Overall: 8.0
Appreciate this episode for what it is. If you over-think it, you will ruin the whole experience.
Plot Synopsis:
Memory Alpha covers most of the details here
The Skinny:
I'm not going to say much here. Again, this episode is forty-five minutes of pure, harmless fun and therefore doesn't really lend itself to paragraphs of deep analysis. I will say this, though: If you've ever experienced cognitive therapy - or are familiar with the theory - then you might view Sisko's actions at the very end as eminently logical (regardless of Solok's opinion on the subject). Cognitive therapists, you see, believe that clinical depression and anxiety both originate in how we internally respond to life's vicissitudes. If something goes wrong, do we automatically blame ourselves? Do we assume we are being judged by others every second of every day? Do we always jump to the most catastrophic hypothetical? If so, then one key to battling our mental health issues (besides medication) may be to challenge our "automatic negative thoughts," changing them into neutral or positive ones. And this is precisely what Sisko does. He solves his problem with Solok by altering how he reacts to Solok's smugness. Instead of ruminating endlessly on Solok's judgments, Sisko finally learns to brush them off as unimportant. "Screw it," I'm sure Sisko was thinking. "I'm not going to let him bother me anymore. I know I'm a capable captain with a good crew. I don't need his approval."
But let's be honest here: SABR Matt and I don't like Take Me Out to the Holosuite because it's psychologically astute. We like it because it's cute. Personally, I appreciate the opportunity to exercise my smiling muscles. Actually, several times, I laugh out loud while watching this episode, particularly when Worf opens his mouth. ("Death to the opposition!" LOLOLOLOLOL! Best infield chatter ever!) Yes -- the story is a bit cheesy and derivative, but I don't really mind. Sometimes I just have to give a television show credit for being unabashedly entertaining.
SABR Matt Addendum:
My co-author doesn't feel like she's in the proper place to comment on the baseball in this episode. I, however, am I lifelong fan of the sport and all of you sci-fi loving elitists who think athletic contests are beneath your intelligence and express our most primal of emotions (simulated warfare)...I can only say...YOU'RE RIGHT! And that's why baseball is awesome! It's civilized, intellectually crafted, poetically executed warfare and expressed what is wonderful and possible in human capacity from the strictly passionate and and expressive to the biological and technological. The game gives us something to fight about that isn't serious, isn't dangerous, and isn't morally dubious - that's why it's such a wonderful break from our lives full of the serious, the morally dubious and the mortal. So if you feel it's beneath you, I pity you your miserable existence, but you are deluding yourself if you think you're more evolved than a baseball fan just because you don't like civilized, poetic combat.
This episode tends to make a lot of DS9 fans who think they're smarter than the average bear cringe - it expresses everything glorious about baseball just as much as it expresses everything good about the Niners. How can a story about something as smelly as baseball be enjoyable? To you folks, I say...bite me. Sorry...I have nothing more intellectually riveting to say. :) I just want to add that this episode is in fact true to what baseball fans think of their game, for the most part and does a good job capturing the allure of the sport.
The other strain of thought - that this is bad because it makes the Vulcans look bad - is silly. Vulcans aren't Gods...their logical worldview is, IMHO, inherently ILLOGICAL. What in human history has led us, as fans of Trek, to believe that our emotions make us weaker and that we should try to be purely logical? The most coldly logical among us tends to be the most evil or despotic or, at core, miserable as well. It's rather like the bad logic of trading an addiction to gambling for an addiction to smoking. You might save money in the short term, but you're still addicted. That is my leading criticism for AA's approach to saving alcoholics. The Vulcans believe that their emotions made them savage. OK...say they're addicted to those emotions...does that mean the healthy response is to eschew them entirely...or to embrace them IN MODERATION? My 0.02.
Writing: 8.0
The humor works for me!
Acting: 7.5
The acting is pretty solid, too.
Message: 8.5
This score is mainly for the sweetness quotient.
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