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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
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The Beginning of the End Strange Bedfellows (Part Three of Ten) Review by Steve Perry Airdate: Week of April 19, 1999 Written by:Ronlad D. Moore Directed by:Rene Auberjonois File Photo || Mission Log || Opinion Poll Short Take: Now things only need to hit the fan Brief Summary:Bad things happen, but a key defection Review:How do you judge an episode like this? It's more difficult than it looks. I think it's a great hour, very well written, but what if the next one, and the one after that, is better? Who's to say? I almost gave this one an A+ straight up for one reason: Kai Winn. Simply brilliant characterization. Wonderful mix of motivations on her part. I can't think of another TV show that would do something so interesting. The leader of the planet's religion, living in a spiritual vacuum. Is it because of her pride? Is it because her gods do not really exist? It was a very powerful, very personal story that didn't miss the mark. For example, it could have easily devolved into a farce when the Kai saw Kira. But it didn't. Kira was appropriately both the faithful believer and someone genuinely mistrustful of the Kai. The Kai was clearly grasping for answers. In the end she could never make it outside of herself. She held onto her pride, but in an unusual way, convincing herself that if the Prophets really did want the best for her, they'd leave her in power so she could do the best for Bajor. A sloppier show would have ended the scene with the Kai saying the first time, "But Bajor needs me!," exposing her as ambitious but doing nothing with it. This fed into a much larger question that Dukat exploited. If the Prophets care for Bajor, why didn't they help it? If they are such caring gods, why don't they care more for the Kai's earthly well-being. The Bajoran religion use to be basically a bland Hollywood mixture of hedonism and Eastern mysticism. Its moved more toward theism, and in the process has gotten a lot of nice theological questions to play with here, exploited by Dukat and waged within the Kai's mind. Great stuff, and wonderfully transforms the Kai from a simple political conniver to someone we can pity. Very much like Salieri in Amadeus. Great movie, BTW. Damar had already taken that road, and it began to pay off here. He had some great lines, "I look forward to meeting Weyoun Number Nine" being the best. I liked the sarcastic "Helloooooo!" as well. Maybe it was a bit too easy - after all, everything is now stacked up against Cardassia - but nonetheless it worked. Here's a thug who has all the trappings of power, but still loves Cardassia. To me, that's why it works. Damar hasn't suddenly gone noble... he's just the patriot he was when he killed Ziyal. Certainly no hero, and it's too bad that we don't get to see the war's aftermath, because there's no reason to suspect that he would rule Cardassia by democracy. It also worked because Weyoun was so completely right! Damar had good reason to feel smothered! Weyoun had him trapped. Yes, Cardassia would probably get more land. And yes, those soldiers probably died because they believed it was right, just as the Germans did at Stalingrad. What could Damar say? Great combination of good, menacing acting from Combs and smart dialogue. Perfect example of the Dominion mindset ... as was Weyoun getting terminated twice, a wonderfully over the top little addition with a nice point about Dominion morality, or lack thereof. On the Worf and Ezri front, things were still uncomfortable from the We Don't Usually Do Relationships on Trek Factor. However, nasty and as a result realistic dialogue from Monsieur Moore worked. The one exception was "Friends - And More!" and that was because it felt very afterschool-specialish. Worf called Dax slut, Dax said Worf wasn't the best in the sack, etc, etc ... this actually felt like people arguing. Oh God that's good to see after all these years on Trek. I can't remember the last time any character on a TV show was called a slut. The resolution to that was honest. Worf felt deeply guilty because he has an actual belief system and Dax felt, well, who cares, I've lived 8 lifetimes, I screw who I please. It allowed the situation to move on in a matter that didn't reset everything, and that's pretty much all you can ask for. The rest of the cast was hardly involved... Sisko's "war" with his wife was amusing, yet at the same time might foreshadow trouble to come. Siddig acted extremely well in his "old soul in such a young person" speech, and Quark and the Chief were appropriately used. The last three episodes make you wish DS9 could be one big arc. If it hadn't been for Paramount, who knows. They've finally gotten the chance to let it all hang out, and are doing a simply wonderful job so far. no more murder mystery episodes. This just isn't cool weapons and plot twists ... it's also interesting characterization and issues, and it's why I'm such a big fan of this show. Some short takes: - Anyone else like Solbor? He's so delightly disapproving as the Kai noted... - I love how the Breen only need like five chirps to say something like "We will invade Romulan space through the Tarsi sector, or if that fails, the Gobin sector." -Question: ST Continuum has a full synopsis up ... and it adds a scene between the Chief and Julian, and another between Sisko and Kasidy where she agrees to do the ceremony. Did everyone but me see this, or is ST Continuum wrong? Funny good cop/bad cop bit from Weyoun and Damar. Odo's directing was actually quite good ... subtle but effective camera movements. Rating: A Next week: Ouch! Man, I liked that bridge! | |
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