Day 112: DS9, Doctor Bashir, I Presume?

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S5EP16, “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?”

 Summary: Dr. Lewis Zimmerman (Robert Picardo), has come to the station with good news for Dr. Bashir; Starfleet has selected him to be the face of the new Medical Hologram designed for long-term use (known as the LMH). In order to make the program as realistic as possible, this will require both engineering skill and a lot of information about Bashir’s life and personality. When Bashir expresses reservations about Zimmerman interviewing his parents (Brian George and Fadwa el Guindi), Zimmerman naturally invites them to the station, which leads to a lot of tension. Said tension seems to revolve around an event in Bashir’s past that he doesn’t want to talk about, which means it’s all but guaranteed to come out. And when it does, it may have long-term ramifications for Bashir’s life.

Standalone Thoughts: Hoo boy, I hope you’ve got an hour to kill, because this whole entry is going to be long. I’ve been sitting on this ever since the show started, and now that I get the chance to talk about it, there’s going to be a flood. That being said, since the big revelation comes over halfway through the episode, I feel like I should cover my bases and make this a spoiler review. In fact, unlike previous spoiler reviews, I’m not sure any section is going to be safe, so if you’re planning to watch this for yourself, you should probably just skip the impending word vomit entirely.

*You were warned…*

I’ll freely admit I cannot be wholly objective about this episode, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, any episode featuring Bashir is going to have me more than a little biased. Secondly, I learned after watching the episode for the first time that Alexander Siddig hated this plot development, and that’s colored my own opinion somewhat. And thirdly, I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that this episode was very poorly timed.

You see, I’d assumed going into the episode the first time around that there was going to be some followup to the revelation from “In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light” that Bashir had been replaced by a changeling. It made sense; Bashir would probably have some lingering issues to deal with (a la O’Brien in “Hard Time”), and surely some people would have reservations about trusting him. Instead, we get a story that doesn’t even mention what happened in the previous episodes, and then it suddenly informs us that Bashir’s been genetically engineered. Two bombshells involving Bashir in such rapid succession is a bit of an overload. In fact, I was so baffled by this the first time that I initially thought that the genetic engineering had been done by the Founders while he’d been captured, because surely these two major plot points had to be related! But they weren’t, and I’ve been scratching my head at the decision ever since.

Ok, now with all that out of the way…even if this episode had come later in the season and avoided associations with the whole changeling thing, I still don’t think it would have been very successful to me. I don’t actually have a problem with the idea itself, but the execution has flaws. The episode starts out very lighthearted, and it’s not until the ten minute mark that we get the first inclination of conflict, when Bashir says he’s not close to his parents and Zimmerman decides that means he must contact them immediately. But even then, Star Trek has had plenty of stories dealing with family issues, so there’s no reason to suspect what’s coming; for all we know, this is going to be one of those heartwarming family reconciliation episodes. It’s not until the twenty-four minute mark that things start to get serious, and then it’s at the twenty-six minute mark, almost two-thirds of the way through the episode, before we finally learn the truth and the main plot veers into angst territory. If we’re going to get a revelation like this, we should probably spend more than fifteen minutes exploring it, and it should probably not be resolved in about two minutes. Oh, and the reason the secret comes out is because his parents blab everything to the LMH prototype thinking it’s their son, making it simultaneously a particularly bad example of both an exposition dump and a plot contrivance. Like I said, the idea itself could be good, but not if it’s being presented so haphazardly.

(If you’re curious about how I would fix it, I think the best way would be for Bashir to be injured badly enough to require serious medical treatment. Then have someone notice something odd in his medical records and trace it back far enough to learn about the genetic engineering. Hopefully, this revelation would come by the second or third commercial break, and then you could dedicate the rest of the episode to everyone figuring out how they feel about it and what to do about it. If nothing else, it would allow the episode to have a more consistent tone.)

The other big problem is the episode’s subplot involving Leeta, Rom, and Zimmerman. While it’s got a lot of entertaining moments and the resolution of it is cute, it follows some of the worst clichés of romantic comedies. Specifically, it was hinted in “Let He Who is Without Sin…” and confirmed in this episode that it was Leeta who broke off her relationship with Bashir because she was more interested in Rom. And yet if what we see play out in this episode is any indication, she hasn’t actually come out and said anything about it. Sure, her body language makes it clear that she’s interested—even Rom’s aware of it—but is there a reason she can’t be the one to go up to him and say “Hey, I really like you, do you want to have dinner together sometime?” This is the 24^th century, after all, so the idea of the guy always having to be the one to make the first move should be a thing of the past. And while I would very happily accept it if the show said Leeta didn’t do it because of Bajoran tradition, or because she wanted to respect Ferengi tradition, we get no indication of that in the episode, so it just feels like arbitrary conflict. Plus, it takes up time that should have been spent fleshing out the main conflict of the episode, so that very much doesn’t help matters.

Despite all my ranting, though, the episode isn’t terrible. The acting is good (and considering  that Siddig was basically reading his lines off of cue cards in protest, that’s actually impressive), and most of the humorous beats work. Plus, if this was intended to be a cross-promotion with Voyager (Picardo played the EMH on that show), it’s not as in-your-face or random as previous attempts, like Tuvok’s random inclusion in “Through the Looking Glass”, and actually works without having to have seen anything from Voyager, unlike what happened with “The Maquis”. Since I’m guessing there are very few people who are going to be quite as invested in this as I am, most viewers will probably think this episode is fine, though they may share my opinion that the genetic engineering reveal is abrupt. Though they probably won’t spend two hundred and fifty words explaining exactly why that’s the case, either.

How it Relates to the Whole: This big revelation doesn’t actually come into play as much as you’d think. There are two episodes that directly follow on from this, an interesting mini-arc for Bashir that comes about partially because of it, and a few brief scenes scattered throughout the rest of the show. It’s entirely possible that Rom and Leeta’s developing relationship winds up getting more screentime than any further discussion about Bashir’s genetic engineering. And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Other: *It’s worth noting that this is one of the few times on this show that the title of the episode actually appears in the episode itself, and in the teaser, no less. The fact that it’s a reference to the famous line “Dr. Livingston, I Presume?” just makes it stand out all the more.

*I do love this image;

There is absolutely no question that Leeta is considering stabbing Quark with that fork. The way she’s gripping the handle just makes it even better.

*I do like the semi-callback to O’Brien being “In the Zone” while playing darts, as established way back in “Shakaar”. It’s also a nice way to help bookend the episode and allow things to end on a lighter note.

*The interviews Zimmerman has with the rest of the crew about Bashir are decent, partially because they’re well-paced and well edited, but mostly because there’s a fun gag involving Morn. I haven’t mentioned him much here, but he’s generally good for some background humor, so giving him a brief moment in the spotlight is both fun and well deserved.

*Apparently, Ferengi can tune their ears like antenna to hear things long distances away. Even though we’ve known Ferengi have great hearing, this is a new trick, and I wonder if it’ll ever come into play again. As with many interesting concepts introduced on the show, we’ll just have to wait and see.

*Speaking of returning concepts…the holo-communicators from “For the Uniform” have, in fact, stuck around, because one gets used in this episode. So at least that hasn’t been dropped, though that’s still no guarantee that it’ll ever play a major role again.

Best Line/Exchange: Spoiler-filled as it is, this is probably the part that I most appreciate in the episode, so;

O’Brien: You’re not a fraud. I don’t care how many enhancements your parents had done, genetic recoding can’t give you ambition or a personality or compassion or any of the things that make a person truly human!

This, in conjunction with the fact that his interview with Zimmerman is the only one that’s full of nothing but praise for Bashir, is probably one of the sweetest things about the episode. O’Brien’s standing up for his friend, even when said friend is doubting himself, and I really like that. Good on you, O’Brien.

