Ignore the Plot, Enjoy the Character Development

Rhonda’s Take on Episodes 2 & 3: “Past Prologue” & “A Man Alone”

Additional Spoiler Alert: Please note Rhonda combined reactions to both Episodes 2 & 3 this week. Please watch “Past Prologue” & “A Man Alone” if you haven’t watched Deep Space Nine previously.

After the superb pilot episode, “Emissary,” episodes 2 & 3 were facing a high bar of expectation. If we look too closely at the plot, we might be disappointed, but these episodes were strong on character development, particularly for Kira and Odo, who were forced to face decisions made under the Cardassian regime. Additionally, the writers continue to put in place details that will only grow in depth over the course of the series, including the relationship between Bashir and Garak.

Let’s talk about Kira

In “Past Prologue,” a fellow resistance fighter, Tahna Los, shows up at the station being chased by a Cardassian warship. O’Brien beams him from the exploding runabout and, as Kira catches his collapsing body, he says her name. Her recognition is less noticeable, but she jumps into protective mode demanding that Sisko provide sanctuary to the rebel.

We quickly learn that Tahna is a member of an extreme rebel faction called Kohn-Ma that has remained active despite the peace accords on Bajor. Tahna assures Sisko he has “had enough of the killing” and he promises Kira that any actions he might take will be peaceful, nonviolent. But while she works to arrange his asylum on Bajor, he is making deals with the Klingons to obtain the final ingredient he needs to create a bomb.

This episode forces Kira to confront her role as Major Kira, instead of Kira, the rebel, the freedom fighter. Tahna’s accusations to her about the “uniform dulled the fire” and her welcoming another controlling force rather than true freedom for Bajor externalize what we know has been brewing as internal conflict for Kira.

During their several scenes together, Tahna challenges her to confront who she was as a rebel and to reconcile that mission with her current role as an “accomplished politician.” She defends herself to him as having adapted to a new world, not losing her determination or love of Bajor. “The old ways don’t work anymore, everything is different now. I had to do this. One day you’ll understand,” she tells him.

Let’s talk about Nana Visitor

I have to wonder how long Nana Visitor practiced her angry strut. She displays it several times at the front end of this episode, but none more strongly in the scene where Kira and Sisko face off and she shouts her declaration that “My loyalties are to Bajor!” She maintains this position as she defends Kira’s choices to Tahna, “I’m fighting for Bajor in my own way.” 

Mid-way through the episode, Visitor has to tone down Kira’s anger as she goes to Odo for advice (absolution?) and her conversation (confession?) calls for the actress to balance strength with regret, confidence with guilt. The scene between them provides time for further development of Kira’s back story as she recounts violent decisions she made in the past. In her current position, she must betray her past or her future. Odo advises her, the “only important thing is not to betray yourself.” Her reply, “It was so much easier when I knew who the enemy was,” is tinged with sadness. 

Despite saying earlier in this scene that he is unable to imitate the human behavior of “pretense,” Odo shows his acute understanding of the Major as he calls for Sisko. We don’t need to see the scene that happens offscreen, where she tells Sisko of the Kohn-Ma’s plot. We understand that conversation happened when they next discuss her decision to join Tahna on his mission to discover the Kohn-Ma’s plans.

Let’s talk about Bashir and Garak

If you had asked me when Bashir and Garak started playing their Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy routine, I would’ve said much later into the series. Instead, here it is in the second episode and it is delightful!

The second episode opens on Garak as he joins Bashir in the replomat. Bashir’s discomfort is palpable as he says to Garak that the gossip on the station says he remained when all other Cardassians left to be “the eyes and ears of [his] fellow Cardassians.” Garak bristles only slightly at the accusation and calmly explains that he is “plain, simple Garak.” However, his hands on Bashir’s shoulders feel menacing as he departs.

