In the ninth episode of the fifth season of Deep Space Nine, Odo and Quark go angry camping while Jake and Nog become angry roommates. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Well, that was a weird one. I recognize that the plot is surreal and that the conflict is entirely pointless, but there’s a part of me that enjoys just how pointless this episode is, as if it’s just a means to get Odo and Quark into a situation in which they can endlessly insult one another. Which… that’s fine. It really is, and I was entertained by that. I wonder, though, if that was the point, and if that’s the case, I question the way this was pulled off. There’s a way to make dialogue exciting and thrilling, and Deep Space Nine has executed that many times. But there are long stretches here where very little is happening and where the conversation fizzles out, too. It’s a jarring thing to watch because the life-or-death component of the story doesn’t show up until Odo breaks his leg.
And even I can admit that that specific moment is actually a really fascinating thing. Odo’s been a Changeling his whole life, so having him get truly injured was a big deal. He’s never broken a bone before! HE’S NEVER HAD BONES BEFORE. Plus, the dynamic of the rescue shifts; now, Quark must save the day. The laziest character, the one most determined to cut corners at any cost, the one person more selfish than anyone else on this show, has to do something grueling, terrifying, and painful. AND HE DOES IT. HE ACTUALLY SAVES ODO. Would Odo have survived if Quark had not made a splint and a stretcher to carry him as far as he did?
PROBABLY NOT. And beautifully, Quark and Odo insult each other until the very last frame. While I don’t think this was the greatest plot, I appreciated the commitment to this idea.
Meanwhile, there’s a satisfying B-plot about the return of Nog to DS9. It fits well within the story since Nog and Jake spend most of the episode insulting one another, but it’s also a great way to address the fact that Nog has changed so much since going through Starfleet. That was inevitable, and given how Rom’s adapted to working with Starfleet, I wasn’t surprised that Nog adapted in a similar way. Not exactly the same, of course; Nog is far less flexible than his father, and that’s precisely why he butts heads with Jake.
At the same time, Jake is a human personification of The Worst Roommate, and y’all, DON’T BE THIS PERSON. PLEASE. I have had a number of Worst Roommmates over the years, like the guy who secretly ran up my phone bill hundreds of dollars and when confronted with it, disappeared. Like, moved out, never spoke to me again, and the next time I saw him was on an MTV reality show. I SWEAR TO YOU, THAT IS TRUE. Dude ruined my credit for nearly ten years. Or there were the roommates I had over a decade ago who left dishes in the sink for nearly six weeks and instead of cleaning them, bought new ones and then left those next to the sink. Ah, I’m now remembering the alcoholic roommate I had who would hide bottles of liquor about the apartment and who one day brought a guy back to the place and proceeded to have sex with them on the couch.
It was a loft. A studio loft. NO WALLS SEPARATING US.
So I’m glad these two realized they had to compromise in order to live together. That’s a challenging thing to figure out anyway, and as someone who has co-habited for most of their life, I deeply understand this struggle. JAKE. PICK UP YOUR CLOTHES, OH MY GOD.
The video for “The Ascent†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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