DS9 Review: 1.01-02 "The Emissary"
Jun. 14th, 2013 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ljwrites(06/14/13: Updated with synopsis. Spoilers and some bad language.)
I've started watching Deep Space Nine on fairladyz2005's recommendation, and it is certainly worthy of high praise. I've finished the first season and like it so much I've decided to write a series of posts talking briefly about my impressions.
One-line summary: Sisko falls into a hole and must dig his way out.
I will complain in later reviews about the homogeneity of the alien species in Star Trek, but I should give credit where credit is due and note that episodes like "The Emissary" feature a species entirely different from us who are deadly for that reason. Seeing how dangerous these more powerful species are, maybe it makes good sense to stick with knowable and familiar humanoids after all.
The neat thing about the writing in this episode is how it ties together the needs of the plot with deeply-rooted character issues. In this case Sisko's grief for his wife gave him an extra edge over the typical Starfleet officer, allowing the alien species to understand him. For such an important part of Sisko's character, though, I can't help but think the Jennifer storyline was cast off the moment it stopped serving the plot. I'm hoping later seasons will show Sisko dealing with his loss.
The Kai selecting Sisko, an outsider from a more technically advanced culture, for the job of emissary had some uncomfortable echoes of Mighty Whitey, but in this particular instance I'm willing to let it slide. For one thing there's the character-plot match as discussed above, and for another Sisko does Bajor a great service but is no savior or leader for the Bajorans. Though the wormhole is certainly a boon for Bajor, it caused new problems as well.
I can't end without mentioning the two Picard/Sisko scenes. Both actors were in fine form, playing out the unspoken tensions beautifully. I liked the layers in the writing, how it looks like Sisko is a careerist who resented his posting to a remote outpost and changed his mind once the station became important, but on the inside the real story is of him coming to terms with his grief and recognizing his former anger for the pain of loss.
Overall "The Emissary" does what a pilot episode should do, setting up a premise for the whole series that will be a source of new conflicts and stories. The episode gave me high hopes for the show, the first season of which was a mixed bag with some real highlights. More on that later; for now, Luna out.
I've started watching Deep Space Nine on fairladyz2005's recommendation, and it is certainly worthy of high praise. I've finished the first season and like it so much I've decided to write a series of posts talking briefly about my impressions.
One-line summary: Sisko falls into a hole and must dig his way out.
Synopsis, Part 1:
Three years after losing his wife Jennifer at the battle of Wolf 359 (see also TNG episode 4.01 "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2"), Commander Benjamin Sisko is transferred from his posting on Earth, son Jake in tow, to Deep Space Nine. Formerly a Cardassian station called Terok Nor, Deep Space Nine is in orbit around Bajor, a planet just emerging from sixty years of oppressive occupation by Cardassia.
Sisko inherits a station in chaos; the Cardassians stripped everything of value from the station when they retreated, and most station residents are preparing to leave as well, convinced that the fragile provisional government on Bajor will not last. We are introduced to new faces: Major Kira, Sisko's second-in-command and Bajoran liaison who is just thrilled at the Federation's presence protecting Bajor (behold my Italics of Sarcasm!); Chief Engineer Miles O'Brien, former transporter room chief from the Enterprise; and Quark, a Ferengi gambling den proprietor whom Sisko ends up strong-arming into staying on the station as part of the plea bargain for Quark's nephew Nog, a display that impresses the station's Chief of Security and Quark's nemesis, the enigmatic shapeshifter Odo.
Because Starfleet command is evidently composed of sadistic assholes, they have sent none other than Captain Picard, the unwilling leader of the Borg at Wolf 359, to explain the mission to Sisko, and it's a doozy: Sisko is supposed to keep Bajor, completely looted by the Cardassians and barely surviving, stable and in one piece. He is also to shepherd this impoverished planet torn with internal strife into the embrace of the United Federation of Planets. Sisko somehow manages not to strangle Picard with his bare hands, if only for being stuck on the ass-end of nowhere with an impossible mandate. He also expresses strong reservation with the mission, and not only that but with continuing his career at Starfleet at all.
"Motherfucker, you have ruined my life for the last time."
