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Rocks and Shoals Airdate: Week of
October 6th, 1997
Written by: Ronald D. Moore
Directed by: Michael Vejar
In short: A bit of rough sailing at start, "Rocks" weathers through trouble and turns into a tragic yet compelling story about what loyalty is, and what sacrifices must be made to be truly obedient.
Brief summary: Marooned on a world behind enemy lines, Sisko and crew must deal with Jem'Hadar running short on Ketracel White and a Vorta willing to sell out his own men. Meanwhile, a suicide prompts Kira to rethink how she has dealt with the Dominion.
Review: This was quite a change of pace, a very nice change of pace. I, like the FX budget, can only take so much of interstellar politics before I pop. As I've said before and will say again, DS9 is about characters, and it is episodes like this is where the characters get to shine. Ironically, much of the character work came with two one-shot characters, Remata'klan and Keevan, but Kira too had a very good storyline, and the usual good interplay was there, particularly between Sisko and Dax. Very strong.
Well, everything but the opening. Yet again we find a ship taking hit after hit after hit but managing to spot a nebula that just happened to be near by and escaping to it unharmed in the nick of time. After the twelfth time, that gets to be a little hard to believe; when escaping from the Jem'Hadar, it is completely implausible. Having the ship heading toward the nebula from the beginning would have corrected this.
The second problem occurred during the ship's crash. I can accept that only the senior officials plus two no-names survived; after all, extras are expensive. But having the ship crash so innocuously coupled along with the fact that it was so near an encampment of similarily stranded Jem'Hadar troops is not so easily swallowed. Planets are pretty darn big last time I checked, and to ask that we accept that two ships can crash within a few kilometers walk of each of is straight out of the Harry Carey school of astronomy.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest... the episode recovered nicely once things went planetside. The FX shot of the ship sinking was a nice touch, and, aided by the locale, everything had a very appropriate feel of desolation from the start. The dialogue was noticeably good from the beginning as well. I couldn't help but laugh when the Chief mentioned his pants leg was torn, and pretty much anything a Jem'Hadar soldier said sounded cool. "We will hold this world for the Dominion." What if you don't make it? "Then we will hold this world for the Dominion until we die." Very, very cool.
As always with DS9, though, the story was more than just plot dynamics and a few nice lines. The preview last week suggested "Rocks and Shoals" might be a rehash of "The Ship." This one, like that one, was filmed in the middle of nowhere, used the premise of having our heroes marooned, and even explored concepts of loyalty within the framework of seemingly senseless fighting. Though I hate reused premises, if "Rocks" was going to turn out anything like the powerful "Ship," I could certainly live with it.
"Rocks" proved able to stand on its own, both as a story and as a drama. Ignoring the fact it used a B-story and "The Ship" didn't, what really sets it apart is not what happened, but who made it happen. Whereas "The Ship" had a loyal captain trying to hold his crew of Starfleet officers together, "Rocks" had a devious Vorta betraying his loyal soldiers to guarantee his own survival. It wasn't the military scenario, the cool setting, or Sisko barking out orders that sold this episode for me. (Though Avery Brooks as usual did a nice job of that.) It was the tragic drama of a group of men with steadfast loyalty given over to die that made this show compelling, just as "The Ship" was compelling because it showed how men with too much comittment can forget to think before they act.
I guess what I'm getting at is that I liked "Rocks and Shoals" because I liked its bad guys. Kilana from "The Ship" is welcome to drop by DS9 anytime she likes, particularly as a Dabo girl, but she wasn't compelling as an enemy. Keevan here was. His betrayal was so... Vorta, and the smug look on his face at the end of the episode, as he inspected the bodies like they were game he had just poached, is one I will not forget for a long time. The Vorta aren't well known even amongst Trek fans (One person asked if they were like the Horta), but it's a credit to DS9's writers that they could create such a psychologically complex race while showing us only six of their kind (off the top of my head... Eris, Weyoun, Kilana, Keevan, the one from "Inferno," and the one from "The Search." Thank you.). Keevan certainly had logical justifications for wanting the Jem'Hadar to die, but he wasn't concerned with justifying his decision to anyone. It's almost as if he intentionally took the road that required the most manipulation, of all parties involved, and the only thing cared about was his own survival. An enemy easy to hate yet easy to relate to.
