Meaney showcased while O’Brien and Bashir banter

Rhonda’s Take on Episode 13: “The Storyteller”

I noted Miles O’Brien’s cranky impatience in the last episode, but it is on full display in “The Storyteller”! From his first moments on screen, he is cranky. He tries to pass off his chauffeur responsibilities to an ensign, but as soon as Bashir appears, both Sisko and the audience understand his reluctance isn’t abandoning the station temporarily, but being stuck in a runabout with the arrogant doctor. This episode is an excellent showcase for Colm Meaney and a nice footnote in the relationship between the characters of Miles O’Brien and Jullian Bashir.

Normally, there’s a clear A story and B story in episodes from this time period. Obviously, from the title, O’Brien’s journey on the planet is intended as the A story. However, the secondary story that is occurring on the ship gets equal screen time and attention. As the A story showcases Meaney, the B story showcases Cirroc Lofton and Aron Eisenberg as affable teens with relatable desires (flirting with girls and teasing each other). It’s wonderful to see a male friendship and teen characters living adolescent lives! Both stories nicely dove-tail themes of community and leadership.

The Story of O’Brien & Bashir

Bashir is overjoyed to be on the runabout with O’Brien as a chance for the two to get to know each other, but O’Brien avoids talking, or even looking, at him for hours. Bashir asks O’Brien if the engineer finds him annoying. For the first time, Bashir demonstrates some self-awareness as he acknowledges to O’Brien that he has a “habit to run off at the mouth.” Despite saying that he will always give an honest answer, O’Brien does not admit that this is exactly the reason he was thinking about a “Phase 1 diagnostic,” instead of engaging in banter. The exchange when Bashir asks O’Brien not to call him “sir,” but “Julian,” is uncomfortable, but Meaney’s delivery of “Jul-i-an” a moment later is wince-inducing. By the end of the episode, O’Brien says, “Jullian,” with more ease, but Bashir backpedals and suggests that it is fine if he wants to call him, “Sir.” O’Brien’s smile says their relationship has reset.

I know that Star Trek episodes are often written and aired in different orders and it is a minor complaint, but I felt jarred by Sisko’s opening station log where he provides the exposition that he’s been asked to mediate between two groups on Bajor to prevent civil war. Isn’t that essentially what occured between the two factions in the last episode? Of course, the story pans out much differently than in “Battle Lines,” so I was able to move beyond my initial reluctance quickly.

The Story of our Teens

The Tetrarch, leader of the reclusive Paqu, is a young woman forced into making adult decisions without the benefit of years of living and years of mentorship in leadership. Gina Phillips, as the young leader, deftly moves between the petulance of youth and the strategic thoughtfulness of a mature leader. She throws her drink on Quark after he refers to her in what she perceives as the belittling term, “young lady,” and she accompanies Jake and Nog willingly on their misadventures. Yet, in the meetings with Woban, leader of the opposing Navot community, she is stoic. Some might consider her outbursts and declarations that he is trying to take advantage of her as symptoms of her gender and youth. If these same lines were delivered in the same tone by an older male actor, we would not hear them through this lens. She is correct, after all, that she does not have the benefit of her father’s long-respected and feared leadership to back her decisions. In the end, she learns to compromise from a position of power that will solidify her as her community’s leader.

This compromise, somewhat ironically, is suggested by Nog’s Rule of Acquisition #9: “Opportunity, plus instinct, equals profit.” Until this moment, Nog has been unable to string together coherent syllables in Varis’s presence, but he is so comfortable in his business acumen that he quickly sees and can verbalize a path for her. He knows that the way to a successful negotiation is finding the opportunity in which both parties will profit. The kiss she plants on his cheek before going into the negotiation room for the final time is well earned. While she has used Jake and Nog to gain insight into Sisko’s character, we feel a true sense of camaraderie between them. There is genuine laughter when she and Jake realize that Nog has not thrown Odo onto Jake, but simply filled Odo’s bucket with oatmeal. Her defense of their actions (“Didn’t you ever do something to impress a girl?”) is a gentle segue into her confession to Sisko that she has been lost without her parents.

One brief side note: We’ve seen Jake and Nog sitting in this corner to overlook the Promenade, but it is solidified as their place when Odo berates them for “dangling.” Our little DS9 watchers decided to name our blog “Ponderings from the Promenade” because the Promenade is so central to the show, but I like to think of us as extensions of Jake and Nog dangling our feet over the edge and soaking in everything.

Our DS9 watchers decided to name our blog “Ponderings from the Promenade” because the Promenade is so central to the show, but I like to think of us as extensions of Jake and Nog dangling our feet over the edge and soaking in everything.

Back to O’Brien & Bashir

Meanwhile, O’Brien and Bashir have been having an unexpected adventure. One in which O’Brien wears his fiercest cranky pants and Bashir fully enjoys bearing witness. O’Brien is the embodiment of science over religion so when the Sirah declares he has been sent by the Prophets, O’Brien starts searching for the scientific solution. Interestingly, the writers find a way to leave the religious and scientific debate for another day by having both as part of the cause and solution of the Dal’Rok. The stone used to control the Dal’Rok is a fragment of a celestial orb and it uses the emotional resonance of the villagers to both create the Dal’Rok and defeat it. The Storyteller needs only to lead them through the lows of the battle to the highs of victory. A neat little package of geology and imagination!

O’Brien is woefully short-sighted about Hovath, who tells him that he was the apprentice of the Sirah. O’Brien completely misses that Hovath has every right to be jealous that he’s been usurped by O’Brien. O’Brien is also oblivious to the innuendo that is clear to Bashir when the community leader brings three women to O’Brien (my feminist lens is choosing at this time not to delve further into this disappointingly misogynistic element of Bajoran culture). O’Brien is quick to declare, repeatedly, “He made a mistake,” while being completely incapacitated in finding a solution to the predicament. Poor O’Brien! It is Bashir who finally sees that Sirah carefully arranged the situation for Hovath to regain the people’s trust. Part of me wishes we’d heard more of the story being told. Part of me wants to put Sirah’s and the apprentice’s versions beside O’Brien’s in a creative writing lesson to discuss the arc of a story, how to lead an audience through the arc, and the importance of delivery. I kept wondering why O’Brien never asked anyone to teach him the story. Within the episode, his ignorance provides fodder for humor. It also reinforces the importance of oral traditions.

Last episode, I said that I really wished that Deep Space Nine would get the HD upgrade. This episode also made me long for it. It’s hard to believe that when the writers were creating the Dal’Rok that they envisioned a nebulous, if threatening, storm cloud as the beast. It is wonderfully realized with thunder and lightning and David Livingston’s upshots deftly mimic Charlton Heston’s Moses on the mountain from The Ten Commandments. However, wouldn’t it be interesting to see what the Okuda’s could do with modern technology? One thing that an upgrade wouldn’t improve is that the planet itself feels like a studio floor, rather than, well, a planet. In some ways, I found this charming, a small, unintended call back to the styrofoam rocks of TOS!

Share this: