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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
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A Time to Stand Airdate: Week of
September 29th, 1997
Written by: Hans Beimler and Ira Steven Behr
Directed by: Allan
Kroeker
In short: Completely engrossing from the opening shot, "Time"
stands as a classic
example of DS9's ability to build strong stories based on strong characters
and delivers a wonderful
mix of drama, humor, and excitement.
Brief summary: Three months after "Call to Arms" and with the war
going badly, the
Defiant crew takes a captured Jem'Hadar vessel behind enemy lines to
destroy a Ketracel White
depot. They succeed, but their vessel is damaged, leaving them stranded in
Cardassian space.
Meanwhile, Kira and Odo are coping with life under Dukat and Weyoun.
Review: Talk about a punch to the gut. "Call to Arms" by no
means suggested that the
war would play out like the retelling of a Klingon opera, but I think we
all expected a situation far
more give-and-take than what we got with "Time." What we got instead was
an absolute disaster
for the Federation, a war in which the destruction of 98 of 112 ships is
but one facet of a losing
struggle. Not that I'm unhappy with this disaster, strange as that sounds.
Any chance that this war
would be a "fun" time for DS9's viewers was pretty much destroyed within
the first fifteen seconds of
the show, and that in my book is a very good thing. Star Trek's first
prolonged war shouldn't be
exciting for the sake of excitement, but worth watching because of what it
does with the characters
and as a meditation on war. Making action-packed shows may pack in the
viewers, but making it a
dark and brooding series of stories makes it truly memorable.
This episode was all about gambles, but the biggest one involving it
occurred offscreen. It was,
of course, a gamble to completely shift the format of the show for at least
the near future by focusing
on a series of closely interconnected stories, something Star Trek had
never done before. But the
even greater gamble was setting that storyline three months past any events
we were previously
aware of. Dramatically, it worked beautifully. We have no explanation as
to why the mixed triumph
of "Call to Arms" soured into the hollow victory it is now - just the
stunning image of a few crippled
ships limping away from a Jem'Hadar assault under half-power. I'm not sure
if Star Trek has had
such a shocking image since the Enterprise found the remains of the fleet
during the second part of
"Best of Both Worlds." During that episode, too, the disastrous events
themselves took place off
screen, making the sudden discovery of how dire the situation was all that
more dramatic.
The gamble works in another way. The creative spurt provided by such a
shift in story focus
can be burned away quickly if the writers are not careful. A tangled web
they weave the more they
build plot upon plot and forget what brought them there in the first place
- characters. Babylon 5, for
instance, has shown that it can create elaborate plots built on the
excitement of a few key episodes.
In between these few shows, however, lies a lot of plot stuffing that in
the short run is tedious and in
the long run often irrelevant to the big picture. This is unfortunate not
just because it is boring, but
also because the only character development we get during this time period
is narrowly defined
to within the context of the big plot, leaving little chance to branch out
with the characters. Last year, as
war neared, DS9 kept the story heading toward the war by focusing on single
characters involved in
side stories. Hopefully, after this first arc of war stories ends, they'll
return to that approach, at least
to a degree.
While on the subject of time, during the episode the writers allowed
over two weeks to pass, a
move I was very pleased with. Not only does this allow for the war to be
portrayed realistically, but
it also shows me that DS9's writers aren't committed to necessarily fitting
all 26 episodes this season
into a solar year. It appears they are more concerned with what works than
they are with fitting past
trends, something I hope they use with everything they deal with this
season.
For the most part, that's what happened in "Time," mainly because what
worked involved
utilizing the rich characters and stories the writers had worked so hard to
build since we were introduced to
the Dominion. My brother is not a DS9 fan. He saw the episode, agreed
that it was a good way to
spend an hour, but didn't seem to understand why I felt it was so
wonderful. My answer was simple.
"Time" is a credit to everything DS9 has done before - all the careful
characterization, the intrigue,
and the attention to detail that makes it such a fascinating show to watch.
All throughout the show,
we had layer upon layer of subtext - more than I thought could be possible
on TV. Too much
subtext, I'm afraid, for the Emmys, but that's another review. :-)
The most obvious example is Dukat. His scene with Kira, where they
discussed their
relationship (or lack thereof) was perhaps the show's most disturbing, and
that's saying a lot
considering what happened in "Time." It is a credit to both the acting of
Alaimo and Visitor and to
the writing of Beimler and Behr that the scene could be so chilling yet so
subtle. To an outsider,
Dukat's scene with Kira made him seem like a swarmy pervert with an
exaggerated self-image.
They do not appreciate how complex a man this swarmy pervert is. He pulled
Cardassia back from
the abyss, as he would like to think, but not just for personal glory. He
really does want Cardassia
to succeed, and he even recognizes the high price Cardassia has paid for
entering the Dominion.
Even his pursuit after Kira, partly prompted by his deep-felt desire to
establish dominance not just
over her but over all of Bajor, has mixed motivations. We know from
"Indiscretion" that he knew
and loved a Bajoran woman, so his desire to take over Bajor is not fueled
on petty racial
motivations. We have to wonder if beneath that phony smile a lonely man
exists, and that is almost
enough to feel sorry for him.
Bashir is a shell of his former self. We saw traces of the old wit and
braggadocio, but that
idealistic doctor we saw step onto the station over five years ago was
gone, a causality of war.
Garak was right - he has become a Vulcan, willing and able to perform his
duties, but completely
detached to the people around him. Instead of discussing Cardassian novels
with Garak, he is
crunching numbers, a sign of the cold, rationalistic turn he has taken. It
is an interesting question as
to whether it was the war itself or just the revelation about his genetic
engineering that made him take
this turn. Has the war been that great a shock? Or is it, as Garak
implied, the same smug Bashir
underneath it all, asserting his mental superiority through instant
multiplication?
