{"id":5805,"date":"2016-09-22T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5805"},"modified":"2016-09-11T21:54:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T04:54:57","slug":"mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s05e13-for-the-uniform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/09\/mark-watches-deep-space-nine-s05e13-for-the-uniform\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Deep Space Nine’: S05E13 – For the Uniform"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Sisko obsesses over catching an old enemy. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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

Sometimes, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I feel what the writers of this show\u00c2\u00a0want<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0me to feel about the Maquis.\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0has been a lot more nuanced about than the other shows, but even here, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m expected sometimes (maybe???) to sympathize with and support Sisko over Eddington. On the one hand, I get that. Eddington betrayed everyone, and I certainly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like his politics sometimes. The problem that the writers have created with the Maquis is that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve written a clear colonization narrative, but then they expect us to feel for the other side.<\/p>\n

Sort of. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to say that a few times because this episode\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be a shift in terms of serialized storytelling for\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite tell. See, Sisko is portrayed as obsessive throughout this episode, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really a subtle thing. Once the script likens him to Javert from\u00c2\u00a0Les Miserables<\/i>, it got stuck in my head, and on one level, I completely understood why that comparison existed. In the grand scheme of things, Eddington is a small fish in a big pond, and Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pursuit is absurd and risky. We understand it, of course, because Eddington is abrasive and cocky. Plus, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that many of us can recognize just how infuriating it is to be betrayed like this. It sucks!<\/p>\n

Yet even from the beginning, I felt distracted by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For the Uniform\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because Eddington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior \u00e2\u20ac\u201c while flawed and annoying \u00e2\u20ac\u201c still had a justification. The people displaced by Federation policy have a fair grievance. To simply blame their predicament on their refusal to just give up and move to the resettlement area is bogus, and I was almost offended that Sisko, of all people, would make that kind of statement. How can you ask people to give up their homes and just move somewhere else without some kind of pushback? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the whole problem with how the Maquis are often handled; somehow, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m supposed to ignore this or accept the futility of political resistance, and I just\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>.<\/p>\n

But for the sake of discussion, if we push past this, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a lot here that I\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0appreciate. I love a good cat-and-mouse game, and watching Eddington outsmart Sisko and the rest of Starfleet is a treat, not because I like them but because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a fantastic way to build tension. We assume that eventually, Sisko will get one step ahead. So how does he do that? How can he catch Eddington when Starfleet has rescinded their confidence in Sisko? And is it reckless of him to pursue Eddington, even when DS9 is the closest station to the latest of Eddington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attacks?<\/p>\n

What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping for\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is that this episode marks a change in what the writers are willing to do with their characters. Now, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to suggest that\u00c2\u00a0DS9<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0has avoided morally grey characterizations or stories; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more gritty than the rest of the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0canon. Which is a very good thing! This show goes so much further than the others, and it often makes the audience deeply unsettled in the process. Yet in the end, the station\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characters are the good ones, and the enemies are largely the villains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For the Uniform\u00e2\u20ac\u009d blurs that line horribly, and the complication that arrives because of it feels exciting and refreshing.<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see there being any heroes here. Eddington gases a planet to force the Cardassians to evacuate it, and in doing so, he shoots a rescue freighter to force Sisko into a moral choice. What if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d killed the Cardassians on that freighter? Would that have been a moral act to murder people you view as colonizers? Granted, Eddington insists that the Maquis are not killers, yet he almost became one. He assumed (correctly, I should state) that Sisko wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow the freighter to crash, that he would abandon the lead on Eddington to save them.<\/p>\n

Yet I expected Sisko to reverse this technique on Eddington with a bluff. I truly believed that those torpedoes were fake, that it was all an illusion to trick Eddington into surrendering. And it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. At all. Sisko poisoned the atmosphere of a planet full of Maquis, and he did so\u00c2\u00a0gleefully<\/i>. He even speaks of the fact that he played right into Eddington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Javert\/Valjean narrative. But outside of this vendetta, is Sisko the hero? Or Eddington? They both poisoned planets. They both risked\u00c2\u00a0other<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives to get what they wanted. And Sisko did something without the permission of Starfleet, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

So, here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my question: is this sort of pragmatism going to become a part of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m okay with it if it is, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wildly out of character for Sisko to behave this way. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bent the rules plenty of times before, you know? But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I speak of when I say that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the writers want me to feel. If I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m meant to celebrate Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s victory, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure if I want to. If this is a shift in the stories\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tells\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a different matter altogether.<\/p>\n

Regardless, I\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0liked this episode.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For the Uniform\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":"