KTR's reflections from another DS9 newbie

[Linda]

KTR, you are just getting to those exciting final years of DS9. I'd like to see what you think of the rest of the series! I am not trying to be pushy or anything...wait...yes I AM trying to nudge you back into the series! Now I have to go bug Rigil about continuing his viewing also.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Well, I've sort of taken a break. Going so far as I have in such a relatively short time "washed me out" so to speak. I want to feel more refreshed when I continue with the more exciting Dominion war (which is far too long overdue).

[Elessar]

I just read your previous review of Dr. Bashir, I Presume and wanted to assure you that the "genetically enhanced" thing is revisited throughout the series... his friendship with O'Brien's effected, etc. Yeah, it's kind of a copout that they let him stay at his post but I think there is something to be said for an organization's sense of self-preservation. It's about to enter (or has entered? not sure where you are) a devastatingly HUGE war unlike anything it has experienced before and maybe, just maybe, somewhere along the line, someone with some common sense instead of a moral axe to grind, realized it was SMART to have Bashir out there, able to use his enhanced abilitie sin the open now, rather than jailing or censuring him and having him rot away doing nothing with his extraordinary talents.

Ethics aside, Starfleet is better off with him doing his job, because it's not like his particular infraction is anything that should cast doubt on his loyalties - and loyalties and survival are about all that counts for much in war. Somebody could make an equally appealing case no doubt for removing him, but I think the intelligently self-preservatory thing to do is leave him right where he is, because as you'll see, he's now able to USE his abilities out in the open, something he couldn't do before.

[Linda]

I agree Elessar.

And this war, it puts the Federation with its back to the wall - the possibilty that the Federation might actually lose. It enters a dark period like the third session of Enterprise does. I don't think we see that mood in TOS or TNG. Maybe a bit in VOY, but it is definitely strong in DS9 and ENT. That is why I am interested to see what KTR does with reviews on ENT season 3 also. There are a few shining, shining, episodes, at least for me, in these dark seasons of DS9 and ENT. So, whenever you are ready, KTR! I would like it if you came into these episodes refreshed, though, so I can wait.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Yeah well, I'm still not really in the Trek mood right now and I think I have to be in order to do the ENT reviews and DS9 mini-reviews justice.

[CX]

Gads, why the hell isn't anyone in a Trek mood anymore!?

[CoffeeCat]

now now... I just updated one of my fics this morning.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I cannot promise anything, but being bored today I decided to watch some DS9 again. It was a mixed blessing, since none of the episode save one were really that good, especially the last one!


5-17 A Simple Investigation

Despite this being an Odo-centric episode, and that he's one of my favourite characters, A Simple Investigation didn't do much for me. I suppose they tried for a film noir style detective story, but it just felt clichéd to me. The cop/private investigator falls in love with a client who is not all what she appears to be. Yawn! Way too predictable.

Dey Young is pretty enough, and this marks yet another of her Trek appearances (she's been in TNG's The Masterpiece Society and ENT's Two Days and Two Nights), but the chemistry between her and Odo just wasn't there, and that's something that will make or break a story like this. Add to that the Trek Insta-Romance™ and my attention wandered. It was a foregone conclusion that they wouldn't be able to keep a relationship.

Question marks also for Odo and his love interest having sex. How did they do that? Sure Odo could morph the relevant parts, but what can he actually do and feel during the act? But then I suppose that's something that for obvious reasons can't be addressed on a network show.

Her neural interface and real personality chip could've made for a more interesting story than what we saw here, as was the mention of the Orion Syndicate. The two hitmen from the syndicate were actually more interesting.

The fact that this was the second episode following the big change on the geo-political scene that had nothing to do about that (it wasn't even referenced) added to my sense of disappointment. I cannot give this episode more than a grade of 4- on my 10-graded scale.



*****

5-18 Business as Usual

Perhaps I should applaud that a Ferengi story this time wasn't used just for laughs, but Business as Usual came off as your standard preachy Trek morality tale, and I've seen enough of them by now. Arms dealers are such easy targets and especially when they're this unsavoury.

