Date: June 24, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 20 and 21

Musical Accompaniment: So. Much. Warped Tour. I have every single year of compilation albums from 1996 – 2018 plopped into one playlist.

Interstellar News: There is so much to do and so little time. I’m truly hoping for a miracle, or at least some good karma.

Favorite Quotes:

Quark: Then we can discuss it over dinner. That is, we can plan the business meeting to coincide with when you think you might get hungry.

Sakonna: That would be acceptable.

Quark knows just how to talk to Vulcans.

Sisko: You don’t want peace, Cal. You want revenge.

Hudson: I prefer to call it retaliation.

Two old friends disagreeing.

Part 1, “Education is power. Joy is vulnerability.”: A Cardassian vessel leaving DS9 blows up and it’s found to to be sabotage by a group called the Maquis. Hudson, and old friend of Sisko’s, comes aboard and explains what’s happening in the DMZ and the colonies that feel abandoned. A Vulcan named Sakonna meets with the man who sabotaged the ship and then goes to Quark for weapons. The man gets abducted by aliens (heh) while Gul Dukat visits Sisko insisting they need to take a runabout to the colonies. While on their way they witness a Federation vessel under attack by two Cardassian ships and then another unknown ship enters the fray. They arrive at Volan 3 where Gul Evek and the colonies are arguing about the attacks and then Evek drops the bomb that they apprehended the man and he confessed but then committed suicide. Sisko and Dukat head back to DS9 but Dukat is kidnapped that evening. Bashir, Kira, and Sisko go looking for Dukat and they arrive to a planet where they are surrounded by phasers and Hudson greets them, as he is one of the Maquis.

Part 2, “Stop counting!”: Sisko and Hudson discuss the treaty and Hudson stuns the trip and the Maquis leave, though they didn’t have Dukat on planet. Back on DS9 Sisko first meets with Admiral Necheyev who wants the Maquis problem taken care of and then Legate Parn who throws Dukat under the bus for supplying the colonies with weapons and they absolutely do not want to go to war with the Federation. Odo arrests Quark because of his dealings with Sakonna, who is trying to mind-meld with Dukat and failing miserably. Sisko, Bashir, and Odo rescue Dukat and they decide to work together to find the middle-men suppliers. They find a Xepolite ship and work together to get them back to DS9 and confess. Sisko tries one last time to bring Hudson back, but Hudson disintegrates his uniform and they come to an impasse during a space battle. Sisko is congratulated for maintaining peace and Dukat heads home, but has anything really changed?

My Thoughts and Impressions: Quark out-logics a Vulcan, even one he was super smitten with, and I am very impressed. So I know this technically happened before “Preemptive Strike” but I still have the same problem I did then. The Federation gave people a choice: we’ll help resettle you or you can become part of the Cardassian Empire, or maybe they didn’t and I’m just reading into what eventually happened in TNG. I get that people had lived there for years but they also made the conscious decision to stay. I am not saying they didn’t need to defend themselves, but I’m not sure I completely feel for them either. It’s hard for me to watch things out of order and now I’m rethinking watching TNG straight through… sigh. I did think that it would have been more of a punch in the gut to us all if we didn’t see Sakonna cavorting with the saboteur, but what do I know? Speaking of Sakonna, the actor that plays her reminds me of Paget Brewster, what do you think?

As much stuff happened in both parts, overall nothing really happened. It’s an introduction to the Maquis and why they were formed, but everything happens so quickly and we don’t have time to really see what was happening in the colonies to even feel for them. If we had seen or heard things over the last few episodes, I think this would have been more impactful. It was adorable how Sisko and Hudson bonded like two old friends and then things got awkward. It was interesting to see Odo’s preference for Cardassians running the station because they didn’t care much about law and order, but Kira takes offense and Odo has the grace to look a little taken aback. Part 2 was a little stronger than Part 1, and it was fun to see Dukat and Sisko working together and getting exasperated with each other, especially because Dukat is a shit, but it also gives us an excellent and passion-filled Sisko speech about how everything out in space isn’t all peaches and cream like it is on Earth. Earth doesn’t have the need for money but DS9 certainly runs on gold-pressed latinum and such. 5 runabouts in not-so-perfect running order, to give O’Brien something to do of course, for these episodes.

TA Out!

Date: June 23, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 19 and 20

Musical Accompaniment: Whatever is playing on iTunes right now.

