{"id":5721,"date":"2016-07-19T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T20:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5721"},"modified":"2016-07-14T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T16:29:08","slug":"mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s04e17-accession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/07\/mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s04e17-accession\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Deep Space Nine’: S04E17 – Accession"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, THIS SHOW CONTINUES TO BE AWESOME. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

THIS WAS SO GREAT, AND I LOVE WHEN THE MAIN PLOT AND THE SUB PLOT ARE BOTH SO SATISFYING.<\/p>\n

The O<\/b>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Briens<\/b><\/p>\n

It would have been so easy to shove this plot into a more cruel sense of dramatics, but I appreciate that the conflict between Keiko and Miles ends as it does: with both characters understanding that their lives are about to get more complicated. At the same time, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a direct acknowledgement that Keiko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s return means everything is awkward! O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien has to change his daily schedule because he no longer lives by himself. Even\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as it was before; Molly is older, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just spent a long stretch of time with only her mother. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that she loves Miles less, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most likely not used to him being around either.<\/p>\n

Oh, and KEIKO IS HAVING ANOTHER CHILD. !!!!!!!! HI HELLO ANOTHER BABY, THIS IS SO VERY EXCITING, please name him after me THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. We see how this news causes Miles anxiety, but thankfully, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Accession\u00e2\u20ac\u009d never pushes these characters too far. I prefer the subtlety, especially when the main plot is so much more ridiculous and dramatic. (That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing.) O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Brien ponders his evenings without Julian and knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only going to become harder to have social events outside of raising a second child. Yet the writers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that thing where they portray the woman as being unreasonable and cruel, and I was super worried they were going to. But she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s busy, too! She has her own job to work on, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no reason why Miles can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enjoy the free time he\u00c2\u00a0does<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have.<\/p>\n

Also, I want Molly to destroy Julian in darts by the end of the show.<\/p>\n

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

I just love SO MUCH that the Bajoran religion plays a huge part in\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to describe this episode outside the context of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s come before it, and I adore that. Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role as the Emissary has been awkward at best, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s begrudgingly accepted that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a religious figure in a religion he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Accession\u00e2\u20ac\u009d pushes him towards believing in the prophecies; indeed, he sticks to his scientific interpretation more than anything else.<\/p>\n

Yet I believe that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Accesssion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a sign that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to accept that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meaningful\u00c2\u00a0to other people<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through the arrival of Akorem that he discovers this, and WHAT A TRIP THAT IS. A second Emissary floats out of the wormhole, after having been trapped there for TWO HUNDRED YEARS, and he brings with him a message from the Prophets.\u00c2\u00a0Apparently<\/i>, his story fulfills the prophecy of the Emissary, and technically, it appears to be true. Akorem\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0discover the wormhole before Sisko did; his life was also\u00c2\u00a0literally<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0saved. Sisko is more than willing to step aside, and I completely understood why that was the case. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never felt like he belonged, and there was always an obvious reason for that. He isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Bajoran! How can he be a major figure in another culture\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s religion, especially one he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t subscribe to?<\/p>\n

However, upon ceding power to Akorem and allowing him to become the Emissary, EVERYTHING BECOMES A GIANT, SCARY MESS. MY GOD, I now can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see it coming. Akorem was from \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for lack of a better term \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a simpler time. And I know that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often a really bogus way to describe history because\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0period of history isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simple. Life isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simple! Yet compared to the post-occupation world, Bajor was far more organized than in its current state. Thus, Akorem sees this as his mission, his way to bring Bajor back to peace and in line with the prophets. Now, I admit that there never seemed to be a mention of the caste system prior to this episode, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bit forced into the mythology of Bajor. Still, I saw it as yet another manifestation of the conservatism we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen from the Bajoran people in the past. Certainly, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen this happen in our own world. As a country or society pitches further into chaos, people latch on to promises of stability and certainty. Thus, the caste system\u00c2\u00a0seems<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0promising to those who desire more order.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frightening to watch how quickly some people fall right back into this, though. For some, the caste assures status and prestige, like for Kira, who is compelled to resign and join her proper place as one of the artists on Bajor, despite not having any inclination towards art of\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0kind. For others, though, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll mean giving up everything to exist in a state\u00c2\u00a0lower<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0than others. Nothing demonstrates the shifting power dynamics quite like Vedek Porta SHOVING A MAN OFF THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE PROMENADE AND KILLING HIM BECAUSE HE WAS A LOWER CASTE THAN HIM. Porta speaks of the murder as if it is sensible and expected of him, and many who watched him do it don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem all that bothered by the act.<\/p>\n

And to Sisko, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about as wrong as Akorem can be. IT IS THE MOST WRONG. In that sense, Sisko is\u00c2\u00a0perfect<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0as the Emissary. He understood that dire state that the Bajorans were in, but he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also\u00c2\u00a0constantly<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0aware of the position he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not Bajoran, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seek to be in power, either. He can recognize when something is wrong, and he fights to right it, yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out of a greater moral sense than something selfish. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go to the wormhole for himself! He goes there to find out if the wormhole aliens really\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tell this man to bring back the castes to Bajor.<\/p>\n

I LOVE THE WORMHOLE SEQUENCE SO MUCH. IT IS SO WEIRD AND STIFF AND MYSTICAL ALL AT ONCE. However, it also establishes the Akorem exists to help\u00c2\u00a0Sisko<\/i>, not the other way around. The Prophets knew what they were doing when they chose him, and I love that Sisko can still exist in a role where he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a role model, a guide, and yet he still gets to be a Starfleet officer with his own life.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Accession\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here 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>
\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\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":"