S02.E01: Homecoming

[ShadowDenizen]

A little early, but I'm opening the threads for the first episode of DS9; Season 2.

Welcome aboard; This is where it starts to get REALLY good.... (Barring Vedek Bareil, of course; he kinda sucks.)

 

 

[Meushell]

Li Nalas is a great character. A hero who does not want to be a hero. It was great seeing how we react to everything. His care for people. The joy and amazement of him and Bajor being free. How tired he is of being a hero. No wonder the guy tried the run away. In the end, he is accepting his role, but he is still not happy about it.

The talk between him and Sisko was good. Sisko, been named the Emissary, has an idea of what the guy is feeling. It is kind of amusing that Sisko is telling this guy to accelp his role when Sisko himself has not fully embraced his own.

[Maverick]

The reluctant hero thing was a bit cliche, but the story behind how he became a hero in the first place definitely made the character and you could understand how emotionally tortured he was.

[ShadowDenizen]

Another instance where I think I liked the concept better than the execution.

 

Richard Beymer is a living legend, and I think he was either miscast for this role, or he underplayed it, maybe?  I don't think I had the empathy for him that I think the producers wanted me to have.

 

 

[Bill C.]

You may be on to something with the possibility of Beymer's underplaying Li Nalas, which may go back to a weird running gag of this show: the male Bajorans we've seen so far have tended to be rather, well, milquetoast.  (Vedek Bareil, of course, is the standard by which all others are judged.)  I can't explain it.  The rest of the episode was just dandy by comparison, especially since combined with the S1 finale it was the first real delving into Bajoran politics and so on.

[Meushell]

You may be on to something with the possibility of Beymer's underplaying Li Nalas, which may go back to a weird running gag of this show: the male Bajorans we've seen so far have tended to be rather, well, milquetoast. (Vedek Bareil, of course, is the standard by which all others are judged.) I can't explain it. The rest of the episode was just dandy by comparison, especially since combined with the S1 finale it was the first real delving into Bajoran politics and so on.

I like Barel (his one and only fan), but this statement cracked me up. :-D Edited July 6, 2014 by Meushell

[Locutus]

I really liked the trilogy they did with this story. I enjoyed the multi-episode story arcs DS9 did. It probably hurt them in the long run. Stand alone stories are preferred it seems in tv syndication. DS9 was like the red headed step child of Trek.

[iMonrey]

It feels like the show is finally getting off the ground, after a first season of what mostly seemed like pointless filler. You could basically skip from the Pilot episode to the one where Kai Opaka is killed/left behind to the S1 finale and boom, you wouldn't have missed a thing. Now that they are getting into the politics of Bajor and the ongoing conflict with the Cardassians the show feels more grounded and focused. I didn't even remember "The Circle." It's amusing to me, though, because there were so many iterations of rebel groups that all seemed to be prototypes for the eventual Maqui.

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It is kind of amusing that Sisko is telling this guy to accept his role when Sisko himself has not fully embraced his own.

As far as I can tell, nobody has really spelled out what Sisko's role as "emissary" is supposed to be. It's not like he's got Bajoran religious leaders nagging him to do stuff. Vedek Winn addressing him as Emissary is the first time I can recall anyone showing any kind of reverence for him in that respect.