O’Brien takes action

Rhonda’s Take on Episode 5: “Captive Pursuit”

Before I can address anything else, I have to address the opening scene and how it is completely forgotten by the credit sequence. We open on a Dabo girl complaining to Commander Sisko about Quark’s sexual harassment and that her contract actually requires what is implied to be sexual favors, but Sisko doesn’t finish reading aloud the wording so we are left to imagine the details. He promises that he will take care of it, but we don’t find out that he has followed through. This was horrendous behavior in 1993, but in our #MeToo era, this is an especially jarring scene and especially disappointing not to have resolved. Quark will go on to be his misogynistic, beloved, yet infamous, bartender without repercussions. I include myself in the fans of Quark, even though I can’t reconcile this. (Jim tried to make me feel better by saying that there’s a lot of Quark’s behavior we aren’t meant to like.)

We never get back to this Dabo girl’s complaint because this episode is not about Quark’s shenanigans, rather Miles O’Brien gets another episode and this time he isn’t merely a cipher for the other events that occur, like in “Babel,” but an actual player and catalyst for the action.

The captive being pursued is Tosk, an alien from the Gamma Quadrant, who happens through the wormhole a few days before his pursuers. During this time, O’Brien is assigned to Tosk (played exquisitely by Scott MacDonald) and he adopts Tosk like a stray puppy who needs protection and guidance. Tosk is cagey about what has happened to damage his ship, but opens enough to O’Brien for the two to repair Tosk’s ship. I found Tosk’s reactions to the station endearing as O’Brien gives him a tour of the station, but I couldn’t help thinking that O’Brien shouldn’t be giving out so much specific information to an unknown player, especially when Tosk is asking about the defensive weapons capability of the station. Like O’Brien, the audience feels both a softness for Tosk and a suspicion about his intentions because of the careful writing of his character. For example, he thanks O’Brien sincerely for his help, but, as soon as O’Brien leaves, he turns to the computer and asks for the exact location of the weapons storage and we are left to wonder why he is so nervous and clearly preparing to battle whoever comes through the wormhole after him.

“I have no tolerance for the abuse of any life form!”

~Commander Benjamin Sisko

Of course, it isn’t long before his pursuers arrive and resume the hunt without regard for the residents on the station as if it has always been a court for their game. A traditional Star Trek discussion of rights of sentient beings unfolds between the leader of these new arrivals and Commander Sisko. While not a direct call to arms for anti-slavery arguments, Sisko’s declaration, “I have no tolerance for the abuse of any life form,” can’t help but feel like one. This  conversation late in the episode is another reason the lack of resolution of Quark’s abuse of the Dabo girl feels like such a harmful oversight. One defense of the Hunters’ Most Dangerous Game proceedings is that Tosk is sentient only because they’ve granted the race sentience. He declares that Tosk are not abused, but revered for their role in their culture. Without ever saying the words, the audience is forced to consider whether they should become vegan! Our consciences are assuaged when Tosk confirms his feelings to O’Brien that he “cannot hide.” He says, “It’s against everything I believe… to stay [in the Alpha Quadrant] would be a bigger dishonor… I will not deny my existence as Tosk.”

O’Brien is left to his cups in Quark’s Bar until Quark gives him the sage advice, “Rules are subject to interpretation!” O’Brien finds a way to provide Tosk his honor by returning him to the hunt while allowing Sisko to follow Federation protocols of non-interference. Sisko is one of my favorite captains and we see the glimmers of subversion that make him so different from other Starfleet captains in this episode. He instructs Odo to apprehend Tosk and O’Brien, but that there is no hurry. When O’Brien notes that he and Tosk did not have trouble getting back to Tosk’s ship, Sisko says, “I guess that one got by us.” O’Brien departs and we end on Sisko’s mischievous grin to camera.

Possible spoiler warning for those new to DS9, but something I want to pose to my fellow viewers making their repeated trek through these episodes: I couldn’t help thinking how much “Tosk” reminded me of a Jem’Hadar (another alien from the Gamma Quadrant that we won’t meet until future seasons). In fact, MacDonald will return as Goran’Agar, a Jem’Hadar, during the fourth-season episode, “Hippocratic Oath.” In “Captive Pursuit,” his rather reptilian makeup, squat stature, and square shoulders provide the same physical bearing. There are indications that he is genetically altered or grown. He can camouflage himself so well that he appears to disappear. He doesn’t need sustenance because his own body provides nourishment. This last detail really alerted me to thoughts of Ketracel White. The Tosk and the Hunters, with their more dog-like facial structures, seem to stick to their agreement to keep the wormhole and, therefore, the station out of bounds as we do not see them again.

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