For all his reluctance Sisko proves his work ethic by keeping Quark on the station to be a center of the merchant community on the station's promenade, and getting Kira to open up about the chaotic state of affairs on Bajor. Told that their Kai, the chief Bajoran religious leader, is the only one who can prevent civil war, Sisko allows a monk to lead him to Bajor to see the reclusive Kai Opaka. A nice yet intense older lady who comes across like the female version of the Dalai Lama, Opaka names Sisko their Emissary, gives him an Orb sent to her people by their Prophets, and charges him with finding the Celestial Temple before the Cardassians do. Sisko is understandably confused, but the Kai refuses to act until he has found the Temple and tells him it is his destiny to do so.
The station's chief medical and science officers arrive after Sisko's return to the station: Dr. Julian Bashir, a newly-minted Starfleet doctor, and Jadzia Dax, an old friend of Sisko's through Kurzon Dax whose memories Jadzia shares through a symbiont implanted in her abdominal cavity, passed on from Kurzon to her. A select few of her species, the Trill, are selected for joining and undergo the procedure, effectively lengthening their lifetimes and memories beyond individual lifespans. For his part Bashir annoys Kira with his condescending exuberance about the primitive conditions on this frontier, and is quickly put in his place. Ah, young Starfleet officers.
After the Enterprise departs with Captain Picard, Gul Dukat, former Cardassian Prefect of Bajor, makes a social visit. The arrogant and smarmy Dukat makes threats in the form of solicitations, reminding Sisko how close the Cardassians are stationed, and inquires about the Orb that Opaka gave Sisko. Sisko denies all knowledge. Meanwhile, Dax finds clues to the location of the Celestial Temple, but she and Sisko need to find a way to get there past the Cardassians without being detected. This is achieved by some well-oiled teamwork between Kira, Quark, O'Brien, and Odo, with Odo sneaking on board the docked Cardassian ship to disable it. In the meantime Dax and Sisko sneak out with the Rio Grande, one of the station's runabouts.
The Rio Grande approaches the coordinates Dax found and disappears into a spatial anomaly, which turns out to be a wormhole that takes them 70,000 light years away to the Gamma Quadrant. Excited at the discovery of the first known stable wormhole, Dax and Sisko head back only to be stalled inside the wormhole. They land in a strange life-supporting pocket in the wormhole itself, where Sisko makes contact with incorporeal aliens who speak to him by commandeering the forms of people he knows. The aliens forcibly ship Dax back to Deep Space Nine, presumably seeing nothing of interest in her. (Someone finds her boring? Must be a novel experience for a woman who has 300 years and seven lives' worth of memories stored inside her.)
Synopsis, Part 2:
Kira launches a rescue mission for Sisko and commands O'Brien to move the entire station to the wormhole's entrance so Bajor can stake a claim to it. She sees a chance to turn Bajor's entire fortune around and is not about to let this chance slip by. She grudgingly admits Starfleet's recognition of Bajor's claim will help, and calls back the departed Starfleet ships. She takes Bashir and Dax on the rescue mission, and Odo invites himself along over Kira's objections; the wormhole and the Gamma Quadrant may hold the keys to his origins.
Meanwhile the aliens are initiating what is evidently their First Contact protocol, namely wanting to destroy the linear lifeform; they can't understand his linear experience of time, since they themselves experience all time simultaneously. We seem to have found our Prophets. Sisko institutes the protocol he's been trained in, which is to explain he comes in peace.
And he wondered why the first line in the Bajoran prayer book was "Holy Prophets, please don't kill me."
While Sisko explains such concepts as "linear time perception," "death," and "baseball" to save his life, literally, O'Brien fights an uncooperative computer with nothing but Starfleet grit and technobabble to keep the station from tearing itself apart on its way to the wormhole. It's a great character moment for him, showing he is well-equipped for this chaotic job and much, much more than a transporter room chief.
The oily Gul Dukat slides his way right into the wormhole ahead of Kira's party and the aliens, deciding they have enough visitors, close the wormhole after him. Kira, thwarted, rejoins the station at the wormhole entrance. At this point Cardassian warships come a-sniffing after their Gul, and for whatever reason are not receptive to the explanation that Dukat is on his way to the Gamma Quadrant in a previously-unknown wormhole that just collapsed. They come to the wild conclusion that Gul Dukat's warship has been destroyed and demand the surrender of Deep Space Nine. Kira and O'Brien agree this is Not an Option, not with the Cardassians' famed hospitality for prisoners, and decide to stall for time waiting for the Starfleet vessels that are on their way back.
