In the third episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a mess. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than any other episode of the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0universe, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Visitor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d makes me feel like what I do is trite. Sometimes, a work of fiction is so powerful<\/a>, so evocative, and just so damn\u00c2\u00a0good<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that critical analysis becomes an act of evisceration. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like the adage that explaining a joke always strips it of its funniness. If I try to break down the reasons why this episode hit me as hard as it did, I feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m tearing it apart. Pulling it at the seams. Stretching it too tightly. That elasticity will break, and then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m left with the pieces of something that, as a whole, was brilliant. Beautiful. Moving.<\/p>\n At the same time, I hope that the existence of this site and Mark Reads has shown that through analysis, we can find new ways to love the things we love. I know that my reviews have, over the years, given some folks a new appreciation for shows they already adored. But how do you do that with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Visitor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know shit about the fandom, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain that many of you list this as one of your favorites. After\u00c2\u00a0I tweeted about it<\/a>, I learned that it\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0one of the most beloved episodes in the entire\u00c2\u00a0Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0canon. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising to me. This is such a bold and heartbreaking story, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing else like it. (That I know of! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got lots of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0DS9\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>left, as well as all of\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>.) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been much written of the acting of Cirroc Lofton, Avery Brooks, and Tony Todd. This was a fantastic script to begin with, but these three men took it to another level.<\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure much has been written about how\u00c2\u00a0far<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Michael Taylor took this story. It travels like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sixty years into the future? Longer? And all the while, Taylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script eases us with the sheer scope of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done to the\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0universe. We learn of the abandoned station, the Klingon takeover of it, the lives that Jake, Dax, and Bashir have all lived since Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first disappearance. And we see just how much Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death\u00e2\u20ac\u009d affected Jake. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the loneliness, the isolation, the depression; then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attempt to live a normal life; then Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s return years later in Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home in New Orleans precipitates Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unraveling. Jake devotes his life to rescuing his father, losing his wife Korena in the process. He stops writing.\u00c2\u00a0He stops writing<\/i>.<\/p>\n It was one of a number of details that ruined me: Jake gave up his passion to save someone else. I just finished my first novel and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already planning out my second; I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0fathom<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0stopping now. There is a comfort I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found in this form of expression. Yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been writing for years. LET THIS BLOG STAND AS EVIDENCE OF THAT. But the act of creation is so powerful and renewing to me that I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dream of giving it up. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it hurt so much to know he stopped. The trauma of having his father revisit him undid his progress. At the heart of this episode is a grief so powerful and all-encompassing that I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but feel overwhelmed by it all. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve cried this hard since I finished\u00c2\u00a0Friday Night Lights<\/i>. Or maybe\u00c2\u00a0Fringe<\/i>. WHO CARES, LOTS OF TEARS.<\/p>\n And yes, this episode is designed for waterworks. And while I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m being unique or original here, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to propose a justification for such an emotional episode\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the use of a trope I routinely complain about on this site.<\/p>\n All of this matters because it happened to Jake and Benjamin Sisko.<\/p>\n If you divorce this story from these characters, it most likely would not feel so special. This is not a traditional love story because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solely about a father and son, not a married couple or some other pairing. That familial love is an integral part of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0as a whole. Up to this point, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve watched their relationship develop and grow. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve watched Sisko foster his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest in writing, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when Jake gives it up. The affection between these two, spread out over the three previous seasons, completely informs what happens here. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to seeing them together, so it becomes traumatic to have them separated so violently and suddenly.<\/p>\n However, it also matters that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re black, that Jake returns to his home of New Orleans, that we get to see two black men love each other, so much so that one of them dies so that the other may live. I cannot sit here and tell you of another science fiction show that has ever given me something like this. (Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now reminded of Penny\/Desmond on\u00c2\u00a0LOST<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 reasons. Not the same point, but I can see a similarity in the story.) These are the kind of stories we mostly see\u00c2\u00a0white<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0characters get. The world of science fiction is overwhelmingly pale, so it matters that a story this monumental and huge rests on three black men. THREE. Yes, Tony Todd and Cirroc Lofton are playing the same person, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still important. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important for black SF fans to be able to see themselves in this world, to be able to see that they deserve love and good writing. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to me because I want stories like this, too. I want to see a world that Roddenberry promised and often didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live up to himself. This is a sign that\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is a whole lot closer to that.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Visitor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the third episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a mess. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,614],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"