Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

Done with the '80s, back to the '90s! As I type this in the '20s but not the Roaring '20s.

Picking up where I left off with reviewing the entire third season of DS9, but I prefer to keep everything on the same page of this thread, if not the same post, so cutting-and-pasting what I already typed, before continuing on.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Entire Third Season

Raw numbers aside, I think the third season pushed DS9 forward in all areas but with only one drawback, which I'll get to later.

With the Dominion being a force in the Gamma Quadrant, it gives us something tangible, so we have some sense of the order over there. The Ferengi are people the Dominion can deal with through trade. The Klingons are people they want to fight. The Romulans and Cardassians are peoples they can take advantage of. The Federation is the real threat. The Federation was who they threatened at the end of last season. So, to paraphrase Ira Steven Behr, "You can't defend the station and the Wormhole with just three Runabouts!" I thought the Defiant was a necessary addition to the series. They needed something with serious firepower, and it makes sense that Starfleet would send DS9 a ship that was designed to fight the Borg, and Sisko has that personal connection since he designed the ship, which also reinforces the idea that his character is a builder. He can't use the Defiant to stop his wife from being lost to the Borg, but he can use the Defiant to stop everything he's helped build up on DS9 from being lost.

This third season was very much a Sisko season. To quote Dax, "After Jennifer died, I never thought I'd ever see you so passionate about anything again." Sisko got out of the funk he was in by the end of "Emissary", but he wasn't truly reenergized until the third season. Technically, we see the beginnings of Sisko getting the fire back late in the second season during "The Maquis", ("Do you know what the problem is? The problem is Earth!") but now it's back in full force during the third season. I'd even say vocalizing "the problem is Earth" during "The Maquis, Part II" is what led Sisko to finally realize by "The Search, Part I" that Earth wasn't home anymore. Deep Space Nine was home. Bajor was home.

After "The Search", Sisko gets to take charge and keep history on-track in "Past Tense", he builds a replica of an ancient Bajoran ship in "Explorers", meets the MIrror Universe version of Jennifer in "Through the Looking Glass" before starting a relationship with Kassidy Yates in "Family Business", so it's like looking back (in a strange sense) before moving forward, and he's finally promoted to Captain in "The Adversary" after finally having the idea teased all season. Kai Winn also acts as if she accepts Sisko as The Emissary for her own political advantage. So, Sisko is more valued by Bajor, Sisko is more valued by Starfleet, he has strengthened purpose, and he's building his life up again, including one now with Kassidy. It's safe to Sisko has had more growth this season than either of the previous two. Combined. And, on top of that, he grew the goatee and a fourth pip.

This is where I left off before. To quote Majel Barrett, "And now the continuation."

Of course, Sisko wasn't the only character to have a big season this season, so let's look at Odo. I think he had quite a bit of development in the previous season with "Necessary Evil" where we saw his Origin Story and "The Alternate" when we were introduced to the scientist who first discovered Odo, but those were all situations looking back at Odo's past. Like with Sisko, the third season pushed Odo forward really fast. It used to be a mystery where Odo would be from and, when the series started, I figured we'd never find out about who Odo's people are until the end. Introducing Odo's people at the beginning of this season and making them the leaders of the Dominion, of all things, makes nature of them more personal in scale. These are Odo's people. And because Odo doesn't completely despise and distrust solids, that makes him as much of an outsider among the Founders as it makes him an outsider to people of Deep Space Nine. And now it puts a bigger target on Odo's back because, before, bigots used to hate him just because he was a shape-shifter but now they can pretend they're justified by claiming he's the enemy. Only adding to it is Starfleet not fully trusting Odo at best and questioning his competence at worst.

Assigning Eddington to Deep Space Nine turned out to be rubbing salt onto a wound. In the third season, Eddington represents Starfleet's distrust of Odo. He also represents how different the crew of Deep Space Nine is from Eddington, who represents normal Starfleet (or so they think). He says he wants to make friends, but there's always an uneasy feeling with him around, even without knowing what's to come. The most obvious examples of this, outside of "The Search", are when he becomes a major speed bump to Sisko's plans in "The Die Is Cast" and when everyone accepts a little too easily that he might be a Changeling in "The Adversary".