I can understand how Quark got himself in this situation though, and his gradual realization that he'd taken on a whole lot more than what he was willing to swallow. But I liked how he outwitted his employer and, ehum, "customers". But for all the moral indignation the DS9 crew displayed, he was forgiven much too easily. Running guns, even though he used the loophole of using the holosuites, should be a serious offense and here Quark was just slapped on the wrist and got back to playing cards with Jadzia in no time.

And I could've done without the b-plot concerning O'Brien's kid crying. Those kinds of storylines don't interest me much and are reminders that I don't really like kids on Trek.

I'll give Business as Usual a grade of 4+ out of 10.



*****

5-19 Ties of Blood and Water

At last we do see something about the Dominion/Cardassia situation, even if it's more of a vehicle of telling an emotional story about Kira and a father (two as it happens) dying. Maybe I'm a cold blooded sonuvabitch, but I actually found the return of Gul Dukat and Weyoun (a Vorta clone) more interesting than how Kira dealt with the her faux Cardassian "father" Ghemor (from the season 3 episode Second Skin) on his deathbed. For some reason they felt a bit too close, and that's not what I recall from the earlier episode. But the relationship nevertheless came of as good, even if the scenes did seem a bit dragged out sometimes. I liked the flashbacks to Kira's resistance days and the death of her real father. They highlighted the main story in a good way.

Still, it was the other scenes I enjoyed more, especially with Dukat and Sisko sparring. The return of Weyoun (number five this time) was also welcome, and Jeff Combs plays him to perfection. The best scene was the poisoned drink one, with Weyoun taking it all to the horrified looks of both Dukat and Sisko.

Ties of Blood and Water earns a grade of 7- from me.



*****

5-20 Ferengi Love Songs

God, watching Ferengi Love Songs made my lobes hurt, that's how painful it was. As if they really needed another Ferengi-centred episode this season, and as if they really had to revisit "Moogie" - Quark's mother previously seen in the almost equally horrible Family Business? I can't find anything redeeming about this tripe, except that it wasn't The Muse or Let He Who is Without Sin. Especially vomit-inducing where the scenes between Grand Nagus Zek and Moogie. At least in Family Business Moogie had the decency of having a character. Here she's willing to settle down doing smoochies with her Zekkie! Why do they keep writing this stuff?

As if that's not bad enough, we had to settle for a b-plot that's just as bad featuring Rom and Leeta. I cannot begin to describe how much I don't care for either of those annoying characters.

Ferengi Love Songs struggles to get the generous grade of 1+ on my 10-graded scale.

[Distracted]

I've never seen these, and now I'm glad. Thanks, KTR, for being the guinea pig.

[CX]

Well, I'm glad to see you back at DS9 anyway. It's too bad most of the ones you got back into were snoozers.

The Odo insta-love story also doesn't make much sense in light of the fact he's supposed to be carrying such a huge candle for Kira. As to how they did it, I'm guessing he derived his pleasure from hers, or maybe he was able to make all the appropriate equipment, right down to the nerves. I'm kind of doubting that she'll have little Odos though.

I think with all the Quark-centric ones, they always tend to forgive him way too easily and too quickly. I also actually thought they were over the top with how the crew reacted to him, too. You're also right about the moralizing - Trek tends to make things so completely obvious that you almost have to roll your eyes at it. At least here they didn't suggest that a really frakked up action was supposed to be the "right" one, as some episodes from TNG, VOY, and ENT did.

For the Ferengi episode, to answer your question, the writers seemed to think that those episodes were funny.

Unfortunately I'm guessing that the next two aren't going to do much for you, as one is a Klingon-centric episode and the other is the episode E-squared totally ripped off (albeit while making it a little more interesting). Children of Time is lame and yet manages to upset me over some of the frakked up morality and the way Sisko basically made everyone's decision for them (you'll see what I mean). Then after all that, the end is a real cop-out.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

^ Well, you were right about those two following episodes, CX!

Here are the next batch of four. Everything can also be read at my website.


