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DS9 Season Five (And Part of Six)
Best season yet. By a long way. Season five is amazing. All out with the Dominion becomes an inevitability, Cardassia becomes a threat again, and there seems to be huge emphasis on families, both conventional and unconventional. This post also covers the first six episodes of series six because I got to Call to Arms and I just had to see the arc through as quickly as possible.
I love families in science fiction, the unconventional the better and I counted ten family relationships that got explored this season: Sisko, Kasidy and Jake; Ziyal, Dukat, Kira and Garak; The O'Briens and Kira; Odo, Dr Mora and the Changling Baby; Kira, Ghemor and Kirayoshi O'Brien; Kira and her father; Garak and Tain; the Bashirs; Quark, Rom, Nog, Leeta, Ishka and Zek; and Martok, Worf and Dax. That alone makes this season my favourite so far.
All those Klingons in season four are almost worth if for resulting in Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places and Nor the Battle to the Strong.
The Assignment I really enjoyed, because possessed!Keiko was creepy. Plus it's nice to see the torture O'Brien episodes actually fitting into the show's overall plot (given that it was the introduction of the Pah-wraiths).
What can I really say about Trials and Tribble-ations? That was the first and only episode of DS9 that I watched before last year (I caught in in 2001), and this was the first time I've watched it since then and I'm so happy the episode is as fantastic as I remember it being. I wish Doctor Who would consider doing that one day.
I wasn't expecting Sisko to go as whole-heartedly into his role as the Emissary as he did in Rapture. The really brilliant thing about that episode is the pay-off later in the season, the Dominion ships that came through the wormhole and headed for Cardassia actually did look like locusts. And yeah, not joining the Federation saved Bajor.
I loved The Darkness and the Light so much. I loved that they explored Kira's mindset as a terrorist and continue to not whitewash her actions back when she was killing Cardassians. It takes a lot of bravery for a show to do that. And that speech she gives about going on her first raid when she was thirteen, it's devastating, not because she's upset about it, but because she's not upset about it. She was upset because she was talking about the loss of her friends. She may have volunteered, but Kira was a child solider and the fact she doesn't acknowledge that loss of innocence at such as young age or seem upset about it, makes it tragic. And Nana Visitor's just terrific.
The Begotten broke my heart. It was a jar of goo, and it broke my heart. Props to René Auberjonois for selling that so, so well.
For The Uniform as jaw-dropping. Sisko freaking well unleashed chemical warfare on a whole planet, and apparently there were no consequences. Shouldn't there have been a court-martial or something? You know, Sisko's quite scary. He is most of the time level-headed and seems to be a great guy to work for, but still, push him and he will violate all sorts of rules and commit freaking war crimes. Yeah, he now really is the guy from In the Pale Moonlight.
In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light is the best mid-season two-parter that the show has come up with yet. I was on the edge of my seat. Dukat is a magnificent bastard. Way to sell out his whole planet though. And I loved so much Kira and Dax taking the Defiant into the battle together. That didn't just pass that Bechdel test, that got an A+ (That's also one of the reasons their away mission in The Siege was so fantastic.
Bashir being genetically enhanced is a retcon done well. The writers got really lucky with that because it does make sense given that Bashir never really had a consistent backstory.
Children on Time was one of those episodes which one part of me loved, and made another part of me angry. On the one hand, I thought the moral dilemma was done well and I was so happy destroying a timeline and eight thousand people to save one person was not treated as romantic but treated a horrible thing to do. On the other hand, I got frustrated with the crew deciding to stay. No way Sisko and particularly O'Brien would give up on their families so easily, and while Kira may well sacrifice her life for eight thousand people, would she trap the Emissary on the planet, effectively screwing over Bajor?
Call to Arms was fantastic. It had been building to that all season long. I was so surprised that it was Sisko that talked Bajor into signing the non-aggression pact. I makes complete sense, but still...Add that to the massive list of things that Sisko did that other Star Trek captains would never do.
And yeah, best season finale cliff-hanger since Lay Down Your Burdens Part II. Hey, wait a minute...
...It is Lay Down Your Burdens Part II. When RDM finds something that works, he replicates it.
