In the seventh episode of the fifth season of Deep Space Nine, Worf and Dax go on vacation, and this is so much better than you could possibly think it is. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
I love this episode. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. It’s so rich and layered, a chance for the writers to talk about Worf’s conservatism, the challenges of inter-species and inter-cultural relationships, and the issue of mutually exclusive behaviors. I HAVE SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT, Y’ALL.
Vacation
Let’s all laugh at my insistence at the start of “Let He Who Is Without Sin…†that this be a funny episode. It is certainly a lot more playful than most episodes of the show, and I appreciate that. I think that the tone is a perfect mix between the more serious elements and the humorous ones, especially since the two characters at the center of it represent those two dynamics. But for nearly the first half of this episode, the writers exploit the humor out of this situation, first by piling as many disparate characters into the runabout, then having each situation on Risa exacerbate Worf’s discomfort with the very idea of a vacation. But that’s one of the great things about this episode! It openly acknowledges the chemistry Worf and Jadzia have with one another while also displaying their stark differences.
Risa ends up being the perfect setting for this story, too, especially because it represents the artifical nature of enjoyment. I did find myself perplexed that the show stuck to such rigid displays of heteronormativity, though. Risa is a pleasure planet, and their whole deal is that they don’t judge people for seeking out pleasure. So it seems like the perfect  place to show same-gender couples, even in the background! The same goes with the writers’ bizarre need to define Jadzia as not being interested in someone because they’re a woman. That’s just silly at this point, y’all. We already know she’s capable of it, and there’s no rational reason for not having the Trill be pansexual or bisexual, you know?
Anyway, let’s talk about Worf.
Pleasure
On a very personal level, there are few things I dislike more than people who truly believe the kind of logic that Fullerton (and, for a while, Worf) follows.  I can’t believe how many bullshit thinkpieces I’ve seen about how our generation is going down the toilet because we don’t care about society anymore. All we care about is Pokémon Go. Or the Kardashians. Or whatever new fad or trend is on the news or online, you know? There’s this awful idea that people can’t be interested in two things at once. You see this in activist circles, too! It’s such an aggravating thing EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Fullerton, of course, is an exaggerated version of this same phenomenon. He believes that a vacation is a sign of weakness. Like… I don’t even know where to start with debunking such a terrible fucking idea. Actually, I’ll start with Worf, since he’s guilty of it, too: YOU ARE DELIBERATELY REMOVING THE CONTEXT OF THESE PEOPLE’S LIVES. Worf frustratingly tries to tell Jadzia that she’s being frivolous, and I just wanted to reach through the screen and slap him. Did he forget all of his time with her since the start of last season??? And that’s what irks me the most. How do Fullerton and his followers know that these people aren’t prepared? He’s invading a space meant to provide people with a temporary respite. It’s not like people are moving to Risa en masse to escape their duties and responsibilities. They relax, they experience pleasure, and then they go home to their lives and jobs and I HATE THAT I EVEN HAVE TO ADDRESS THIS. IT SEEMS SO OBVIOUS.
Justification
Y’all, I love SO MUCH that this episode gets intensely personal because there was a point where I wanted to call foul. Worf is stubborn and loves traditional Klingon culture. This is nothing new. He’s got over eight full seasons of characterization that points to this. Now, as I said in the video, I’m not often a fan of the kind of origin story thing that happens here, but I adored Worf’s explanation as to why he is so reluctant to break loose and act more like the Klingons we’ve seen over the years. It’s a sad part of his past, but holy shit, it fits so well. Worf’s reluctance came from guilt over accidentally killing a young boy during a moment of bliss. NO WONDER HE ASSOCIATES PLEASURE WITH DISHONOR AND NEGATIVITY. Oh my god, do you realize how much this explains? And not just for this episode, though his behavior here is given the reasoning that was sorely lacking the whole time.
It was also obvious that he adored Jadzia, yet he refused to compromise on nearly anything she offered. Surely, he knew that was a bad thing, right? So now it’s easy for me to imagine that he always knew he was pushing Jadzia away since her carefree nature reminded him of the last time he got to be carefree. I’m just sad that at the end of the day, I didn’t get to see Worf in that precious golden speedo. LIFE IS TOO CRUEL, I GUESS.
Deep Space Nine has been on fire, y’all. The show just keeps impressing me. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR IT.
The video for “Let He Who Is Without Sin…†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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