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The Writers Continue to Choke The Emperor's New Cloak Review by Steve Perry Airdate: Week of February 1, 1999 Written by:Who always writes the lame ones? Directed by:LeVar Burton Short Take: How lame-ass YAM can we get??? Brief Summary: The Nagus is kidnapped by lesbians! Review:A completely uninvolving hour. I wanted to watch the NBA during it! The sorry, backstabbing NBA! Why? It may be that the episode packed about thirty minutes worth of comedy into an hour. Or that it was hardly anything memorable, in terms of story or characterization. Well, we do remember something, don't we guys? Oh boy, we have this lesbian thing. I felt so insulted. Ok, Nicole de Boer was one incredibly hot looking muffin there, but wrapped up in leather felt like a gag, a stupid gag to get droolers half my age to watch. The lesbian kiss was completely gratuitous. What makes it so odd is that Mr. Behr, who fashions himself as the liberal sort with his bad haircut and all, would make lesbianism look like such a bad thing, done only by bad guys in the crazy universe. Writing SAYS something Ira... look into what you are saying. This isn't Marvel Comics. The first nail in the coffin for the episode was the fact that, once again, nothing relevant happened. Sure, the humans pasted Worf. Wow. That's a plot thread that I so desperately wanted to see wrapped up. This wouldn't have been a problem had the last, oh, six episodes had any sense of relevance to them, but because of their failures this too was a failure. That and the fact that it wasn't funny. There were some lines that I liked. The most obvious is the "debriefing" line, that, while hardly original, was kinky and helped by how Rom reacted to it. Another was his speculations about whether or not everything was the exact opposite in the alternate universe. To the defense of Rom, he is usually funny, I think, with only an occasional really bad line (Remember that "crazy one legged man" speech in Paper Moon?). It's just that the schtick is old, and it felt old at times here. Lastly, Quark and Rom carrying around a cloaked cloaking device had its charm. Sometimes they do write something funny, and even though I am crabby, I should point it out. Other than that, there wasnt much to laugh at. There was Worf and beetle snuff, with the line poorly delivered as always by Dorn. And nice Brunt was funny, but funny in an in-joke sort of way, not because it had real humor. The problem is, the humor was too often sacrificed for the stale plot. Rom for example got smart and sly all of a sudden so that he could trick the bad guys. It just didn't seem right, especially when the plot moved so slow that you had to notice it. There wasn't tension here. No plot twist surprised me, and no plot twist was inventive. Having Brunt rescue them from Terok Nor is way to get yourself out of a corner, not a way to surprise the viewers. Unfortunately, much of the episode's plot was this way. There wasn't much meaning beneath it either. While it was hardly original, Ezri learning that there was more than money out there (Han Solo, anyone?) worked... the only problem is that it felt thrown in. Ok, Kira is mean, and killed Brunt. I guess that means you realize that you had a friend Ezri. Why help the Alliance? Who knows? Why did Kira kill Brunt? Who knows? I saw it coming, but because it was a predictably slavish move from B&B, not good characterization. Why did the rebels do their darnedest to make sure innocent Rom and Quark were prisoners? Who knows? The problem with the mirror universe is that it shamelessly stacks up the dead bodies and wraps it all up for the viewer in over the top characterization that the actors might dig but I don't. In other words, the mirror universe is stupid. Instead of a place where human duality can be explored, where a character can see what he would have been had he made a different choice, it is a place for lesbos and splosions. That seems fun at first, a definite change of pace, but it ain't Star Trek. And it ain't good TV either. Note I seperate the two - because DS9 has separated itself from good TV recently. Some short takes: - What's with the gratuitous FX splosion when the mirror ep rolls by? - What the hell was with Vic Fontaine? I didn't know if it was funny or just plain goofy. - The writers also made an attempt at dealing with Quark and Ezri again. I loathe the fact that they make Quark so obviously sleazy from this, but they do deserve credit for Brunt's somewhat tender speech on the subject that will hopefully do Quark (and us) some good by having this whole issue dropped. -Correct me if am wrong, but didn't two Cardassian ships decloak in "Shattered Mirror?" Rating: C- Next week: Ooh, Ezri has to work with one of her former selves! On the next Quincy! | |
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