And the massive six parter:
Okay, I can't not compare this to the New Caprica arc on BSG. They so many parts of these episodes were clearly reused by RDM in BSG. I do hold up the New Caprica arc as the six (seven, eight? I'm inclined to include Downloaded and Collaborators) basically the pinnacle of what television can be, so it was pretty much a given that I would love these episodes as well, and I did. If only DS9 had BSG's CGI budget. And Bear McCreary. I just want to smoosh the best of the two shows together sometimes, the result would be amazing.
The stuff of the Defiant and Starfleet often frustrated me a lot because the really interesting things were happening on the station and that's where I wanted to get back to all of the time. Even worse was all that whole episode devoted to Alexander and Worf's relationship. It was not the time to bring in a character that hadn't been seen since TNG. (BSG had the same problem, sure Fat!Lee and the Adamastace were hilarious, but more time devoted to the colonists would have been appreciated). It's also that besides Sisko, none of the characters who were not on the station got any real development, whereas Kira, Odo, Quark, Rom and Dukat, they were getting so much brilliant development.
I would have actually really liked look at what the Bajoran government was up to then, maybe had the Kai guest star for an episode. Yes, it's really the collaborators and the resistance that interest me. Plus, it was a bit hard to believe Kira and Jake were allowed to run around the station. I know they said it was because it would anger the Bajorans, but this is a time when show us some pissed Bajorans and not telling us about them would have been good.
Needs to be said: Odo is such a tool. Screwing over the Alpha Quadrant because he was getting laid? Oh, Odo.
The Kira becomes a collaborator without knowing it plotline was fantastic. Another group that Kira hated can be ticked off as her now understanding because she became one. I think DS9 did that particular plotline better than BSG did.
I now classify Dukat as one of the best villains to ever grace television. On the one had he is a dangerous deluded egomaniacal despot, on the other, he's got that charming family man side. He is wonderfully complex. Although, sadly now insane. I still love his and Kira's interactions. I know we got to B-plotlines devoted to their relationship, but I would have loved more.
Ziyal lived up to her tragic potential. I really did love her storyline of being torn between her Cardassian side and her Bajoran side and her inability to stop loving her father, no matter who he is.
Finally, Quark is my hero. Given the characters nature, it is so much harder for him to be the hero, so seeing him being it is so much more rewarding.
Not long to go now until I finish the series. Sigh. I want to watch it slowly and savour it, but I haven't got that kind of patience. Plus the DVD rental period is a week, so I have to watch about four episodes a day.
I love families in science fiction, the unconventional the better and I counted ten family relationships that got explored this season: Sisko, Kasidy and Jake; Ziyal, Dukat, Kira and Garak; The O'Briens and Kira; Odo, Dr Mora and the Changling Baby; Kira, Ghemor and Kirayoshi O'Brien; Kira and her father; Garak and Tain; the Bashirs; Quark, Rom, Nog, Leeta, Ishka and Zek; and Martok, Worf and Dax. That alone makes this season my favourite so far.
All those Klingons in season four are almost worth if for resulting in Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places and Nor the Battle to the Strong.
The Assignment I really enjoyed, because possessed!Keiko was creepy. Plus it's nice to see the torture O'Brien episodes actually fitting into the show's overall plot (given that it was the introduction of the Pah-wraiths).
What can I really say about Trials and Tribble-ations? That was the first and only episode of DS9 that I watched before last year (I caught in in 2001), and this was the first time I've watched it since then and I'm so happy the episode is as fantastic as I remember it being. I wish Doctor Who would consider doing that one day.
I wasn't expecting Sisko to go as whole-heartedly into his role as the Emissary as he did in Rapture. The really brilliant thing about that episode is the pay-off later in the season, the Dominion ships that came through the wormhole and headed for Cardassia actually did look like locusts. And yeah, not joining the Federation saved Bajor.
I loved The Darkness and the Light so much. I loved that they explored Kira's mindset as a terrorist and continue to not whitewash her actions back when she was killing Cardassians. It takes a lot of bravery for a show to do that. And that speech she gives about going on her first raid when she was thirteen, it's devastating, not because she's upset about it, but because she's not upset about it. She was upset because she was talking about the loss of her friends. She may have volunteered, but Kira was a child solider and the fact she doesn't acknowledge that loss of innocence at such as young age or seem upset about it, makes it tragic. And Nana Visitor's just terrific.
The Begotten broke my heart. It was a jar of goo, and it broke my heart. Props to René Auberjonois for selling that so, so well.