Then there is Captain Sisko. In "Call to Arms," Sisko was clearly in
charge, remaining calm and
collected despite the danger the situation presented. That is no more,
buried under a layer of
frustration. Defeat and orders from above have left him helpless. As his
conversation with Dax
showed, he hungers at the chance of getting back to the front line just to
do something, even if it is to
fight a losing struggle. He's not at the breaking point yet (the glass
table is another matter), but it will
be interesting to see if he reaches that point during next week's evidently
dire situation.
His conversation with his father about Jake underscored that
frustration. The whole
conversation was uncomfortable; both father and son were holding back a
little, despite Sisko's
protestations that he wasn't raised to be a liar. There was no easy answer
about what to do about
Jake, and it showed in the uneasy conversation they had. Perhaps my
favorite part, though, was
Joseph's question asking why races can't just leave each other alone -
reminding us, that despite the
crisis, there is something higher we should be aiming for.
While all this was happening, a plot was occurring, so I suppose I
should mention it. The plan of
attacking the Ketracel White depot made sense, and I have no real problems
with it. A couple of
points about how they so easily penetrated Cardassian space would have been
nice, but the simple
mentioning of the captured vessel from last season's "The Ship" was a large
enough dose of
continuity to send me into such a state of bliss that a few plot flaws
probably escaped unnoticed.
When the bubble closed around the vessel, I was stunned. The attempt at
escape seemed a bit
clumsily handled, but I suspect that was somewhat intended, as how they
were caught seemed to be
beyond explanation. Overall, this went very well I thought.
Back on the station, things looked surprisingly good. Quark, easily
DS9's most ambiguous
character, represents well the ambiguity of purpose the entire occupation
presents. Quark is a good
at heart (at least it seems that way), so his admission that "As
occupations go, this one isn't so bad"
carries weight. The result isn't just to make the Dominion seem a bit more
civilized than their
Cardassian predecessors. Dominion life is rather placid and safe. Its
only tradeoff is a limit on the
freedoms of its citizens to guarantee that order, as seen with Weyoun's
screening of Jake's reports.
That's a powerful ideological challenge to the Federation, a challenge that
can't be easily refuted as a
challenge like the philosophy of the Borg can.
And it makes for extremely interesting viewing. The Kira and Odo plot,
while not resolving
before the show ended into anything substantial, was still interesting to
watch. I'm not sure what to
make of Odo's "promotion" and the reappearance of Bajoran troops on the
station. Indeed, it
smacks of Babylon 5's obsession of dwelling on minutiae following the
Shadow War, as was done
with Sheridan winning the support of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. In
any regard, Kira and
Odo had some very good dialogue, as they went back and forth encouraging
each other, and we
could still see that hint of romance beneath what they were saying. This
along with Weyoun and Dukat shows that things seem to be setting up nicely
back on the station.
I can't really find anything wrong with the show. Well, a couple of
scenes needed a few tweaks,
I suppose. Lofton's acting could have been stronger in Jake's only scene.
The scene itself, however,
was well-written and only reasserted how damnably in control that Weyoun
is. The opening scene
on the bridge seemed a tad too stilted dialogue-wise, but that was mainly
to allow us to catch up to
previous events, so I can forgive them. It also worked to show how truly
exhausted these group of
friends were, but not so exhausted to forget that they were still friends,
and I felt that was a nice
touch.
And then there was the Worf/ Dax scene, saved only by Sisko's admonition
to Dax that she
shouldn't break any bones. I'm not totally opposed to Worf/Dax, but I
expected a little more
interaction between the two besides speculation over a targ. Like an
argument, for example. Dax
evidently didn't even know Worf was coming, so I can understand why she
would leap into his arms.
What I do not understand is why she seemed so eager to "reacquaint" after
Worf acted like such a
stodgy fart. Trill hormones evidently override normal emotional response.
So the episode was virtually a complete success. It had a little bit
of everything, and most
importantly it got me involved into what was happening by bringing out the
emotions in me: fear,
repulsion, hope - and anger that I have to wait a week to see "Rocks and
Shoals."
Some short takes-
Dukat signed his log "Dukat, SG." Either "SG" is a title or his
initials, I figure. I hope it's the
former; I like the idea of his first name being Elmo.
Peregrine class ships evidently aren't limited to the Maquis, as several
were shown at the
episode's start. Either way, Starfleet appears desperate for vessels.
I wonder if the Seventh Fleet means that at least six other fleets (or
what is left of six fleets) is
out there, or if, as I've heard, it's an homage to the US Navy's Seventh
Fleet.
While on this subject, many might ask where Starfleet got all these
ships. Keep in mind that this
is a federation of over 150 worlds, meaning that having a sizeable fleet
would make sense, if only to
provide a sufficient defense for so many planets.
The viewscreen effect was a nice effect, if somewhat disorienting for
viewers with no depth
perception.
If there's no replicators on the Jem'Hadar ship, what does the Vorta eat
and drink?
Writing: Wonderful blend of sharp dialogue, good humor, drama, and
action.
Acting: The usual suspects of Dorn and Farrell are off, as well as
Lofton here, but the rest of the
cast, particularly Visitor, Alaimo, Brooks, and Combs, is strong.
Directing: Good use of head shots.
Rating: 9.7 out of 10.0
Quote: Bashir: "But if trouble breaks out, it's not a viewscreen, or a
chair, or even a sandwich
you'll be wanting - it's a biobed, with a surgical tissue regenerator."
Dax: "Maybe, but right now I would settle for a viewscreen"
Nog: "Or a chair"
O'Brien: "Or a sandwich."
Next week: Shortly after christening the ship with the name "Minnow,"
the crew goes on a 17
year tour, a 17 year tour...
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