DS9: “His Way” and “The Reckoning”

Date: August 20, 2020

Season 6, Episodes 20 and 21

Musical Accompaniment: Star Trek: The Motion Picture soundtrack, inspired by a ridiculous reading of the novelization this evening. Thank you American Sci-Fi Classics Track!

Interstellar News: My university decided to move undergraduate instruction to fully online beginning Monday. We didn’t even last a full two weeks, sigh.

So what had happened in “His Way” was…: The “couples” of DS9, [Newlyweds Dax and Worf], [old bromantic team O’Brien and Bashir], and [not-quite-there-yet Kira and Odo], are in the holosuite listening to Vic Fontaine of 1960’s Las Vegas croon away; he’s a hell of a self-aware hologram. Kira is going to visit Shakaar and Quark berates Odo for not asking her out when he had the chance, so Odo turns to Vic for advice. Vic has Odo change into a tux, act as his piano player, and go on a virtual date so as to “practice” for Kira. Odo starts losing some of his icy personality but still isn’t ready for the real Kira, but Vic decides otherwise. Vic tells Kira that Odo wants him to come to dinner and then Vic tells Odo that he has a holo-Kira that’s close to the real thing. Kira and Odo have a great time until Odo realizes Kira is real and not a hologram and they both storm out. They have a “fight” in the Promenade that actually leads to them kissing in front of everyone and it’s heart warming.

Favorite Quote:

Vic: A square. You know what a square is, right?

O’Brien: It’s one side of a cube.

Vic: Well, I guess that answers my question.

Vic is the king of sass… all bow down!

“I still prefer Klingon operas.”: Bashir is obviously super excited about Vic and, to be honest, I am too. He’s a self-aware hologram, thankfully not like the last one, who is able to stay true to the Rat Pack era slang and vibe, but also bring in the science and terminology from the 24th century. There were so many parts I loved in this episode. Vic is a natural teacher and the effect his ministrations have on Odo are so clear that Sisko and Odo get to sing together a bit, and it’s wonderful. Holo-Kira, adjusted a bit from “Our Man Bashir“, wears a sexy little number and sings a sexy little ditty for Odo in the holosuite and you can tell that Odo is totally head-over-heels in love. My absolute favorite, however, is the scene I embedded above where Kira and Odo are yelling at each other and then kiss, because it’s totally them to a tee.

This episode wasn’t all changelings and Bajoran lilacs, there are a few things that weren’t so great. We all know Kira hates holosuites with a burning passion, so much so that Quark couldn’t even trick her into one, so why was she meditating in one? Vic’s program is Bashir’s but Odo goes behind is back and trusts Quark of all people to keep the secret, what’s up with that? What Vic tried to do for Odo was basically the plot of Grease 2, but at least Odo does look sharp in a tux and didn’t have to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Vic’s “deception” with Kira and Odo is one of the tried and true tropes of someone lying to others in order to get them all in the same room, so it’s easy to see how that’s going to end. While I would have loved for Odo and Kira to only have remained friends because I hate when a show pairs everyone off, I absolutely love how Kira and Odo interact with each other and make me feel like they are actually in love instead of just two actors playing a part. I rate this episode pocket 7’s with two 7’s in the flop.

So what had happened in “The Reckoning” was…: Kira, Jake, and Sisko are heading to Bajor to look at a 30,000 year old tablet uncovered at B’hala that has “Welcome Emissary” written on it, gives Sisko a vision of the wormhole aliens who tell him “The Reckoning” is coming, and then knocks Sisko on his ass. Sisko decides to take it back to DS9 to study it but Kai Winn is furious, he didn’t ask permission and Bajor has been experiencing some terrible weather due to the wormhole instability. Sisko agrees to give it back in the morning but Hulk smashes it, only to discover a blue light and a red light escape. Suddenly there are power fluctuations all over the ship and Kira has been taken over by a prophet (blue light) who tells Sisko she’s waiting for the pah-wraith (red light) so they can battle for the soul of Bajor, potentially ending in 1000 years of peace.

Sisko evacuates the station, thinking it might be the prophet’s price for what happened in “Sacrifice of Angels“. Unfortunately the pah-wraith chooses Jake, the fight commences, and Sisko has faith the prophets will keep Jake safe while Kai Winn is mega pissed the prophets won’t talk to her. The Kai enables to chroniton beam to de-possess Kira and Jake and save the station, but there is no victor. Jake recovers and tells Sisko he knew evil had to lose, Odo is happy Kira is recovered as well but hopes someone else can be chosen next time, and the Kai wants to take credit for Bajor’s recovery but Kira knows what’s up.

Favorite Quote:

Quark: You know, I feel I have a civic duty to do something about all this doom and gloom, which is why I want to tell you that I’ve extended happy hour.

Bashir: Extended it?

Quark: From now on, every hour is happy hour. At least until business picks up. Eat, drink and be merry.

Bashir: For tomorrow we die.

Quark trying to help and Bashir pulling him down.

“It’s a slab of stone with some writing on it.”: At first I thought this episode was going to be a fun mystery, but it turned out to just be Sisko smashing an ancient tablet so that good and evil could duke it out, and Kai Winn can fuck everything up. You almost start to feel bad for the Kai, to whom the prophets won’t even acknowledge or speak to, until she decides she knows better than both the Emissary and the prophets. Should Sisko have asked before taking the tablet off Bajor? Maybe. But Winn doesn’t need to be a tattletale to the Federation and make a big stink because she didn’t have her way. Now it doesn’t totally make sense that Sisko has drunk the “wormhole aliens are prophets Kool Aid” because he had been so resistant and we haven’t really seen him this insistent since trying to find B’hala. The way I see it, though, is that Sisko though DS9 would be the penance… the price he had to pay for asking the wormhole aliens to interfere with the Dominion fleet. Once he sees they’ve taken Jake he’s either in denial that Jake might be that price or he’s somehow truly okay if it means an end to the war. We also find out why the outcome is unknown in the prophesy, and it’s because the Kai interrupted the battle. Is this the right thing? We may yet find out. 5 passed out puppies who find it hard to live a puppy’s life all day every day.

TA Out!