Interstellar News: I made 45 meatballs and two batches of cauliflower garlic sauce today. Let’s have a moment of silence for the half-a-bulb of garlic I destroyed.

Favorite Quote from “Profit and Loss”:

Garak: She’s chosen to associate herself with some rather flamboyant companions. It would be a tragedy if she got in the way when her friends go out of fashion.

Quark: If anyone tries to harm her, they’re going to have to deal with me.

Garak: What are you going to do, short change them at the Dabo table?

Gark choosing his words carefully, Quark doing his best Alpha male protector show, and Garak not buying it for a minute.

So what had happened in “Profit and Loss” was…: A Cardassian ship, with a professor and two students, is in trouble so O’Brien is going to repair the ship. Natima, the professor, is an old flame of Quark’s but there’s trouble when Garak sees them and O’Brien figures out the damage is from Cardassian disrupters. Natima explains she’s helping Hogue and Rekelen, two important leaders in the movement to lessen the hold of the military on Cardassia. Quark is absolutely smitten with Natima and vows to do anything for her, even grading Garak’s store with his presence. They have a very guarded conversation full of double entendre and then we find out Quark was selling food to Bajorans during the Cardassian occupation and stole money from the Cardassians, making it so Natima felt betrayed and left him.

A Cardassian warship appears, Garak relays a message to and from Ops, and Quark tells the students he’ll give them the cloaking device he swore to Odo he didn’t have as long as Natima stays with him. Natima shoots Quark with a phaser and her strong facade breaks and she admits she’s still in love with him and of course she’ll stay with him once her students are safe. Odo chooses that exact moment to arrest Natima as her and her students will be traded for Bajoran prisoners THAT WERE ALREADY SUPPOSED TO BE FREED. Gul Toran comes to Garak and mentions Garak’s exile and the way to return home is to kill the trio. Quark propositions Odo but Odo was already there and frees the trio “for Justice”. The trio and Quark head to the ship where Garak is waiting to kill them but, at the last minute, turns the phaser on Gul Toran “for Cardassia”. Natima backs out on her deal but tells Quark they can be together once “Cardassia becomes a free and democratic society”, no big deal (waves hands in exuberant sarcasm).

…”We take our politics very seriously.”: Poor Quark, always getting shot at. So I really liked a lot of this episode but it lost me at the end. We get to learn more about Garak, but he randomly decides to kill a Gul, maybe he knows that there’s never really any consequences for Trek characters. I mean it certainly appears that he planned to kill Toran all along, bringing an extra phaser and such, but it wasn’t well explained. It was also great to see an actual softer side of Quark and that he really does value something more than profit, but Natima was all over the place. She starts off by smacking him, then she’s openly hostile to him, then she sort of tolerates him, then she uses him and shoots him but is soooooo immediately regretful that she can’t keep up the game anymore. Then she waffles back and forth about leaving when we all know she’s going to leave or die, so I’m glad she didn’t die for Quark’s sake. I was proud of Kira for not making a big deal about Cardassians on the station and was relieved that Odo’s sense of justice outweighs anything else. I wanted to like this more but I just can’t so it’s the 4 Guls of the apocalypse for this episode.

Favorite Quote from “Blood Oath”:

Dax: That’s just it. They say I have no obligation to them. But I do. I know it, I feel it. If not to them, I owe it to Curzon.

Kira: Jadzia. Your questions about my experience with killing. If you’re wondering what it’s like. When you take someone’s life, you lose a part of your own as well.

I somewhat find it hard to imagine that, in seven lifetimes, Dax has never killed.

So what had happened in “Blood Oath” was…: Kor is super drunk in Quark’s holosuite and Odo puts him in holding to sleep it off. Koloth appears in security and Dax, of course, knows the old Klingons. Kang arrives and explains he’s putting the band back together again because he found “The Albino” and, after 81 years, they can finally avenge their firstborn’s deaths. Jadzia decides to uphold Curzon’s oath so she shames Kor, battles Koloth, and angers Kang until they all agree for her to come along. Kang decides on a strange battle plan and Dax gets him to reveal he made a deal with the Albino for one last battle, but she convinces him otherwise.

On the planet they create a diversion and cut the power and engage in a glorious battle in the house. Koloth is stabbed and dies, but not before Kor tells him he’ll be a bard for him. Kang and the Albino fight and Kang is stabbed but Jadzia distracts the Albino enough for Kang to land the killing blow and they both die. Jadzia and Kor at the last two standing, though I’m pretty sure Kor got stabbed too. Dax returns to the station.

