DS9: “Sons and Daughters” and “Behind the Lines”

Date: August 11, 2020

Season 6, Episodes 3 and 4

Musical Accompaniment: I am now on the Nemesis soundtrack, hope it doesn’t have any spoilers.

Interstellar News: Yesterday was not a good day. Today was slightly better but I am still a mess. Please… wear your fucking masks and wash your damn hands.

Favorite Quote from “Sons and Daughters”:

Worf: I can see our lives together will not be easy.

Dax: True. But they’ll be fun.

I use a similar line: “I can’t promise life with me will be perfect, but it will never be boring.”

So what had happened in “Sons and Daughters” was…: New Klingons are arriving on the Rotarran and one of them is Alexander who is totally mad at Worf. The crew finds out Alexander is part human and gives him a hard time but eventually come to accept him, even when he forgets to take out a simulation. Worf tries but is a terrible teacher and Martok goes to transfer Alexander. Alexander finally tells Worf he felt abandoned and, after a battle with the Jem’Hadar, they both agree to be better to one another and Alexander joins the House of Martok.

On DS9, Jake wants to join the new resistance and Ziyal comes back on the station. She wants to make amends with her father and she also wants to show Dukat and Kira her art, which is very good. Dukat wants to throw a party for Ziyal and sends Kira a dress. Kira likes it for 2.6 seconds and then is utterly disgusted with herself and explains to Dukat that she wants nothing to do with him, even if it means distancing herself from Ziyal.

“All right, I’ll be here. But I won’t guarantee it’s going to be any fun.”: Alexander is klutzy for a Klingon, poor Alexander. He had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Worf is a terrible father in many ways, which is disappointing in the long list of excellent fathers on DS9. The one awesome thing Worf did was when he promised to stand by Alexander’s choice of not becoming a Klingon warrior, and then he goes right back to treating Alexander as a young child. We get the Klingon Hallmark moment at the end but I’m not sure why because Alexander is still a klutz and super green and is a terrible warrior. On the station Dukat turns the creep factor up to 12 and then to 15 all in the same episode. There are fleeting moments when you forget what a complete ass he is, and then he gives Kira’s dress to Ziyal which is disgusting and gross and creepy as fuck. Kira again uses the mirror to her advantage when she sees herself doing something unthinkable. 5 blue dresses for Ziyal, all made by Garak of course.

Favorite Quote from “Behind the Lines”:

Female changeling: You love her.

Odo: I wish I didn’t. I’m so vulnerable to her. All she has to do is smile at me and I’m happy beyond reason. A minor disagreement between us and I’m devastated. It’s absurd. Sometimes I wish I could reach inside myself and tear out my feelings for her. But I can’t.

Love and vulnerability are awful and I know exactly how Odo feels.

So what had happened in “Behind the Lines” was…: The crew of the Defiant has a new ritual with power cells when Admiral Ross comes to ask Sisko for a plan to attack a GQ array. Sisko then gets promoted to be the Admiral’s adjutant, leaving Dax in command of the Defiant and the mission. Dax and crew are successful, Bashir is still trying to get with Ensign Kirby, and Dax is now in charge of the power cell ritual.

On DS9 Rom and Quark narrate what’s happening to Damar down below as Damar and some Cardassians get into a fight with the Jem’Hadar, something they plotted. Odo and Kira get into a fight because Odo thought it was a bad idea, when the female changeling comes aboard to spend time and link with Odo. Now it’s Kira’s turn to be made but Odo promises he won’t link again. Quark gets Damar drunk and Damar lets slip his plan for de-mining the wormhole, so the resistance comes up with a plan. Odo, however, links again and fails to start the diagnostic leaving Rom in jail.

“Cadet, by the time you took command, there’d be nobody left to call you anything.”: Sisko’s story shows us the passing of the Defiant torch and how, when you do a good job, you get promoted to administration. There’s also the third not-so-terrible Admiral in Ross and, so far, I’ve liked him the best. This episode the station had the most compelling part of the story. Kira, Rom, Jake, and Odo are a four person resistance but there are already cracks when the female changeling shows up and busts it wide open. With respect to the female changeling, Weyoun is reverant, Dukat is an ass, and Odo is uncomfortable until after the first linking… then it’s like he’s high and doesn’t give one iota of anything. We end with Kira being livid and betrayed, Odo not caring as he’s drunk deep of the changeling Kool Aid, and Rom is in jail. So much cliffhanger, so little time. 8 shots of kanar for Quark because drunk Quark is fantastic.

TA Out!