 |
||
 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
 |
"Covenant" Review, as always, by Steve Perry Airdate: Week of November 23, 1998 Written by: Rene Echevarria Directed by: John T. Kretchmer Short Take: Certainly nothing special, and since it's our Dukat appearance for awhile, a bit of a waste Brief Summary: Kira is kidnapped by the pah-wraith cult! Review: "Covenant" should not be low end DS9. The premise, though by no means a blockbuster one, still has many issues to work with. Heavens, the episode had Kira and Dukat. Isn't that enough? Not any more. Kira hasn't had a decent episode since "Children of Time," actually, and Dukat is so messed up, the occasional appearance can't help him. Mnd you, I don't dislike the direction Dukat has taken. I simpyl would have preferred to see the roadmap he took to get there... Covenant is hardly anything special, but its attempts at some form of message and Dukat make it watchable, if not actually good. For the season, it's one of the worst, but the season, however weak it is, hasn't produced a truly bad hour. The episode seems so flat. Dukat seemd to bring Kira to the station so we'd have a episode, not because he had a reason to. I understand his desire to persuade Kira, as the Bajoran who hates him the most, that he was right all along, but we hardly got that here. Instead, it was mostly cult stuff, which alas made for boring TV. Sure, Kira verus Dukat would have been talky, but it would have been more interesting, too. The only twist the pah wraith cult gave us was the acknowledgment by the writers of "Where were the Prophets???" during the occupation. Unfortunately, Echevarria fell back on the DS9 party line of "I have faith and that's enough" to deal with the issue. It was used to some effect in "Treachery," but it didn't work here. Thus the problem. They coud have been contoversial and said treated the pah wraith cult as a real religion, even suggesting that all religions begin as nothing more as cults. Nothing beats an episode that tries to say something. They could have given it a real theology. Hell, they never gave Bajoran religion one, but I digress. Instead, however, they fell back on platitudes. They were done reasonably well, mainly because we had Dukat to give it a personal touch. The leader impregnating the Bajoran and the excuse given for the baby worked even if it wasn't wholly original. The attempted murder by Dukat, oddly botched as it was, made sense as well, and showed that he could still be cold and calculating. Quite frankly, I would have preferred the episode to revolve on an issue like whether or not the pah wraith cult is carrying out acts of terrorism and assasination than just a story about it being a cult. That way, it cod have tied back to Sisko and Bajoran politics in general. But continuity has not ben a strong point for recent DS9. The Dukat stuff is likewise tolerable if not good. The whole issue lacks credibilty, and that comes from the presentation. I can buy his insanity, his desire to get back at Sisko, and his sick interest in Bajor. On a lot of levels, these things work. But it still seems so cheesy. It goes back to the platitudes. He can talk about feeling the love of the pah wraith, but it seems parroted. Maybe it is. I'd prefer to see him struggle with a faith, consciously aware of his manipulation and trying to justify it. I think this former general, reduced to leading a bunch of cultists, would strike him as a pathetic. He should realize what a wreck he has become. Instead, we get moments where he seems to believe the pah wraiths and moments where he doesn't. He's half-schister and half-believer, and the result leaves us more confused than intrigued. There is no conclusion to the episode, because it had no point, really. Dukat evidently doesn't lead the cult any more. That means, as we already knew, he faces Sisko, but alone somehow. I'm sure the writers will cook up some new means for this, like they seem to be so apt to do recently. Covenant is decent, but considering what it could have been, it's really a failure. Some short takes: - Kira's kidnapping was not only completely uninventive but implausible and stupid, stupid, stupid. - That guy was a bad painter... - Did I mention how stupid Kira's kidnapping was? - I hated the end scene too. "Dukat is crazy." "He is also dangerous." "Oh, being crazy makes him all the more dangerous. "Oh no." The writers do treat us like babies... - Why hasn't someone either taken or destroyed Empok Nor? It's on the border, you know... ` Rating: C+. Rankings: 1)"The Siege of AR-558" 2)"Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" 3)"Once More Unto the Breach" 4)"Shadows and Symbols" 5)"Image in the Sand" 6)"Chrysalis" 7)"Afterimage" 8)"Covenant" 9)"Take Me Out to the Holosuite" Next week:Rerun hell | |
|
|
||
|
NAVIGATION PADD | ||
| ||