For The Uniform as jaw-dropping. Sisko freaking well unleashed chemical warfare on a whole planet, and apparently there were no consequences. Shouldn't there have been a court-martial or something? You know, Sisko's quite scary. He is most of the time level-headed and seems to be a great guy to work for, but still, push him and he will violate all sorts of rules and commit freaking war crimes. Yeah, he now really is the guy from In the Pale Moonlight.
In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light is the best mid-season two-parter that the show has come up with yet. I was on the edge of my seat. Dukat is a magnificent bastard. Way to sell out his whole planet though. And I loved so much Kira and Dax taking the Defiant into the battle together. That didn't just pass that Bechdel test, that got an A+ (That's also one of the reasons their away mission in The Siege was so fantastic.
Bashir being genetically enhanced is a retcon done well. The writers got really lucky with that because it does make sense given that Bashir never really had a consistent backstory.
Children on Time was one of those episodes which one part of me loved, and made another part of me angry. On the one hand, I thought the moral dilemma was done well and I was so happy destroying a timeline and eight thousand people to save one person was not treated as romantic but treated a horrible thing to do. On the other hand, I got frustrated with the crew deciding to stay. No way Sisko and particularly O'Brien would give up on their families so easily, and while Kira may well sacrifice her life for eight thousand people, would she trap the Emissary on the planet, effectively screwing over Bajor?
Call to Arms was fantastic. It had been building to that all season long. I was so surprised that it was Sisko that talked Bajor into signing the non-aggression pact. I makes complete sense, but still...Add that to the massive list of things that Sisko did that other Star Trek captains would never do.
And yeah, best season finale cliff-hanger since Lay Down Your Burdens Part II. Hey, wait a minute...
...It is Lay Down Your Burdens Part II. When RDM finds something that works, he replicates it.
And the massive six parter:
Okay, I can't not compare this to the New Caprica arc on BSG. They so many parts of these episodes were clearly reused by RDM in BSG. I do hold up the New Caprica arc as the six (seven, eight? I'm inclined to include Downloaded and Collaborators) basically the pinnacle of what television can be, so it was pretty much a given that I would love these episodes as well, and I did. If only DS9 had BSG's CGI budget. And Bear McCreary. I just want to smoosh the best of the two shows together sometimes, the result would be amazing.
The stuff of the Defiant and Starfleet often frustrated me a lot because the really interesting things were happening on the station and that's where I wanted to get back to all of the time. Even worse was all that whole episode devoted to Alexander and Worf's relationship. It was not the time to bring in a character that hadn't been seen since TNG. (BSG had the same problem, sure Fat!Lee and the Adamastace were hilarious, but more time devoted to the colonists would have been appreciated). It's also that besides Sisko, none of the characters who were not on the station got any real development, whereas Kira, Odo, Quark, Rom and Dukat, they were getting so much brilliant development.
I would have actually really liked look at what the Bajoran government was up to then, maybe had the Kai guest star for an episode. Yes, it's really the collaborators and the resistance that interest me. Plus, it was a bit hard to believe Kira and Jake were allowed to run around the station. I know they said it was because it would anger the Bajorans, but this is a time when show us some pissed Bajorans and not telling us about them would have been good.
Needs to be said: Odo is such a tool. Screwing over the Alpha Quadrant because he was getting laid? Oh, Odo.
The Kira becomes a collaborator without knowing it plotline was fantastic. Another group that Kira hated can be ticked off as her now understanding because she became one. I think DS9 did that particular plotline better than BSG did.
I now classify Dukat as one of the best villains to ever grace television. On the one had he is a dangerous deluded egomaniacal despot, on the other, he's got that charming family man side. He is wonderfully complex. Although, sadly now insane. I still love his and Kira's interactions. I know we got to B-plotlines devoted to their relationship, but I would have loved more.
Ziyal lived up to her tragic potential. I really did love her storyline of being torn between her Cardassian side and her Bajoran side and her inability to stop loving her father, no matter who he is.
Finally, Quark is my hero. Given the characters nature, it is so much harder for him to be the hero, so seeing him being it is so much more rewarding.
Not long to go now until I finish the series. Sigh. I want to watch it slowly and savour it, but I haven't got that kind of patience. Plus the DVD rental period is a week, so I have to watch about four episodes a day.
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OMG THAT WOULD BE BRILLIANT.
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there seems to be huge emphasis on families, both conventional and unconventional.
