“
HEART OF STONE”
“Oh, it’s you, Major! For a second I thought you were a Horta.”
I’m going to start off with the Nog plot, which is by far the easiest to talk about. Given that Nog was borderline unbearable in the previous episode, it doubtlessly came as a tremendous surprise to all just what a brilliant renaissance the character undergoes here—in the beginnings of what many fans justifiably claim as one of the most remarkable character arcs in Trek history.
For much of the episode, my reactions pretty much mirrored Sisko’s, as I kept waiting to find out what Nog’s nefarious angle was. After all, this is the kid whose introduction in the pilot found him looting a shop. Despite his earnestness, it was hard to take him at face value here; until, that is, that wonderful scene in Sisko’s office—which, I have to say, ranks among my favourite scenes of the entire franchise. Both Aron Einsenberg and Avery Brooks are utterly tremendous in one of the most unexpectedly emotional scenes in the show’s entire seven years. There’s something wonderfully Star Trekky about this; about Nog’s desperation to better himself and strive to become all he’s capable of being. His exhortation that he doesn’t want to be like his father cuts deep, particularly as this begins the retcon of Rom as a “mechanical genius” who has squandered his life living in Quark’s shadow. This sows the seeds of Rom’s own upcoming arc, and I particularly love the scene where he finally stands up to his domineering brother and lends Nog his support for joining Starfleet.
This whole sub-plot is just wonderful, and is frankly miles better than any of the Wesley-joining-Starfleet material we got on TNG. Given what we’ve seen of Nog in the past, this story perhaps had the potential to seem contrived and phoney, but it’s a testament to the writing and acting that it all works so beautifully.
Although I’m not aware of any real thematic connections with the Nog storyline, the Odo/Kira plot is also strong, although I found it altogether more difficult to watch, for reasons I’ll elaborate on in a moment. This is a story with a killer twist, and one that, being in the UK and months behind the US airings, was spoiled for me beforehand. It’s set up nicely and I think works well for the most part.
In spite of the start of the season promising to forever change the status quo, it’s surprising that, aside from the lone Jem’Hadar boy in “The Abandoned”, we’ve seen NOTHING of the Dominion since. This, therefore, serves as a welcome reminder that the threat still exists and demonstrates the insidious and duplicitous nature of Dominion’s reconnaissance and intel gathering. It’s also unnerving to realise that the Founders’ ability to mimic others is, despite appearances, far superior to Odo’s, seeding the idea that basically anyone might be a Changeling. I have to say that although she’s only on screen for a couple of minutes, Salome Jens is supremely unnerving and sinister as the soft-spoken matriarch of the Great Link. We won’t see her again for a season and a half (the fourth season finale “Broken Link”, if I recall), but she certainly leaves an impression.
This storyline brings to the fore Odo’s unrequited feelings for Kira, in a painful admission that’s beautifully performed by Rene Auberjonois. It’s utterly tragic that the only thing that tips off Odo to the fact this Kira is an imposter are the words “I love you, too”. It’s hard not to feel for the Constable. If there’s one big problem with these scenes it’s on the production side. The crystal blob that’s supposedly devouring Kira’s body looks like something we might have seen on the TOS set thirty years earlier. I feel it may have worked better had the crystal been created in post-production with visual effects rather than this cumbersome and unconvincing prop; although that may have broken the budget in an episode which already featured a number of morphing effects. Between that and the drab cave set, it’s not a great episode visually.
I also have to address the elephant in the room, and the reason I find this a difficult and unpleasant episode to watch. During the filming of this episode Nana Visitor endured a horrific experience (one that she’s only publicly spoken about in the past couple of years), which left her with terrible PTSD. I don’t want to go into details in this thread, but knowing what I know now makes this a painful episode to watch. Basically, in seven years, we never see Kira quite as broken as she is here, and I can’t shake the feeling that Nana’s tears throughout the cave scenes are real tears. Many have reasoned that her “off” performance was because this isn’t actually Kira, and that may be partly the reason. But I recall even back around the time of this episode, Rene Auberjonois mentioning in an interview that Nana had undergone a horrible ordeal and how desperately worried he was about her. To confound matters, It didn’t help that she is also claustrophobic and found it hellish being strapped into that piece-of-shit prop for hours on end. So, yeah, while I overall think this is a strong storyline, I find it difficult to watch, because the anguish and pain is basically too real. It’s a rare example of a real-life situation behind the scenes colouring how I feel about an episode.
Objectively speaking, “Heart of Stone” is a strong episode, nevertheless, and one that opens up a host of story possibilities that would span the rest of the show’s run.
Rating: 8
