Overall Rating: 9.3
Romance done RIGHT with a side of delicious character interaction and pathos topped off by Odo literally destroying 8,000 people to have a shot with Kira (!)...this one passes our tests for crackness, for excellent writing...and for realistic psychology.
Plot Synopsis:
The whole story can be read here, courtesy of the DS9 Encyclopedia and Lexicon.
The Skinny:
SABR Matt
My co-author will have some special comments about Odo's personality type, as understood by Rene Echevarria, who, not surprisingly, penned this episode...and its implications for the downstream romance of Odo and Kira. She's not much for shipping her fandoms, but the Odo/Kira romance, she actually liked...she'll explain why.
I am going to focus on the entire concept of turning a microcosm - the crew of the Defiant (largely made up of the senior officers of DS9, all of whom served as key role models for a new society), into a macrocosm (a thriving colony with enormous diversity of thought). Stargate Universe explored this a bit with its' final plot of interest - the discovery of a colony founded by Destiny refugees. In that colony, two prevalent philosophies divided the entire group and led to a society on the brink of war (who nonetheless came together in a time of crisis). But here on Gaia, we find literally dozens of different ways of life explored and yet a peaceful society. One is realistic...the other is not. And yet, because it's Rene Echevarria doing the writing, and not, for example, Maurice Hurley or Brannon Braga, I still thoroughly enjoyed this episode.
I don't believe the Utopian vision of Gaia can ever truly exist without a oneness of morality. Most of the rest of the show's plot focus on sources of tension between the different cultures on the station and how people of good conscience can work through those differences. This episode is pure fluff, and we know it. The whole story concept is not believable...but we don't care, because what it is...is a celebration of everything we love about our heroes...all of the virtues they possess, and none of the faults. As long as your whole canon universe isn't that cloy and bubbly, it can make for a nice distraction.
I'm convinced that Rene Echevarria, BTW, was the only good romance writer Trek ever had...EVER...and it's because he's a master of characters. Relationships only work on screen if the actors have chemistry and the writers pen realistic romantic scenarios. Melora, for example, was a lousy episode, not just because it involved a random cookie cutter PC character in a flash-in-the-pan romance, but because it wasn't believable that someone as theoretically strong-headed as Melora would do her Doctor on the second date...or even go on the first one that fast. Melora, incidentally, was written by a team of four authors including Michael Pillar (stick to production, Mike...seriously). I find that multi-author stories almost always suck because they become too generic thanks to competing ideas about direction and dialogue. Echevarria's scripts are so distinctive that I can always tell which ones are his...ALWAYS...without even looking at the credits. This was a classic Echevarria masterpiece. Every character's particular sense of self was on display in the colonists...the Klingons, the Bashirs, the O'Briens, the Siskos...this story would have been absolute drek if anyone other than Echevarria had attempted it. Period. He's the only writer who understands his characters well enough to pull off this kind of fractal character piece.
Stephanie S.
Actually, I don't just want to talk about Odo. I first want to amplify what my co-author says about the strength of the writing in general, because I think this entire script is on the same level as TNG's The Inner Light when it comes to its ability to make us care - deeply - about a previously unfamiliar society. Sure -- as SABR Matt observes, parts of the episode can be a bit cloying at times - like, for example, the planting scene, or Gabriel's quasi-worship of Worf and the Klingons - but I think the whole story would not have worked as well as it did without that sentiment. After all, without that sentiment, there would not have been a moral dilemma -- or, at the very least, the dilemma would not have been felt quite so intensely.
SABR Matt is right, though -- I do ship O/K, but Rene Echevarria has to write it because only Rene Echevarria understands the challenge of Odo's alien nature. As we know, the need for order and the impulse to control are acknowledged in the show to be genetic facets of Odo's personality -- the racial legacy he received from the Founders. These traits are what make Odo the fine security officer he is, but when it comes to courtship, they can definitely get in the way -- as we see here. Here, Kira makes a personal decision that aligns with her sense of justice and her profound spirituality, but the elder Odo feels entirely free to overrule her for the sake of his love. In other words, Odo tries to control Kira the way he controls the Promenade. Obviously, that's never going to work; obviously, Odo will have to learn not to impose himself on Kira before their relationship can really flourish. But I love that Echevarria starts his O/K arc (which runs from this episode to Chimera, a feature we will review in the seventh season) with this moment of dysfunction because it allows room for struggle and growth.
