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For The Uniform Airdate: Week of
February 3rd - 7th, 1997
Written by: Peter
Allan Fields
Directed by:
Victor Lobl
Brief Summary:
Following For the Cause, Michael Eddington becomes
the leader of the Maquis, and Captain Sisko, betrayed and seeking
personal revenge chases Eddington across the Demilitarized Zone
in the hopes of capturing him. Eddington sabotages the Defiant,
wiping it's computer core, forcing the Defiant and Sisko back to
DS9. Starfleet, due to of lack of results, removes Sisko from the
assignment and places Captain Sanders of the Starship Milenche in
charge. Soon follows an unpredictable string of events in which
Eddington disables the Milenche, poisons Cardassian colonies in
the DMZ, and forces Sisko to use unorthodox methods to bring him
in.
Review:
Peter Allan Fields
puts out another great effort! For The Uniform ranks
up there with Fields' Crossover and Blood
Oath. But this one accomplishes it's objective without any
help from the original series whatsoever.
The episode starts
out with a powerful scene in which Eddington confronts Sisko,
having travelled to a Maquis planet in search of an informant.
This scene accomplishes it's goal of explaining the cause of the
Maquis, and appealing to the audience with it's dialogue relating
to the refugee. Eddington tries to get Sisko aggravated by
pointing out his apparent vendetta, and charging that he is only
irritated because it happened during his watch. The
Captain tells him that there is a word for such betrayl- treason.
Eddington tries to make the case that innocent people are victims
of the Federation and Cardassian treaty, which in part is true.
However, I like how Sisko responds by silently admitting that
yes, they are victims of the treaty, and that the
truth is they are never going home and Eddington (he places the
whole of the Maquis within Eddington) is only giving false hopes
to those people. Sisko points out that they are the victims of
Eddington, not the Federation or Cardassia.
The story only
moves faster now. Sisko's desire to capture the traitor is noe
more evident as he chases the Maquis raider. He realizes he can't
catch it in time, so contacts the Starship Milenche to have them
cut Eddington off, giving the Defiant more time. And then enters
a new technology: the Holo-communicator. This was very
fascinating, and a welcome change to the status quo. I thought it
was an interesting bonus to have in this episode. It was
refreshing to Captain Sanders plainly expresses the initial shock
of actually having Sisko sitting on his bridge. No sooner has
Sanders agreed to intercept the raider, then Eddington drops out
of warp and disables the Defiants' computer core with a virus he
had planted while serving as Chief of Starfleet Security.
The real fun
begins when the true reason for the introduction of a
holo-communicator is revealed. The effect of Eddington actually
being on the bridge of the Defiant enhanced the one on
one genre of the episode. Eddington appears on the bridge,
valiantly declaring that he doesn't understand Sisko's vengeful
desire, and pointing out that he had won this meeting. To
convince Sisko, he fires phasers on a defenseless Defiant (which
was awesome to watch), and then acts rather pious in his
statement that the Maquis aren't killers, implying that Sisko
should be grateful he isn't destroyed right then and there. This
theory is verbalized by Sisko, who sarcastically asks if he
should thank him, and gets another cryptic response from
Eddington who again speaks as if he were God, telling the Captain
he has no wish to make him grovel for his life. He
belittles Sisko by saying that at least he [Eddington] knows when
to walk away.
So now the Defiant
is getting repaired back on the docking clamp, which looks
better. Maybe it's just me, but it looks more colorful, and as if
the model was enhanced. (any takes on that one, eh?). Anyway,
perhaps as good as the irony in Voyager's Blood Fever
was the irony that Odo pointed out in the Captain's office. I
knew this would come into play sometime, since Odo was very
defensive about the presence of Eddington. (I guess you know what
the quote of the episode will be, eh? Hehe) I liked how Odo was
straightforward about it. It's obvious Odo loves holding this on
against Starfleet!
Starfleet takes
the mission out of Benjamin's hands, and puts it into those of
Captain Sanders. The confrontation between the two captains here
was very revealing about how Ben felt, and how Sanders understood
his feelings. However, Sisko is very reserved about the change
until the next scene, which was quite possibly the best scene of
the show. Sisko vents his anger on the punching bag, and
expresses his exact feelings to Dax. The part where he tells how
he has no excuse for being vulnerable and not seeing the
deception was powerful. It's too hard for him to accept that
Eddington isn't a powerful alien, or person with the experiences
of multiple lifetimes, he's just a man like him- a man who beat
him more than once.
