“DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME?”
“Yaaaay! My parents are here. (Please kill me now).”
What do we have here? I do believe it’s another winner in a run of brilliant episodes. This one begins with a refreshingly lighter tone, making for a welcome change of pace following the intense previous three episodes, before morphing into a rather excellent family drama and providing one of the most staggering character twists ever before seen on Trek.
First of all, it’s great to see Robert Picardo guest star as Lewis Zimmerman, creator of the EMH program. Picardo was hands down the best thing about VOYAGER and he is wonderful here, fitting surprisingly well into the DS9 universe in what would actually have made a rather nice recurring role. There’s some great humour in the early part of the episode, from the bickering holograms to the glorious interview montage (“I do not like doctors. Any doctors.”) and Miles having a bit of fun with the hologram at Julian’s expense. It all works beautifully, and, of course, the surprise arrival of Bashir’s parents sends the episode spinning in a wholly unexpected direction.
The Bashir family scenes were beautifully written and performed and captured a surprising degree of emotional honesty in its depiction of awkward (to put it mildly) and relatable family dynamics. Brian George, probably more familiar for playing Raj’s father on “The Big Bang Theory”, gives a memorable turn as Richard Bashir, who reminded me somewhat of Del Boy from the classic British sitcom “Only Fools and Horses”. I did find it odd, however, that he has a broad Cockney accent while his son Julian has an altogether “posher” West-End of London accent. Interestingly, Fadwa El Guinidi wasn’t even an actress yet she gives a wonderfully warm and poignant performance as Julian’s quiet, put-upon mother.
Even better are the scenes between Julian and Miles, particularly the one in Bashir’s quarters following the big revelation. Both actors are on top form, particularly Alexander Siddig, who gives perhaps his finest performance of the entire series. Siddig may not have been a fan of Bashir’s genetic enhancement twist, but he really gives his all in this episode and magnificently sells the full range of Julian’s emotions as his world comes collapsing down around him.
It’s unexpectedly weighty stuff and while it’s very much a retcon, it does actually make a lot of sense given what we’ve seen and learned about the character. While he’s had some excellent episodes in the past year or so, particularly “The Quickening” and “Our Man Bashir”, Bashir has always been a slightly odd character in that something never quite added up about him. From his deliberate flubbing of his final exam at Starfleet Medical to the revelation that he actually wanted to be a tennis player, to his extraordinarily overeager and obnoxious behaviour when he first arrived on the station and was basically like a puppy on steroids. If you rewatch the early episodes, there’s something very odd about his over-exuberant behaviour in the early episodes. He was just a little TOO bumbling and wet behind the ears—which I really believe was largely an act. I could accept the brashness and overemphasis of his inexperience and seemingly complete lack of self-awareness if he was, say, eighteen or nineteen—not to mention that cringe-worthy way he hounded Jadzia and other women like a gormless horny teenager. But, as stated in the pilot episode, he was twenty-seven years old, which was really far too old to be displaying such blatant immaturity and general cluelessness. I genuinely think, in light of the revelation here, he spent a lot of time trying to make himself appear other than he is; trying to craft a persona that would never let people see the real him.
The sub-plot...well, it is what it is, really. It’s low-grade sitcom fare, but it’s not without some charming moments. Picardo keeps the Zimmerman and Leeta scenes entertaining, although the moment where Leeta drops her towel struck me as tasteless and a little offensive (and I’m not generally easily offended). Sadly, thus far, I’ve found that Leeta character’s entire raison d’être is male objectification and, while the DS9 writers created two marvellous female characters in Kira and Dax, I find some of the writing kind of sexist and nowhere more so than that scene. Would they have ever written such a scene with an attractive man inadvertently exposing himself like that? Nope. Anyway, I have such a soft spot for Rom that I’m really happy to see him find love even if the whole thing kind of strikes me as a little bit “incel fantasy”. The “beauty and the beast” trope might have been more interesting if we’d had a conventionally attractive male hook up with...well, a female version of Rom. Which, again, would never happen. Still, maybe I’m reading too much into what amounts to brainless fluff.
However, the sub-plot is fortunately easily ignorable and “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?” is still an excellent little character piece with some great comedy and excellent performances. It brings the character of Bashir into sharp focus and helps contextualise him and, strange as it may seem, make him seem a much more human and relatable human being (yeah, in spite of the “super-human” bit!). Rating: 9
“Yaaaay! My parents are here. (Please kill me now).”
