 |
||
 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
 |
The Sacrifice of Angels (Part Two of Two) Airdate: Week of
November 1st, 1997
Written by: Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler
Directed by: Allan Kroeker
In short: Wow.
Brief Summary: The Defiant, having survived the battle with the Dominion fleet, enters the newly opened wormhole where Sisko faces the Prophets. Meanwhile, Dukat's relationship with his daughter reaches a tragic end.
Review:What is there to say? This show had it all - action, drama, humor, baseball, tragedy, the works. It certainly could have used some fine tuning in the plot in a few places, but that only comes to me as an afterthought. The episode itself swept me away, had me angry at commercial breaks. TV rarely gets more compelling. It was like actually being at a movie, yet so much better. Movies don't have characters so rich, storylines so intricate. It's shows like these that I point out to others when they ask, "Why are you a fan of DS9?"
What a way to start a show, with certain doom being eminent. I felt the pacing of the battle could have been handled better (what lasted seconds to us apparently lasted hours), but besides that I thought it was incredibly exciting. Of course, some of the best special FX in the history of TV will do that for you. But it was more than that. It was how the battle played out. Yes, it's simple to say they have to break through and the Cardassians will let them, but it turns out the Cardies are tricking them but they'll go through anyway because it's their only chance (Maybe that wasn't so simple to say.). From a dramatic stadnpoint, though, such a simple set up works very well, since it allows the fighting to be focused on one question. In any regard, the battle was incredibly intense, but also moving. Perhaps the real "Sacrifice of Angels" was the death of those fighter wings that served as cannon fodder for the Cardassians in the battle's early stages, paving the way for the eventual breakthrough. And I know I was cheering out loud when the Klingons came from nowhere to show the Dominion how it is done. That's what made it so exciting. The episode balanced dire straits with fortuitous interventions in a believable manner, and it made for some absolutely incredible TV.
Odo's turn was certainly one of those fortuitous events. Much as I dislike last-second rescues, I liked how they kept it in suspense here, giving us only the evidence of Bajoran phaser fire to signal as something being up. Many will complain, of course, about Odo's turn, but I don't see their complaints as legitimate. Odo did have his reason, and he said it: Major Kira. It wasn't the Alpha Quadrant that he was ultimately worried about it - it was her. In that regard, he hadn't changed that much from "Behind the Lines." Like any inductee into cult, he still has his attachments to the world that stay there after the initial high is gone. His was Kira, and it proved strong enough to pull him back to reality and out of "paradise." Now that he is back in the limbo of being a shifter among solids, I would what his penance will be. Somehow I suspect we'll see the Female Shifter a couple of more times before this year is up.
Speaking of penance, the entire Federation was rescued because one man accepted penance from the Prophets. I see no problem with using them. I do see a problem if the Prophets are not used. They are suppose to have an interest in Bajor, after all. Cries of Deus Ex Machina, strangely appropriate because of the literally divine intervention here, can be dismissed I feel because of this. The idea was set up in the first episode of the show for crying out loud, and loomed over the entire war as it began to escalate. How many times has the Federation been rescued by last second techno-solutions? Here, the good guys were lucky. The Dominion is better, but the Feds won on a technicality. The good guys certainly tried, of course, but in the end it wasn't enough. That's fascinating to me, and as icing on the cake we still have a critical political situation that will be kicked around for sometime to come. I was highly disappointed by the end of the Shadow War on B5, not because of the philosophy, but because the enemies apparently just gave up and left. That didn't happen here, meaning even in the midst of divine intervention we have a touch of realism.
The motivation of the Prophets was almost amusing to watch. On one hand, they clearly have an interest in the corporeal matters of Bajor and the Sisko. But at the same time they wanted to shirk from that responsibility. In a strange way that seems like the behavior of distant deities, beings that works hard enough to win the loyalty of their followers but not hard enough to make them responsible to their followers in return. The Prophets have been gone from DS9 for too long; let's hope they'll return too, this time with Kai Winn with them.
I'm still not sure what to think of what Sisko himself was thinking. Was the Prophets Plan B? It sure didn't seem that way. For a man who has supposedly accepted the role of Emissary, I think it is a much better idea for him to enter the wormhole knowing that is an option, and to try to communicate to the Prophets. Understandingly, this suggests he is praying and thus smacks of real divine intervention, and I could understand why the writers would avoid that. Instead they chose to have him stand and fight. I'm perfectly fine with this choice except this: Sisko needed a better backup plan. Why not destroy the Defiant, thus taking out the wormhole with it? That would seem to justify the divine intervention even more, since the Prophets would have to protect themselves from the game ending for them too.
What will his penance be? I have ideas, of course - what if he gets Kalla Noora and cannot go near Bajorans, for example - but I suspect we're talking about something much larger. Ron Moore recently admitted that they didn't know where Sisko's vision would lead when they had it. Perhaps the same thing is happening here. Either way, it's good to see the writers aren't tying things up too nicely. War is messy, and a conclusion to it shouldn't have nice clean edges.
Dukat certainly had pretensiosn of godhood. A man so deluded that he thinks Bajorans should honor him, yet so frail that one defeat totals him. One could detect a slight trace of good in him when he tried to defend Earth from Weyoun. But power has corrupted him absolutely, convincing him that everything he does is justified since he is (Elmo) Dukat. The sad irony of it is, it's all his fault. Had he not been so sluggish in taking down the minefield, the events of "Sacrifice" would have never happened. I think he may very well have realized that as he stumbled down the Promenade to find his daughter. A chapter has closed on this absolutely compelling character. It'll be interesting to see where this next chapter takes us. Kudos to Marc Alaimo for an absolutely wonderful performance.
