Watching DS9: 1x02 "Past Prologue"

[Jonz]

1x02 "Past Prologue"

Synopsis
The Arrival of a former colleague from the Bajoran underground surprises Kira Nerys, especially when he claims asylum from his Cardassian pursuers. The consequent appearance of two Klingon criminals raises suspicions further.

Review
This episode delves into the character of Kira and the division between her job as a liaison officer to the federation and Sisko’s second on one side and her loyalty to Bajor and the old resistance on the other. I like the notion of exploring this aspect of Kira’s character, but I feel the Tahna Las character and whole ‘terrorist’ plot is mostly throwaway and very forgettable standard fare.

For me the plot surrounding Las would have worked much better if the writers did not opt for the easy solution of having Las be a ‘standard’ bad guy with a bomb and holding Kira at gunpoint. It makes the decision too easy for Kira (and the viewer as well). Given I’m not a fan of Lursa and B’etor as well, this part of the plot falls flat in my opinion.

The episode deserves praise for introducing tensions between the leading characters very early, and continues to signal that this is not your standard Star Trek.

What saves the episode, though, is our introduction to ‘plain, simple Garak’ as played by Andrew Robinson. Immediately I think Garak comes of as interesting and compelling and not plain and simple in any way. The idea of having a Cardassian tailor on the station that is more than what he seems is a very good.

By the episodes end I want to know more about what Garak’s motivations are and why he delivered Las to the federation in place of letting the Cardassians capture him.

Some notes:

- Let us hope there are no planets nearby the wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant or “half the system will be flooded with radiation”.

- Having Kira that quickly going over Sisko’s head and contacting his superiors before Sisko has made a decision on whether or not Las is granted asylum on the station seems overly foolish for the character. That scene does not work for me.

Summary:
Mostly forgettable, but we get some nice characterisation on Kira and the introduction of Garak deserves praise. 2.5/4

 

[Capt_Piett]

One thing you have to keep in mind about the way many of the elements of the first season went is that the working relationship between the Federation and the Bajoreans is that it was still new, and at that point, Kira really didn't have any reason to curry favor with Sisko. As a matter of fact, through much of the first season their relationship was rather terse. Kira is shown in many episodes to have a quick temper, and to act in the manner she thinks best, even if it is not something that she should have done per her superiors.

And yes, the introduction of "plain, simple Garak" was one of the more intriguing elements of the early first season episodes.

 

[DS9Continuing]

I love the way DS9's writers were really dedicated to exploring their characters right from the beginning. This was a character show right off the bat, and people are always so much more interesting than anomalies.

Jonz said:
For me the plot surrounding Las...

Minor correction - it's Tahna Los, not Las. No biggie.

Given I’m not a fan of Lursa and B’etor as well, this part of the plot falls flat in my opinion.

Yeah, but this was when the show was still eager to bring over as many TNG viewers as it possibly could, and the writers knew L & B were popular villains from the one show, so they brought them over to the other, just like they later did with Q, Vash, Lwaxana, etc. You can't really blame them for that, even if the plot didn't come off brilliantly.

- Let us hope there are no planets nearby the wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant or “half the system will be flooded with radiation”.

Well, we know the Idran system, the closest to the Gamma exit, is uninhabited. ...

Or is it? duh duh duuuuh!

 

[Jonz]

lvsxy808 said:
Minor correction - it's Tahna Los, not Las. No biggie.

d'oh

Yeah, but this was when the show was still eager to bring over as many TNG viewers as it possibly could, and the writers knew L & B were popular villains from the one show, so they brought them over to the other, just like they later did with Q, Vash, Lwaxana, etc. You can't really blame them for that, even if the plot didn't come off brilliantly.

You are right here. It's easy to do what i just done and be judgmental in hindsight. Knowing what a success the series was you can not blame the writers for doing that. Basically they took a chance with DS9, and doing character crossovers is logical. And my feelings toward Lursa and B'etor are biased without good reason (I hated when they showed up in Generations as well).

The same goes for Kira i think. I call for a little more risks in the portrayal of her divided loyalties. But doing that on the second episode on a new show would run the risk of alienating the viewers of her character after only 2 episodes.

The writers can not be blamed. It is too easy for me to be critical - knowing what i know now!

 

[defconprime]

I don't think I personally even liked Lursa and B'etor in Redemption. I always thought they were kind of lousy, cookie cutter villains. I can't believe they destroyed the Enterprise-D. But I guess all Big E's are vulnerable to Klingon Birds of Prey.

This episode I thought was pretty entertaining, apart from the Duras sisters showing up. Their part was sort of incidental, anyway. I liked the complication of Kira's character, and Garak was great, as you guys mentioned already. I guess perhaps my problem with the 2nd and 3rd episodes of DS9 is that they kind of ignore the wormhole. Here it's convenient because they can dump the bomb there, but I can't really remember when the wormhole actually started to be used by the DS9 crew for exploration. Is it at all during the first season? I really haven't watched this show since broadcast. But I do love these discussions.

