Day 144: DS9, Valiant

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S6EP22, “Valiant”

 Summary: While travelling to Ferenginar for what is heavily implied to be a negotiation for an alliance, Nog and Jake are attacked by a Dominion ship. That ship in turn is attacked and destroyed by the USS Valiant, a Defiant-class ship that, to Jake and Nog’s surprise, is completely staffed by cadets. It turns out that these are members of Red Squad (last seen in “Homefront/Paradise Lost”), and that they were on a training mission when war broke out and all of the actual officers were killed. The new captain, Captain Watters (Paul Popowich) has decided to stay behind enemy lines and complete the new mission sent out to the original captain; to learn about a new Dominion battleship. Nog is fascinated and quickly throws in his lot with the crew, while Jake remains uncertain. And there’s good reason to be uncertain; Red Squad may be good, but that sort of talent can very quickly lead to arrogance.

Standalone Thoughts: I’m about in the same boat with this episode as I am with “The Reckoning” from yesterday. It’s fine while watching it, but it doesn’t hold up to a lot of scrutiny. That being said, “Valiant” has a much more interesting hook, which might be part of the problem. The idea of talented but unprepared cadets being thrust into a combat situation is a good one that could go in a lot of interesting directions…and the episode doesn’t do all that much with it. We see and hear that Captain Watters is taking some sort of pills, but nothing ever comes of that. Something could be done with the fact Watters and/or Red Squad are going against Starfleet by trying to complete a task that was intended for a more experienced crew, but we get nothing other than repeated reminders that Red Squad is in over their heads. There was even potential for a mutiny or a power struggle. Instead, we get an ending that, while somewhat unexpected and in keeping with DS9, kind of seems like the easiest way out. So more than anything, I think I’m disappointed in the waste of potential.

There are some good things, of course. The crew of the Valiant was well cast, looking way too young to be in such positions of power. Nog’s involvement is interesting, although again I don’t think the writers explored it as fully as they could have. And the action scene at the end is generally well-handled, although we’re never quite given an explanation for what went wrong. In short, there’s enough there that I’d say it’s in the upper middle of the season…but it could have been much higher.

How it Relates to the Whole: Mostly this episode serves as a followup of sorts to “Homefront/Paradise Lost”, at least as far as Red Squad is concerned. I don’t think it has any long term consequences, except for maybe toughening Nog up a little. And that pales in comparison to what’s going to happen later…

Other: *This episode also contains a callback to “Change of Heart”, where it’s confirmed that Quark really does like Dax in a romantic way, although he’ll generally deny it if called on it. I’m not sure if this is going to be a running thing or not, but it does make things interesting, even if it’s mostly being used for humor.

*I kind of love the fact that Jake is the tallest person on the Valiant;

I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it gives the impression that Jake, despite not being in Starfleet, may be the most adult out of everyone on board. Given some of his dialogue, that’s probably not a totally inaccurate assessment.

Best Line/Exchange: Once again, I’m drawn to the character moments full of nice touches rather than the more dramatic material;

(Jake is talking to Dorian [Ashley Brianne McDonogh], the chief petty officer in the mess hall)

Jake: So where are you from?

Dorian: Me? Tycho City.

Jake (grins): Oh, a Lunar Schooner.

Dorian (smiles too): I haven’t heard that in a long time.

Jake: Yeah. Picked it up from my Granddad. Of course, he still calls Luna “The Moon”, like it’s the only one or something.

Dorian: Well, nobody who’s ever lived on the moon calls it Luna either. That’s just something they say on Earth.

Jake: So what’s it like?

Dorian: You’re from Earth, aren’t you? (Jake nods, and she looks at him in slight disbelief) You’ve never been to the moon?

Jake: Just never got around to it.

I like all of the little jokes that are contained in this discussion. First, you’ve got the acknowledgement that Earth does, in fact, have more than one moon (although I think there’s still probably some debate about that)*. Then you’ve got a reference to the whole “only people who don’t live in a place call it by a certain nickname” phenomenon (see “Frisco” for San Francisco; San Franciscans call it “San Fran”). And then you get the joke that despite the fact that the 24^th century now has warp drives and contact with alien cultures, Jake still hasn’t been to the moon, making him a lot like us. The only difference is, for him it’s more like a major vacation destination instead of some really difficult undertaking. It’s just a nice bit of worldbuilding while also sort of winking at the audience, and I like that mix.

*Jake also could have meant that we can’t have the only moon, because now Starfleet knows about lots of other planets that have moons. But since we knew about Jupiter’s moons from as far back as the 1600’s, I think that’s not giving his grandfather enough credit.

After the Fact Update: The DS9 Companion does explain Nog’s motivation a little better—he’s turned the Ferengi drive to make money into a drive to succeed in Starfleet, which can sometimes lead to problems—but as I said, I don’t think it fully came across in the episode itself. It’s a good point to keep in mind going forward, though.