Day 117: DS9, Soldiers of the Empire

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S5EP21, “Soldiers of the Empire”

 Summary: General Martok has received his first official assignment after getting out of the Dominion prison; find and rescue the B’Moth, a Klingon vessel that went missing near the Cardassian/Dominion border. Martok asks Worf to be his first officer, and Worf happily complies, honored to serve under the great general. Dax also tags along, partly to be with Worf, partly because the Klingon vessel they’ll be using, the Rotarran, is understaffed. Once the mission gets underway, it comes out that the Rotarran hasn’t had a victory in months, and the crew are getting both dispirited and angry about that, which isn’t helped when Martok shows unnecessary caution as the mission proceeds. Uncomfortable as it is, Dax and Worf have to consider if Martok is fit to lead…and if Worf is willing to do what’s necessary for both the mission and the crew.

Standalone Thoughts: While the episode doesn’t have a strong start, it ultimately winds up being pretty good. The acting, dialogue, and lighting all help give the story the right amount of escalating tension as the Klingons are denied a fight, and Worf and Martok become a target of their ire. Although the beats are so specific that I feel like the writers took inspiration for this story from some other book or movie, though I’m not sure which one it could be; stories about crews beaten down by defeat and the threat of mutiny are fairly commonplace, I think. At any rate, they took the idea and made it their own, so I’m not saying this as a slam against the writers.

Another thing I like about the episode are the glimpses we get of Klingon vulnerability. We tend to think of the Klingons as fearless warriors, but this episode proves they have fears and breaking points just like the rest of us. Just through dialogue, we learn that Klingons will cry in despair, are sometimes willing to let the enemy kill them if they’re beaten down enough, and are capable of feeling insecure. The episode doesn’t draw our attention to these things, but it adds up over time, and I think adds a lot to the atmosphere. And in this episode, atmosphere is king.

My only complaints about the episode are that the early sequences on the station are a little too expository, and that the conflict is resolved a little too quickly and neatly. Sure, we had an idea of how things were going to play out, but I’m not entirely sure how Martok in particular went from Point A to Point B. The episode laid enough groundwork that this isn’t a dealbreaker, but I think a conversation between Worf and Martok (they do have one, but it doesn’t go very in-depth) or Worf and Dax after the fact would have helped a bit. Still, this is a good, solid episode, and continues to prove that Deep Space Nine was excellent at being dark without becoming totally grim. I just wish TV in general would relearn that lesson.

How it Relates to the Whole: While there’s no direct connection between the events of this episode and anything that comes after it, we do get some development in the relationships between Worf and Dax and Worf and Martok, which will continue to progress as we move forward. Plus, it’s helping to flesh Martok out and turn him into a more regular supporting character, which I can absolutely get behind.

Other: *I like Nog’s little strangling gesture as Worf tells him to restart a painstaking process for what I assume is a fairly minor tech update. I’ve never been in his situation directly, but I still feel your pain, Nog.

*Bashir gets some good material today, including a few beats that (probably) unintentionally foreshadow the direction the writers will take him next season. Don’t worry, I’m not going to harp on this the way I did the genetic engineering thing. I just thought it was interesting.

*The sequences where the Klingons sing battle songs acapella are very well handled. It’s a great combination of patriotic and vaguely menacing, just what the situation calls for. Besides, I always enjoy a bit of singing if the singers involved know what they’re doing.

Best Line/Exchange: There’s a lot of fairly sharp dialogue in this episode, aided and abetted by good delivery, but ultimately, I think the winner is;

Dax: This crew has lost half-a-dozen actions to the Jem’Hadar. The casualty list is as long as my arm. And now they’re serving under a man who seems to have left more behind than just an eye in that prison camp.

Worf: Do not speak of the Captain in that manner, not while I am first officer!

Dax (grabbing his arm): Look, I like Martok. But this crew needs a leader. Someone who will remind them of their duty as soldiers of the Empire. And they need that leader right now, or I promise you they will explode.

Worf (sharply): It will not come to that! (lowering his voice) I know Martok. He is a great man. He will not fail us, but we must give him time.

Dax: Time may be the one thing we don’t have, Worf. What happened in that mess hall could happen all over the ship. And if you think the blood looks bad on my uniform, wait until the decks are dripping with it.

There are some great turns of phrase in there (“left more behind than just an eye” is cliché but evocative), and you can feel the tension and the conflict Worf and Dax are facing between their Starfleet training, their fondness for Martok, and the Klingon way of doing things. I’m not sure if this is the conversation that best sums up the episode as a whole, but it’s definitely a good one.

After the Fact Update: I was wrong, apparently; The DS9 Companion says that writer Ron Moore came up with the plot all on his own, with no direct inspirations from another source. That just makes it all the more impressive, then. Also, the summary the Companion also explains the problem I had with the conflict’s resolution, though it does emphasize that I think it needed to be a bit more spelled out in the episode itself. But at least I got an answer.