A DS9 Thanksgiving
Well. Thanksgiving dinner for HobsonphileBro and me went off without a hitch. Now that the left-overs have been stored, let's talk about some DS9, shall we?
I tend to think of the first six episodes (A Time to Stand, Rocks and Shoals, Sons and Daughters, Behind the Lines, Favor the Bold, and A Sacrifice of Angels) as a single functional unit, so my thoughts over the next few days will come in no particular order.
Slightly more fascinating to me than the Starfleet side of the raging Dominion War are the interplays on the occupied DS9.
The strongest scene in A Time to Stand is Dukat's presumptuous flirtation with Kira and Kira's gutsy response.
selenak, you are correct- Kira makes a better counterpoint to Dukat than Sisko. They were each forged by the same bloody history, a history that spans decades. In galactic time, Sisko, Emissary or not, is a recent interloper and still very much an outsider. To change the shape of a conflict that has existed since the series' birth is, I feel, a mistake on the writers' part. It's as if JMS decided, mid-stream, to make Sheridan Londo's principle foil.
That said, I'm stumped as to how Sisko's importance as the Emissary could be re-written in a way that preserves Kira and Dukat as primary adversaries.
On the subject of adversaries, I love the constant potency contest between Dukat and Weyoun. Political allies they may be, but as Dukat observes darkly at one point, "Someone has to be in charge." And behind a screen of false smiles and forced pleasantness, they fight doggedly for supremacy. As a fan of hostile subtext, Coombs and Alaimo and the way they convey their thinly veiled contempt for each other fills me with joy.
The plot on DS9 also turns on Odo's divided loyalty. Bro and I were shocked by how closely the Female Founder's intervention resembled a sexual seduction. "Do you want me to stop?" she asks as she begins to link with Odo for the first time in Behind the Lines. We certainly didn't remember it being this blatant. *g* And we certainly didn't remember that she had physical intercourse (!) with Odo as well.
But oh, they did not follow through with this storyline and it is perhaps the series greatest dissapointment. Granted, the fact that Odo came through for Kira by the end of A Sacrifice of Angels may- may- have mitigated his earlier betrayal somewhat. But this should've lingered for a very long time.
Just now, the following occured to me: The focal point of Children of Time was the relationship between Odo and Kira and Odo's ultimate willingness to sacrifice 8000 to save his love, superceding Kira's own wishes in the process. Upon reviewing the full text of the Founder's seduction of Odo, it has suddenly struck me that Odo's betrayal in Behind the Lines springs from the same origin. "If she smiles at me, I'm happy beyond reason," Odo confesses to the Founder. In return, the Founder offers "clarity." Odo was driven into the arms of the Founder because of his unrequited love for Kira, just as he doomed the colony on Gaia to non-existence in the service of that same unrequited love.
Odo and Londo might have some things to discuss between them regarding the selling of one's soul for a dame.
Coming Up: Tales told sparingly, DS9's most compelling Jem'Hadar, and the humour of ruined pants. Don't worry, I won't ignore Sisko and Co. *g*
I tend to think of the first six episodes (A Time to Stand, Rocks and Shoals, Sons and Daughters, Behind the Lines, Favor the Bold, and A Sacrifice of Angels) as a single functional unit, so my thoughts over the next few days will come in no particular order.
Slightly more fascinating to me than the Starfleet side of the raging Dominion War are the interplays on the occupied DS9.
The strongest scene in A Time to Stand is Dukat's presumptuous flirtation with Kira and Kira's gutsy response.
selenak, you are correct- Kira makes a better counterpoint to Dukat than Sisko. They were each forged by the same bloody history, a history that spans decades. In galactic time, Sisko, Emissary or not, is a recent interloper and still very much an outsider. To change the shape of a conflict that has existed since the series' birth is, I feel, a mistake on the writers' part. It's as if JMS decided, mid-stream, to make Sheridan Londo's principle foil.That said, I'm stumped as to how Sisko's importance as the Emissary could be re-written in a way that preserves Kira and Dukat as primary adversaries.
On the subject of adversaries, I love the constant potency contest between Dukat and Weyoun. Political allies they may be, but as Dukat observes darkly at one point, "Someone has to be in charge." And behind a screen of false smiles and forced pleasantness, they fight doggedly for supremacy. As a fan of hostile subtext, Coombs and Alaimo and the way they convey their thinly veiled contempt for each other fills me with joy.
The plot on DS9 also turns on Odo's divided loyalty. Bro and I were shocked by how closely the Female Founder's intervention resembled a sexual seduction. "Do you want me to stop?" she asks as she begins to link with Odo for the first time in Behind the Lines. We certainly didn't remember it being this blatant. *g* And we certainly didn't remember that she had physical intercourse (!) with Odo as well.