Bashir excitedly runs to ops to tell the others, Garak contacted “me of all people!” When asked why Garak might make contact with him, Bashir has a litany of reasons he might want to steal his medical knowledge. When he suggests he should be fitted with a recording device, we roll our eyes right along with O’Brien.

Later in the episode, when Garak invites him to purchase a suit at a very specific time, we understand he is opening a door of communication between him and the Federation, but it takes Sisko explaining how some things cannot be handled through official channels for Bashir to understand the importance. It suddenly becomes very real the offer Garak has made him: “I promise to show you a suit that will make you a new man.”

Let’s talk about Jadzia and Sisko

Jadzia Dax has little to do in these first three episodes, perhaps because the casting of Terry Farrell occurred late into production. Her role has been utilitarian primarily as she efficiently gives reports or commands from her station. We also see her in reflection of the characters around her: Sisko who knew her as Curzon Dax and Bashir and Quark who would like to get to know the young Jadzia better.

Those new to the franchise might not know that her previous hosts did have romantic relationships and that Jadzia herself will in later seasons. Therefore, they might believe her excuses to Bashir that Trill steer away from romantic entanglements as a “weakness of the young.” Or they might feel like Bashir, who retains hope that Trill “try,” but might not succeed in evading romance.

Unlike Bashir and Quark, Sisko feels an immediate connection to Jadzia through his relationship through the Dax symbiont’s previous host, Curzon. He engages her in reminiscing, but she deflects him as well with carefully worded reassurances that he must miss Curzon, but that he can’t rely on their memories, and that he must embrace the awkwardness between them. She suggests he “feel comfortable in [his] discomfort.”

Let’s talk about Keiko and Miles O’Brien

People like to say that in the future that is Star Trek, division is absent and that members of the Federation are above arguments. The O’Briens are proof that is not the case.

While fans of The Next Generation have met Keiko before, the first time we see her on Deep Space Nine, she and Miles are arguing. She is torn between her pride in Miles’s promotion and the loss of her career as a botanist. This is understandable, but she seems so hateful as Miles tries to encourage her to bring her talents inside the space station. He suggests that greenery might brighten the Promenade, but she spits, “I don’t need favors from you!” There are so few married couples in the Star Trek franchise that it is disappointing to see one of the longest running portrayed with such animosity.

Throughout this episode, we feel no better about Keiko in her interactions with Miles or other members of the station. When she learns about Nog and Jake pranking a couple on the Promenade, she launches into a diatribe about children needing structure. She suggests they need a school. Miles gives her a thoughtful look that suggests he will encourage her to start one. We don’t see this part of the conversation and when she presents her proposal to Commander Sisko, she does so as if the idea is solely her own, but I like to think Miles pushed her toward it.

Let’s talk about Quark and Odo

Armin Shimerman and Rene Auberjonois have spoken at length about their friendship offscreen that started in the theater. In episode 3, “A Man Alone,” their friendship translates to chemistry on screen between the characters of Quark and Odo. As Odo faces discrimination from the Bajorans remaining on the station, who question his position as security chief, which he held under Cardassian rule, Quark comes to his defense several times both behind his back and to the shapeshifter himself. We know that Quark’s admiration of Odo is true and heartfelt, even though they have been at odds and will continue to be: Quark is a Ferengi whose business isn’t always above board, Odo is a stalwart of the law.

When Sisko relieves Odo of duty, the commander assures the security chief that Jadzia and Kira will have his best interests in mind. Odo retorts, “I’ll take care of my own best interests.”

Despite this declaration and the episode’s title, Odo is not a man alone. True, we see the Promenade first walk a wide berth around him, even Morn gets up from the bar! Then, he is harassed by a mob that hurls insults and objects at him. Yet, he has Kira to defend him with the Federation and he has Quark to defend him in the community. In fact, Quark follows Odo into the security office that has been trashed by vandals. The two spar as Quark teases that it is good news for him that Odo has been relieved of duty while also offering to find out who has committed the murder Odo is accused of.