…”It is a good day to die”: I find it interesting that Curzon Dax was essentially “The Godfather” to a Klingon child and I also find it incredibly adorable, just don’t tell Kang. Jadzia proves she’s a badass when she’s telling the computer how to build her bat’leth, it almost felt like when James Bond orders his drink in Casino Royale. Speaking of drinks, Kor spends the episode bringing the comedy gold, especially when he is making fun of Koloth who really “ought to drink more”. Of the three Kor was my absolute favorite in this episode. He wasn’t phased by Dax being female, in fact he asked for a kiss, and he was along for the revenge almost as a secondary goal… he seemed super excited to be reunited with old friends and be in the company of alcohol and women. Koloth got a little lost but I did love that he got the drop on Odo and then just told him his name, like that explained everything and also the part where he was cutting cake with his dagger. Kang, ever the badass, falters a little when he deceives his comrades and “makes a deal with the devil”, but he rebounds quickly when Dax uses her science officer and Starfleet training to come up with a plan that would make even O’Brien proud. While it may never be a good day to lose a friend, this was a fantastic episode and it earns 10 martinis… shaken and not stirred.

TA Out!

Date: June 22, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 16 and 17

Musical Accompaniment: Some more Top 40 Piano covers

Interstellar News: I’m quite mad at all of you. The last three posts I wrote “Season 1” and no one told me I was wrong! Boooooooooo to all of you! They are all fixed now.

Favorite Quotes from “Shadow Play”:

Dax, She’s Too Old For You Bro: “The point is that sometimes we don’t see true love even when it’s staring us right in the face.”

Bareil: Prylar Rhit invited me to speak at the station shrine. But, to be honest, I’ve been looking for an opportunity to see you.

Kira: Really? I’m honored.

Bareil: Honored? Actually, I was hoping you’d be happy to see me.

Kira: Oh, I am. Very happy.

Bareil is smitten and is momentarily saddened that Kira doesn’t think the same.

Sage Sisko: “Find something you love, then do it the best you can.”

So what had happened in “Shadow Play” was…: Dax and Odo are in the Gamma Quadrant talking about relationships when they find super rare omicron particles. They encounter a community where people have started to disappear so, naturally, Odo takes an interest in the case. Odo also takes a liking to Taya, a young girl who lost her mother, and the granddaughter of Rurigan who is a community founder. Dax and Odo figure out the community and all of its members are holograms so they shut the system off to try to fix it and that reveals that Rurigan is the only human who settled here after the Dominion took over. Dax fixes the reactor, all of the missing people reappear, and Odo made a few new friends.

On the station Kira and Quark have a run in because of his cousin, so she asks Bashir to spy on Quark while Odo is away. Sisko thinks Jake should get a job and apply to Starfleet, though it’s clear Jake doesn’t want to do either. O’Brien has the perfect story for Jake that helps Jake talk to his dad, and Sisko is super supportive of Jake’s decision. Vedek Bareil comes aboard to give a talk, verbally spars with Kira, flirts a bit, plays spring ball on the holosuite, and then they smooch after dinner. It was pretty busy while Dax and Odo were away.

…”But who’s to say that our definition of life is the only valid one?“: I’ll start with the parts on the station. Sisko is a wonderful parent and that’s all I really have to say about that. O’Brien always has a story to tell that fits the situation exactly and part of me wonders if it’s all true and he’s just lived a very exciting life, or if he’s just really good at making everything sound true. Either way he’s a wonderful story teller and I think he’s able to help Jake out a lot here. Bareil is not as good in this episode as he was in the season openers or the Season 1 Finale, because he seems a little awkward with Kira at first and then he’s talking while they were kissing and that is just wrong for a first kiss. There was a great moment after the talk and before they played spring ball that had them both light up, but Kira steals the scene every time.

On the planet with the omicron particles I loved every bit of it. Before they land, Dax and Odo bantering in the runabout was fantastic because Dax is really settling into her seven lifetimes and the personalities are really merging plus Odo is super grumpy and doesn’t get the fascination of “coupling”. Once they arrive they do their best to be nice guests and watching Odo with Taya is just so fucking adorable, especially when he changes at the end because he thought it would make her smile and it did. He also had the biggest damn grin on his face as they beamed out. Odo is quite possibly beating out everyone else on the station to secure his place as my favorite character. Dax also proves her science officer worth by fixing the reactor. This is now the third time the Dominion has been mentioned, I’m sure it will be important soon. Overall, a fantastic episode and I give it 9 lives to live… all of them as a cat because that means MORE LIVES!