Circling back to Odo, there were other highlights for him this season as well. Trying and failing to help a young Jem'Hadar become a better person in "The Abandoned", which is completely new territory for Odo that couldn't have been done before the third season. Then admitting his love for Kira in "Heart of Stone", even though it wasn't really Kira, so the only person who knows is the Female Changeling.

Switching gears to Kira. It must've been her worst nightmare seeing herself as a Cardassian in "Second Skin". It was too bad she lost Bariel, but I think the series was better off with Bariel dying. Not because I don't like the character, but because he has no backbone to stand up to Kai Winn. Shakaar, on the other hand, is someone who'll stand up to Kai Winn. I'm glad they didn't take the easy way out and have Kira and Odo become a romantic couple. Odo might love Kira, but Kira only sees Odo as a friend. Especially at this point.

Who else had a big season this season?

Jake did a lot of growing up. He had a girlfriend earlier in the season, a dabo girl, even though she didn't last. He was accepted into Pennington. He's set on a path of becoming a writer. And he got his father hooked up with Kassidy Yates.

At first everyone thought Nog was joking when he said he wanted to join Starfleet Academy, then they realized he was serious. He explained to Sisko why he wanted to join and how he wanted to be able to meet his true potential, unlike his father who never got a chance to. Then, when Quark tried to sabotage Nog's efforts to be admitted, Rom stood up to Quark and fought for his son to join Starfleet. Nog and Rom both took huge steps forward.

Jadzia Dax had a chance to interact with all her previous hosts, including the newly discovered Joran, and she finally got to stand up to Curzon Dax and confront him about why he really rejected her at first.

O'Brien is O'Brien. Glad to see Keiko be a botanist again.

Bashir gets to meet the Valedictorian of his class to see what she ended up doing. He turned 30 as well, but hitting the Big 3-0 doesn't really change anything. It's just a time-marker.

Quark is contacting me from 1950 to let me know he's shocked he has to think of Ferengi women, including his mother, as having any type of mind for business. On second thought, 1950 is too kind. More like 1850.

Nice to see more and more of Garak as well!

That's the characters. Onto the greater Star Trek Universe. One of the benefits of TNG ending was everything related to the Alpha Quadrant becoming DS9's jurisdiction. Seeing the Romulans in DS9 was huge. Instead of being Cold War enemies like in TOS and TNG, here they're nominally partners of convenience while Starfleet gains more intelligence on the Dominion.

Just by making an appearance, Gowron shows that Klingon Politics will become a presence on DS9. Driven home at the end of the season when the Dying Changeling tells Odo that the only two peoples standing in the way of the Dominion taking over the Alpha Quadrant are the Federation and the Klingons.

The only thing that irked me a little bit about the third season was how the vast majority of the progress made between the Bajorans and the Cardassians happened off-screen and was summed up by Bariel toward the beginning of "Life Support". I was worried that with his death, Kira would be the only opposition to Kai Winn going forward, which is why I'm glad Shakaar was introduced.

That's all I really have to say about the third season! Looking forward to the fourth season in less than a week! Originally, I was going to watch key TNG episodes with Worf before this, but I've changed my mind. Between the re-watch I did in 2019 and the re-watches (plural) I've done by watching YouTubers react to TNG, I've seen those episodes enough times. Besides, anything relevant from those episodes that I have to say, I'll bring up during my review of "The Way of the Warrior".

It's going to be great to finally watch "The Way of the Warrior" on my projector!

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[Lord Garth]

"The Way of the Warrior" (1st Part of the Review)

I made it. I'm here. Deep Space Nine Season 4! Not only does Sisko have the goatee and fourth pip, but he also has the shaved head. Transformation complete. DS9's intro before looked a little plain, like something that works alongside TNG's intro. But now DS9 has a jazzed-up intro, jazzed-up theme, and a ton of activity. Not only does the new DS9 intro look like something that can hold its own next to VOY's intro, but it shows how much more active the station has become and how much more important it is as the first line of defense against the Dominion.

