Day 103: DS9, Let He Who is Without Sin...

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S5EP7, “Let He Who is Without Sin…”

 Summary: Dax and Worf take a vacation to Risa, where Worf hopes to discuss his relationship with Dax. But things don’t go right from the start; first Bashir, Leeta, and Quark wind up tagging along on the runabout, then the casual atmosphere doesn’t particularly agree with Worf, and then a group called the New Essentialists, led by Pascal Fullerton (Monte Markham) starts preaching at everybody that the Federation is too complacent and needs to do away with frivolous things. Dax isn’t too bothered by all this (and Bashir and Leeta are too busy performing the strangest breakup ritual you’ve ever heard of), but Worf, increasingly annoyed by everything, starts to think Fullerton might have a point. There aren’t enough problems to call this “the worst vacation ever”, but it’s probably somewhere in the upper middle of the list.

Standalone Thoughts: I know a lot of people hate this episode, but while I can absolutely understand why, I’m ultimately completely indifferent to it. Perhaps appropriately for an episode that takes place on Risa, the tone of the episode is very laid-back, so even things that should be considered dramatic or serious never really come across as all that important. This is especially true of the actions that drive the second half of the episode, but it’s also present in the relationship discussions as well. Though that’s the least of the issues surrounding the relationship discussions.

Basically, the biggest problem with the episode is that the three biggest characters (Dax, Worf, and Fullerton) all have good points, but those points get muddied by some of the other material. It probably is true that the Federation has gone somewhat soft, but the solution is not to destroy a vacation retreat. Dax is right that Worf is too uptight and can be somewhat controlling, but she’s also very dismissive and rude. And Worf’s complaints about Dax are understandable (he calls her impulsive at one point, which is something I’ve suspected about her for awhile), but while he’s the most sympathetic up to a point, his decision to fall in with Fullerton’s group does ultimately make him slightly worse than Dax, at least for this episode. Fortunately for me, the fact that there never seems to be that much passion in the line deliveries means I rolled my eyes instead of getting actively annoyed by what was going on.

If you’re only looking for the essential DS9 episodes, this one is absolutely safe to skip. Not a lot of plot, minimal character development, very little in the way of excitement, and it’s not even all that nice to look at. Plus, while it didn’t have much of an impact on me, it could cause a much more negative reaction in others. So perhaps it’s also worth skipping for the sake of your mood.

How it Relates to the Whole: While you could try to argue that this episode furthers the development of the Dax/Worf relationship, the biggest contribution to the overarching plot is that it breaks up Leeta and Bashir and almost immediately sets up a new one on Leeta’s end, which will ultimately give her more screentime. Given that I think this was meant to be a fluff episode, I suppose that’s the best we can expect from it.

Other: *Speaking of Leeta, the whole thing about her breaking up with Bashir doesn’t have as much impact as you might think. Leeta’s only actually appeared in three episodes up till now (“Explorers”, “Facets” and “Bar Association”) and hasn’t been mentioned all that often, so there were probably a lot of people who hadn’t even realized that she and Bashir were dating. I’ll give the writers credit for at least trying to imply a relationship here and there, but they definitely could have done a better job at it.

*It’s not something I would have necessarily noticed on my own, but SFDebris, among others, has pointed out that there’s a continuity error between what we learn about Curzon’s death in this episode and what we’ve seen and heard in prior episodes (The DS9 Companion references this too). It’s definitely a contradiction, and in service of a joke that’s only slightly funny. I’m not as bothered by this as I am by other continuity errors, but since others have brought it up before me, I figured it was worth mentioning again.

*I know I limit my posts on 24^th century fashion to the end of the season, but I am not letting this stand without immediate comment. Remember way back when I started critiquing the fashion when I said that Bashir had two infamous outfits? Well, brace yourselves…

Just…why. The shirt is almost tolerable, but the pants…did Garak someone make it out of an old rug? Yes, if you look at the extras in this episode he fits right in, but that’s no excuse. If anything, it’s even more proof that the entire Federation lost their sense of taste.

*Some of the indoor scenes are shot with ridiculously soft lighting, to the point where almost everything looks fuzzy and washed out. I guess it fits with the idea that Risa is all artificial, but it’s also distracting. Though I suppose I should be grateful Bashir’s outfit was never shot like that; I might have wound up going blind.

Best Line/Exchange: This was another hard one to choose. A lot of the dialogue was either preachy or annoying. So the best I can do is this;

Quark: I have seen drier days on Ferenginar. And we have a hundred and seventy-eight different words for rain. Right now, it’s glebbening out there. And that’s bad.

Sure, it’s a play on the “other cultures have a lot of words for one item” thing, but it’s still world-building of a sort, mixed with the humor I’ve come to expect from Quark. When it comes to episodes like this, I’ll take what I can get.

After the Fact Update: In an example of knowing your limitations, everybody involved in this episode admits that it didn’t work out as planned. Also, the writers admit that romance wasn’t DS9’s strong suit, at least when it was the focal point. We’ll see if it took awhile for that lesson to fully sink in.