Favorite Quote from “Playing God”:

Odo: You can’t just wipe out a civilization. We would be committing mass murder.

Kira: It’s like stepping on ants, Odo.

Odo: I don’t step on ants, Major. Just because we don’t understand a life form doesn’t mean we can destroy it.

Sometimes you will step on ants, but intent it everything. As long as you are not malicious then you are very likely following the circle of life, otherwise you are taking life into your own hands.

So what had happened in “Playing God” was…: A Trill initiate named Arjin is coming to study under Jadzia Dax to make sure he’s ready to be joined. O’Brien and Kira, meanwhile, are trying to get rid of Cardassian voles that have gotten into every part of the station. While in the Gamma Quadrant Dax and Arjin pick up some “space seaweed” that actually turns out to be a protouniverse. They get it back to DS9 and into a containment field, but the voles disrupt the field and the protouniverse continues to expand and breaches part of the station.

At first they plan to destroy it, but then Dax finds signs of life. Kira still wants to take it out, she’s still in the “it’s them or me” mindset, but everyone else is torn. Eventually O’Brien does some engineering magic and they decide on a plan. Dax and Arjin have a few heated discussions but he’s an excellent pilot and the two of them have to navigate super carefully through the wormhole in order to get the protouniverse back to its home. Jadzia Dax and Arjin come to an understanding.

…”Don’t play with my ears, unless you’re serious about it.”: So the voles were an excellent plot device, but where did they go after they caused the protouniverse to escape from its first containment field? It’s like they just disappeared because the plot forgot about them. I love that the Klingon restaurant is now a buffet and the chef has moved onto the accordion and loves to flirt with Dax. Quark tries to be the helpful bartender but instead drops the rule “never sleep with the boss’s sister” and that isn’t quite the comfort level Arjin was looking for. There’s a lot of funny going on when O’Brien and Kira, and later Dax, are on their knees looking for the voles but those parts were fleeting. I will say Sisko did an amazing job in all of his delivery, but overall it was just a very “meh” episode… especially on the heels of the last episode. It’s 5 voles of unusual size for this episode.

TA Out!

Date: June 21, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 14 and 15

Musical Accompaniment: The Princess Bride soundtrack

Interstellar News: In continuing my new Sunday morning tradition, I watched The Princess Bride with a dear friend over video chat. We quoted the movie, shared funny GIFs in the chat, and pointed out some of the more interesting insights you develop in your adulthood and after multiple viewings. Next week I’m picking The Sandlot.

Favorite Quote from “Whispers”:

Sisko: You know, the kind of things we don’t include in reports but might help me in these talks.

O’Brien: Well, I’d have to give it some thought. There was one thing I noticed. I don’t know if it means anything or not, but the Paradas have an odor from some kind of skin excretions, I’d guess. It changes with their moods. When they’re upset, it can get pretty strong actually.

Sisko: I’ll try not to get them upset.

O’Brien trying to be thoughtful and helpful and Sisko delivering his line with a straight face.

So what had happened in “Whispers” was…: O’Brien is on a runabout narrating a personal log that will cover the last two days, we’ll flash between current time and his time back on DS9 after spending some time with the Paradas. Upon his return to the station everyone is acting strangely toward him: Keiko and Molly practically run out on him, Sisko is making decisions without consulting him, Bashir is hounding him about a physical, and the upper pylons are down again and require his immediate attention. O’Brien starts to catch people in lies and becomes a bit paranoid, though he is locked out of some logs and it does look like someone sabotaged the pylons… so maybe he’s onto something.

Odo returns to the station but turns on O’Brien and the rest of Ops comes to detain him when HE PULLS A FLASH BANG THAT HE JUST MADE OUT OF HIS POCKET, gets through several obstacles, and escapes en route to warn the Paradas… of what he’s unsure, he just knows no one is acting like themselves. On Parada II O’Brien walks in on Kira and Sisko talking to some Paradans when Bashir walks out with O’Brien the sequel and someone shoots the O’Brien we’ve been following all along. Turns out we’ve been following O’Brien-the-copy who was a replicant and programmed to likely assassinate someone at the peace talks.

