Our local station is rerunning all of DS9 on Sunday mornings and sometimes the household elements leave enough of a hole for me to catch a bit. Yesterday netted me most of The Search back to back — seemed worth a mini review 
In many ways this is another of those dream scene stories which are effectively out of continuity and as open to reinterpretation as any fan Fiction is — because it will all be negated once the dreamer awakes. This a sophisticated version of the subgenre tho.
Part One runs in a purely linear and factual manner with two teasing threads to involve the viewer » How will the mission turn out ? and What is happening with Odo ?. There are elements of the detective story, with clues dropped for the viewer to pick up on and mull over intellectually (as with O’Brien thinking access to the transfer node was too easy). The mood then shifts, abruptly, and the viewers are body slammed by event after event — driving them into pure reaction mode as the Cloak turns useless, Jem H’adar beam in and character after character drops. Only in the lull at the end (between Parts One & Two) does it percolate how the Dominion have played the Federation ever since they entered the Gamma Quadrant — in hindsight it is plain that the Mission was foredoomed all along. That only heightens the anxiety of What Will Happen Next ?.
Part Two could be considered a bit holey, as the accelerated speed of the DS9 negations is odd, but this is cloaked by vagueness about how long Sisko & Bashir were adrift. The counter plot of Odo and his people also serves as a distraction; as well as being a thread in its own right. Initially it seems to be a pendulum narrative — as the DS9 situation deteriorates the Odo scenario improves. The juxtaposition of widely disparate experiences and reactions from the various players is neatly interwoven » at one moment we are agonising over our DS9 faves being trampled by the New Alliance, the next we are sharing Odo & Kira’s joy as our pet changeling begins to discover himself.
However, all of this is only a set-up waiting to be undone. The final scene in the cave is a true kaleidoscope; every turn of the disc throwing the facets into a new configuration. Just as you believe you have the Final Picture it re-resolves into something else yet again. Overall a most effective two-parter that at first seems to be driving itself into a dead-end of conclusions only to suddenly jink and open out to a whole new panorama of possibilities.
In many ways this is another of those dream scene stories which are effectively out of continuity and as open to reinterpretation as any fan Fiction is — because it will all be negated once the dreamer awakes. This a sophisticated version of the subgenre tho.
Part One runs in a purely linear and factual manner with two teasing threads to involve the viewer » How will the mission turn out ? and What is happening with Odo ?. There are elements of the detective story, with clues dropped for the viewer to pick up on and mull over intellectually (as with O’Brien thinking access to the transfer node was too easy). The mood then shifts, abruptly, and the viewers are body slammed by event after event — driving them into pure reaction mode as the Cloak turns useless, Jem H’adar beam in and character after character drops. Only in the lull at the end (between Parts One & Two) does it percolate how the Dominion have played the Federation ever since they entered the Gamma Quadrant — in hindsight it is plain that the Mission was foredoomed all along. That only heightens the anxiety of What Will Happen Next ?.
Part Two could be considered a bit holey, as the accelerated speed of the DS9 negations is odd, but this is cloaked by vagueness about how long Sisko & Bashir were adrift. The counter plot of Odo and his people also serves as a distraction; as well as being a thread in its own right. Initially it seems to be a pendulum narrative — as the DS9 situation deteriorates the Odo scenario improves. The juxtaposition of widely disparate experiences and reactions from the various players is neatly interwoven » at one moment we are agonising over our DS9 faves being trampled by the New Alliance, the next we are sharing Odo & Kira’s joy as our pet changeling begins to discover himself.
However, all of this is only a set-up waiting to be undone. The final scene in the cave is a true kaleidoscope; every turn of the disc throwing the facets into a new configuration. Just as you believe you have the Final Picture it re-resolves into something else yet again. Overall a most effective two-parter that at first seems to be driving itself into a dead-end of conclusions only to suddenly jink and open out to a whole new panorama of possibilities.