Let’s talk about Armin Shimerman and Max Grodénchik

It’s clear from the first episode that Quark will be a valuable player on the space station when Sisko negotiates with him to stay and reopen his bar. In these episodes, Quark’s role continues to expand as several scenes occur in the bar and cries of “Dabo!” echo. Perhaps then, it is a reflection of the writing that Armin Shimerman seems to have not only dressed in Quark’s costume, but put on the role fully formed. Although I give credit to both the writing and Shimerman’s acting chops for birthing this character so completely. His careful balance of humor and treachery, his flirtation with first Kira and then his pleasure imagining the chase he will have to win Dax establish his “ladies’ man” demeanor, and his defense and teasing of Odo show his integrity.

I am interested in seeing when Max Grodénchik as Rom goes from the “Mr. Rom” we see in this episode to the Rom we love for his awkward buffoonery. We saw him in the background in the first episode, but here he gets a name and several spoken lines. He is more confident than I remember the character as he manages several Dabo tables while Keiko tries to convince him to send Nog to the school she is starting. His declarations that he taught Nog all he knows about business and that his son cannot learn from her, “a female,” are arrogant and misogynistic. These are not characteristics I would apply to Rom. Unlike Quark, I’m wondering if the writers assumed this character would only appear occasionally and so didn’t give much thought to his lines beyond fulfilling the stereotype developed for Ferengi as cutthroat business tycoons. Grodénchik captures the character as written for this episode, but, for a DS9 fan, it’s amusing to see him in this original characterization.

Let’s talk about Theme

The theme that was primary in the pilot episode about the role of religion in the daily lives of our characters is absent from these episodes, but other themes continue to be developed. 

“Past Prologue” had particular resonance with our modern era of nationalism swallowing so much of our political system, not just in the United States, but in other countries. Tahna Los argues with Kira that their only goal was and should be, “Bajor for Bajorans!” Her conflict about betraying her people or supporting the Federation, which she believes is necessary for Bajor’s long-term survival addresses the ideas of nationalism versus imperialism. While the characters wrestle with these extremes, they do not decide on a balanced medium between them. We also see that Kira is dealing with what we would today call post-traumatic stress. While threaded into Kira’s narrative in this episode, her guilt as a survivor is not fully addressed, but we assume it will not be the last time we see this struggle.

“A Man Alone” focuses on the Us versus Them further as the Bajoran mob harasses Odo as a “shapeshifter.” He can literally shapeshift as we see him do into a rat in this episode, but there’s also the metaphor of him “shapeshifting” to fit with the Cardassians and now the Federation. When the mob declares they are only seeking justice, Commander Sisko demands of them, “Is it justice or some way to express your fear and anger?” Much has been written and discussed about Avery Brooks playing the first Black lead in Star Trek and I am sure that I will write about it myself in future episodes. Removed from 1993 (a year after the Rodney King riots), this line still has the added meaning of being delivered with such power from a Black leader to a white mob.

Let’s talk about plot holes SPOILER ALERT*If you need another one!

I was enthralled by the characters watching these episodes and enticed by the continued development of several themes. However, I can’t overlook two rather major flaws in both stories.

In “Past Prologue,” Kira takes Tahna through the wormhole where he impotently explodes the bomb he’d planned to use in the wormhole. How are we to believe this didn’t destroy planets or life on that side of the wormhole when the threat was made that it would destroy half of Bajor or spread radiation across a sector if Sisko and O’Brien blew up the runabout while it was in warp? At this point in the series, we don’t know what is on the other side of the wormhole, but it seems flippant for our characters not to worry about a diplomatic incident.

In “A Man Alone,” Commander Sisko dispenses with the clone they’ve created in one line of his Captain’s Log: “he started a new life.” Are clones so common in the future? Is there no controversy in having grown a being as part of a criminal investigation? Who bears responsibility for the education, both academic and moral, for this new life?

While neither of these points are vital to the stories being told, they feel like huge oversights from the writers who otherwise have proven so adept.

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