Last but not least, the introduction of Worf to DS9. Upfront, I might as well get this out of the way: I think it's great to have Worf on Deep Space Nine. I love that he's here and it's great to see how he interacts with other characters. He's a fine addition to the show. I agree with Ira Steven Behr that out of all the TNG main characters, Worf is the only one who would fit in on this series. BUT. I see Worf as a TNG Character who DS9 is borrowing. He'll be in all four TNG Movies, he'll be in Picard Season 3. He's a TNG Character. Unlike with O'Brien, where I see him as a DS9 Character who got his start on TNG. While Worf is on DS9, though, I always thought it was interesting to see where this series would take him.

There are some parallels and some sharp contrasts between Worf on TNG and Worf on DS9 in this episode alone. In the first Major Worf Episode on TNG, "Heart of Glory", renegade Klingons who were sick of peace wanted Worf to join them. Here, Gowron and the Klingon Empire at large (not just renegades) are sick of peace and Gowron wants Worf to join them. In both "Heart of Glory" and "The Way of the Warrior", Worf refuses.

On the holosuite, Dax is fighting a Skull Guy before Worf enters. then Worf and Dax begin to hit it off. In "The Emissary" on TNG, Worf enters in while K'Eylar is fighting a Skull Guy and then, after sparring (in more than one sense of the word), they have intercourse off-screen. Worf and K'Eylar's relationship there foretells the direction Worf and Dax's will eventually take here.

Then there's a sharp contrast to the Klingon Trilogy of "Sins and the Father", "Reunion" and "Redemption" from TNG. Gowron restores Worf's honor after he was it wrongly taken from him. Worf and Gowron have fought side-by-side. Worf played a key part in ensuring Gowron's installation into power. Now, in "The Way of the Warrior", Worf sides against Gowron and Gowron takes everything from Worf in retribution. Gowron thought he made Worf and decided he could break Worf just as easily, except Worf can't ever be broken.

This episode touches on all the bases, updating us on everything going on with all the Klingon storylines from TNG as the entire galactic political landscape changes around the Alpha Quadrant. Emperor Kahless looked like he was going to be the moral leader of the Klingon Empire, if "Rightful Heir" was any indication, but it looks like he's completely powerless behind-the-scenes. Worf's family had a seat on the High Council, meaning Kurn, and now that's been taken away. Worf's son, Alexander, is happier living with his foster-grandparents than he was living with Worf. And while technically nothing's said, it's pretty clear Worf and Troi are no longer an item.

Worf's entire life has been turned upside down, starting with the destruction of the Enterprise in Generations and finishing with the chain of events from the first half of "The Way of the Warrior". Worf's only link to what's now his former life is O'Brien, which makes O'Brien the perfect person to talk to about what he wants to do next. That's where the parallels between Worf and the DS9 characters begin. Worf wants to resign from Starfleet, just like Sisko did at the beginning of the series. Worf had to choose between duty on DS9 and loyalty to his people, just Odo had to choose at the beginning of last season. Ultimately Worf decides to stay in Starfleet and chooses duty over loyalty to his people, at the end of the day, he'll always do what he thinks his right. Running away to the Nyberrite Alliance seems like running away from a fight, which is the exact opposite of what Worf would normally do, and I'm glad he finally realized it.

The key difference between Sisko and Picard when talking to Worf is that Sisko seems more relatable and can talk to Worf more on his level as a peer who's only a little bit ahead of him, as opposed to a mentor and father-figure the way Picard is. Sisko's also much more likely to listen Worf's suggestions than Picard was.

I loved watching the DS9's characters reactions to Worf. Quark and Dukat automatically started making incorrect assumptions about him. Sisko and Odo tried to tell Worf what they have in common and that they understand what he's going through. Dax finds a kindred spirit in Worf, and Worf sure his glad to have someone else on the station who understands Klingons as well. And O'Brien's all about, "Hey! Remember the good old days on the Enterprise?" It's not shown here, but Kira's as spiritual as Worf. And all that leaves is Bashir, who's the opposite of Worf in the sense that Bashir had no chance with Dax, romantically, and Worf does.

I'll leave it here for now. Next time I'll look at everything else in the episode besides Worf's addition.

 

[Lord Garth]

"The Way of the Warrior" (2nd Part of the Review)

At the beginning of the episode is thematically picking up where "The Adversary" left off at the end of last season. The Changelings are said to be everywhere, and there's a battle drill to see how long it takes for the crew on DS9 to find one. Given how much ground there is to cover in "The Way of the Warrior", I'm glad that they just cut right to thick of it before things escalated even further.

