DS9: “Field of Fire” and “Chimera”

Date: August 29, 2020

Season 7, Episodes 13 and 14

Musical Accompaniment: I’m at the tail end of songs that start with ‘T’ and starting on those with ‘U’. Fun fact, I have at least five different “Untitled” tracks.

Interstellar News: I made two batches of homemade hot pepper jelly tonight. Also, just 70 hours to go for “Lucky Devils and Witchy Ways“.

So what had happened in “Field of Fire” was…: The crew of the Defiant toasts young and new Lieutenant Ilario for a job well done. Bashir and O’Brien head to the holosuite, Kira and Ezri get drunk with Ilario and the latter escorts him home, and the next morning Ilario is found dead, shot by an abandoned prototype Starfleet weapon. Another officer is murdered the next day and Ezri is called in to deliver a psychological profile. After talking to Worf, she decides to bring in Joran to help her in a similar but quite different ceremony than we’ve seen before. O’Brien shows Odo and Ezri how the killer is killing, a la Gallagher (who I met once and is a total creep). Joran helps Ezri think like a killer and it’s very Silence of the Lambs creeptastic, but all it seems to do is cause Ezri to be paranoid and almost kill people. Ezri finally figures out that it’s got to be a Vulcan who’s mad that people have pictures displaying happiness in their quarters and then racial profiles the first Vulcan that crosses her path, who happens to be the killer and she shoots him in the shoulder then calls security to apprehend him as she puts Joran back.

Favorite Quote:

Ilario: You know something, Lieutenant? You’re very beautiful.

Ezri: And you’re very drunk.

Ilario: True enough. But in the morning, I’ll be sober and you’ll still be beautiful.

Ilario putting the moves on Ezri who is super flattered and way to old for him by about 300 years.

“Try not to look so disappointed.”: What a fucking mess of an episode. This episode is DS9 tries to do Criminal Minds, but unfortunately it was not in a way I enjoyed. Bashir and Ezri talk about her experience as Joran, his need to and experience with murder, but for some reason does not discuss her experience as Jadzia, as a person who was murdered. Ezri’s such a hot mess and she never reaches out to Sisko or anyone else for help. She jumps to Joran who she thinks is the only one who can help, why on Earth does she think he’ll go back willingly? He didn’t last time. I also hated that she not only racial profiled, but it turned out to be the bad guy and I still have no idea why it took three months for the Vulcan to break and how would he know they had happy pictures, and why he would choose a gun?

I will say there are some things I like about this episode. I loved that they made us care about Ilario in such a short time, that Bashir and O’Brien seemed sincere in their regret for not taking him to the holosuite, that O’Brien followed lab safety protocols when showing Odo and Ezri how the killer was shooting people, and it was a great use of Odo’s experience with crime novels. The actual procedure of getting behind the mind of a killer was well done, but Ezri doesn’t sell it for me. I wanted a psychological thriller more like Frailty and I got this nonsense that had small redeeming bits. 4 watermelons set to be sledgehammered for this episode.

So what had happened in “Chimera” was…: O’Brien and Odo are returning from a conference when a strange ship comes along, disappears, and then they are boarded by the “ship” which is actually a changeling named Laas. Laas is one of the 100 changeling infants sent into the world to learn from other cultures but he’s has about 200 years more experience than Odo and has never heard of the Founders. They link and Laas is shocked that Odo only stays for Kira, he wants Odo to join him in a search for the other lost changelings and has no use for humanoids. Odo convinces Laas to stay for a bit longer but when Laas becomes fog on the Promenade there’s an altercation with two Klingons and Laas kills one. The Klingons demand Laas to be extradited to them but Kira lets Laas escape and tells Odo to go be with his brother. Odo leaves but only to tell Laas goodbye. He returns to DS9 to embrace Kira and she asks him to be who he really is around her.

Favorite Quote:

Bashir: What’s he doing?

Odo: Being fog, what’s it look like?

O’Brien: Can’t he be fog somewhere else?

Bashir: Or at night, when no one’s around?

Odo: He’s not hurting anyone.

Clearly Bashir and O’Brien did not go through Starfleet sensitivity training on other cultures.

“Love conquers all, is that it?”: I really loved and hated this episode for a lot of the same reasons. It was wonderful for Laas and Odo to meet, they learn a lot from each other. Laas learns where he is from and Odo learns the things he might be able to do. Laas, unfortunately, is like most long lived creatures who feel like they know it all. Laas acts like Odo’s older brother, which he kind of is, but in a way that is demeaning as opposed to “hey I’ll let you make your own mistakes”. Laas is cold to the crew on DS9 but the crew doesn’t shine too well either. I mean O’Brien is just like he used to be about Cardassians when he says he only trusts Odo, he and others are judging a whole race of people based on their parents and that’s just wrong on so many levels. I also love that the same guy who plays Martok also plays Laas, his voice is so fantastic and he really sells his sincerity at his finding of Odo, another of his kind.

Odo is finally accepting who he is and he’s still fighting for the solids in his life to accept him for who he is. Sure he’s great when he changes shape to catch a thief or to help them do recon on the Founders, but it’s not okay when there’s another of his kind. They’re supposed to be above this shit in the 14th century and I’m over the prejudice… there’s no place for it ever. The biggest thing that continues to kill me is the sacrifice both Odo and Kira make. Kira understands Odo’s true nature and she knows she’ll never be enough for him. She’s willing to give him up, give up her own happiness and love, in order for him to be his true self. Odo denies himself the one thing he wants most in the world because of his love for Kira, and he ultimately chooses her… but at what cost? Will he eventually resent her for the choice he made? Is he looking at the long game here, choosing to have as much time with her as possible because he can always join the link later when she’s dead? When two people want such different things, how do they come to a consensus that doesn’t hurt anyone? I enjoyed this episode and rate it 7 goats, maaaaaaaaaa.

TA Out!