{"id":5963,"date":"2016-11-14T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T21:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5963"},"modified":"2016-10-30T10:44:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-30T17:44:55","slug":"mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s06e05-favor-the-bold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/11\/mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s06e05-favor-the-bold\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Deep Space Nine’: S06E05 – Favor the Bold"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifth episode of the sixth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, everything is a disaster. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I can barely believe this episode is real. There is just\u00c2\u00a0so much<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0packed into one forty-five minute episode, and yet this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come across as cluttered, unnecessary, or unbelievable. WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT.<\/p>\n

The Mission<\/b><\/p>\n

Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll defend serialized narratives until the end of time because THAT IS THE KIND OF PERSON I AM. However, I wanted to talk about how the writers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 decision to turn season six into such a highly serialized story was a great thing. This show has long been a proponent of serialization, more so than any other\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0entity. Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note that the show has been demonstrating the desperation of the Federation for a number of episodes now. When Jadzia angrily criticizes Sisko for low morale, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to imagine it. These episodes have been\u00c2\u00a0exhausting<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to watch (in the best way) because the Dominion is clearly winning this war.<\/p>\n

Thus, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need quite as much action to push the tension forward. The tension comes from what the audience and these characters want. The majority of the crew is on a starbase far from home, so we want them to get Deep Space Nine back. When Sisko suggests a plan to retake the station, it immediately injects the story with life. (Not that this season needed it, of course.) I wanted to see this happen so badly! Easier said than done, though, and the plotting of this battle was suspenseful enough (and gave us a sense of grandeur) before those on DS9 snuck a message out.\u00c2\u00a0Then<\/i>, this episode becomes 100% unfair.<\/p>\n

But before I get to the battle, I did want to address how, even in the midst of one of the most jam-packed episodes of the entire show, the writers still managed to give some character development to Benjamin Sisko. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a\u00c2\u00a0big<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0deal that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decided to settle on Bajor once his career in Starfleet is over. I always expected him to return to Louisiana, but over the previous five seasons, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s come to accept his role as the Emissary. He has a connection to Bajor that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore anymore! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what helps motivate him in this specific situation, too. Not only is he looking out for the fate of the Alpha Quadrant as a whole, but he knows Bajor will fall if the Dominion pours through the wormhole. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so much\u00c2\u00a0depth<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to this reveal, and I found it a fitting addition to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favor the Bold.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Terok Nor<\/b><\/p>\n

EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL TERRIBLE. Like, where do I even start??? Rom has been convicted of sabotage and terrorism and is to be executed for his crimes; Odo is in the clutches of the Changeling; the minefield is being disabled; then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the dissolution of the relationship between Ziyal and Dukat; THEN THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S EVERYTHING BETWEEN WEYOUN AND EVERYONE ELSE; and I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe this all happened in\u00c2\u00a0one<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0episode.<\/p>\n

But it did. Terok Nor is inching ever closer to something truly horrible. This is not the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153benevolent oppressors\u00e2\u20ac\u009d dynamic anymore. These people are actively planning the destruction of multiple worlds, and as the Federation presses closer and closer to them, I worry about how they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll lash out. So I suppose that means talking about the Founders is a good start here, especially we\u00c2\u00a0finally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0get a fantastic sense of why the Founders are who they are. I know that the Changeling leader criticizes Weyoun for suggesting that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been manipulating Odo, but you know what? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy it. Yes, she wants all Changelings to be part of the Great Link, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly an important part of their culture. But she cannot possibly ignore what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing!<\/p>\n

In her conversations with Odo, she pushes him towards a specific viewpoint, one where the solids are all an inferior lifeform. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most explicit indoctrination we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen thus far, taking this beyond mere manipulation. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to turn Odo into someone who believes he is so superior to solid organisms that they deserve to have their freedoms taken away. The Changeling philosophy sticks everyone else\u00c2\u00a0below<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0them, which helps to explain why the Vorta worship the founders as they do. (It puts the conversations Weyoun has with Kira and Dukat about Vorta physiology and godly mistakes into a new light, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?)\u00c2\u00a0That<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing with Odo: trying to get him to believe in a system of supremacy.<\/p>\n

And the frightening part is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0working<\/i>. Odo has been so perpetually isolated and heartbroken that the Changeling way of life is an elixir to him, a way to make him feel wanted and validated, like he belongs. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even see how badly he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hurting all his friends, either! He thought that just apologizing to Kira would solve everything, but, as she points out, THIS SITUATION IS WAY PAST AN APOLOGY. Odo needs to\u00c2\u00a0act<\/i>, not just\u00c2\u00a0say<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sorry.<\/p>\n

Hey, guess who else that could apply to? HI, GUL DUKAT, YOU CONTINUE TO BE THE WORST. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s telling that he even views his own daughter as yet another political complication. Granted, the request she brings to him is political in nature. Freeing Rom would be out of the question for him! But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so incredible to see how Ziyal views this interaction as a chance for her father to prove to her that how she views him is\u00c2\u00a0real<\/i>. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got such a positive view of her father despite all the evidence that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a miserable person. This is actually relevant to a conversation I had with a friend of mine about how people practice cognitive dissonance or compartmentalization way more frequently than they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to admit. If Ziyal had not been so defensive of Dukat \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who has done nice, wonderful things for her! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she might have been able to believe all the awful things people told her about him.<\/p>\n

Yet she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, at least not until he directly and explicitly showed her that he had not a merciful bone in his body. I am also thrilled with her rebellion against Dukat because it inadvertently gave me the most satisfying scene in all of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine:\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>Kira Nerys beating the shit out of Damar. THERE ARE FEW THINGS I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE WANTED MORE.<\/p>\n

I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve missed details. (Ensign Nog! Morn having multiple scenes! Jake finding a way to contact his dad!) I know this doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even remotely cover everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favor the Bold.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But goddamn, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is some of the finest television\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0has ever produced, and I am TERRIFIED of the battle that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming in the next episode. How are they going to defeat a fleet\u00c2\u00a0twice<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0their size???<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Favor the Bold\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. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 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\u00a0 Mark 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":"