Review of DS9 Episode 1.17 “Dramatis Personae”

I'm in the process of rewatching Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and reviewing/recapping each episode in detail. Join me in my in depth look at the deepest and most complex Star Trek series to date.

After a Klingon ship returns through the wormhole and immediately blows up, the crew of DS9 begin acting very strangely, conspiring and plotting against each other. Odo is the only senior staff member not affected and he has to try and figure out what happened and fix it before the brewing power struggle tears the station apart.

Episodes where the crew play different characters from themselves are usually pretty enjoyable and this one is no exception. The scheming and plotting is sufficiently entertaining and holds your interest well. Overall a good episode, if rather inconsequential.

THE GOOD

• Odo shows a remarkable talent for subterfuge. He navigates the paranoia and plotting with the grace and subtlety of a super spy, playing off each person’s strengths and weaknesses masterfully in order to accomplish his goal of curing them all without them learning his motivations. It foreshadows the espionage capabilities we see from his species later on.
• The tension and drama is excellent in this ep. The pacing of the plot is also good. All around a very well-written episode.

THE BAD

• Avery Brooks’ acting is super weird in this ep. I’m guessing his character was supposed to be mentally unstable, but he comes off as being really goofy.
• Inconsequential terrarium ep.

THE UGLY

• I couldn’t stop thinking throughout how perfect Garak would have been in this ep. He would be right in his element and seeing him and Odo work together to save the day would have been a lot of fun too.
• The random Bajoran who tries to assasinate Sisko was one of several who were in ops when they beamed aboard the Klingon, so presumably he was also infected and that’s why he took part in the scheming.
• Odo shapeshift count: 1...sort of. His face does a weird clapping motion when it rejects the telepathic matrix. I’m going to count it because they used the orange goo effect of him shapeshifting. 9 total for the series.
• Hulk Kira count: 1. She picks up Quark and throws him across the bar. Even though Quark is small, no way a petite woman like her would have the upper body strength to do that. 2 total hulk outs for the series so far.

Rating: 7/10

Review of DS9 episode 1.16 “The Forsaken”

I'm in the process of rewatching Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and reviewing/recapping each episode in detail. Join me in my in depth look at the deepest and most complex Star Trek series to date.

An alien probe comes through the wormhole and begins to affect the station’s computer systems. Meanwhile, some Federation ambassadors are on board and Sisko passes the buck of dealing with them to Dr. Bashir, but one of the ambassadors is Lwaxana Troi and she has taken a special interest in Odo.

This is a pretty pointless and boring episode for the most part. Lwaxana’s presence in eps seems to go one of two ways: either it leads to a lot of humorous situations or it leads to total and complete boredom. This episode is mostly the latter.

The energy that Majel Barrett brings to the screen is impressive, to be sure, but unless Lwaxana is stirring up trouble, she doesn’t lend herself to many interesting stories. It doesn’t help that this particular story has been done with her many times before. Shamelessly throwing herself at every man that she encounters (none of whom want to be with her) was a trope that got old quickly on TNG and this ep does nothing to remedy that. On the plus side, we get some good character development for her and especially Odo in their scenes trapped on the turbolift, and Odo is such a deep and complex character that any development for him is always good. Overall this is a slightly below-average episode.

THE GOOD

• Lots of O’Brien, who is great as always. 
• Sisko is great too in this ep. I love the way he interacts with absolutely everyone. From trying to soothe O’Brien’s ego, to bracing himself before dealing with the ambassadors, to his glee at torturing Bashir with the assignment--he is such a good character. Avery Brooks can be very awkward at times, especially with his dialogue delivery, but he often makes up for it with the nonverbal things he does as an actor to make his character come alive. Plus he is so well written. He’s not hammy like Kirk, nor is he perfect like Picard; he’s the most “real” of the captains by far and that’s why I think he’s equal with those two legendary captains on my ranking scale.
• Good character development for Odo, although it’s mostly just talking which isn’t super interesting. Still we get a lot of meaty backstory for him that will be explored deeper in future eps.
• Lwaxana Troi reminds me of Michael Scott from The Office. She’s awkward and cringy and often downright unlikable, but she usually does something by the end of the ep to redeem herself or make you feel for her in some small way, just like you usually do with Michael. I think that the last act of this ep does a lot to show her to be more complex, caring, and compassionate than the buffoon she is often portrayed as.

THE BAD

• Terrarium ep
• The B plot (or is it a C plot?) with the other ambassadors feels utterly and completely pointless. The ambassadors themselves are all so wooden, one-dimensional, and boring. Every scene with them was a chore to get through.
• Yet another ep where Lwaxana throws herself at a man. It’s boring and cringy and simply not fun to watch at this point.

THE UGLY

• What is up with the episode’s title? Who or what is supposed to be forsaken?
• So, apparently this didn’t happen because I can find no confirmation of it on Memory Alpha, but I have a distinct memory of the crew unleashing the Pup during the Dominion War when the station was occupied by the Dominion, in order to mess with their control of it. Maybe it happened in a Dominion War novel I read years ago, but there’s nothing on Memory Beta about that either. Apparently in a novel called Valhalla they do that to a different force that has taken over the station, but I’m like 95% sure I’ve never read that novel so I have no idea where my memory of that happening comes from. According to Memory Alpha, the Pup is never mentioned again on the show.
• Odo shapeshift count: 1 (turns to goo to regenerate), 8 total for the series

Rating 5/10