Day 17: DS9, Dramatis Personae

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S1EP17, “Dramatis Personae”

 Summary: A Klingon ship comes through the wormhole earlier than expected, badly damaged. Before the crew can do much, the ship explodes, and the one Klingon who managed to escape dies shortly thereafter. While Bashir does an autopsy to try to determine more about what happened, Sisko and Kira start butting heads over a Valerian ship that wants to dock at the station. The Valerians used to run weapons to the Cardassians, and Kira is convinced that they’re still doing it. Her frustration over Sisko’s indifference starts to boil over, and soon almost all the officers are choosing sides. Odo is the one person who’s remaining neutral, though that’s mostly because he’s confused about what the hell is going on. Fortunately, both factions keep trying to lure him to their side, so there’s enough information there for him to eventually figure out how to fix this situation. Not that that’s going to be easy, of course.

Standalone Thoughts: I’m going to have to do another spoiler review for this, so skip down to the next bolded section if you’re interested in watching this show on your own.

*Here be Spoiler Dragons…*

In other circumstances, I think I would have loved this episode. It’s got subtle manipulations, builds off some of the established relationships between the characters, and the cause behind the conflict is something that deserved a little more explanation. Instead, I’m left feeling (probably irrationally) annoyed with it, because it’s just too much like a previous episode. Said episode is “The Passenger” which isn’t a very good episode in its own right, but in addition to tainting this episode by association, it brings up some other issues. First off, two possession based episodes in one season, with Bashir involved in both of them? Couldn’t they have saved this one for Season Two, at least? Granted, audiences at the time might not have remembered, since “The Passenger” had been three months prior (with several breaks in-between), but it’s very noticeable if you’re watching them fairly close together, which a lot of people are more likely to do nowadays. Secondly, the episode starts out almost exactly like “The Passenger” did. There’s a crisis involving a damaged ship, a badly injured person is examined by Bashir, said person says something cryptic (“Victory!” in this case) and then dies. It just feels lazy and repetitive, and when you know where the episode’s going, it gets even worse.

Even if you manage to look past that, there are still a lot of little things that just don’t work. At the beginning of the episode, Bashir shows up in Ops, apparently sitting behind one of the consoles and doing work. Why? There’s no reason for him to be there, unless there’s a part of his job description that we weren’t told about. I know it’s so that he can be on hand to get possessed, but surely they could have come up with a more plausible reason for him to be there. I appreciate the fact that Odo winds up unaffected because his brain chemistry is too alien to be possessed, but the episode just kind of…forgets about the spirit or whatever that was trying to possess him. Why didn’t it jump to the nearest person? It’s also far too convenient that Odo manages to put pretty much all the pieces together thanks to one journal entry from the Klingon ship, instead of allowing him to come to a gradual realization.  I guess they didn’t have time for that, but it winds up giving short shrift to the part that’s actually the most interesting thing about this episode; the reason behind the possession in the first place.

From what little we’re told, the Klingons found these telepathic devices on a deserted planet, which detailed the destruction of their species. Based on what we see in the episode, each device held a certain consciousness of someone involved in said destruction, which took over an appropriate host. But what happened in the original conflict? Who set up these devices, and why? How exactly do they possess people? There’s a lot that I’d like to know, but we’re only given the barest technobabble explanation. I understand that sometimes it’s good to leave a little mystery, but I think they left too much mystery in this case.

I’ll freely admit that my issues here won’t necessarily apply to everyone. People who are rewatching this episode might share my frustrations, I have no idea how people will feel about this on a first-viewing. I can’t even speak from personal experience; while this was one of the few early season episodes I remembered, I was still a casual viewer at the time and not particularly invested, so I think I just sort of accepted the plot and didn’t think much about it, though the broad outlines of the plot and particular moments stuck with me. Someone who caught this episode on TV or was only sporadically finding time to sit down and watch the show, therefore, might think it’s a decent episode. People who were binge-watching the show, however, might have a different reaction. Long story short, views on this one might be even more a matter of opinion than usual.

How it Relates to the Whole: I don’t think there’s anything that carries over from this episode. There is a throwaway line Quark says about the Klingons that might relate to later developments, but I don’t think it was intentional; if anything, it might have been something the writers chose to develop later on. While there’s some nice follow-through with Kira’s conflict with the Federation from prior episodes, it’s mostly for plot related reasons, and I don’t think it has much of an impact going forward. This may be normal for Season One, but I hope the writers really start figuring things out soon.

Other: *Though eagle-eyed fans might have realized it earlier, this episode proves that the medical office is right across the way from Quark’s. It’s like somebody knew where the place with the highest risk of injury was and prepared accordingly.

*As annoyed with this episode as I am, I do have to confess to a faint smile whenever Bashir tried his hand at manipulation, because I was reminded ever so slightly of Garak. Maybe it’s just because of his close association with Bashir later on, or maybe it’s because Bashir’s manipulation is more a “playing all the angles” sort, which is Garak’s forte, but I welcomed it.

*This episode contains a continuity gaffe that was so noticeable that I still remembered it, even though I’d forgotten a large chunk of Season One. As we near the climax, Sisko makes a big deal out of taking off his comm badge so he can’t be tracked. Then, as we cut between a series of dramatic shots…Sisko’s comm badge is very, very visible. It disappears the next time we see him, but the damage has been done. Well, at least he didn’t try to contact someone with it to make the error even more glaring…

Best Line/Exchange: I think this bit actually kills two—no, three—birds with one stone;

(Quark has just realized that Odo is pumping him for information.)

Quark: Crafty tonight, Odo, aren’t we? Looking for clues about the fate of the Klingons. If I tell you what I heard, what do I get in return?

Odo: The chances are what you heard won’t help, so why should I give you something for it?

Quark: Because…otherwise I heard nothing.

Odo: That damaged holosuite…Work Crew Seven is probably doing the repairs, am I right?

Quark (realizing what’s about to happen): Uh-huh.

Odo: Well, it looks as though I’m going to have to put in a priority request for Work Crew Seven; the bulkheads in Security could use a little shoring up.

It’s got the humor of the usual Quark/Odo dynamics (I kind of love how bribery turns into blackmail), but it’s also emblematic of the manipulations going on throughout the entire episode, as well as foreshadowing that Odo has the skills and experience to deal with the situation. It’s also the only manipulation I didn’t feel slightly annoyed by, so that basically gave it a lot of points right then and there.

After the Fact Update (AND MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT): Ok, fine, the DS9 Companion correctly points out that the device is an “energy matrix”, and that it was supposed to be like some sort of telepathic virus. It’s still basically a form of possession, so I stand by what I said.