In the fourteenth episode of the first season of Deep Space Nine, Sisko helps negotiate between two rival Bajoran groups, while Julian and Miles deal with their own problem. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
As neat as some of the moments are in “The Storyteller,” I just don’t think this is that good in the end. It feels so much like The Original Series and The Next Generation that it doesn’t feel like there’s much here to make this stand out. It’s a very typical kind of episode for the Star Trek universe, and I suppose I’m already holding this show to a higher standard because it’s shown promise. Regardless, I have THINGS TO SAY!
Bajor
I was actually confused by the presentation of the dual stories here because I was under the impression that Julian and Miles were headed down to Bajor to help work a different angle of the same negotiation that Sisko was working on. So yes, I’m fine chalking this up to my own misunderstanding, but I still felt a little disoriented at the start of “The Storyteller.” I had hoped that there would be some huge subversion of the trope that the episode invoked here, but aside from the joke at the end, it’s a very literal reuse of something I feel like we’ve seen a lot. It’s very common trope. Someone who is considered an outsider makes contact with a different culture and suddenly finds themselves the savior of them all, either through pure circumstance or because they’re “prophesied” as this leader. Miles’s tale here hits both buttons, and we never really get a chance to see a side to this that doesn’t feel by-the-numbers. In the end, there’s a feel-good message about unity and acceptance, someone within this actual community gets to take over, and everything is just as it was in the beginning.
As I said before, there were neat moments along the way! Seeing Julian’s utter excitement throughout this was LIKE BREATHING OXYGEN: completely necessary for my survival. LIFE-GIVING. I loved that O’Brien did not care to take part in these cultural practices one bit and knew that he shouldn’t be doing it either. (I feel like Captain Kirk would have jumped at the opportunity.) And the fact that the previous Sirah “chose” O’Brien solely because he knew he’d be garbage is about one of the funniest punchlines I’ve seen in a Star Trek episode. Granted, it’s not played as a huge joke, but I don’t care. IT IS. So I accept these elements of the story as entertaining, but the rest of it? It’s weird to come off of “The Chase” into this one because it’s a story about unity and the lengths a society will go to ensure it. Except “The Chase” does it a whole lot better.
Also, I still don’t understand how the Dal Rok even worked. Was it an Orb? Part of an Orb? WHO KNOWS.
Negotiations
I’m torn on this plot because I can see the good intentions here, and for what it’s worth, Varis’s story absolutely did not go where I thought it would. At the same time… well, it doesn’t really go anywhere, does it? There’s a solution to the negotiations that she leads along with the Navot and Sisko, but it’s just the idea of one. We don’t even know if the Navot accept it.
So what does her story end up being about? I think the writers were trying to show us the difficulties of the life that Varis inherited. She’s a teenage girl whose father died by the Cardassians, and she’s now the Tetrarch of the Paqu clan. That’s a lot of responsibility to be given as a teenager, and Varis is well aware of how much pressure she’s under. But because this episode is split between two stories, Varis doesn’t nearly get enough space to grow within the narrative. She gets to express discontent and sadness to Nog and Jake, who both help her with her predicament. But does she come to any change within herself?  Does her experience with two kids her age bring her to a new personal revelation? I’m not exactly sure. She’s still going to go home and be surrounded almost entirely by adults. She’s going to be under an extreme amount of pressure to make sure that the updated treaty works out best for her people. So what did the events of this episode mean to her?
The thing is, I think there’s potential for so much more here. I really do! I wanted to know more about the Paqu and the Navot and what made them so different. I wanted an exploration of how the Cardassians inherently influenced the kind of conflict that has outlasted them. And truthfully, I just wanted to see more of Varis! I think this would have happened if “The Storyteller” were not so crowded, you know? Thus, not my favorite episode so far, and it’s probably not going to be one I remember all that well.
Except for O’Brien being such a bad storyteller. That’s hilarious.
The video for “The Storyteller” 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.
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