5-21 Soldiers of the Empire

Has there ever been a sorrier bunch of Klingons than the rejects in this episode? One wonders why it was this ship and crew that got selected for the delicate task of finding a lost Klingon cruiser. General Martok is the envoy on DS9 and presumably highly thought of, so why give him this garbage scow? But then again, Martok wasn't really at his best either. For some inexplicable reason he was too cautious and, frankly, a bit on the cowardly side. The crew, Worf and Jadzia were right. But this character trait of Martok didn't ring true from what we know of him. Coming from two years in captivity I'd imagine he was hungry for revenge.

Since I've also grown progressively weary of Klingon culture, at least how they're depicted after they grew bumpy foreheads, Soldiers of the Empire didn't do that much for me. Nothing really new or interesting about them is learned. As someone said, it's funny how a fictional race can have become so clichéd. And we've also seen the workings on a Klingon vessel before, noticeably on TNG's Matter of Honour and Redemption.

The end really bugged me. First Martok did an about-turn and decided to fight, and then we're cheated of said battle. But it was nice when Martok adopted Worf into his own house, since there's technically no Sons of Mogh anymore.

I'll give Soldiers of the Empire an average grade of 5+.



*****

5-22 Children of Time

I suppose I would've enjoyed Children of Time more if I hadn't seen ENT's E2 before, and heard that the latter was a blatant rip-off of the former (like how ENT's Oasis also ripped off DS9's Shadowplay). Watching it now I can see why that is, but I still like E2 a lot better. Maybe that's because I saw it first, but I also believe that E2 was a more interesting story. But the similarities are really glaring, down to the character level. We have an old Odo much like there was an old T'Pol, the new Dax is much like Lorian etc. The descendants even lie and try to betray our crew.

The moral dilemma is of course if they go back then their descendants will cease to exist, and there are now 8,000 of them. One thing that really irked me is that while we saw how Sisko and the senior staff discussed this, we never learned what the rest of the 40-odd crew of the Defiant thought about the matter. And then Sisko more or less made the decision for everyone, after having changed his mind for some unknown reason.

In the end it was old Odo who made the real decision. His love for Kira wanted her alive and well in the real timeline, and thus he made the ship steer away from the temporal anomaly. It is something of a cop-out, but one I can live with. I dreaded that they'd some up with a technobabble solution just in the nick of time, or that a duplicate Defiant would be made anyway, despite what new Dax thought. Now at least we see what Odo can be capable of doing, and that should scare Kira. Oh, and I have to mention that I'm not a big fan of Odo/Kira and had hoped it would go away. I guess not, not after this episode.

I'm being generous when I give Children of Time a grade of 6- and that's only because it came first. I'm trying to grade it as if not having seen the rip-off E2 before.



*****

5-23 Blaze of Glory

While I really like Captain Sisko, I have had a hard time forgiving him for this blind spot he has regarding the Maquis. I find myself agreeing with Eddington's assertion that what Sisko objects to is not their supposed betrayal of Starfleet but their betrayal of him. In fact, if anyone was betrayed it was the Maquis who were repeatedly betrayed by the sanctified Federation, and that has always disgusted me. How can a government expect loyalty if they so blatantly toss aside protection of their own citizens, just so they can enter into a fruitless appeasement with their enemies, first the Cardassians and now the even more threatening Dominion/Cardassian alliance? But I've ranted about this before.

So it was nice to see Sisko getting a bit more understanding of the Maquis in Blaze of Glory. Unfortunately it was much too late. After this the Maquis are no more (or so the DS9 Companion book tells me). Poor Eddington had to die, but that was inevitable. I really came to like him. He felt real, even though the writers often tried to paint him as at least a semi-bad guy. I'd trust him and his Maquis to stand up for my rights over the Feds any day.

I can only hope that Sisko's late realization will come to have an impact on how he views things from now on. But I won't hold my breath; this is modern Trek we're talking about, even if DS9 has somewhat managed to transcend the annoying restrictions put in place by TNG.

Regarding the desire to avoid a war with the Dominion/Cardassia I must say "Wake up!" The war has already begun but the Feds are too thick-headed to understand it yet. It really began a long time ago, a product of appeasement gesture after appeasement gesture, actually starting way back on TNG when the Federation made their first treaty with the Cardassians that lead to the creation of the Maquis in the first place. The Maquis were right all along, and now they're dead and in a not too distant future the Federation will have to reap what they sowed. Serves them right!

