{"id":2086,"date":"2021-03-26T17:01:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T22:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assend.net\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2021-03-17T01:54:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T06:54:19","slug":"deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-7-dax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/26\/deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-7-dax\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Space 9 WatchParty (Phil) – Season 1, Episode 7 – Dax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Initially, I was not really certain what to make of this episode.  It isn\u2019t good, but I\u2019m not going to rant.  I was mostly uninterested throughout.  There are a few items I\u2019d like to touch on, but this will likely be a shorter column from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary Plot<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The primary plot is about politics. Politics and the interactions of politics, treaties, and legalities between three imaginary political bodies, only one of which had I any inkling of prior to starting this WatchParty project. If you\u2019re into this sort of thing, and you\u2019re deeply familiar with the universe\/setting, this may be a great episode for you.  If not, well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a comparison, what if the plot was about an attempted kidnapping by the Tamil Tigers of a Canadian diplomat in Australia for some reason.  It might make a pretty good yarn, but I\u2019m not going to be tempted to pay much attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, some aliens kidnap Dax as an \u201cextradition\u201d attempt for a crime that the previous version of Dax, before the current, attractive trap became Dax.  See?  You already don\u2019t care, don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the kidnapping attempt if there is a mandatory extradition treaty (apparently there is, with the Federation).  Because technically they are on Bajoran soil on DS9.  Technically.  So, we have to go through a whole song and dance and have a hearing on whether or not Dax could and should be extradited and what it all means for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple of decent things that come out of this episode.  The first is this woman:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Grade AA juevos on this chikadee<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s a delight in everything I\u2019ve ever seen her in.  I\u2019m ashamed to say I can\u2019t name a single other thing I\u2019ve seen her in, and I could not tell you her name.  But every time she\u2019s on screen on something I happen to be watching, she always does a great job.  She\u2019s natural, fantastic, and just hits it out of the park.  She\u2019s a joy in this episode, and probably the single best actor on a DS9 set so far (John De Lancie as Q is right with her\u2014it\u2019d be a fun argument).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this particular episode, she\u2019s a bureaucrat who hates bureaucracy. She\u2019s old and doesn\u2019t want to waste time with formal fluff. She wants short answers, plain language, and getting to the point. She\u2019s a breath of fresh air as a judge for any courtroom drama on TV anywhere, and in the Star Trek universe she\u2019s like a 1.21-gigawatt beacon of common sense blasting out from the middle of a fetid, damp, dank swamp of bureaucratic malaise. Her best line is, “I intend to be here to supper, not senility.” She’s Grade AA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing worth mentioning in they do get into some reasonably interesting, and possibly even thought-provoking territory about what it means to be a person. Since the Trill are a symbiont consisting of a host and a space-cockroach-possessor, and since the crime took place prior to the current host even being born, who is at fault, who is guilty, etc.? This could have been explored more, and had some potential pro-life arguments too, which, come to think of it, may be why they dropped it and moved on. In 1993 abortion was still a very much hotly debated issue, and even if they wanted to talk about it on Star Trek, they damn sure wouldn\u2019t have wanted to come down on the pro-life side of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, the entire political and legal maneuvering of the entire episode comes to naught. Why? Because the murder they want to try Dax for didn\u2019t involve Dax at all. It comes out that Dax was banging the wife of the guy he-Dax was thought to have murdered, and this is revealed by the bangee wife to get now she-Dax off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sensing a trend here with the writers.  They try to come up with something complicated (failing), let it all play out, and then have a \u201ctwist,\u201d that surprises you. But the twists they keep coming up with end up undermining the entire plot of the episode and making it all irrelevant.  When they do that with Indiana Jones, you get all the fun of an Indiana Jones movie out of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Affected the plot not at all, but we got a great ride out of it.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When they do that with Clue and show you three different endings and keep showing you all the potential holes of the plot, but they do so cleverly with fun and humor (and Yvette\u2026 oh Yvette), you get all the fun of a Clue movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
There there, Yvette… It’ll all turn out alright.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When they do it with DS9, you Sisko and the impotent Federation just kinda stumbling through it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode had about 5 minutes of content in it.  Let\u2019s play a little Clue and show you how it could have happened:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Kidnappers attempt to kidnap Dax.<\/li>
  • Dax abduction thwarted.<\/li>
  • Kidnappers try to claim extradition.<\/li>
  • Kidnappers have no extradition treaty with Bajor, hence the kidnapping.<\/li>
  • I would suspect that kidnapping is illegally universally. Attempts to kidnap on Bajoran soil under joint Federation administration is illegal in both Bajor and Federation territory.<\/li>
  • Arrest kidnappers for breaking the law.<\/li>
  • Kidnappers assert diplomatic immunity.<\/li>
  • Sisko allows kidnapper gov\u2019t to send diplomats to assert diplomatic immunity case while holding actual kidnappers in jail.<\/li>
  • Sisko Persona-Non-Gratas kidnappers when pressed, kicking them out of Federation space permanently.<\/li>
  • Kidnapper gov\u2019t can now send a diplomatic envoy to press an extradition claim to both the Federation and Bajor. Since they\u2019ve already attempted to kidnap the target, this will be an uphill battle to prove that the extradition attempt isn\u2019t in bad faith.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This does several things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. It makes Sisko look smart and competent, instead of stupid and impotent.<\/li>
    2. It keeps Dax safe for years. This isn\u2019t going to play out quickly.<\/li>
    3. It provides a recurring plot point and complication to play out over the course the show. Dax is involved in something, have a vague legal threat hanging over her head… I\u2019m sure it could be played up to be actually interesting.<\/li>
    4. It avoids a silly \u201cinfidelity saves the day\u201d ending while also ramping up some of the political drama and providing a \u201cmodel U.N.\u201d real diplomatic piece for the Star Trek nerds to nerd out about.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Instead, we have lame, dumb Sisko who can\u2019t assert himself. He\u2019s impotent and he knows it, and through him we know it of the Federation too. Maybe there\u2019s a reason Sisko got the job out in the ass-end of space at DS9. Maybe he did fail upwards, and the rest of the Federation doesn\u2019t really suck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I guess we\u2019ll find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Other Thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      It turned into a rant, didn\u2019t it?  Oh bother\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Final Grade:  D-<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Initially, I was not really certain what to make of this episode.  It isn\u2019t good, but I\u2019m not going to rant.  I was mostly uninterested throughout.  There are a few items I\u2019d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26017,"featured_media":1946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,21,33,20],"tags":[28,27,24,29,32,31,30],"class_list":["post-2086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-space-9","category-reviews","category-sci-fi","category-star-trek","category-tv","tag-deep-space-9","tag-ds9","tag-reviews","tag-sci-fi","tag-star-trek","tag-television","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2086"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2176,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions\/2176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}