After the Fact Update: The DS9 Companion entry is interesting today, because it gives the impression that Siddig liked the idea of Bashir being genetically engineered, and pushed for it to be out in the open because “he, as an actor, would have to live with [it] for the rest of the series, that it would affect every scene that he was in, that he had this deep dark secret.” But a closer examination reveals that Siddig doesn’t say anything directly about the plot twist, and some poking around Google will give you numerous interviews where he’s pretty open about the fact that he was unhappy with that development (I believe it was this one where I first learned about it, though beware, there are spoilers for later episodes in it). Though I wonder if perhaps there was a little more behind-the-scenes friction going on. Remember that theory I mentioned yesterday? The writers had already surprised Siddig with the fact that Bashir had been a changeling for the past several episodes, and then, a week later, they blindsided him with something that should have been shaping his character from the beginning. I don’t know the timeline of when he found these things out in relation when he was acting in “In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s light”, but it’s not hard to imagine that Siddig might have muted his performance as the changeling as a form of protest. And while it’s a bit petty, I can’t say I entirely blame him.

The Court of Plot Development, Judge Allison Tooey Presiding: This may be a pointless exercise, because the DS9 Companion makes it very clear that the writers didn’t come up with the genetic engineering idea until shortly before they made the episode. However, if there’s one thing fandom in general, and Star Trek fandom in particular, is famous for, it’s combing through past material to see if later revelations make sense. The minute I decided to do this project, I decided I’d be keeping an eye on Bashir (moreso than usual) to see if there was any evidence that the genetic engineering was planned, even though all the evidence suggested that it wasn’t. Even after I got confirmation of that, I kept going, on the grounds that I could still look at whether or not that decision made any sense. The writers apparently did (they say as much in the DS9 Companion), but I still have my doubts. You can see the results of my deliberations below.

The Prosecution: ~Pretty much all of Bashir’s interactions with people in the early seasons seem to contradict the idea. I refuse to believe that it was all a masterful acting job on his part to keep people from suspecting how smart he really was. Not only do the reactions seem too genuine, but even if we say that it was all acting, I would think the crew would have found it suspicious that he’s brilliant enough to identify a clone, yet cannot figure out that a brain teaser is the same thing as a puzzle. Furthermore, one would think someone who had a secret would try to avoid spending too much time with a suspected spy, and yet Bashir has lunch with Garak every week. A+ maintaining your cover there, Doctor.

~Bashir’s ego in “The Passenger” felt out of character at the time, and if this is a man who wants to keep his genetic engineering a secret, bragging about how smart you are seems like an unwise move. Sure, people probably won’t suspect anything, as Bashir himself implies in today’s episode, but do you really want to run that risk?

~In “Armageddon Game”, Dax says that Bashir gave her his old diaries from medical school so she could learn to understand him better. The thing is, diaries are supposed to be private, and are often a place where people will write down some of the fears and secrets that they won’t tell anyone else. And if the diaries do in fact contain his “innermost thoughts, his struggle to graduate top of his class, his dream of having a career in Starfleet, [and] his constant fear of failure” as Dax says, then he would be very unwise to share them with anybody. I also refuse to believe that Bashir took time out of his day to forge diaries in an attempt to get Dax to like him better. So I conclude that these diaries are genuine, and therefore don’t make sense with the genetic engineering narrative.

~Even if Garak hadn’t figured out that Bashir was genetically engineered, Tain surely would have, but in “The Wire”, he doesn’t make any sort of remark that suggests he knows Bashir’s hiding something.

~Bashir seems legitimately surprised when he gets a bullseye in “Shakaar”. Again, it could be acting, but assuming he did it on purpose, that’s a little mean to do, since it would be rubbing things in O’Brien’s face.

~Bashir says that he performed his first operation on his teddy bear at age five in “The Quickening”, but then reveals that he was operated on at age seven in today’s episode. The DS9 Companion suggests that this is evidence for the defense, but why would Bashir lie about operating on Kukalaka to a woman he’s probably never going to see again, either because he cures her and returns to work or because she dies of the blight? Maybe it’s because lying about this comes naturally to him at this point, but I’m skeptical as all get-out.

The Defense: ~There are numerous references to Bashir being incredibly smart, despite being under thirty. This includes being able to scan Trill brainwaves in “Dax”, praise from the ambassadors in “The Forsaken”, and the fact that he was nominated for a prestigious medical award in “Prophet Motive”. Having it come up once is just a little bit of business; bringing it up three times suggests this is something the writers want to explore.

~There’s an interesting line in “Cardassians” where Garak says “I’m no more a spy than you are…” and Bashir finishes with “A doctor.” It’s meant to be interpreted as Bashir saying that Garak is a spy, but you could argue that Bashir could mean that he isn’t entirely sure he’s earned the title of Doctor by his own merits.

~Bashir’s understanding of Melora’s putting up emotional walls in “Melora” could be due in part to his speaking from experience. It also hints at his intelligence when he manages to come up with something that could help Melora out after working on it for just a few days.

~Bashir’s skill at racquetball as discussed and demonstrated in “Rivals” (including the fact that he beat a Vulcan) could point to being genetically enhanced.

~Bashir admits to being “terrified of doctors” when he was a child in “Equilibrium”. Given what we learn in today’s episode, perhaps there was a reason for it.

The Inconclusive Evidence: ~You would think “Distant Voices” would have been central to one of the arguments, given that it takes place inside Bashir’s head and involves different aspects of his mind. The truth is, it winds up applying to both. First off, was his genetic engineering part of the reason he was strong enough to fight off the Lethean’s attack? Secondly, no character he interacts with represents any form of guilt or hiding a secret. Thirdly, the Lethean points out that Bashir deliberately came second in his medical exams, but seems to think it was because Bashir couldn’t take the pressure. There’s enough ambiguity there that you could go either way, but writing it down makes me think it belongs more in the “not planned” camp.

~You can make an argument either way as to whether or not Bashir was able to do all the things he did to keep Bareil alive in “Life Support” because of his genetic engineering, or because he’s just naturally smart.

~The aforementioned award in “Prophet Motive” actually muddies the waters. Sure, him being nominated for the award at such a young age suggests one thing, but Bashir’s lack of enthusiasm about it could be interpreted as him feeling guilty and thinking he doesn’t deserve it.

~Garak tells Bashir in “Our Man Bashir” that “It’s so unusual for you to have secrets.” but then he goes on to say that the program could reveal something about Bashir’s psyche, and wonders “Are you afraid that I’ll find out some humiliating secret about the real Julian Bashir?” Mark that down as a point for both arguments.

Other Points of Interest: ~In “Babel”, the virus was genetically engineered. Given that Bashir spent so much time around sick patients, the fact that he was one of the last ones to succumb to the virus could point to his own genetic engineering working overtime to protect him.

~The Bashir we see in the Mirror Universe still seems relatively smart, and one must presume he wasn’t genetically engineered in that universe. You can’t use that as any sort of proof, but it’s worth noting.

~Honest question; does the genetic engineering make it easier or harder for Bashir to get drunk? He certainly seems drunk in “Explorers”, but God only knows how much he’d had to drink by then.

~It’s only in “Homefront” (Season Four) that we first learn that Bashir’s not close to his parents. No reason is given, and it’s not ever explored again until today, but at least this was somewhat set up before we got the big reveal.

The Verdict: If you’re extremely generous, there’s enough evidence here to support Bashir’s genetic engineering, providing you assume that he’s gotten very comfortable with lying about it. Speaking as someone who thinks he’s carrying around at least a little guilt about it, though, I don’t think it entirely works. But at least now I’ve gotten it off my chest and can maybe stop obsessing over it quite so much.