Extreme Measures - Final Season let downs

[TemporalFlux]

I've been watching season seven of DS9 late nights on Spike, and I had forgotten how "off" that season was. The first third of the season was all over the place with way, way too much Ezri; and the remainder had some great moments but still seemed to fall short in some areas. I was reminded of this last night with the Section 31 episode "Extreme Measures".

So what ingredients do we have for this episode? Bashir and O'Brien on a buddy adventure into the unpredictable mindscape of one of the most crafty men in the alpha quadrant...and that translates into wandering around generic corridors. This was the perfect opportunity for us to finally see the Alamo game Bashir and O'Brien were always talking about, but the twist would be that Sloane was now inside the Alamo repelling the suddenly Mexican Bashir and O'Brien. From there, they could have even gone through the other holodeck stuff those two are always doing except now with a Sloane twist; it would have a perfect tour de force of Bashir / O'Brien before the series closed down.

Anyway, seeing that woefully missed opportunity just sent the disappointment in season seven rushing back to my mind. I had started enjoying it again after those strange Worf / Ezri episodes got out of the way, then this Bashir / O'Brien waste sends me right back to discontent.

I've also wondered - were they having budget problems in season seven? I've noticed what seem to be some budget stretching measures (such as headline actors disappearing for 3 and 4 episodes at a time - Bashir was absent for a long while there). Such a budget constraint could help explain "Extreme Measures", but it's still disappointing.

 

[DanCPA]

I enjoyed it... A good bye buddy adventure to the Chief and our good doctor was a nice way to send off their friendship

 

[Yassim]

I've also wondered - were they having budget problems in season seven? I've noticed what seem to be some budget stretching measures (such as headline actors disappearing for 3 and 4 episodes at a time - Bashir was absent for a long while there). Such a budget constraint could help explain "Extreme Measures", but it's still disappointing.

The DS9 Companion says that they planned a weird fantasy-scape for the scenes in Sloane's mind, but then realized that the 'gag' where they think they're out, but they aren't, didn't work unless the inside of Sloane's head looked just like the station. So the whole 'vision' looks just like the station.

I think this ep. missed out on a brilliant chance to reverse the positions of Bashir and Sloane from the ep. where they first met, with Sloane brainwashing/interrogating Bashir. Now Bashir has the upper hand - how will he act differently? How will he act the same? How does O'Brien's influence matter?

I would have liked to see Bashir's morals tested, and have it all come down to the plain moral advice of O'Brien, ordinary, nice guy.

 

[Damask]

I really wish Bajor joining the Federation would have come up. While I understand that Bajor probably wouldn't join the Federation during a war it could lose, it still would be nice.

 

[Lateralus]

Season 7 definitely wasn't the strongest season. The second half definitely had a solid rhythm to it. But the first half was such a jumble of episodes that it diminished the season as a whole.

I think Season 2 is my favorite. 2 or 3, anyways.

 

[TeutonicNights]

I also think it was a wasted opportunity. They could at least have switched between scenarios, maybe even with the protagonists acting along with the program like in "ExistenZ" and playing out roles in the Alamo or WW2 with just some weird bit of real consciousness involved (Just no "musical" episode like in Xena or Buffy )
Like they were working towards an "in-game" goal that would reveal the solution piece by piece in an interesting fashion.
And they could still have that "we're still in his mind!" surprise later in the ep no problem.

Bottle show. Could have been outstanding. Still enjoyable due to some memorable scenes.

 

[Navaros]

Agree that Season 7 had a few bad episodes, most especially the Ezri ones. But that is no different than any other Season of DS9, all of which also have at least the same number of bad episodes mixed in with the great ones. Not sure why Season 7 always seems to take more extra flak for having some bad episodes than the other Seasons do, given that all the Seasons of DS9 are all more or less equal in that regard.

Agree that Sloan's mind looking like the station was a really lame cop-out. They shoulda just made it a straight-forward "Torture Sloan for the information" episode.