Sisko finally connects with the wormhole aliens when he keeps coming back to Jennifer's death against his will and admits time is not linear for him, either. He is stuck in that moment even as he exists in the present, a concept the aliens can understand. He weeps over his memory of Jennifer's body, right where he wanted to die with her, racked with despair.
"You got stuck in a moment/And you can't get out of it..."
Kira, in a moment that had me in love, bluffs the hell out of the Cardassian warships with all her six photon torpedoes and a massive illusion of armaments, and threatens to give the Cardassians a war if they want one. The Cardassians attack anyway, knowing Starfleet are on their way back. Things get bad enough that Kira says enough is enough and is about to surrender--she might be willing to fight Cardassians to the death, but she's not dragging a station full of people down with her.
Just then the wormhole opens up, and the Rio Grande emerges towing Gul Dukat's sorry ass. The Cardassians' collective jaws drop through their decks, and Kira does an epic "I told you so" dance. The Cardassians retreat with Gul Dukat at their head, and cleanup is underway when the Enterprise returns.
The wormhole aliens agree to keep the wormhole open, putting Bajor instantly on the map and making not only its survival but even prosperity a whole lot more feasible. The Cardassians remain a problem, especially with Bajor's newfound strategic importance, but life on the station begins to settle down with a new sense of direction and purpose.
Sisko meets with Picard and withdraws the request he gave earlier to find someone else for his post, a request Picard had conveniently forgotten to pass on to Starfleet. Sisko, having confronted the core of his pain, finds the strength to forgive Picard and the two men, both so scarred by the events of Wolf 359, part with the firm understanding of fellow survivors.
I quite like Avery Brooks in his role as Commander Sisko, though at this early point in the show he was definitely better in angry or solemn mode than the lighter or heavier ends of the emotional spectrum. His happiness had a too-folksy feel I couldn't quite get into and his grief, while not entirely bad, was a bit too theatrical. But when he turned on the gravitas and the smoldering pain, that was something to see and gave me high hopes for the character.Three years after losing his wife Jennifer at the battle of Wolf 359 (see also TNG episode 4.01 "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2"), Commander Benjamin Sisko is transferred from his posting on Earth, son Jake in tow, to Deep Space Nine. Formerly a Cardassian station called Terok Nor, Deep Space Nine is in orbit around Bajor, a planet just emerging from sixty years of oppressive occupation by Cardassia.
Sisko inherits a station in chaos; the Cardassians stripped everything of value from the station when they retreated, and most station residents are preparing to leave as well, convinced that the fragile provisional government on Bajor will not last. We are introduced to new faces: Major Kira, Sisko's second-in-command and Bajoran liaison who is just thrilled at the Federation's presence protecting Bajor (behold my Italics of Sarcasm!); Chief Engineer Miles O'Brien, former transporter room chief from the Enterprise; and Quark, a Ferengi gambling den proprietor whom Sisko ends up strong-arming into staying on the station as part of the plea bargain for Quark's nephew Nog, a display that impresses the station's Chief of Security and Quark's nemesis, the enigmatic shapeshifter Odo.
Because Starfleet command is evidently composed of sadistic assholes, they have sent none other than Captain Picard, the unwilling leader of the Borg at Wolf 359, to explain the mission to Sisko, and it's a doozy: Sisko is supposed to keep Bajor, completely looted by the Cardassians and barely surviving, stable and in one piece. He is also to shepherd this impoverished planet torn with internal strife into the embrace of the United Federation of Planets. Sisko somehow manages not to strangle Picard with his bare hands, if only for being stuck on the ass-end of nowhere with an impossible mandate. He also expresses strong reservation with the mission, and not only that but with continuing his career at Starfleet at all.
"Motherfucker, you have ruined my life for the last time."
For all his reluctance Sisko proves his work ethic by keeping Quark on the station to be a center of the merchant community on the station's promenade, and getting Kira to open up about the chaotic state of affairs on Bajor. Told that their Kai, the chief Bajoran religious leader, is the only one who can prevent civil war, Sisko allows a monk to lead him to Bajor to see the reclusive Kai Opaka. A nice yet intense older lady who comes across like the female version of the Dalai Lama, Opaka names Sisko their Emissary, gives him an Orb sent to her people by their Prophets, and charges him with finding the Celestial Temple before the Cardassians do. Sisko is understandably confused, but the Kai refuses to act until he has found the Temple and tells him it is his destiny to do so.