 

[mrs260]

I actually tend to fast-forward through a lot of the Tahna Los plot when I watch this.

I absolutely adore Garak and his interaction with Bashir here, particularly the introduction scene. Garak's every word is dripping with subtext and innuendo, and Bashir is so discombobulated, and trying so hard to be suave.

I'm also extremely fond of the scene between Odo and Kira where she tries to figure out what she's going to do. The depth, nuance, and the history between them is extremely compelling. (If Garak hadn't come along, Odo would definitely be my favorite character on the show.)

 

[AOQ]

Jonz said:
1x02 "Past Prologue"

A suggestion for our reviewer - you might want to list the writer and director at the top of each thread. It's standard for TV reviewers, and part of watching an entire multi-year series straight through is getting to know the writing staff.

For me the plot surrounding Las would have worked much better if the writers did not opt for the easy solution of having Las be a ‘standard’ bad guy with a bomb and holding Kira at gunpoint. It makes the decision too easy for Kira (and the viewer as well).

To be sure, even at the end, he's telling the truth that he doesn't intend to kill or injure anyone. Your complaint didn't bother me, since Kira can't be expected to be cured of her divided loyalties so early. This episode is more about her explicitly rejecting her past way of operating, at least now that things have changed. That's vitally important for the series to have her do, especially since it sometimes borders disturbingly on a edge of taking a pro-terrorism slant. It shows us that even in a situation that's more or less morally clear, she knows what's right, but the problem is that someone like Tahna can effectively make her second-guess who she's become and whether she's betraying any principles. And that's where the excellent Kira/Odo scene comes in, to nudge her to follow her conscience instead of perceieved loyalty.

But is Sisko being the Emissary not common knowledge yet or something? I don't think we ever see Kira finding out or specifically starting to believe in him, which one would think would be a big deal for her.

Given I’m not a fan of Lursa and B’etor as well, this part of the plot falls flat in my opinion.

Whereas although I'm not a fan of the characters either (although here I must admit I've never seen the "Redemption" episodes - that's where the come from, right?), and their performance in PP can charitably be described as "awful," I like the notion of them dropping by to play a peripheral role. It adds to the sense of Trek being a Universe rather than a collection of stand-alone stories, and helps add to the sense that we're in the middle of something big.

And this is just the second episode! Yet we're in the middle of a crossroads involving Klingon mercenaries, Bajoran terrorists, Cardassian bluster, a particular plain, simple Cardassian who may or may not be working on his own, all with unknown motives, and our crew in the middle of it all. Great stuff I think it's a minority view (albeit a sizable minority), but I loves me some Bajoran episodes, particularly during the first year and a half where they're the only thing DS9 consistently does well.

And the rest have handled all the mentioning of how great a character Garak is. It's not even what he says, but the way he says damn near everything that makes him immediately and persistently interesting.

As with the pilot, I rank "Past Prologue" Good, and if forced to pick one, I'd say it's probably a more enthusiastic Good than "Emissary." By Jonz's system, that's about a 3.5/4.

Best line, from memory: "Traitor." - Tahna, letting us know that things don't always end with understanding on DS9

 

[Jonz]

AOQ said:

A suggestion for our reviewer - you might want to list the writer and director at the top of each thread. It's standard for TV reviewers, and part of watching an entire multi-year series straight through is getting to know the writing staff.

Good point. I will do that from now on.

But is Sisko being the Emissary not common knowledge yet or something? I don't think we ever see Kira finding out or specifically starting to believe in him, which one would think would be a big deal for her.

I think that is another very good point. I did not think of that. It seems that writers got a greater grasp of the emmisary concept a little later.

 

[Hofner]

I think Sisko being the Emissary was common knowledge. Or at least the prophecy that the Emissary would discover the Celestial Temple. I haven't seen "Emissary" for a long time so my memory may be fuzzy.

IIRC, Kai Opaka seemed to know ahead ot time that Sisko was the Emissary. She said something to the effect that her people, the Bajorans, would not like the idea that the Emissary would be a non-Bajoran. So for a while the Bajorans just ignored it. Without being too spoilerish, there were indications at the end of season one that Sisko was not very popular with the Bajoran people. So Kira was apparently just ignoring it like everyone else.

Robert

 

[AOQ]

Note: although DS9 is a true ensemble show, there are no illusions of equal time. It's only the second/third episode, and neither Armin Shimerman nor Cirroc Lofton even appears.

 

[Crewman6]

This was a very solid episode, but I can't disagree with the comments about making Tahna a standard villain by episode's end, since he did have some good points.

And what's with having a 2 pack of phasers just sitting there in the runabout cockpit! Fortunately, they were never seen again, Starfleet must've changed the protocols after this episode!

The inclusion of Lursa and B'Etor was dreadfully lame and out of place, though. Yeah, I know we were trying to do some cross-over stunts, but their presence failed on so many levels.

If nothing else, Sisko's decision not to arrest them was ridiculous. Does the Federation not have an extradition treaty with the Klingons?!

Could've saved the Enterprise!