{"id":5788,"date":"2016-09-06T13:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T20:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5788"},"modified":"2016-08-08T11:32:20","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T18:32:20","slug":"mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s05e08-things-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/09\/mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s05e08-things-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Deep Space Nine’: S05E08 – Things Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth episode of the fifth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, WHY DOES THIS SHOW KEEP HURTING ME. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of internment camps, colonization, torture, terrorism.<\/b><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this show keeps going so much darker than I expect of it, and I really need to adjust my expectations. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good thing, though, since\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is so willing to challenge our ideas of what makes a person good or bad. Here, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s addressed as well as the idea of selectively remembering history. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I was so convinced that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was about Garak! In the opening scene, Garak is so certain that the Bajorans are misremembering history, that the Cardassian occupation was nowhere near as bad as they thought it was. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a frighteningly common logic in the real world, one I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in conversations about the Founding Fathers (THANKS,\u00c2\u00a0HAMILTON<\/i>) or slavery or Reconstruction or Jim Crow or the Civil Rights movement or the AIDS crisis of the 80s (THANKS, REAGAN). The way history is preserved \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and by whom \u00e2\u20ac\u201c matters in the retelling.<\/p>\n

So when Garak \u00e2\u20ac\u201c along with Dax, Sisko, and Odo \u00e2\u20ac\u201c appear on Terok Nor during the occupation, I was certain that this was going to be a chance for Garak to relive history as it was and to learn that his perception of that time was deeply flawed. And look, you can\u00c2\u00a0still<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0see that aspect here, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a valid interpretation of the story, though it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t end as the focus. Garak is horrified and bewildered for most of this episode. His frustration is obvious, too, since he can no longer access the privilege and prestige he was used to as a Cardassian. You can even see him struggle with the logic of the Cardassians as they indiscriminately target and torment random Bajorans.<\/p>\n

Yet the episode quietly shifts focus, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredible thing to experience. Perhaps my preconceived notion of what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was gonna be affected that, but I think it was intentional that the writers tricked us with this Odo-centric story. We get a sense that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experiencing something different from everyone else, but since this bizarre dreamstate scenario still affects\u00c2\u00a0everyone<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy not to center on him. Instead, I spent most of this episode on the edge of my seat, a nervous wreck as I waited for the next inevitable disaster. What was Gul Dukat going to ask of Dax? Why did Odo seem to know exactly who the three of them were? Why were they transported so fully into this memory, only to be able to see one another as they actually were? It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite time travel, nor was the memory factual; the timeline had been scrunched up, taking events from two different periods and pushing them together.<\/p>\n

Thus, this is one of the few cases in the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0universe of the writers giving us an unreliable narrator, and IT IS SO BRILLIANT. Make no mistake: the Cardassians are the villains in this episode, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re portrayed as vicious, uncompromising, and violent. They are a complete refutation of Garak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideas of how history happened. But\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0goes a step further. What of the people who were complicit in the savage oppression of the Bajorans? Where do they stand in history? I now realize why that opening scene in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had to happen. We needed to see Dax and Sisko tease Odo about being a paragon of virtue and justice. It allowed us to understand his mindset. Once justice was invoked, Odo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guilt took over, and he remembered that he was\u00c2\u00a0not<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the defender of justice that history had claimed he was.<\/p>\n

Why? If the telling of the story matters as much as the story itself, then what do we get out of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Past\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Odo is evidence that history can be fabricated by those who participate in it. By never publicly acknowledging the great wrong done to the three Bajorans who were executed for a terrorist attack they did not commit, he allowed history to brand him a hero. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really the fault of those who studied what information was available; up to this point, there was not a single person aside from Odo, the real terrorists, and the dead Bajorans who knew the whole truth. Now, I think the explanation for why the other characters were dragged into this is a little weird, but it makes just enough sense for me to not want to question it. If anything, it made me sad because Odo had thought he had lost all of his connections to the Changelings. He hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, but how does he learn that? When his mind pulls his friends into a version of the Great Link so they can relive Odo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most horrible memory.<\/p>\n

It was uncomfortable as all hell to watch, but the story works so well, especially once Kira confronted him. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fair of the show to have her confront him! I think Kira can move past it, but what if Odo was part of this occupation in other insidious ways? How can he ever know how complicit he was in the suffering of others? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no answer given to us, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how it should be. Odo will be haunted by this for the rest of his life, but at least he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got his life to feel guilty for. Those Bajorans don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things Past\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>
\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":"