Odo, Quark, and Rom stay aboard to “welcome” Dukat and Weyoun to DS9. Rom stays behind to spy for Starfleet, under the guise of managing Quark’s, and Jake stays behind to bring news from the front line. Kira executes “program Sisko 197” which overloads the station’s systems so it will not be easy to fix. Sisko leaves his baseball as a message to Dukat that “he’ll be back”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel more comfortable already.”: I’ll start with Garak, Kira, and Odo who don’t have a lot of screen time but are utterly fantastic. Garak is his usual self but I can see the true shock on his face as he kisses Ziyal, like he doesn’t quite know who he is becoming. Odo and Kira are super awkward around each other until Odo says they need to focus on business and you can see the relief wash over Kira. It’s actually quite similar to the conversation Dax and Worf have, about waiting until everything is over in order to get married. Leeta and Rom, on the other hand, don’t wait and get married post haste, though still by the Emissary. Nog, adorably, refers to Leeta as “Moogie” and I just about turned into one of those sappy stickers from Facebook. I was so proud of Jake for handing out medical kits and trying to really stick it out after his debacle in “NtBttS“, he’s really diving into this writing gig head first. The real shock comes twice and both by the Sisko men. Jake staying behind as well as Sisko and the rest of Starfleet abandoning the station had my mouth hanging open in absolute shock that I did not see coming. Both actions make sense after it’s explained but how do you have a show called “Deep Space Nine” when you’re no longer on the damn station?!?! Looks like I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Deploy program Sisko 197!

TA Out!