The final catalyst for Dukat's plunge into madness was the death of Ziyal. I knew she was going to die beforehand, yet I was taken by surprise as to how she went. It was quite sudden, yet made sense nonetheless. Damar had two motivations for killing her, both well laid out. He wanted his leader to come with him, much in the manner of Garak's loyalty to the defeated Tain. Also, the half-Bajoran Ziyal was indeed a traitor to her father and Cardassia, and in the mind of the patriot Damar, that is a crime punishable by death. What else can be said of this, except it was extremely tragic that she had to die, almost as if it were fated by nature itself that a Bajoran and a Cardassian can't exist in the same body. The innocent angel went her own way, tried to work the road in the middle between Cardassian and Bajoran, and paid for it with her life. It's sad to see such an intriguing character go, but in a strange way her dying was the most appropriate way her character could further develop. Very sad.
Nothing else of extraordinary note may have happened, but it will still a joy to watch because of the characters. Quark usually has a snide comment. After killing two men, however, he is strangely yet appropriately silent. It's says a lot that he would risk his bar to save his brother. Kira and Rom mainly moved the plot and had little to work with here, but it was good to seem them working together, fighting for what they believe in. Weyoun as usual was a treat, especially as he goaded Dukat. I can't help but think that the slimeball was more worried about himself than the Changeling when he "made way for the Founder" as the station was being evacuated. Bashir, O'Brien, and Garak had their usual witticisms, of course, but Garak had something much larger to deal with: the death of Ziyal. He may never find out why she loved him, but I do hope he finds out how she died and acts upon it. It will be interesting to see if Garak avenges the death of the disillusioned half-Cardassian in a very Cardassian way.
Goodness, I hate to do it but the show did have problems. There were some tiny plot holes, like where did those ships around DS9 go once the Defiant arrived, but that's not my concern. Behr and Beimler just seem to get the military scenario so right yet so wrong. They build up a premise - two dimensional space fighting - that is completely wrong, but they proceed to create a wonderful story with it. It's wonderful dramatically but nitpicks drive me crazy. And the realism needs some tweaking. For example, have another couple of ships make it through like the Defiant. Then take it a step further. A mention was made of Captain Reynolds from "A Time to Stand" and the Cortes from "Favor the Bold." Come on now, there's more ships and captains in the Federation than that. Make up a name, spread your wings. It's a small thing, I know, but if Cindy Crawford has one blemish, it gets more attention. Same principle here.
Those are tiny things that I'm sure answers can be found for. Other things in the show won't provide answers so easily. This episodes has set up so much. It's ironic that as it answered so many questions it proceeded to pose for the viewers so many more. How will the war proceed from this point? Who is in charge of Cardassia now? Damar? How is the Female Shifter going to try to persuade Odo after this? How will Garak find his revenge? What is going to happen with the Jemmies concerning Ketracel White? How is Kira going to forgive Odo? And perhaps most intriguing of all, what will Sisko's penance be? What do they mean by him not finding rest on Bajor? There's a whole lot of material left for this show to cover, which means the fun isn't over yet.
That about sums it up, for me and the war arc. It was a wonderful series of stories that I'll never forget. "Sons and Daughters" needed a little more relevance, but hopefully future work with Alexander will redeem it. My hope is that as the war enters a new phase the writers continue to maintain what made the war stories so strong: characters. Looking at the next few episodes, it looks like we'll have that. But that's a ways off. Last week, I couldn't wait for "Sacrifice." Now I'm not so sure I care what follows right now. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I think I'll take a nap.
Some short takes:
- The impression last week was that the battle would be near the station. After all, we could see a tiny DS9 in the closeup of the enemy fleet. Turns out it was at least a warp jump away.
- The best thing about the Light Brigade reference was that, like the soldiers at the Battle of Baklava (or is that a dessert?), the Federation only numbered 600. Nice touch.
-Odo's Vader parallel was further strengthened with the shot of him stepping over dead bodies.
- Two more Star Wars moments: the Klingon rescue with the sun in the background was very similar to Han Solo's rescue in A New Hope. The blasting door sequence with Major Kira, while not a direct lift from the scene in ANH, still made me think of it.
-Jake's job as a reporter was pretty much dropped. That's a shame, since there were opportunities to make random mentions of it.
Good night that one Dominion ship was HUGE!
-Talk about misdirection. The hasperat sequence was the perfect ruse for the guard. I loved it.
Writing: Excellent in so many regards. Battle needed to be a little clearer, but, hey, who cares?
Acting: Average - which is to say, it was outstanding. Alaimo in particular was incredible. Give this man another episode!
Directing: Strong stuff from Kroeker. Most noteworthy was the death of Ziyal, where the camera panned way from her and Dukat by following the floor. Great stuff.
Rating: 9.7 out of 10.0
Quote: "Of course it will. You have nothing to hide, do you? (Leeta walks by) ... You certainly don't."
-Damar, keeping his mind on his job.
Next week: All I need is to see a male stripper on DS9.
| |
|
|
||
|
NAVIGATION PADD | ||
| ||