I’m not sure I remember this episode. But as I’m late due to playing hookie reading Fables, let’s dive in.
Stardate 46729.1 OK, this does sound familiar, there’s a land dispute between two Bajoran factions, the Paku and the Navat or something. Chief O’Brien is heading to Bajor with Dr. Bashir for some medical emergency that could wipe out a village. And the leader of the Paku is a young girl who looks about 14. I think I did see this one before, but I don’t remember much about it.
Heading down to the planet with Bashir and O’Brien, the latter who has some undisclosed aversion to this mission. Julian tries to make friends with O’Brien who is uncomfortable. The arrive on site at the village, and there’s a sick old man who will cause the whole village to die if he dies for some as yet undisclosed, but no doubt sci-fi reason.
Back to the station, where the conference is ongoing. And Quark comes in with refreshments, highlighting the fact that the Paku girl is very young and female, for which she throws her drink in his face. She’s been over the top on the strong woman bit, the pressure of being a young female being thrust into power is apparent. She walks off in a huff, just like a cool-headed leader wouldn’t.
Now Jake and Nog are sitting on the upper level of an atrium. Jake wants to play baseball, but Nog doesn’t because it’s “slow and boring,” though Jake surmises it’s because Nog can’t hit Jake’s curveball. Odo comes by and chastises them for “dangling.” Then Nog sees the Paku leader walk buy and takes an immediate shine to her (she is quite pretty, I totally would have back in the day).
Back to sick old man. Old man says that O’Brien was sent by the prophets. So, there’s a Dalrok that comes to destroy the village and the old man is the only one strong enough to defeat it, but the danger lies in the fact that he’s in the process of dying of old age. Maybe O’Brien can fight it off. This is feeling familiar, though only very vaguely.
Nog and Jake go to meet the aforementioned Paku princess, Vera Sul. Typical teenage chatting occurs and they decode to go somewhere to watch the wormhole.
O’Brien and Old Man prepare to fight the Dalrok, which is a weird clod thing that doesn’t register on the tricorder, but causes wind and throws bit rocks at the village. The villagers seem to be able to ward it off by thinking they are strong, but the old man keels over and they appear to be doomed, so this is probably a good time for a commercial. Old Man says that O’Brien is his successor, and must cheerlead against the Dalrok, which appears to be feeding off their feelings of strength, hey it was sci-fi reason. Old Man dies and now O’Brien is positioned to take his place. Not like O’Brien was planning on moving here, though. Perhaps he can take an annual cheerleading vacation? This Dalrok shows up for 5 nights a year.
To Quark’s bar… Kira walks in and orders a double strong drink. The negotiations are not going well. The Princess is usurping Kira’s role of being needlessly defiant! The Princess visits Sisko to get a side negotiation of some kind, he thinks she’s being unreasonable. He does shake her confidence that her people are as willing to die for the land as she is.
Nog and Jake are searching for the Princess. They find her and she says she has something people want and Nog say this might be an opportunity for her to get something she wants from them – great idea Nog! Jake and Nog both say that they ask their dad’s for help, but Jake’s dad is helpful, while Rom is an idiot, and her dad is dead. Odo comes by with a warning tone in his voice, and they skedaddle, to which Odo smiles, and I crack up because the smile looks funny.
Man, I’m only halfway through this episode, what a slog. I’m pretty sure I did see this only once nearly 30 years ago and it is very forgettable. Bashir and O’Brien are now discussing his new position in life. O’Brien resolves to uses SCIENCE to remedy the situation.
Back on the station, negotiations continue nowhere, and the Princess is depressed. Nog and Jake come over, which gives Nog an opportunity to teach her more about the power of Ferengi negotiation, and us about the 9th rule of acquisition: Opportunity + Instinct = Profit. [1] Which has now made this episode worthwhile. Nog decides to celebrate by stealing Odo’s bucket. Ha! A heist mission ensues. Nog grabs a fancy bucket, presumably Odo’s, and spills it on Jake which is obviously oatmeal and not Odo, a “hilarious” practical joke! Okay, it was funny, but not hilarious. Then Odo walks in, of course, and they all get caught, Princess and all. Sisko sees it, too.
Down on the plant, O’Brien is finding neutrinos and blessing children, and being generally bothered by petitioners. He freaks out, and murders the whole village. No wait, that’s Attack of the Clones. Just testing if you were still awake. I am, but barely. So the real successor tried to murder O’Brien out of some kind of jealousy or something. Dun dun dun!
So they control the Dalrok with an orb fragment as a way of frighting the villagers into cooperating over a common enemy, like in Watchmen. So, the leader, the Sirrah, gets to wear these robes that look like a snazzy smoking jacket.
The obvious plot here is to get the “real” successor to take the job, which they probably will do by having O’Brien fail and he’ll take the reins. Also the negotiations, which clearly the Princess will be trading something for the land. Whew, we’re going to make it through this episode after all! Boring-ish though not insignificant scene between Princess and Sicko ensues. She really should give up that land, though, if Kaskaskia, IL is anything to go by.
Chief O’Brien fails so that successor can save the day, just as I predicted / half-remembered.
On the station, we complete the negotiations with resounding success, and Nog gets a kiss from the Princess before Odo whisks him and Jake off to clean his office they messed up with oatmeal. The end!
Final grade: D
Oof, this was a tough one to get through, maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood, but it still wasn’t a really a good episode. “Slow and boring” describes it pretty well.
1. For those counting, this is the second Rule of Acquisition we have learned in DS9 to date.