In the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, I have thoughts. Many of them. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of consent and age gaps in sexual\/romantic relationships.<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, the whole season can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be great. I think there are some neat ideas here and one hell of an emotional payoff between Odo and Lwaxana, but I cringed a lot watching this. LET US DISCUSS.<\/p>\n
Marriage<\/b><\/p>\n
This is one of those episodes where the split storyline means that both plots suffer a bit from a lack of development due to the fact that they have less time. I wanted more of the exploration of the relationship between Odo and Lwaxana because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much to respond to here. Lwaxana pursued a relationship with Odo aggressively, and then she had her heart broken when she realized Odo loved someone else. Now, she turns to her friend because she knows that he is reliable, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not disappointed. But since their last meeting, both these characters have grown a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i>. Therefore, their interactions have changed, too. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a level of respect and appreciation we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not seen before.<\/p>\n
Now, I have no problem admitting that the impetus which pitches these two into a fake marriage is ridiculous, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about Lwaxana Troi, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Her entire life is ridiculous, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not one to pick apart the absurd scenarios she gets into. What I ended up being more interested in was the emotional resonance this had for her and Odo. Their conversations about love, heartbreak, duty, and children were so incredible! And they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to be bombastic or over the top, so I appreciate that an over-the-top character like Lwaxana can get a story that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quiet and introspective.<\/p>\n
The same goes for Odo, who must prove his love to Lwaxana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s husband before he can marry her based on Tavnian custom. Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d initially read his declaration of love as transference; I was completely prepared to write an entire review based on the fact that Odo was\u00c2\u00a0definitely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0talking about Kira while making that speech. You could still read it that way (and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d make a fascinating essay), but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve now come to believe that Odo just told the truth. Maybe he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel the kind of love to be married to her for real, but what he said about Lwaxana was true. She saw him for who he was, and she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recoil or run away. She wanted him\u00c2\u00a0more<\/i>. She wanted to see\u00c2\u00a0more<\/i>. Who else did that in that context? Who else helped him feel like a whole person who could be desired?<\/p>\n
What a sweet plot, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n
The Muse<\/b><\/p>\n
Which is good because I still feel incredibly icky about Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely a fascinating idea at work here that I could appreciate. What if there was a creature who fed off creativity through telepathy, sort of like a demonic version of a Betazoid? I can also see why the writers would choose Jake for this plot; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most explicitly creative character on the station, and he was overdue for a story centered on him. As Onaya makes it clear that she can help Jake with his writing, he is taken advantage of and nearly killed in the process.<\/p>\n
So, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something in the concept of a succubus-like entity that gave many of the best artists their infamous and final works. What made this story unbearably cringe-inducing was the elephant in the room: Onaya is significantly older than Jake, and her predation of him adds a whole new layer of awful. Yet NO ONE SEEMS TO MENTION IT. Actually, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not true: Onaya literally brags to Sisko that Jake is the youngest artist she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exploited, and yet, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all we get. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only acknowledgment of this power dynamic. If\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0had never done this before, I might not be as critical of it, but this is at least the second time that an age difference has plagued a story for Jake without the show portraying it as an uncomfortable, gross thing. Yes, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not meant to idolize Onaya, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough. The sight of her caressing him and touching him is just so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 ugh. No. Please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do this again,\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Muse\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 twenty-first episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, I have thoughts. Many of them. 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-5733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5733"}],"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":"