The action builds
again as Maquis activity is detected, and the use of biogenic
weapons confirmed. Expectedly, the Milenche is out of range, and
the Defiant must go after Eddington against orders. Now comes a
part VERY new to Star Trek, and never seen before in this manner:
the complexities of manual starship piloting. Not only did the
scenes with O'Brien explaining all the problems bring about a
sense of weakness, but the following scenes with the manual
piloting of the Defiant were just spectacular. O'Brien's comment
that they should avoid sharp turns unless they want to go into
barrel rolls helped give the idea of a spaceship a commonality to
today's Navy planes. Finally we see a starship as a ship, not a
robot almost capable of flying itself. This was priceless! I
thought the music during these scenes was superbly new, and the
dialogue innovative. Also, the usage of Nog was excellent. I
didn't feel as though it was forced in any manner because it
combined with the piloting to give the Defiant the feeling of a
submarine. Very effective.
The Defiant
reaches the Badlands and begins tracking something on the
sensors. As they begin to close in, Eddington appears in the
holo-communicator and continues his self-righteous dialogue. He
mentions that Les Miserables is his favorite book as he sends it
over to the Defiant, and then compares Sisko to the policeman who
spent twenty years searching for a man who stole bread. This is
where the inner character of Eddington begins to show itself.
Meanwhile, the Defiant has been distracted by what turns out to
be a sensor probe emanating a false warp signature, while the
Maquis ambush and disable the Starship Milenche. Sisko buries his
face in his hands, beaten once again. This shows us the anguish
in the Captain and once again enforces his thirst for capturing
Eddington.
The Milenche had
picked up an encoded messge from the Maquis, and Odo researches
to find out that it is a Breen nursery rhyme, giving a clue as to
Eddington's next target. This time, Captain Sisko won't be
beaten. He consults all his officers to decide which planet is
the most likely target, and then chooses the opposite. This would
prove to be correct, but the Defiant would be late again. Sisko
destroys one Maquis ship and almost captures Eddington, when he
disables a Cardassian transport-evacuating civilians from the
surface of the planet he just poisoned. He appears on the Defiant
bridge to convince Sisko that he can't let the Cardassians fall
into the atmosphere, and thus he must let him go in order to save
them. The Maquis hatred for the Cardassians is seen most evident
when Eddington remarks to Sisko, …they're only
Cardassians..
Sisko takes some
time to think over the situation, and begins to formulate an idea
about Eddington's psyche. He reasons that Eddington is living out
the fantasy of Les Miserables, where he plays the charitable man,
the Robin Hood who fights for the cause
(interesting tie-in to the last Eddington episode, which suggests
that the idea of Eddington's inner-self might have already been
formulated last season). Eddington sees himself as the hero, and
Sisko as the villain. Realizing this, Sisko reasons that like
many heroic stories, Eddington wants to make the ultimate
sacrafice- surrendering for the good of the cause.
With this in mind,
the Defiant announces its plans to contaminate all Maquis
planets, making them inhabitable. When Eddington tries to call
Sisko's bluff, he find out he was sorely wrong. Sisko poisons the
atmosphere, causing the Maquis to evacuate. This definitely
demonstrates how determined he was to bring in Eddington. When he
threatens to eliminate all Maquis colonies, Eddington plays right
into his hands and surrenders. Although well played and written,
this was a little anti-climatic nonetheless.
Overall
Verdict: DS9 at its best, with Peter Allan Fields. Pretty
much an ensemble piece with the exception of Quark and Jake. Best
episode so far this season.
Acting:
Excellent performances from Avery Brooks, Terry Farell, and
especially Kenneth Marshall as Michael Eddington. Definitely a
Sisko episode.
Directing:
A great start for Victor Lobl, who impressively joins Star Trek
with a great job. Highest accolade for the Sisko/punching bag
scene.
Writing:
Glad to see Peter Allan Fields back in the mix. An allegory
dealing with personal vendetta, betrayal, and redemption.
Sir, have
you ever reminded Starfleet Command that they assigned Eddington
here, because they didn't trust me?
No.
Please
do.
Odo to Captain
Sisko
Rating: 9
out of 10
Next Week: In Purgatory's
Shadow, looks like
the Dominion invasion episode we've been waiting for. Looks very
promising with a few surprises! Can't wait!
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