What do we have here? I do believe it’s another winner in a run of brilliant episodes. This one begins with a refreshingly lighter tone, making for a welcome change of pace following the intense previous three episodes, before morphing into a rather excellent family drama and providing one of the most staggering character twists ever before seen on Trek.
First of all, it’s great to see Robert Picardo guest star as Lewis Zimmerman, creator of the EMH program. Picardo was hands down the best thing about VOYAGER and he is wonderful here, fitting surprisingly well into the DS9 universe in what would actually have made a rather nice recurring role. There’s some great humour in the early part of the episode, from the bickering holograms to the glorious interview montage (“I do not like doctors. Any doctors.”) and Miles having a bit of fun with the hologram at Julian’s expense. It all works beautifully, and, of course, the surprise arrival of Bashir’s parents sends the episode spinning in a wholly unexpected direction.
The Bashir family scenes were beautifully written and performed and captured a surprising degree of emotional honesty in its depiction of awkward (to put it mildly) and relatable family dynamics. Brian George, probably more familiar for playing Raj’s father on “The Big Bang Theory”, gives a memorable turn as Richard Bashir, who reminded me somewhat of Del Boy from the classic British sitcom “Only Fools and Horses”. I did find it odd, however, that he has a broad Cockney accent while his son Julian has an altogether “posher” West-End of London accent. Interestingly, Fadwa El Guinidi wasn’t even an actress yet she gives a wonderfully warm and poignant performance as Julian’s quiet, put-upon mother.
Even better are the scenes between Julian and Miles, particularly the one in Bashir’s quarters following the big revelation. Both actors are on top form, particularly Alexander Siddig, who gives perhaps his finest performance of the entire series. Siddig may not have been a fan of Bashir’s genetic enhancement twist, but he really gives his all in this episode and magnificently sells the full range of Julian’s emotions as his world comes collapsing down around him.
It’s unexpectedly weighty stuff and while it’s very much a retcon, it does actually make a lot of sense given what we’ve seen and learned about the character. While he’s had some excellent episodes in the past year or so, particularly “The Quickening” and “Our Man Bashir”, Bashir has always been a slightly odd character in that something never quite added up about him. From his deliberate flubbing of his final exam at Starfleet Medical to the revelation that he actually wanted to be a tennis player, to his extraordinarily overeager and obnoxious behaviour when he first arrived on the station and was basically like a puppy on steroids. If you rewatch the early episodes, there’s something very odd about his over-exuberant behaviour in the early episodes. He was just a little TOO bumbling and wet behind the ears—which I really believe was largely an act. I could accept the brashness and overemphasis of his inexperience and seemingly complete lack of self-awareness if he was, say, eighteen or nineteen—not to mention that cringe-worthy way he hounded Jadzia and other women like a gormless horny teenager. But, as stated in the pilot episode, he was twenty-seven years old, which was really far too old to be displaying such blatant immaturity and general cluelessness. I genuinely think, in light of the revelation here, he spent a lot of time trying to make himself appear other than he is; trying to craft a persona that would never let people see the real him.
The sub-plot...well, it is what it is, really. It’s low-grade sitcom fare, but it’s not without some charming moments. Picardo keeps the Zimmerman and Leeta scenes entertaining, although the moment where Leeta drops her towel struck me as tasteless and a little offensive (and I’m not generally easily offended). Sadly, thus far, I’ve found that Leeta character’s entire raison d’être is male objectification and, while the DS9 writers created two marvellous female characters in Kira and Dax, I find some of the writing kind of sexist and nowhere more so than that scene. Would they have ever written such a scene with an attractive man inadvertently exposing himself like that? Nope. Anyway, I have such a soft spot for Rom that I’m really happy to see him find love even if the whole thing kind of strikes me as a little bit “incel fantasy”. The “beauty and the beast” trope might have been more interesting if we’d had a conventionally attractive male hook up with...well, a female version of Rom. Which, again, would never happen. Still, maybe I’m reading too much into what amounts to brainless fluff.
However, the sub-plot is fortunately easily ignorable and “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?” is still an excellent little character piece with some great comedy and excellent performances. It brings the character of Bashir into sharp focus and helps contextualise him and, strange as it may seem, make him seem a much more human and relatable human being (yeah, in spite of the “super-human” bit!). Rating: 9
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