John Potts July 24, 2017 Share July 24, 2017 Quote After a Dominion war leader defects, Odo is caught up in a war that he can never win. [Not sure that I entirely agree with Google's thumbnail of the episode, but it means I don't have to come up with my own] For a comedy episode, this does succeed in sneaking in a couple of significant plot threads: this may be the earliest mention of the disease among the Founders as well as the possible existence of a resistance against the Dominion on Cardassia (ironically, Damar is tasked with investigating the organisation he will later lead!). But aside from that, it's a comedy episode that actually works as a comedy - OK, like Season 5's On the Cards, borrowing from MASH (then again, MASH recycled the plot themselves in For Want of a Boot and The Price of Tomato Juice and the plot idea is doubtless much older than that) and DS9's record with comedy episodes could charitably be described as "patchy". OK, the A plot: Jeffrey Coombs really makes you empathise with a character who is in many ways a despicable character (only a couple of episodes previously he had advocated wiping out the population of Earth). But he completely sells the "true believer", who sincerely believes what he is doing is right, is prepared to kill his former allies for it but will still feel regret at having done so. Indeed, he ultimately dies for his own beliefs and it is a truly powerful moment, where even Odo is moved to offer a blessing he doesn't believe in just to comfort a dying man (well, Vorta). However, it's the B Plot where we get most (but certainly not all) of the comic lines: it's good to see that although Nog is a dedicated Starfleet officer, he's also a pretty damn good Ferengi too. I guess he must really believe in "The Great Material Continuum" - even if it was just a marketing scam (see Body Parts)! And there were so many great quotes: Quote Miles O'Brien: Just don't do anything I wouldn't do. Nog: Chief, I can't possibly work under those conditions! Quote Weyoun: Then let's just say I left Cardassia because my life was in danger. Odo: From whom? Weyoun: Everyone. Odo: Aren't you being a little paranoid? Weyoun: Of course I'm paranoid, everyone's trying to kill me! Quote Odo: Has it ever occurred to you that the reason you believe the Founders are gods is because that's what they want you to believe? That they built it into your genetic code? Weyoun: Of course they did, that's what gods do. After all, why be a god if there's no one to worship you? Link to comment
blueray July 25, 2017 Share July 25, 2017 My favorite quote from the episode is when O'Brien says "the water just got choppy again" Link to comment
BigBeagle July 26, 2017 Share July 26, 2017 Whenever I'm in a fix, I try to remember Nog's words of wisdom: "The river will provide." Link to comment
iMonrey August 15, 2017 Share August 15, 2017 Actually, I did get a chuckle out of O'Brien trying to figure out what he was going to do about Sisko's missing desk. He has replicated some sort of poor substitute, and Bashir is teasing him about it and then Kira walks in and is like "Oh hell no" to the desk and Bashir goes "He's going to paint it!" LOL. Link to comment
rmontro June 2, 2018 Share June 2, 2018 On 7/26/2017 at 5:27 PM, BigBeagle said: Whenever I'm in a fix, I try to remember Nog's words of wisdom: "The river will provide." There is a sort of philosophical comfort to the idea. Buddhism compares life to a river. On 7/24/2017 at 2:44 PM, John Potts said: For a comedy episode, this does succeed in sneaking in a couple of significant plot threads That's interesting, it never occurred to me to see the Odo story as comedy. Even Weyoun's "That's what gods do" statement sounded like common sense. The B plot was comedy, sure, but it also had the benefit of showing how resourceful Nog could be. Link to comment
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