Writing: 10.0
This story's strength is entirely in the clever and compelling dialogue...the romance is captivating (a rare thing on Trek), the dialogue is crisp, the philosophy well-explored, and the plot without major holes. The concept is not possible in the real world, but we don't particularly care.
Acting: 9.0
Rene Auberjonois was picture perfect as the reformed Odo...he still felt like Odo...he was just a little more willing to live life to the fullest. Nana Visitor's interactions with Rene never felt one tiny bit out of step. The rest of the cast was pretty much their usual solid selves with the possible exception of Terry Farrell (sorry!)...who I think delivered the big reveal about Yedrin's plan (and the following heaps of scorn in the inevitable confrontation) a bit too directly for my taste.
Message: 9.0
I love that the truth is out about Odo and Kira, and the writers didn't choose to immediately throw them into bed together as would probably have happened on any other Trek incarnation...and yet didn't slam the door on their potential (very popular amongst the fans), I also love that Kira speaks for the spiritually minded once again, and is treated with the utmost respect for it.
Highlights:
KIRA: I miss him. But last time we were on Bajor, we went to the Kenda Shrine and we asked the Prophets if we were meant to walk the same path.
DAX: And?
KIRA: We're not.
DAX: You make it sound so cut and dry.
KIRA: The way I see it, people are either meant to be together or they're not.
DAX: I guess I'd rather believe that any relationship can work as long as both people really want it to.
ODO: I'm not sure I have an opinion on the subject. Excuse me. I need to regenerate.
(Odo leaves.)
KIRA: Is he all right?
DAX: You know Odo. This sort of talk makes him uncomfortable. (poor Odo)
DAX: I know everyone wants to go home, but if we're going to take a look at this planet, it'll be our only chance.
SISKO: Are you sure it's safe to pass through the interference?
DAX: A few shield modifications and it should be smooth sailing.
SISKO: All right, we'll make a quick survey. But if all we detect is some fungus, we're not beaming down.
DAX: What if it's smart fungus? (LOL)
DAX: She's an O'Brien, all right.
MIRANDA: And a Tannenbaum, too.
O'BRIEN: You mean Ensign Tannenbaum? From Engineering?
YEDRIN: You and Rita were married ten years after the Defiant crashed. You were trapped here, Miles, two hundred years in the past. There was no going home. There was no chance of ever seeing your family again. You were the last to give up hope, but eventually you had to make a new life for yourself here. I know that face, Benjamin. You're still not convinced that we're telling you the truth. All right. If you want, I could tell you something that only Curzon would know. Do you remember that dancer that you met on Pelios station? The one who
SISKO: The one? That'll do. Thank you. (HEH!)
GABRIEL: (a boy) Are you the son of Mogh?
WORF: I am.
GABRIEL: Is it true you can kill someone just by looking at them?
WORF: Only when I am angry. (HEE!)
BASHIR: Apparently the planet is crawling with Bashirs.
KIRA: Maybe I'll stay up here. (ZING!)
KIRA: Odo?
ODO: I came up from the surface as soon as I heard you were here.
KIRA: How are you holding your shape? I thought
ODO: I learned to counter the barrier's effects a long time ago. It's good to see you.
KIRA: You look different.
ODO: I've gotten better at shape-shifting over the years. You're as beautiful as I remember. You can't know how I've longed to hear your voice, see your smile.
KIRA: Odo, what's gotten into you?
ODO: There's something I want you to know. Something I've wanted to tell you for two hundred years. I love you, Nerys. I've always loved you.
KIRA: What do you mean, you love me?
ODO: Is it so hard to believe?
KIRA: I never knew you felt that way about me.
ODO: I did everything I could to make sure you wouldn't find out.
KIRA: It worked. Why didn't you ever say anything?
ODO: I didn't think you could possibly care for me the way I care for you. I suppose I was afraid of ruining what we had. Our friendship meant everything to me. It still does. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.
KIRA: It's not that. I was just thinking about all the times I came to you for advice about Shakaar and Bareil. It must have been very hard for you to listen to me go on about another man.
ODO: No, I can't say I enjoyed it, but I wanted to be a good friend to you.