As the massive amounts of Klingon ships decloaked in front of DS9, it was a sight to see. I'm so glad this was model-work and not CGI. In 1995, the CGI still would've looked tacky, and I wouldn't have wanted tacky. Using models makes you feel in awe when you see how many ships fill up the screen.

When Martok uses a dagger to slice the middle of his hand to drip blood, then hands it to Sisko and Kira to the same, to make sure they're not Changelings, all I can say is I wouldn't slice the middle of my hand. I'd make a cut somewhere else. The hand is the worst. I could be lifting something, operating controls, using consoles, the blood doesn't have to come from there. But that's just my nitpicking. We won't go into Klingon blood not being purply-pink.

Paranoia makes the Klingons super-ultra paranoid and gives the excuse to try to impose their will on the Quadrant. First with the ship-searches and then with wanted to invade Cardassia just because of a change in government. They don't care about proof, they don't care about what the Federation thinks, they just want to fight. I think if they really want to fight, they should just go to the Gamma Quadrant to fight the Dominion directly, but I don't think Gowron wants to do that. He wants the easy victories, so it's easier for him to bully everyone else. Gowron should've known that someone as moral as Worf wouldn't go along with something like that, and I think he did know. I think Gowron wanted to test Worf once and for all to see for absolutely certain if he'd stand with him or not.

I thought was a brilliant string of dominoes when Worf found out from old family connection that the Klingons wanted to invade Cardassia, then Worf told Sisko, then Sisko found a way to communicate that information to Garak -- which itself was a callback to Sisko telling Bashir, "I think you could definitely use a new suit!" in Garak's very first appearance -- who then told Dukat, who was then able to prepare to do his part to get himself and over government officials to safety. Not to mention alert the Cardassian military, who could then mobilize a defense.

When the Federation condemned the Klingons wanting to invade Cardassia and Gowron withdrew the Klingons from the Khitomer Accords, this was HUGE when I was first watching it. A few years earlier, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, it felt historic -- within the context of Star Trek -- to see hostilities with the Klingons finally end. One of the defining differences between the 23rd Century and the 24th Century in Star Trek was that Klingons were enemies in the 23rd and allies in the 24th. So, to see that change all in the span of one episode was pretty wild. It shook up the status quo in a major way. Not just on a DS9 scale, but on a Star Trek Universe scale.

When the Defiant had to destroy a Klingon ship to rescue Dukat and the officials, I knew there was NO going back. It wasn't just talk; blood had been spilled. The Klingons were now enemies.

The space battle that occurred between DS9 and the Klingon ships after the Defiant made it back was one of the best-looking space battles in the series up to this point, and I know it only gets better from here. The one part that doesn't hold up, I'm sorry to say, is when the Klingons board DS9. Why the Hell didn't they use their disrupters right away?! I don't care how great you are with a bat'leth, if Starfleet's firing at you with phasers, you hit back with disruptors. At least two-thirds of the Klingons, from what I saw, just let themselves be zapped by phasers. That's just stupid. But, otherwise, there are some high-energy, high-octane battle sequences, and a lot of hand-to-hand combat. The DS9 crew does pretty well.

At the end, Gowron stands down, but only because the Starfleet reinforcements are closer than the Klingon reinforcements. While it's also true that he doesn't want to hand victory to the Dominion by destroying the Klingon Empire in a fight against the Federation and the Cardassians, I think Gowron is looking at playing the long game. He wants to start with war with the Cardassians, expand to war with the Federation, and if he thinks he can handle both the Federation and the Cardassians at the same time, then maybe the Klingon Empire might be powerful enough to be able to handle the Dominion. That's why he's fortifying whatever territory he conquered in this episode and not withdrawing from what the Klingons have seized. He wants to build Klingon forces up before tackling the Dominion. That's my head-canon anyway.

Meanwhile, the Founders must love this because Sisko's right. This is exactly what they want.

I'll leave it here for now. This is going to go into a third part where I look at all the character moments, my favorite scenes, and anything else that isn't immediately jumping to mind right now. This is a lot to take in.

 

[Poltargyst]

I see Worf as a TNG Character who DS9 is borrowing.

Except that Worf was way better in DS9 than he ever was in TNG.