The station's chief medical and science officers arrive after Sisko's return to the station: Dr. Julian Bashir, a newly-minted Starfleet doctor, and Jadzia Dax, an old friend of Sisko's through Kurzon Dax whose memories Jadzia shares through a symbiont implanted in her abdominal cavity, passed on from Kurzon to her. A select few of her species, the Trill, are selected for joining and undergo the procedure, effectively lengthening their lifetimes and memories beyond individual lifespans. For his part Bashir annoys Kira with his condescending exuberance about the primitive conditions on this frontier, and is quickly put in his place. Ah, young Starfleet officers.
After the Enterprise departs with Captain Picard, Gul Dukat, former Cardassian Prefect of Bajor, makes a social visit. The arrogant and smarmy Dukat makes threats in the form of solicitations, reminding Sisko how close the Cardassians are stationed, and inquires about the Orb that Opaka gave Sisko. Sisko denies all knowledge. Meanwhile, Dax finds clues to the location of the Celestial Temple, but she and Sisko need to find a way to get there past the Cardassians without being detected. This is achieved by some well-oiled teamwork between Kira, Quark, O'Brien, and Odo, with Odo sneaking on board the docked Cardassian ship to disable it. In the meantime Dax and Sisko sneak out with the Rio Grande, one of the station's runabouts.
The Rio Grande approaches the coordinates Dax found and disappears into a spatial anomaly, which turns out to be a wormhole that takes them 70,000 light years away to the Gamma Quadrant. Excited at the discovery of the first known stable wormhole, Dax and Sisko head back only to be stalled inside the wormhole. They land in a strange life-supporting pocket in the wormhole itself, where Sisko makes contact with incorporeal aliens who speak to him by commandeering the forms of people he knows. The aliens forcibly ship Dax back to Deep Space Nine, presumably seeing nothing of interest in her. (Someone finds her boring? Must be a novel experience for a woman who has 300 years and seven lives' worth of memories stored inside her.)
Synopsis, Part 2:
Kira launches a rescue mission for Sisko and commands O'Brien to move the entire station to the wormhole's entrance so Bajor can stake a claim to it. She sees a chance to turn Bajor's entire fortune around and is not about to let this chance slip by. She grudgingly admits Starfleet's recognition of Bajor's claim will help, and calls back the departed Starfleet ships. She takes Bashir and Dax on the rescue mission, and Odo invites himself along over Kira's objections; the wormhole and the Gamma Quadrant may hold the keys to his origins.
Meanwhile the aliens are initiating what is evidently their First Contact protocol, namely wanting to destroy the linear lifeform; they can't understand his linear experience of time, since they themselves experience all time simultaneously. We seem to have found our Prophets. Sisko institutes the protocol he's been trained in, which is to explain he comes in peace.
And he wondered why the first line in the Bajoran prayer book was "Holy Prophets, please don't kill me."
While Sisko explains such concepts as "linear time perception," "death," and "baseball" to save his life, literally, O'Brien fights an uncooperative computer with nothing but Starfleet grit and technobabble to keep the station from tearing itself apart on its way to the wormhole. It's a great character moment for him, showing he is well-equipped for this chaotic job and much, much more than a transporter room chief.
The oily Gul Dukat slides his way right into the wormhole ahead of Kira's party and the aliens, deciding they have enough visitors, close the wormhole after him. Kira, thwarted, rejoins the station at the wormhole entrance. At this point Cardassian warships come a-sniffing after their Gul, and for whatever reason are not receptive to the explanation that Dukat is on his way to the Gamma Quadrant in a previously-unknown wormhole that just collapsed. They come to the wild conclusion that Gul Dukat's warship has been destroyed and demand the surrender of Deep Space Nine. Kira and O'Brien agree this is Not an Option, not with the Cardassians' famed hospitality for prisoners, and decide to stall for time waiting for the Starfleet vessels that are on their way back.
Sisko finally connects with the wormhole aliens when he keeps coming back to Jennifer's death against his will and admits time is not linear for him, either. He is stuck in that moment even as he exists in the present, a concept the aliens can understand. He weeps over his memory of Jennifer's body, right where he wanted to die with her, racked with despair.
"You got stuck in a moment/And you can't get out of it..."