I've got a picspam going on this! It's one of my favourite motifs throughout the series.
I wish Doctor Who would consider doing that one day.
...I think I would die of happy right then and there.
You know, Sisko's quite scary.
Definitely. It's hard to believe it at the start of season one, and then just gradually he gets put in more and more impossible situations and all of the sudden the shift seems inevitable. It's really believable that he buys into "the needs of the many" and "the ends justify the means" to that extent. I have a whole meta about how that ties in with having to justify Jennifer's death to himself, but that definitely needs more thought before posting. ;)
Okay, I can't not compare this to the New Caprica arc on BSG.
Now that I've seen said arc? Agreed! Definitely. Also, what you said about the CGI budget and Bear McCreary. I can't even imagine the awesomeness involved.
I now classify Dukat as one of the best villains to ever grace television.
Yes! I love how at the start of the series there's just this expectation for another moustache-twirling villain, and then there's that conversation with Sisko about missing his son's birthday, and... wow.
I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the final two seasons!
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Yay! I'll look forward to that.
I have a whole meta about how that ties in with having to justify Jennifer's death to himself
Oooh, yes. There's all these little people who die and cannon fodder spacecraft in DS9's massive space battles. I totally forgot that Sisko was one of the little people in one of TNG's massive space battles.
and then there's that conversation with Sisko about missing his son's birthday
That speech was amazing. Chilling and humanising at the same time.
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*dies a little*
I remember watching the station occupation arc a ridiculous amount of times back in the day and it's also responsible for me finding fandom since I wanted Moar Story and there was the Internets all shiny and new at home.
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Trials and Tribble-ations: there is nothing left but to adore, basically. *g*
Rapture: this is where Sisko chooses Bajor over the Federation and really becomes the Emissary. Mind you, this is also where he becomes extra scary, as with being a visionary comes the extra double conviction of knowing best.
Darkness and the Light: quite, and I thought Siluren was an excellent antagonist; if they had made him a soldier, or a sadist who doesn't have the mercy to give Kira a sedative, it would have been so much less of an episode.
I loved the occupation arc to bits as well, and yes, obvious
rip-offhomage in BSG.Quark: and this is as good as any to start with linking several fanfics I wrote, one of them a Quark pov ensemble story set directly after the occupation arc ends and before 6.7, in which they all try to deal with the aftermath:
Quark's Day (http://archiveofourown.org/works/15258?view_full_work=true)
And now you can also read:
Five Things Which Never Happened Between Kira and Dukat (http://archiveofourown.org/works/15277?view_full_work=true)
and
Five Things Which Never Happened Between Garak and Bashir (http://archiveofourown.org/works/15249?view_full_work=true)
Re: Children of Time: I wrote a short vignette about Future!Odo: Frozen (http://community.livejournal.com/celestial_templ/7759.html)
Re: present Odo and his collaboration: if you're expecting follow-up on this, forget it. That's one of the few s6 frustrations I mentioned when back in your s3 post you speculated about eventual Odo/Kira. As far as that relationship is concerned, the occupation arc might as well not have happened. (Which is why I deal with the impact on what Odo did on Quark in my ensemble story and on Kira in the Five Things thing, btw.)
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with being a visionary comes the extra double conviction of knowing best.
I didn't think about that adding into his scariness, but you're right. He does have that added factor of not doubting his actions.
Thank you so much for the links!
if you're expecting follow-up on this, forget it.
That Kira/Odo closet thing was the biggest cop-out. I read somewhere that in one of the relaunch novels there's flashbacks to that conversation, which is I suppose good, but it should have been covered in an episode.
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That Kira/Odo closet thing was the biggest cop-out. I read somewhere that in one of the relaunch novels there's flashbacks to that conversation, which is I suppose good, but it should have been covered in an episode.
Make that several episodes; I would have let them reconcile in a subplot over the next few eps, with them getting short scenes in between everyone else's big plots. The show was already heavily serialized at this point, and it would have felt far truer to the characters than the closet thing. Like I said, it's one of my few enduring beefs with the show.
Glad you liked House of Quark! That scene where Quark shames Klingon machismo by kneeling in front of D'Gor and declaring that having him fight a duel with a Klingon would just be an execution, so that's what they're going to get is one of my favourite Quark moments of the entire show. But I also love the Quark and Rom sibling interaction at the end when Rom asks him to tell the story again just because.