KIRA: You were.
ODO: Nerys, I didn't come here expecting you to throw yourself in my arms. But you're leaving here in two days. I'm never going to see you again. All I'm asking is that you spend some time with me. Gaia is a very beautiful place. I'd love to show it to you.
KIRA: I'd like that. (very sweet all around...you know a scene is good when your girlfriend, unfamiliar with most of the canon, goes "awwwww...")
BASHIR: Did I mention she was a doctor?
O'BRIEN: Twice.
BASHIR: She showed me pictures of the family going all the way back to me. You know who I ended up with after the crash? Angie Kirby.
O'BRIEN: Who's that?
BASHIR: Yes, that's what I said. Apparently she transferred aboard last week, but she's gorgeous.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations.
BASHIR: I think I'm going to ask her out when we get back. We obviously got along well here. So, you and Rita Tannenbaum.
O'BRIEN: I don't want to hear about it, Julian. I have a wife and kids back home. (LOL...Miles is a such a good family man)
BASHIR: Sorry. I didn't mean anything. You know, I'm going to let you get back on with your work.
KIRA: Praying over your own grave. That's got to be a new one.
ODO: If the Prophets were listening, they're probably very confused.
KIRA: Well, I wouldn't blame them. I've got to tell you that this whole quantum duplicate two Defiants thing has me feeling a little strange.
ODO: Why? Thanks to Yedrin's plan our timeline is being preserved. You're going back to the station for the treatment you need.
KIRA: I know. It's just that I've always believed that we're all given one destiny, one path, and now we're using technology to get around that. I'm not sure how it makes me feel.
ODO: I know exactly how it makes me feel. You can't know how much it means to me to know you're going home, Nerys. It won't change anything for me. I lost you two hundred years ago. But for the other Odo, up on the ship, it changes everything. He doesn't have to lose you. And somehow, knowing that makes me feel better. Does that make any sense?
KIRA: You've changed so much, Odo. I don't just mean the way you look. You used to be so closed off.
ODO: I have changed. And the Odo you know will change too, if you're patient with him. (awesome)
YEDRIN: Is one life too much to ask if it saves eight thousand?
SISKO: Who are you to decide who lives or dies? Who are you to make that call?
YEDRIN: I have to make that call because I'm responsible for what happened here! Jadzia knows what I'm talking about. She's the one who insisted that the Defiant investigate this planet. You know as well as I do that you should have been more careful. You should have seen that the barrier was unstable when you scanned it.
DAX: But I didn't. I was so bent on making some great discovery that I missed it.
YEDRIN: And because of you, because of me, Kira died and forty eight people were stranded here. You don't know what it was like to live with that. For years, Benjamin, every time I looked at you all I could think of was Jake and how because of me, he would never see his father again. Eventually I had to accept the fact there was nothing I could do to change things. I couldn't bring Kira back. All I could do was look to the future, Benjamin, and make sure that we survived here no matter what. This community is my responsibility. For two centuries, I have watched it grow into something to be proud of. For generations these people have worked to make a life for themselves here. They deserve a chance to hang on to it.
SISKO: I'm not denying that. I wish there was a way we could help you, but my people have the right to go home to their families. And I will not ask Kira to sacrifice her life for eight thousand people, for eight million. No one has the right to ask that. I'm sorry, old man, but there is nothing I can do.
KIRA: Look at them. They have no idea what's going to happen.
WORF: It is for the best. They are children. They would not understand.
KIRA: I'm not sure I understand. Eight thousand people, Worf. They have to die because I have to go back to the station to be treated for some condition I can't even tell I have.
WORF: That is not the only reason we are going back. Do not blame yourself, Major.
KIRA: I'm going up to the ship. (she leaves with tears barely visible forming in her eyes)
PARELL: We came to tell you. There will be no feast tonight.
WORF: I understand. This is not a time for celebration.
BROTA: Tomorrow we will see the sun rise again, but no one here will see it set.
WORF: Join me. There is something I wish to say. It is a great honour to know that my legacy has thrived on your world for so long. I can see the Klingon heart beats strong here.
BROTA: You honour us with your words. We have tried to live as you taught us to.
PARELL: We've never plowed fields or milked chattel. We've lived as warriors, hunters.