The b-plot about Cadet Nog getting respect from the Klingons on the station was forgettable, especially in light of what otherwise transpired in the episode. Of course it's going to be hard for Starfleet to earn the respect of others when they behave they way they do.

I'll give Blaze of Glory a grade of 8- for the exposure and acknowledgement of the Federation's shortcomings. I'm just not sure if that was really what the producers intended.



*****

5-24 Empok Nor

I was less than impressed with this "DS9 does Aliens" outing. Empok Nor was far too predictable, down to the successive redshirt deaths (although to be honest they were yellowshirts). A lot more could've been done with the premise of lurking around an abandoned Cardassian space station, twisting your expectations somehow. I will say though, that the director managed to create a terrific atmosphere.

I understand that one thing they were aiming for was O'Brien's background as a veteran of the Federation/Cardassian war. By placing him in a situation were he will be forced to kill Cardassians - even Garak - again, he will confront his memories. Alas, nothing much of that got translated onto the screen. And the less said about Psychopath Garak the better! But I did like the interactions between Garak and O'Brien in the first half of the episode.

I have a minor nitpick about the reason for them going to Empok Nor in the first place and that is why? I know they went to get Cardassian spare parts for DS9, but one would have thought that by now Starfleet would have managed to either circumvent odd Cardassian designs, or have had them replaced altogether.

Another question is why those drugged up Cardassians were put there in stasis? We never got a satisfactory explanation. If the Cardassians didn't want anyone coming there, why didn't they blow up the station when they left? The same goes for the "experiment gone awry" theory.

A grade of 4 is what I'll give Empok Nor.

[JadziaKathryn]

My beef with "Empok Nor" was that, once again, everyone except the main characters died. Couldn't they have at least let one yellowshirt survive? That's not too much to ask, is it?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

My beef with "Empok Nor" was that, once again, everyone except the main characters died. Couldn't they have at least let one yellowshirt survive? That's not too much to ask, is it?

Better still, they could've killed a regular, or at least semi-regular, like Nog instead!

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

And the last two episodes of the season, plus a season overview:


5-25 In the Cards

I didn't care much for In the Cards. The comedic plot seemed highly inappropriate considering the dire circumstances, with the threat of imminent war. That probably was the point, but it didn't work for me. You just can't have the Dominion, represented here by Weyoun, as part of comic relief, and the next episode have him spearheading an attack on the station.

We've also seen the plot before, back in season one (Progress), when Jake and Nog also kept trading stuff around. This time it's not self-sealing stembolts and yamok sauce they're trying to get rid of, but an old baseball card Jake wants so he can give it to his father.

The b-plot was more consequential, with Kai Winn coming to Sisko for advice on how Bajor should handle the Dominion situation. Sisko is frank enough to admit that the Federation won't be able to protect them. That should come as no surprise to anyone. They cannot even protect their own citizens. Winn has been shown to be ruthless before, but the last few times we've seen her, she's been quite out of her element. She's now this insecure and indecisive individual - running to the Emissary for advice - and I'm not sure I like that.

Another thing that was probably thrown in for humour but that irked me was when Jake says that he doesn't have any money, to which Nog replies: "It's not my fault that your species decided to abandon currency-based economics in favour of some philosophy of self-enhancement." Yeah, right! This is indeed the Commie Generation. Totally implausible and unworkable. The disadvantages are immediately apparent here when Jake cannot buy the baseball card but has to pester his friend for the money. Besides, how do the Starfleet officers pay for their drinks at Quark's? No wonder the Federation is in shambles.

I'll give In the Cards a grade of 3+ on my 10-graded scale.



*****

5-26 Call to Arms

At last, begun the Dominion War has! It's taken far too long for my tastes, but now the confrontation is finally in the open. And they were gutsy enough to end it with the station being occupied by Dominion/Cardassian forces, and Sisko and Starfleet retreating. For Star Trek this is certainly new territory.