Kira, in a moment that had me in love, bluffs the hell out of the Cardassian warships with all her six photon torpedoes and a massive illusion of armaments, and threatens to give the Cardassians a war if they want one. The Cardassians attack anyway, knowing Starfleet are on their way back. Things get bad enough that Kira says enough is enough and is about to surrender--she might be willing to fight Cardassians to the death, but she's not dragging a station full of people down with her.
Just then the wormhole opens up, and the Rio Grande emerges towing Gul Dukat's sorry ass. The Cardassians' collective jaws drop through their decks, and Kira does an epic "I told you so" dance. The Cardassians retreat with Gul Dukat at their head, and cleanup is underway when the Enterprise returns.
The wormhole aliens agree to keep the wormhole open, putting Bajor instantly on the map and making not only its survival but even prosperity a whole lot more feasible. The Cardassians remain a problem, especially with Bajor's newfound strategic importance, but life on the station begins to settle down with a new sense of direction and purpose.
Sisko meets with Picard and withdraws the request he gave earlier to find someone else for his post, a request Picard had conveniently forgotten to pass on to Starfleet. Sisko, having confronted the core of his pain, finds the strength to forgive Picard and the two men, both so scarred by the events of Wolf 359, part with the firm understanding of fellow survivors.
I will complain in later reviews about the homogeneity of the alien species in Star Trek, but I should give credit where credit is due and note that episodes like "The Emissary" feature a species entirely different from us who are deadly for that reason. Seeing how dangerous these more powerful species are, maybe it makes good sense to stick with knowable and familiar humanoids after all.
The neat thing about the writing in this episode is how it ties together the needs of the plot with deeply-rooted character issues. In this case Sisko's grief for his wife gave him an extra edge over the typical Starfleet officer, allowing the alien species to understand him. For such an important part of Sisko's character, though, I can't help but think the Jennifer storyline was cast off the moment it stopped serving the plot. I'm hoping later seasons will show Sisko dealing with his loss.
The Kai selecting Sisko, an outsider from a more technically advanced culture, for the job of emissary had some uncomfortable echoes of Mighty Whitey, but in this particular instance I'm willing to let it slide. For one thing there's the character-plot match as discussed above, and for another Sisko does Bajor a great service but is no savior or leader for the Bajorans. Though the wormhole is certainly a boon for Bajor, it caused new problems as well.
I can't end without mentioning the two Picard/Sisko scenes. Both actors were in fine form, playing out the unspoken tensions beautifully. I liked the layers in the writing, how it looks like Sisko is a careerist who resented his posting to a remote outpost and changed his mind once the station became important, but on the inside the real story is of him coming to terms with his grief and recognizing his former anger for the pain of loss.
Overall "The Emissary" does what a pilot episode should do, setting up a premise for the whole series that will be a source of new conflicts and stories. The episode gave me high hopes for the show, the first season of which was a mixed bag with some real highlights. More on that later; for now, Luna out.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-26 09:38 pm (UTC)It was a brave choice, to set the new hero up in opposition to an established and popular character like that, but it also encapsulates how DS9 had to fight an uphill battle from the get-go.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-26 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-26 11:48 pm (UTC)Have you watched Babylon 5? It was roughly concurrent with DS9, and there were enough superficial similarities (space stations! early use of story arcs in sci-fi! women!) that even now parts of the fandoms consider themselves at war. They're both great shows, but B5 has the advantage of not being burdened with 25 years of history. Except, of course, in its desperate need to get out of Star Trek's shadow. And DS9 has these amazing moments where it turns the Star Trek legacy on its head.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-27 12:49 am (UTC)I've only heard of Babylon 5, and if it's as good as DS9 is shaping up to be I'm game to try. Thanks for the rec.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-27 09:28 pm (UTC)Also, the exec producer/head writer is insuffrable.
On the other hand, we wouldn't have shows like BSG without it, and the ideas and stories, the sacrifices made by the characters and the general scale of it are amazing. Even when it's blatantly Tolkien In Space, it's Tolkien In Space done really well.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-28 04:35 am (UTC)What still makes LotR lasting and influential are the solid world-building, the truths of life in its fiction, and the enduring moral soundness of the story. I've found a work can overcome a great many flaws to be a classic (Les Misérables, anyone?) as long as it rings true and firm, while slicker, better-written works of less substance are forgotten.