{"id":2521,"date":"2021-04-09T17:01:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T22:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assend.net\/?p=2521"},"modified":"2021-05-06T01:27:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T06:27:21","slug":"deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-11-vortex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/2021\/04\/09\/deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-11-vortex\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Space 9 WatchParty (Phil) – Season 1, Episode 11 \u2013 Vortex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Happy Friday, everyone! This entry is going to be a bit different from my usual rants about DS9. There are a couple of reasons for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One, Drake and I actually watched this together, simultaneously, using Amazon\u2019s \u201cWatchParty\u201d feature.  It was a very pleasant time.  Normally we watch these separately, write up our posts, and then discuss them after-the-fact, more like a book club. That works pretty well, but the actual watch party was different, and nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two, this was actually a pretty good episode. I don\u2019t much to rant about. Whatever will I say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The episode opens with Odo in Quark\u2019s bar, irritating Quark. There\u2019s a new guy on the station, and he lurks in the background, but they studiously avoid involving him in any way. Of course he\u2019s going to be the primary focus of the episode!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interchange between Odo and Quark is gold, as usual. DS9 should just be a series about them, because they are by far the best, most interesting characters, and the conflict between them is natural and just breathes out little plot arcs all on its own. In this particular instance, Odo is scoping out the bar and ordering nothing, his \u201cusual.\u201d He manages to step on Quark\u2019s tail, and Quark tells him to order something or get out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quark then arranges for special bottle service for some unique \u201ccustomers,\u201d and Odo crashes that party via his clever magic trick of shape changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s my rant for the episode: whenever they pull the shape-changing trick of Odo\u2019s, I always think I\u2019ve missed something. The clues are there, but because Odo\u2019s shape-change ability doesn\u2019t respect the law of conservation of matter (or his density fluctuates greatly as he masses only a few ounces in his humanoid form), you can\u2019t ever really be sure what is going on with him. It is just \u201cmagic\u201d and you have to wait for them to tell you what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odo takes the form of a glass on a drinks tray to sneak in where he\u2019s not wanted. The bartender is Quark\u2019s younger brother Rom, who, in previous episodes, has already been established as an idiot. He doesn\u2019t notice the extra glass on the tray. They make sure to really focus on the glasses on the tray as it is carried, too. The camera lingers on it. But still, when the reveal happens, I wasn\u2019t fully sure that I hadn\u2019t missed something and that this wasn\u2019t a different entity other than Odo, because it doesn\u2019t follow any physical laws. Odo\u2019s mass changes with his form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
How many glasses do you see, Picard?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

\"\"
There are FOUR glasses! (and one Odo, and a bottle of something.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Anyway, we proceed forward. Two aliens are trying to fence a stolen MacGuffin via Quark, who is skeptical. Our main interest in the episode shows up and crashes the party, killing one of the aliens, Odo turns back into Odo from the broken glass and arrests everyone, and Quark plays up his legal righteousness being on the proper side of the law this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot hole on this is why the main interest was involved at all in this interlude. He has no reason and no interest to be there or be involved. Odo even fingers this plot hole in his interrogation, but the audience is distracted by Rom making a mess of things and Quark having to quickly usher him out. The hole is never mentioned again. Still, it is a great scene with Odo and Quark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The main plot is the newcomer. He\u2019s a liar, but a good one. He convinces Odo that he knows and has dealt with other shape shifters in the gamma quadrant. The newcomer is wanted on another planet in the gamma quadrant for various crimes, and DS9 is going to extradite him there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odo is tasked with delivering him safely, and there are few minor hiccups that are dealt with in due course. The long and the short of it all is that he has a key that shape changes and appears to share a great many characteristics with Odo. It is a shape shifter artifact, and possibly a lower form of life from the shape-shifting world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything the newcomer says is a lie, or close enough to make little difference. He will be executed on the planet he\u2019s being extradited to, however, and Odo slowly learns enough of him to bond with him somewhat. They are chased by an alien, the brother of the guy the newcomer killed on DS9. He has a faster ship than the roundabout Odo is in, so they duck into a vortex with explosive gas pockets to try to lose him. Odo is forced to trust his prisoner, they work together using teamwork to save the day and each other, and the prisoner lies again and takes Odo to where the key can be used. Odo thinks it will lead him to shape-shifters, but instead it unlocks the prisoner\u2019s daughter from some kind of sleep\/stasis chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odo is moved by the family, the risk the guy took to save his daughter, and the understanding of what it is to be alone in the universe. Odo lets the guy go and even helps him escape, and keeps the shape-shifter artifact-key. It ties him to something larger and gives him a clue about who he is. It lets him know that his people are out there, somewhere, and he\u2019s going to look for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

This is the best episode of the season up to this point. This was a genuinely good show. It did a lot for Odo\u2019s development. He is by far the most fleshed-out character on DS9 at this point, and the writers did the right things with this one. They set him up with something meaningful that will have future hooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We understand Odo better, we have seen his character, and we have felt his loss. We now value that little MacGuffin, the shape-shifter key, and it will have as much of a hold on the audience as it does Odo in the future. Hopefully they will not forget about it, and will use it to great effect to continue to build on Odo\u2019s character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Grade:  B<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Had this been my first exposure to DS9, this episode would have definitely brought me back to watch another. It isn\u2019t fantastic, mind-blowing, or paradigm altering. It was a solid, good episode, with compelling characters and a story well-told. What else do you want from a TV episode?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hopeful that this episode is the start of a trend with DS9, and we\u2019ll start climbing to new heights. I\u2019m sure there are going to be more valleys, but they have shown they can make some good TV. I\u2019m looking forward to more of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Friday, everyone! This entry is going to be a bit different from my usual rants about DS9. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, Drake and I actually watched…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26017,"featured_media":1946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,43,2,21,33,20],"tags":[28,27,24,29,32,31,30],"class_list":["post-2521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-space-9","category-phil","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\/2521","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=2521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2525,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521\/revisions\/2525"}],"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=2521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}