In stark constrast stood Remata'klan - loyal, no doubt, but loyal to a fault. He knows enough to know he is doomed - as pointed out, he was always a step ahead of Keevan - but his knowledge bound within the context of his identity as a Jem'Hadar. At many times in the past, I didn't understand the Jem'Hadar view of the Founders as being gods. I dismissed their loyalty as a matter of genetic programming. But Remata'klan helped clear things up for me a great deal. He believes he exists because of the order the Founders created. It makes sense for him to believe that he owes his life to them, since they gave him his life to begin with. As a result, he sees that life as nothing more than a tool for the Founders, a vessel that they may pour their will into through the Vorta. We're not suppose to totally understand his loyalty - like someone's religious faith, we as outsiders can't understand all the facets of their beliefs, and we never will. We do know that it was not a holy zeal, but the heart of a servant, that led Remata'klan to refuse Sisko's offer. Foolish of him, perhaps, but the most foolish tragedies tend to be the most noble ones as well.
The B-story was perhaps the most interesting B-story DS9 has done in awhile, certainly more interesting than O'Brien and Shakaar fighting over Kirayoshi. Vedek Yassim had no more than a token role in the show, and her views weren't expanded upon as much as I would have liked, but I can understand her position, especially considering that only a decade before Bajor was still a Cardassian province. Some might ask what good suicide does. I must agree. But as with Remata'klan, the Vedek saw her life as the walking manifestation of a belief. In a way it is reasonable to conclude that she must use her life to best promote that belief, even if it means ending that life in the process. It certainly worked in the case of her shocking suicide.
It worked for Kira as it did with me. She evidently didn't sleep the night following the Vedek's suicide, and I can't blame her. She's between a rock and a hard place. (Perhaps that's where the title comes from. I must admit it somewhat alluded me this week.) Odo was right - doing anything could threaten her position as Major on the station. Even worse, doing anything could jeopardize Bajor's treaty with the Dominion. She is justified in not acting. Yet, at the time, it was that same kind of attitude that may have made collaboration with the Cardassians possible in the first place. Furthermore, is it, as the Vedek said, simply a matter of right and wrong, logical consdierations aside? That seems to be Kira's conclusion, a conclusion I may not agree with but can certainly understand. Kira's story was a simple yet extremely effective piece of character drama.
So, overall, a two thought-provoking stories that mirrored each other nicely. The most well-done part of the episode, however, may have been the directing. Moore always seems to get the good directors - this was the best at least since "The Darkness and the Light," another Moore script. It was the little touches that made it work, like the suicide scene, conveyed to us through the Vedek's hat hitting the ground, as if the spirit of the Prophets had departed from here at the moment of death. Or Kira the next day in Ops, looking around in sudden guilt, as shown by showing the faces of those she was looking at. It gave the entire sequence a surreal quality - a quality appropriate, I suppose, for 5 in the morning. The locale for the planet also proved to be wonderful fodder for Vejar. The scenery this week may have looked like a quarry at long distances, but it gave a good feel to the episode and enhanced many of the action sequences a great deal thanks to Vejar's nice camera work.
There were other good aspects to the show as well. Jake had a nice role in the episode. He still isn't getting anywhere with his news stories, but his goading teenage boy attitude provided for some nice points of conflict between him and Kira. Odo represented the other end of the spectrum, the calm proponent of order. That may seem a bit stodgy of him, but we must keep in mind that he supported Kira and was willing to trust her judgment, something other changelings could never do.
So overall, quite an intriguing ride. The plot naturally was a bit rigged, and I wish Vedek Yassim was given more depth, but what was done with those two elements after they played out more than made up for things. A good, thought-provoking piece of work, and a nice contrast to last week's show. Let's keep this balance up.
Some short takes-
-On another point, Ron Moore seemed particularly committed to continuity his week, with references to two episodes during the show, "To the Death" and "Empok Nor." Nice work.
-If money doesn't exist, would hotels still have gift shops? Would there be hotels?
-Quark and Worf have had this week off and almost all of last week. One would have guessed it was they, not Colm Meaney, who held out at the start of filming.
-It never was explained why the Jem'Hadar cloaks stopped working, though it was necessary for them not to work to explain why they made such easy targets.
Writing: A couple of cliched scenes, but overall pretty good, with some nice dialogue and themes.
Acting: Excellent all around, with the exception maybe of Vedek Yassim, whose Universal Translator kept slurring words for some odd reason.
Directing: Some of the best DS9 has had in awhile, with long distance shots and reaction shots being the strong points.
Rating: 9.7 out of 10.0
Quote: Garak: Captain, Doctor.
Sisko: Are you two allright?
Garak: Perfect. And you?
Bashir: I've felt better.
Bashir and Sisko talking to Garak and Nog during the hostage exchange.
Next week: Growth hormone therapy certainly paid off for Alexander.
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