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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
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This Is More Like It Chimera Review by Steve Perry Airdate: Week of February 15, 1999 Written by:Rene Echevarria Directed by:Steve Posey File Photo || Mission Log || Opinion Poll Short Take: Subtle, provocative, even a bit romantic Brief Summary:Another changeling outside of the Dominion encounters Odo Review:I was about ready to work my way across the nation to the Hart Building and give some writers a serious lecturing. I had my bags all packed when Chimera came on. I didn't expect much. I liked the premise better when it was called "Vortex." Throwing "The Begotten" into it couldn't do much to help it, I thought. It did, actually. By providing an changeling perspective on changeling ways outside of Founder propaganda, Odo's thinking, and with that, his relationshp to Kira, were challened in ways not even previously touched on DS9. This is what season seven should be providing every week. The issues dealt with are familar issues, and because of that the episode should have been hurt by that. But for some reason, it wasn't. This wasn't about the war and Odo's loyalties to the Federation. This addressed the more fundamental issue of Odo among humans, a stranger in a strange land. It asked if there was a possibility outside of the Founders for changeling existence, possibly foreshadowing Odo's end. Most interesting of all, it asks if there is a fudnamental changeling nature. You know, after all these years, the best idea of something "fundamental" to changelings is that they mistrust the solids. We've never seen them in their "natural" form, the form they would have been in had they never met the solids. Echevarria capitalized on this well by making Laas look like a supporter of a simpler life, a life more fundamental to existence. Laas like a good Rousseauist would like to believe that in the past is someting good, that humans in a technological society is a bad. More than that, those that can appreciate that fact are an exclusive club, a club not above (Ok, I'm making Rousseau into a fascist here, but he deserves it.) denying the right to existence to others. Laas didn't strike me as a baddie because he killed that Klingon. He was simply taking his thought about humanoids to its logical conclusion. It's ironic that despite being so different from the Founders he reaches their same conclusion. In the process, Laas makes a far more damning case for human prejudice than the Founders do. The best scene dealing with this was Quark trying to tell Odo that sometimes humans can't help but be prejudiced. We're herd animals. Some have argued that this was unroddenberry. Actually, I'd like to think that what Gene would have thought is hardly relevant. Within our own society, we have people such as Steve Pinker arguing how we are genetically predisposed to do certain things. A dyed-in-the-wool Darwinian sociologist doesn't talk about Herbert Spencer nowadays - he talks about whether or not we're a born criminal. Quark asking if we have a fundamental nature just as Laas claimed he had one was a fascinating touch. Overall, I'd have to say that they just thought everything through this time around. Laas being arrested could have gone down the tubes fast. The reason it did work was because you were able to see the situation from the point of view of each person involved. You could certainly understand why the Klingons were mad and why Sisko was leery. Furthermore, you also had your reasons to doubt each side. Odo may not have had an ulterior motive, but he was oversympathetic to Laas, and that might have clouded his judgment. The Klingons, as pointed out by Odo, were being quite a bit hypocritical about it all. The plot was very simple, but surprisingly effective. The romance of it was highly effective, too. I suppose my only complaint is that this is about the twelfth time someone on DS9 has freed a prisoner for some reason or another. (The last time was Odo letting O'Brien get away in "Time's Orphan."). Compounding it is the underlying "If you love someone, set them free..." cliche. But those questions aside, Kira wanted to see Odo for whom he truly was, and that's extremely touching, at least to me. This is much stronger stuff than Kira out of the blue falling for Odo beccause she find out that he has a svelte side. I actually believed they were in love. "Chimera" in my mind is the best romance in Trek history because it dealt with real love. "Disease," while hardly abysmal, was lust and little more. Lust is nice while it happens, but love, like the episode "Chimera," is going to last a lot longer, and prove to provide many fond memories. Some short takes: - I just don't see how being a fish is going to help you in space - When you change, you "become" that thing. So did Laas really become fire and fritter away with being? - Some have pointed out the homoerotic undertones in the episode. And ,yes, they were there. You know those writers get a kick out of slipping stuff in there like that. There was And then there was that shower at the end, BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO TOUCH THAT. I loved that steak scene at Quark's. He he. Rating: A+ Next week: Uh-oh, holodeck show | |
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