BROTA: Last year, I slew a yarbear three metres tall. Your mek'leth was my only weapon. The beast maimed me, and for a time it seemed I would die from my wounds. Now I wish I had. It would have been a warrior's death.
PARELL: He could have taken his place among the honoured dead in Sto'Vo'Kor.
WORF: Perhaps he will yet.
BROTA: No. Ceasing to exist because my parents were never born? That is not a death worthy of Sto'Vo'Kor. Kill me, Worf. I have no enemies to fight, no glory to be won. Give me an honourable death.
PARELL: Don't make us wait for the end like farm animals waiting for slaughter.
WORF: I will come to you tomorrow and do what you ask.
ODO: Why did you want to come back here?
KIRA: I had to see it again so I could be sure.
ODO: Sure about what?
KIRA: That this is where I belong. The path the Prophets laid out for me ends here.
ODO: But not this time, Nerys. The Captain's taking you back to DS Nine.
KIRA: I can't let him do that. Not if it's going to cost eight thousand lives. No, we have to let history take its course, even if it means I have to die here.
O'BRIEN: What? Have you lost your mind?
BASHIR: Kira, if we don't go back to the station you'll die within a few weeks. There's nothing I can do for you here.
KIRA: I know that, Julian. I've accepted it. We've got to take the Defiant back in time, otherwise we're cheating fate.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, well, I wouldn't mind cheating fate all the way home to the station.
DAX: Neither would I. But if we go home, eight thousand people are going to cease to exist.
O'BRIEN: I don't know those people. But I have a wife and kids back home who need me.
KIRA: Your family will be fine, Miles. The Prophets will take care of them.
O'BRIEN: No offence, but I don't believe in your Prophets.
WORF: All Major Kira is saying is our families will survive no matter what we do. The colonists will not. If she is willing to sacrifice her life to save them, I am willing to remain here.
O'BRIEN: That's easy for you to say. You hardly see your son.
WORF: And you are afraid to face your destiny.
O'BRIEN: We can sit here arguing destiny until we're blue in the face, but the bottom line is, nobody has the right to tell me I can't go home to my family.
SISKO: I want to go home as much as you do, Chief. I'm just listening to what everyone has to say.
O'BRIEN: So we're not actually considering this?
SISKO: (very long pause as he makes up his mind) No, we're not.
KIRA: Captain.
SISKO: Major, you've made your position clear. All right, people. Dismissed.
O'BRIEN: The status report you asked for, sir. The repairs are finished. The Defiant's ready to leave orbit.
(Sisko reads the PADD.)
MOLLY: Aren't you going to help?
O'BRIEN: I'm busy.
MOLLY: You don't look busy.
SISKO: She's an O'Brien, all right. Better get to it, Chief. (he walks off with peels of laughter)
ODO: You can't do this.
KIRA: Please don't make it any harder than it already is.
ODO: You have to go home, Nerys. You have to.
KIRA: This isn't about me. This is about the eight thousand people down on that planet, and their children and grandchildren.
ODO: What about the children who'll never be born because the Defiant doesn't return to DS Nine?
KIRA: They don't exist yet. These people do.
ODO: Nerys, just tell me one thing. If you'd known how I felt about you, if I'd said something years ago, do you think things might have been different?
KIRA: Maybe.
(They kiss, and she leaves Odo crying.)
KIRA: Come in. Odo.
ODO: There's something you should know. The other Odo, the one from the planet, came to Sickbay before he left the ship.
KIRA: Oh?
ODO: He linked with me. Now I know everything that happened.
KIRA: The other day, when I told you about Shakaar and me not seeing each other anymore, you seemed so uncomfortable.
ODO: I'd come to accept the fact that you were involved with someone else, then suddenly everything changed.
KIRA: I don't know what to say. I'm still trying to sort everything out.
ODO: So am I. I think we both need time. There's something else the other Odo wanted you to know. He was responsible for changing the Defiant's flight plan.
KIRA: Why?
ODO: So that you wouldn't have to die.
KIRA: I can't believe it. Eight thousand people!
ODO: He did it for you, Nerys. He loved you.
KIRA: That makes it right?
ODO: I don't know. He thought so. I'll see you in the morning. (WOW!...their love is SO DYSFUNCTIONAL!)
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