In the twenty-sixth and final episode of the second season of Deep Space Nine, what the hell is wrong with this show. WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Deep Space Nine.
Remember when the Cardassians were the major threat to peace in this world? Remember when they were the main antagonist? DO YOU REMEMBER THIS TIME? Because in just one episode, Deep Space Nine has upended everything, giving us a new villain that’s not even one person, nor is it one species, NOR DO THEY SEEM TO HAVE A SINGLE DISCERNIBLE WEAKNESS, EITHER. After teasing us with mentions of the Dominion for two seasons, the writers barge into our room, they punch us right in the heart, and then they dart away, laughing the whole time.
The Dominion are here, and they are not gonna fuck around.
Vacation Time
Seriously, after “Tribunal,” I feel like the Deep Space Nine crew needs to rethink vacations. YOU DO NOT HAVE A GOOD TRACK RECORD WITH THEM.
Anyway, you know what’s a fun exercise? Think about the beautiful silliness for the first ten minutes or so of “The Jem’Hadar.” While I was highly entertained and adored the chance to see Jake and Sisko bond, I thought it was an odd choice for the opening of a season finale. Again, don’t get me wrong. Those four characters absolutely deserved these scenes together, and just in terms of character building, I found the first act of this episode to be one of my favorite things this season. Even if he’s just an uncle, we get a chance to see Quark as a father. Granted, it’s very brief and his own selfishness gets in the way, BUT I STILL LOVED IT. I think this kind of writing is necessary to help develop a framework for how we think of these people. We get the very real sense of Sisko’s adoration for his son and the respect he has for him. Hell, I’d even argue that the emotional resonance of one of the closing scenes – where Sisko praises his son after reuniting with him – wouldn’t hold the same meaning if it weren’t for the opening of “The Jem’Hadar.”
The Dominion
Of course, over the duration of a single scene, the fate of Deep Space Nine as a whole is changed. Look, I have no doubt that the Dominion storyline is going to play a huge part in the coming season. It has to! You can’t introduce a story like this and then just abandon it. (Plus, the show’s been willing to do a lot of interesting shit with the serialized Cardassian plot line anyway.) Regardless, this episode is such a brutal introduction to the horrible power of the Dominion. What’s their power? Collection. It’s like they’re a distant kin to the Borg. Instead of assimilating people and cultures into their collective conscious, they just take pieces. Whatever appeals to them, whatever they can use to make themselves more powerful, they steal. How do they do that? Well, according to Eris, they use one of two methods: they negotiate for what they want by offering a nation or culture entrance into the Dominion, or they steal it, murdering as many people as possible until they get it.
They’re cultural appropriators, aren’t they? An extreme version of that phenomenon, yes, but the framework fits. They see the cultural products of a group, they do nothing to help or elevate or reward or celebrate said group, and then they take that product for their own good, crowing their worth all along the way. Now, as far as I can tell, the Dominion aren’t a single group. We know of two species that make up the collective (I don’t really have a word to describe them other than that), and there must be countless more. How large are they? What other species do they use for their advantage? “The Jem’Hadar” focuses on the titular group, but do we actually know much about them? They’re trained soldiers (and I think there was a line about them being bred to do this work???), and they’re clearly dedicated to the glory of the Dominion. But who are the Founders? How many Founders are there? What’s the size of the Gamma Quadrant that they control? HOW DID I MISS THAT THE MEGA-TALENTED CRESS WILLIAMS WAS TALAK’TALAN???
The mystery of the Dominion only makes them more frightening, though. That’s a deliberate part of their construction. We have no real idea who they are, and the same goes for the Jem’Hadar and Eris’s race. We don’t know any of their plans aside from STEAL EVERYTHING and MURDER THE FEDERATION. Oh, and make no mistake! They have demonstrated with abundant clarity that they want to just take out the Federation for daring to travel into the Gamma Quadrant, and how do we know that? BECAUSE ONE OF THE JEM’HADAR SHIPS MAKES A KAMIKAZE RUN ON THE ODYSSEY AND DESTROYS IT.
How much you wanna bet that this is just the start??? (Wait, I don’t actually want to bet, I am clearly disadvantaged here.) The team is lucky enough to have discovered Eris’s true identity at the end of “The Jem’Hadar,” but who the hell is she going to bring back? And how can Deep Space Nine ever dream of stopping them if their shields are so useless?
WHAT DID THIS SHOW JUST BECOME?
The video for “The Jem’Hadar” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
– IÂ will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates / Appearances page.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be Death Note and Neon Genesis Evangelion. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
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