Day 165: DS9, Penumbra

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S7EP17, “Penumbra”

 Summary: A Jem’Hadar attack near the Badlands destroyed a Klingon ship that Worf was captaining, and attempts to look for his escape pod have had to be called off because of Dominion activity. Compelled by Jadzia’s memories, Ezri sets out in a runabout to rescue him, despite both Starfleet regulations and the fact that she and Worf are still having trouble interacting with each other. Meanwhile, Sisko has decided to build a house on Bajor, and has furthermore decided he wants to share it with Kasidy. Although they want a simple wedding, news travels fast, and there’s no way the Bajorans are going to let the Emissary get away with a Justice of the Peace ceremony. Then again, given both the Dominion and the fact that Gul Dukat has reentered the picture, planning the wedding may be even more complicated than anyone thinks.

Standalone Thoughts: This episode is an odd duck because your opinion while watching it is probably going to change greatly on a first watch versus a rewatch. The first time around, especially if you don’t know that the last nine episodes are interconnected, it will mostly feel like a standard Deep Space Nine episode, and a mostly fluffy one at that. The main plot seems to be about Worf and Ezri sorting out their feelings for/about each other, with a subplot about Sisko and Kasidy planning their wedding. Sure, there’s some tension, especially in the main plot, but it all seems like something that will mostly be resolved by the end of the episode. Then, in the last few minutes, things take a turn, and the episode ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, one that doesn’t resolve the main plot and suddenly makes the subplot more complicated. It catches the first time viewers interest and makes them want to know more.

By contrast, when you know this episode is the first of the home stretch, and remember just how intense and crazy things get, the episode feels very sedate. You kind of expect things to hit the ground running, but other than the bits at the end and a scene or two involving Weyoun and Damar (who incidentally have been conspicuously absent from the show since “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River”), it feels a lot like what we’ve been getting all season; material that might be entertaining and has a tenuous connection at best to the war, but isn’t all that relevant in the grand scheme of things. So it also surprises the returning audience, but not in a good way.

Now, the episode is perfectly fine and would have worked well enough as a standalone, so don’t think that it’s unpleasant to watch. It’s just that it goes against your expectations one way or the other, which can impact your opinion of it. It’s a slow start to the finale, but I’m hoping it will pick up steam in the next day or two. Don’t let me down, writers.

How it Relates to the Whole: While this is the episode that kicks off the final push, it’s (perhaps wisely) introducing the various plot threads slowly. We know the changeling illness is progressing, that Sisko and Kasidy are planning to get married, that there’s something going on with the Breen, and that Dukat is almost certainly up to no good. We’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes for the explanations to be revealed.

Other: *I ran into another minor continuity error that’s hard to ignore today. Ezri is a Lieutenant Junior Grade, which means one of her pips is gold and one is black. When she’s looking for Worf in the badlands, she’s wearing two gold pips, before it goes back to black and gold for subsequent scenes. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if the camera hadn’t lingered for what feels like a solid minute on her face and neck, meaning the pips are close to your face and hard not to notice. You’d think the costumers would have been extra careful when getting ready for this shot, but then again, they probably had more important things on their minds.

*I do appreciate that the episode calls back to the very bizarre Trill rules in “Rejoined”, but basically glosses over them. We’ll have to see how much more they get brought up in the rest of the episodes, but my memory says they’re mostly ignored, which is good. This plot point should be more about Ezri and Worf’s confused feelings than societal rules. Besides, we’re going to have more than enough plots going on as it is.

Best Line/Exchange: I had a tossup today between lighthearted couple banter and a meta moment, and went for the meta;

Kasidy: Did you ever think that you would become so attached to Bajor that you’d want to spend the rest of your life there?

Sisko: Hmm. (gets up from the couch) It wasn’t part of the master plan, if that’s what you mean. But from the moment I set foot on this station, nothing has turned out the way I imagined it. This was supposed to be just a temporary assignment. But it’s become much more than that.

I chose this because it applies both to DS9 in general and, though this obviously wasn’t the intent at the time, my experience in watching/reviewing this show. As it relates to the show, DS9 definitely went in a different direction than anyone (including, occasionally, the writers) expected, and of course you can make all sorts of comments about how this is just a job for the actors, but they’ll be forever associated with Star Trek because of it. On a personal note, the show hasn’t always gone the way I remembered it, but it’s still good overall, and has rekindled my love for both the show and the characters. Even if it (and this project on the whole) has eaten my life in ways I didn’t quite expect when I first started it.

(And to my family members who have had to put up with my rambling about this show and related matters for 165 days and counting…I’m so sorry. And thank you for your patience.)