Finally the Federation has realized the threat posed by the Dominion and all I wonder is why did it take so long for them to figure this out? While Sisko sensibly decided to mine the mouth of the wormhole, I'm at a loss to why they waited until now? It should have been mined right after the Dominion/Cardassian alliance was announced. Now they allowed the Dominion to build up their forces in the Alpha quadrant before reacting. The wormhole is an obvious strategic bottleneck and making sure early on that the enemy can't use it would've been the prudent thing to do. But I forget that we're talking about the appeasing Feds here, whose politicians and bureaucrats no doubt thought that they could reach a diplomatic solution with the Dominion.

Speaking of which, my distaste for Federation politics actually lead me to believe that Sisko was sincere when he made the offer to Weyoun about how the minefield could be dismantled in exchange for only allowing cargo ships to come through. This is how low my level of trust in the Feds has sunk, even if they're represented by Sisko. I'm glad he wasn't making a serious proposal. Perhaps he has indeed learned a thing or two from Eddington and the now defeated Maquis.

The space battle was wicked cool, if a bit too short. The Starfleet tactic of defending DS9 for only as long as it would take to finish deploying the minefield and destroying a Dominion shipyard in Cardassian space makes sense, but only to a certain degree. For now they've harmed the Dominion from getting reinforcements on both sides of the wormhole, but in the long run it's a risky tactic to abandon the strategic bottleneck that is DS9 guarding the wormhole. Eventually the Dominion will find a way to dismantle those mines.

I could've done without the b-plot about Rom's and Leeta's wedding, and the interaction between the other "pairings" I don't really care about - Odo and Kira, and Worf and Jadzia. Yeah, even Worf and Jadzia have lost much of their appeal to me. Blame that on Let He Who is Without Sin.

Call to Arms gets a grade of 9 from me. The b-plots and the slow start prevent it from getting a higher grade. But boy am I glad that the war has finally started.



*****

Season Five Overview

Like all seasons before it, season five was very uneven. This is now what I've come to expect of DS9 - one episode can be truly excellent with the next one sinking immediately to the bottom, like how they followed up Trials and Tribble-ations with Let He Who is Without Sin. What I appreciated most about this season was how they cranked up the Dominion arc, starting in mid-season with In Purgatory's Shadow only to have the war finally break out in the season finale. I've waited a long time for this. While I don't approve of much of the Federation's policy, I do applaud that these issues have been dealt with, especially regarding the betrayal of the Maquis, even if it was too late to save them.

But its' really a shame that they couldn't allow the story arcs to work properly. Even after some huge events have taken place, there is a scaling back to the old tired episodic formula. If those episodes had been more decent and interesting I might have forgiven them, but most of the time we're treated to pure tripe, like the aforementioned atrocity that is Let He Who is Without Sin, the inane Deep Space 90210 soap operatic plots or the god awful Ferengi episodes. Please make them stop!

On the character front I liked how Sisko eventually came to some sort of realization that the Maquis might not have been all wrong and that they do have to face down the Dominion. It should've come sooner but better late than never. Kira was hampered with her (and actress Nana Visitor's real-life) pregnancy, that they had to shoehorn into the season. Odo regained his shape-shifting abilities, and thus that storyline was wasted. O'Brien and Bashir are fortunately reliable characters. And I appreciate that Worf hasn't taken over the show but has blended in nicely into the ensemble cast of DS9.

For some inexplicable reason the producers seem intent on going through with a relationship between Odo and Kira that I certainly could do without. Let He Who is Without Sin more or less destroyed what interest I might have harboured for Worf and Jadzia. And the less said about Rom and Leeta the better. So you could say that I'm actively shipping for no one on DS9.

Summing up the grades gives an average of 5.78, which is best so far, but only by a very small margin. It still gets a 6- just like the previous season. I don't really expect the coming seasons to stand out much more than this, but who knows now that the Dominion War is in full swing.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Well, I've now seen the first four episodes of the sixth season.


Season Six

6-01 A Time to Stand

Considering how the fifth season ended I had expected the start of the sixth to show us some really cool space battles. Instead it's three months later and all we see is a large Starfleet force limping away - and being told of how another task force suffered a thorough defeat. The war is not going well for the Federation/Klingon alliance. Surprisingly, I didn't mind the lack of battle scenes as much as one might have expected, but that's because A Time to Stand is such a great episode anyway. Still, it would've been nice to see a little of it.