…”Coffee, Jamaican blend, double strong, double sweet.”: At first I thought the Paradas had O’Brien in a simulation of some sort, testing if he would divulge any security secrets. Everyone he encountered seemed to ask him about his trip and he never gave more than he was supposed to. Then I thought maybe they had injected him or something so that anyone who came near him would ask him, again to test him in some way since they were so serious about their security. I did not see a replicant coming, and, even when it was revealed there was a second O’Brien… I thought the one we had been following all episode was still O’Brien-the-original rather than -the-copy.

Everyone on the station does an excellent job of pretending to act normal except for Keiko who has to live with she doesn’t even know what, thank goodness she was able to send Molly off with some neighbors. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t just detain him right away? Oh, and I finally find out from Quark that the racquetball match never finished. While this episode is likely not good for rewatchability, I’m sure it spoils the suspense and the mystery if you remember how it ends, it was amazing for me from start to finish and kept me guessing right up until the last minute. I love watching O’Brien be MacGyver because he’s so damn good at problem solving and he constantly proves how useful of a crew member he is to have around. He also shows how many vulnerabilities are if anyone ever pisses him off, because he can literally hack anything. 8 replicants for O’Brien’s awesomeness.

Favorite Quote from “Paradise”:

Dax: If the ship assembly teams back in the yards did their jobs really well, we’ll probably make it. If they had an off day, we’re going to have a problem. But it’s our best shot. Unless, a as ranking officer, you have a better idea.

Kira: We’re within tractor range. Locking on.

Dax: Engaging impulse engines.

Dax: Remind me to send a thank you note to the assembly teams.

Jadzia Dax with the snark and the sass. I wonder if that’s Curzon who then rubbed off on Sisko.

So what had happened in “Paradise” was…: O’Brien and Sisko are out scouting nearby star systems for potential colonization and find a great planet, but there appears to be human life already, weird, as well as a duonetic field (which will become suuuuuuper important later). They beam down to a beautiful planet but the field causes all of their technology to fail and then they come across the locals who were a group of humans headed for elsewhere when their ship failed and they had to land and fend for themselves over 10 years ago. The colony is completely independent of technology and has done very well for themselves, though they have lost some people over the years and have had to fight for everything they have. Alixus, their leader, believes humanity is too dependent on technology. She wrote on paper, never ate replicated food, and keeps harping on Sisko and O’Brien to join the group and get rid of their uniforms… she’s definitely drinking some good Kool-Aid. Meanwhile Kira and Dax go looking for O’Brien and Sisko because their runabout is off warping through space. Turns out someone tried to destroy the ship but missed their target so the runabout was just traveling at warp speed around the galaxy, oh after someone erased the logs of course. They use a tractor beam to corral the runaway runabout and head to the Orellius system.

O’Brien and Sisko help out around the community but are shocked to see a box used as corporal punishment. Sisko is propositioned by one of the community members and he angrily goes to Alixus and strongly implies that she engineered everything for everyone to arrive just exactly in a place that was suited to her liking. A woman who was sick dies and Alixus uses that opportunity to point out O’Brien was “wasting time” on trying to fix technology and as such relegates Sisko to the box. He is let out and told he can have water after he changes out of his Starfleet uniform so of course he stumbles back over to the box and bolts himself in. O’Brien, because he’s a badass, make a COMPASS OUT OF A GOURD and finds the source of the duonetic field that was placed there by Alixus. She lets her cult leader colors fly and understands she and her son will have to answer for their crime, but the community all decide to stay because they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid for too long. Dax and Kira arrive and transport the foursome off planet and head home.

…”What of the dead?”: The actor who plays Vinod has been in SO MANY THINGS and I kept trying to place him, which I finally realized was impossible because I placed him in like 10 different shows. The whole time I was pissed because there was no reason they both should have transported down there AND they should have told someone where they were if they were both going to head down there. I also found it ironic, in the end, the Alixus built technology to help disable technology because she has no use for technology. What really gets me, though, is how brainwashed the people were at the end. They were lied to for 10 years and showed how shocked they were during her speech, but then one dude speaks for all of them when some people were thinking about heading back at the top of the episode? I get they accomplished a whole lot but they have some deeeeeeeeeep Stockholm Syndrome symptoms because they were all essentially kidnapped by Alixus and turned into her little technology-hating cult. What about advances in medicine that can keep more people from dying of a bug? I mean it would have been waaaaay more powerful if it was something incurable 10 years ago that they had a cure for in the runabout, but technology isn’t always bad. This was an excellent episode but I dislike the hell out of Alixus, she’s up there with Umbridge in my opinion. 7 rodents of unusual size that totally exist.

TA Out!