In the twenty-third episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Sisko must team up with the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar to take on\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Oh, I do love a good culture clash episode on\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>. Combine that with another of my favorite tropes \u00c2\u00a0enemies forced to work together against a common enemy! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0episode that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ripe for commentary. Indeed, this episode is the right amount of awkward and thrilling and insightful, and I\u00c2\u00a0love<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that we get a bigger glimpse into the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar and the Dominion.<\/p>\n
Because as it turns out, the Dominion is not as unified as it would like to portray itself. We learn about this from Weyoun, a Vorta who is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the leader? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll assume he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the leader\/master of the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar in this episode, since he controls the supply of White that they need. The setup here is complicated in theory, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ultimately a heist scenario. The splintering of the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar is where the complexity comes. At this point, there are at least three distinct Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar groups\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 sort of? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know whether we should count those Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar we saw earlier in the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run that were considering breaking from the Dominion. Maybe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0group, but without confirmation, I can only speculate. I admit that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exciting to see the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar finding ways to break from the Dominion because it adds depth to them as an antagonist.<\/p>\n
Part of that also comes from the interactions between Sisko, Weyoun, Jadzia, Omet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122iklan, and\u00c2\u00a0Virak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122kara. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to see the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar as a singular force when we get a chance to witness their varying personalities and opinions. The contrast we witness helps us to understand their culture, too! We get to watch how the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar even walk around the ship as a unified group, how they have no need for anything recreational, how they judge all other military forces as inferior because they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t designed to be efficient. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to say that the Federation group is useless here, and I think Sisko more than proves himself as a strategist and a fighter. (Well, so do Jadzia and Worf!) But the awkward alliance at the center of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Death\u00e2\u20ac\u009d highlights just how unmatched the two groups are.<\/p>\n
Oh god, THE DRILLS. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no better demonstration of the contempt that Omet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122iklan has for these people than the drill we get to see. He gives them information that is untrue and then scolds them for acting on it, claiming that everything is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unknown\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the battlefield. Now, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar seek victory above all else, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that things can\u00c2\u00a0always<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0go wrong during a mission. But I got a sense that Omet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122iklan just wanted to spite these people, even if they were allied, because he still views them as an enemy. Which is funny because Dax and Virak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122kara actually get along! And learn things about each other! WHICH I LOVE.<\/p>\n
But he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar who expresses any sort of solidarity until the end of the episode. Toman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122torax tries to harm Worf, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s executed for it. Which is followed by Omet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122iklan threatening to kill Sisko as soon as the mission is over. WHICH IS A TACTICAL ERROR AS FAR AS I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M CONCERNED. If you need someone to be at their best on a mission,\u00c2\u00a0why the fuck would you say this to them at any point in time?<\/i><\/p>\n
It takes a successful mission for Omet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122iklan to change his mind, albeit temporarily. Look, the guy literally can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why Sisko would save his life.\u00c2\u00a0That<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is how different they are from one another! But he does offer Sisko the chance to leave the planet as an ally instead of an enemy. It seems like such a small concession, but I thought it was\u00c2\u00a0huge<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a big moment for a character who was largely static and immutable throughout \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Death.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever see more of these characters (certainly not Weyoun, which sucks because Jeffrey Combs is such a rad character actor), but I was quite satisfied with this story. Anything that makes the Dominion seem more complex is good with me.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To the Death\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-third episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, Sisko must team up with the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar to take on\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/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-5744","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\/5744","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=5744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5744"}],"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":"