I can't say I'm surprised that the Feds got their hiney's kicked, even with the Dominion's inability (for now at least) to get reinforcements. Up until recently the Federation has done precious little to prepare for the war that was bound to come. And the war is taking its toll. The whole atmosphere is a lot grimmer and so are our characters. Especially Bashir has lost a lot of his cheerfulness, and he now has no qualms about hiding that he's been genetically enhanced. The interactions between him and Garak regarding his change were pretty good. Sisko is also suffering, and he can't get over that his son was left back on DS9. There was another good scene between Benjamin and his father.

This is a lot darker than the Star Trek we've gotten used to and to me that can only be a good thing. Frankly I'm bored with the shiny happy utopia we've mostly seen. In that regard I suppose I'm not really that much of a Trekkie, at least not a 24th century Trekkie. Shaking things up, like what they've done here, is infinitely more compelling, not to mention excellent drama.

The plot with Sisko and his crew taking the captured Jem'Hadar ship (from last season's The Ship) an a covert mission to destroy a main supply station of ketracel white wasn't particularly new, but the episode pulled it of, right down to the suspense at the end when the station was going to blow up. Nice touches about the interiors of the ship, with no chairs or viewscreens. My one complaint is that it was a bit too easy. Shouldn't the Jem'Hadar have noticed that this was the same ship that was lost a year ago? And don't they have scheduled arrivals at the supply station?

Back on DS9... sorry, that should read Terok Nor now, the situation is also grim, unless of course you're Gul Dukat or Weyoun. But Kira and Odo don't have an easy time, trying to decide what to do, and in what way they should or should not co-operate with their new masters. Since Bajor is officially neutral they're not treated as enemies, even if Dukat would like it otherwise. But he's restrained by Weyoun, who want to prove to the rest of the quadrant that the Dominion can be reasonable. We've seen this tension between the Cardassians and the Dominion before and I'm glad it's still there. This should make for interesting developments.

I loved how Odo managed to use his identity as a "Founder" to get his will with Weyoun. But I'm not sure that having Bajoran station personnel back is a good thing. They can, just as Odo and Kira, be considered collaborators. This is a dilemma seen many times in history whenever a country is occupied. Kira also had a terrific scene with Dukat. Now those two have great chemistry, albeit not a romantic one (even if Dukat obviously has some delusions in that regard).

Despite the lack of major fleet engagements I will give A Time to Stand a full grade of 10. A great start to the new season.



*****

6-02 Rocks and Shoals

DS9 continues to shine in this second episode of the sixth season. While nothing much happened in the grand scheme of things, Rocks and Shoals gave us great drama and great characterizations. Damaged in the episode before, Sisko's Jem'Hadar ship crashes on a conveniently (a bit too conveniently) hidden planet, where they encounter a previously downed group of Jem'Hadar soldiers (also a bit too convenient, but I'll let that slide).

In some ways this can be seen as a repeat of last season's The Ship, but the plot developments are sufficiently different from the more superficial similarities. For being these fiercely loyal soldiers, the show manages to portray the Jem'Hadar in a sympathetic light. DS9 has done so before and they really did it here. Especially this third-in-command Remata'Klan (Phil Morris) was made to be an interesting person in his own right. Now that's good writing! And even when confronted with the betrayal from his Vorta, he cannot disobey "the order of things". As he chillingly said to Sisko: "It is not my life to give up, Captain... and it never was." He cannot help himself. He and the rest of the Jem'Hadar are designed this way.

But Keevan the Vorta gets no sympathies. I half expected Sisko to shot him in the end, and I'm sorry that he didn't. Keevan will be a pretty useless POW anyway, not likely to betray a lot of Dominion secrets to Starfleet.

I liked how Sisko's crew interacted with each other, from O'Brien and Sisko laughing hysterically when the chief complained that he had ripped his pants, to Nog not wanting to walk in front of Garak. It was a pity that Dax was out of commission for most of the episode. But that redhead chick was pretty darn cute. Hope we get to see more of her.

