Day 123: DS9, A Time to Stand

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S6EP1, “A Time to Stand”

 Summary: We’re now three months into the Dominion War, and things aren’t going well. Starfleet was forced to flee Deep Space Nine and leave it in the hands of the Dominion, with only Kira and Odo around to try to prevent a complete takeover (Quark’s still there, too, but is more focused on profit, and while Jake is there as a reporter, he’s currently being censored). Meanwhile, the rest of the crew (and Garak, who tagged along out of self-preservation) is suffering from low morale thanks to a string of defeats. Things look up somewhat when they’re pulled from the Defiant by Starfleet Command and assigned to a Jem’Hadar ship (the same one they captured in “The Ship”, actually) to take on a mission in Dominion territory, but when you’re in an unfamiliar ship in enemy space, there’s so much that can go wrong. And given the way the Federation’s luck has been going, they should probably count on something going wrong.

Standalone Thoughts: While a lot of this episode plays on a subdued register, I think that’s a positive rather than a negative this time around. The point that keeps being driven home in this episode is that things aren’t going well for our heroes; Sisko and company have been involved in countless battles and defeats, while Kira and Odo are feeling oppressed by the Dominion presence on the station and don’t always feel like they can speak freely. It helps the atmosphere nicely, and even if that makes it less fun to watch than “Call to Arms”, it’s not what I would call mediocre either.

I do need to take a moment to really dig into one performance in particular, because I feel like some of it was unintentional, but wound up working in everyone’s favor. I speak, of course, of Alexander Siddig’s current take on Bashir. His first scene this episode is a discussion with Garak that was so cold and almost angry that I actually read it as some sort of breakup scene the first time I saw it, and this is coming from someone who never saw them in any sort of romantic relationship. After all their friendly, bantering interactions, this just felt so different that it was the only explanation I could come up with. This time, however, I think I know what’s going on, especially when you look at the rest of the episode. It’s a combination of two things. First, Siddig is doing what everyone else is doing and trying to show Bashir as being demoralized and therefore not quite as peppy as he normally is. It’s worth noting that when they take command of the Jem’Hadar ship (in other words, once they’ve been offered up some hope), he’s much more like his old self, making a few jokes and apparently genuinely happy to see Garak, despite what happened in the first scene. Secondly, and more importantly, a lot of his scenes this episode involve some aspect of Bashir’s genetic engineering. When I read in an interview that Siddig treated any lines related to the engineering with contempt, and then watched this episode, it all fell into place. The monotone way he recites the calculations he’s made isn’t just Bashir being beaten down by the war; it’s Siddig’s way of protesting. But in practice, it helps the tone of the episode, which is ultimately to the good even if it defeats Siddig’s purpose somewhat.

Overall, the episode is a decent start to the season. If nothing else, it makes you want to keep watching because you really want everything to turn out ok, and this episode denies you that catharsis. I know I’m looking forward to being reminded how much of that oppressive atmosphere is mitigated tomorrow…

How it Relates to the Whole: Obviously, this is part of a story arc that won’t end until all the characters have been reunited, but this episode is setting up some of the conflicts that will drive the arc. Most notably, there’s Odo’s complicated position on the station and Sisko and his crew being reassigned to a Jem’Hadar ship. We’ll have to see how much further they’re developed tomorrow.

Other: *Just one small observation today. Kira’s hair has finally returned to reddish-brown, after being dark brown through all of last season. As with Dax’s hairstyle change in Season Three, it seems like an odd time in-universe to have a change like this, but at least we can use the pregnancy hormones settling down as an excuse this time (which I suspect was at least somewhat the case in real life). Besides, I like the reddish-brown look better, so I’m not going to complain.

Best Line/Exchange: I think this one sums up the current situation on the station fairly well;

(Kira is trying to get a Bajoran security force back on the station. Dukat, naturally, disagrees)

Kira: The Federation and Bajor always shared equal responsibility for station security. I thought you said that we would have the same arrangement with the Dominion…? I mean, after all, we are all friends here, aren’t we?

Weyoun (turning to Dukat): Perhaps you should reconsider your decision.

Dukat: The order stands. You may trust the Bajorans, but I don’t. And until they earn my trust, I prefer to keep them unarmed. And if you were in my position, Major, you would do exactly the same thing.

You’ve got Kira trying to undermine the system by quoting bureaucracy with just a hint of sarcasm, Weyoun trying to keep the peace, and Dukat being very aware what’s going on and taking the wisest course of action, even if we don’t like it because he’s the villain. It’s basically a spelled-out version of their roles in this conflict, but not a very heavy-handed one. Which I think is what makes all the difference.