But oh, they did not follow through with this storyline and it is perhaps the series greatest dissapointment. Granted, the fact that Odo came through for Kira by the end of A Sacrifice of Angels may- may- have mitigated his earlier betrayal somewhat. But this should've lingered for a very long time.
Just now, the following occured to me: The focal point of Children of Time was the relationship between Odo and Kira and Odo's ultimate willingness to sacrifice 8000 to save his love, superceding Kira's own wishes in the process. Upon reviewing the full text of the Founder's seduction of Odo, it has suddenly struck me that Odo's betrayal in Behind the Lines springs from the same origin. "If she smiles at me, I'm happy beyond reason," Odo confesses to the Founder. In return, the Founder offers "clarity." Odo was driven into the arms of the Founder because of his unrequited love for Kira, just as he doomed the colony on Gaia to non-existence in the service of that same unrequited love.
Odo and Londo might have some things to discuss between them regarding the selling of one's soul for a dame.
Coming Up: Tales told sparingly, DS9's most compelling Jem'Hadar, and the humour of ruined pants. Don't worry, I won't ignore Sisko and Co. *g*
Hail, fellow reviewer!
Yes, exactly.
That said, I'm stumped as to how Sisko's importance as the Emissary could be re-written in a way that preserves Kira and Dukat as primary adversaries.
In the spirit of constructive criticism (i.e. offering solutions instead of going on with my "Why oh why?" rant): in my ideal DS9 universe, there would have been no Pagh Wraiths. Or at least none possessing Dukat. Maybe we could keep the Pagh Wraiths for Winn's storyline. Dukat, post-Sacrifice of Angels, would have had Damar's storyline, i.e. after a time of guilty depression and alcoholism, the hostility with Weyoun would have errupted in open conflict and Dukat would have become the resistance leader. Can you imagine the fireworks if Kira had been forced to work together with Dukat? He would also have died the way Damar did in the series finale, i.e. not in a crucial way but as a simple war casuality which would have been a great counterpoint to his grandiose ambitions of old but yet would have seen him at a point where he tried to make up for the past. Or you could have gone for the dramatic irony of having Kira kill him but not as she planned for eons in hatred or to deal out justice but because Dukat was about to be captured by Dominion forces and would have been interrogated and betrayed the resistance, and they had agreed previously that in this case, the one about to be captured would be killed.
Meanwhile, the showdown on Bajor would have been between Sisko and Winn. Surely the Emissary and the Kai make a logical couple for this, especially given that Sisko's conflict and up-and-down relationship with Winn were established from the start of the show as well. We'd still have gotten Winn's tragedy, turning from the Prophets to the Pagh Wraiths (only useful contribution the Pagh Wraiths ever made) because of frustrated faith and ambition, and no ridiculous punch-out. She would have been about to defeat Sisko with whatever superpowers the Pagh Wraiths would have given her... but the fact that he still kept believing, inspite of being defeated, alone and not a Bajoran, would have in turn defeated her. She then would have taken her own life to stop the Pagh Wraiths.
Odo and the Female Founder: the thing to remember is that it's not just a ploy on her side. When Weyoun congratulates her, she freezes him with her stare and says that she'd give the entire Alpha Quadrant to win Odo back for the Great Link, not the other way around. (Which of course sets up the ending.) It's skilled manipulation, yes, but I think the main reason - aside from Odo's frustrated love for Kira - that it succeeds is that the Founder is in fact sincere which presumably Odo gets through the link.
But oh, they did not follow through with this storyline and it is perhaps the series greatest dissapointment. Granted, the fact that Odo came through for Kira by the end of A Sacrifice of Angels may- may- have mitigated his earlier betrayal somewhat. But this should've lingered for a very long time.
Yes. Actually, I had issues with Odo and Kira becoming a couple that same season mainly because of this (also because I thought hopeless love worked better for Odo). However, I have to admit that season 7 changed my view on this slightly - Treachery, Faith and the Great River made me like Odo and Kira as a couple, and of course Odo going back to the Founders works quite differently dramatically if he's in a happy relationship with Kira at the time, than if he had still been pining in vain.
This being said: there should have been longer repercussions both from his Children of Time actions and from his early season 6 betrayal on Kira's side. Again, in my ideal DS9 they would have been very carefully rebuilding their friendship throughout the rest of the sixth season. Then in the seventh season become lovers in time for the pay-off during the last episodes.
Odo and Londo might have some things to discuss between them regarding the selling of one's soul for a dame.
Quite.*g*