Back on Terok Nor (see, I'm a quick study), we see Kira and Odo having a hard time to adapt. Kira's increasing discomfort is shown with few words and excellent visuals, from her looking herself in the mirror to her taking the turbolift to her duty station in Ops. She's become what she despised during the previous Cardassian occupation, a bureaucratic collaborator that defends the occupiers to others, including Jake Sisko.

Speaking of Jake Sisko, I cannot understand what he hopes to accomplish. He seems pretty naïve if he thinks he can report freely for a news agency belonging to the enemy. Any reporting that Weyoun allows will compromise Jake's integrity. But then again, that's a problem journalists have often had when working under dictatorial regimes. I'm just not sure we want to see Jake as a fellow traveller or a "useful idiot" as the term attributed to Lenin is.

The visuals were very nice too, from the location shots among the rocks and shoals, to the downing of the Jem'Hadar ship, including how it sank. And the station looks different, even from the outside, now that it's called Terok Nor again.

I'm going out on a limb here and also give Rocks and Shoals a grade of 10-, albeit with a small minus. This has been the strongest season opening thus far on DS9.



*****

6-03 Sons and Daughters

Given the nature of this show, it was bound to happen that a streak of really good episodes would suddenly grind to a halt with what is mostly unnecessary filler. I just had hoped it wouldn't have happened so soon.

Please, not another Klingon show! We've already seen these stories far too many times before and there isn't any new territory to explore. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. For example, we've just had Soldiers of the Empire. I didn't care for whiny Alexander back when he was a kid on TNG and growing up hasn't helped him much. He's still this uncomfortable weakling of a Klingon. It would've helped if we had learned exactly why he now decided to enlist as a warrior, but we never got that and both he, his relationship with his father Worf and the episode suffers from it. I couldn't care less about Alexander and his plight at this juncture.

Clichés abounded when Alexander repeatedly got ridiculed by the other Klingons. It made me cringe. But I was pleasantly surprised that they avoided the tired cliché about the weak character suddenly earning respect from the others through some implausible act of heroics. There was a moment I thought they were going down that road, but instead Alexander accidentally (?) locked himself up in a storage compartment.

The Ziyal plot was marginally better, and I like her relationship with Kira. But I cannot understand how quickly she forgave her father, Dukat, for what he had done to her previously.

Sons and Daughters will only receive a grade of 3+ from me.



*****

6-04 Behind the Lines

Behind the Lines was better, but still definitely not on par with the first two outings this season. And I'm getting seriously miffed that we have yet to see something of this huge war that's going on. All they do is talk about it. It's time they started showing it as well. We didn't even get to see the Defiant's mission to destroy the enemy sensor array.

The resistance "movement" on Terok Nor is indeed a puny one, and there isn't much they can do besides starting a brawl between Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar. But I do like that we see this tension among supposed allies. Weyoun telling Dukat to smile was hilarious. But a chance for the resistance - which only seems to consist of Kira, Rom, Jake and Odo - comes when it is revealed that Damar, Dukat's second-in-command, has found a way to disable the minefield blocking the entrance to the wormhole. This was bound to happen, and puts into question Starfleet's earlier decision to abandon DS9.

Alas Odo neglects his duties after being lured by the female shapeshifter that conveniently has arrived at the station, the attempt to sabotage Damar's plans fails, and Rom gets arrested. This is an interesting and disturbing (in a good way) development for Odo. He's now more interested in the Great Link and his fellow Founders than anything else. This will have a profound effect on how the others will view Odo in the future, let alone trust him again. I hope they don't cop out and have Odo simply been brainwashed by the female changeling. It's also obvious that she knows about Kira and the resistance, and I wonder why Kira is allowed to remain as Bajoran liaison.

I did like the scenes on the starbase, especially the camaraderie and traditions about the phaser power cell from the crew of the Defiant. Admiral Ross is also a good character, a welcome detour from the usually obnoxious Starfleet brass. And it makes sense to make Sisko his adjutant since Sisko knows more about the Dominion than anyone, even if Sisko probably would've liked to remain on the battle lines.

I'll be generous and give Behind the Lines a grade of 6+, but they'd better get on with showing us the war soon.