Synopsis: After accidentally triggering an automated counterinsurgency protocol left over from when the station was under Cardassian control, the crew must find a way to shut it down — before the station self-destructs.
Author: Jules
3.06: “The Abandoned”
I actually liked this one a lot more than I remembered liking it, and I ended up having a lot more to say about it than I expected. As established, I’m not really the biggest Odo fan, but I actually liked him a lot in this episode, and felt like they were doing some really interesting things. I get that they didn’t want it to just be a retread of TNG’s “I, Borg”, but I also found it a little disappointing that the show seems to come down on the side of genetics as destiny with the Jem’Hadar, particularly when Odo himself points out that he’s started to reject his own genetic “programming”.
Content warning: I do talk a bit about Mardah, the dabo girl dating Jake, and how her comments about her background have some pretty troubling implications, perhaps more so than the writers intended. I don’t get graphic or anything, but just wanted to mention that the possibility that she was, essentially, being sexually exploited as a teenager is a theme I examine for a bit. The Mardah section of the post is pretty clearly demarcated, though, so it should be easy enough to skip over.
January 2020 schedule
Happy new year! Let us observe it with a nearly-thirty-year-old TV show, eh?
- January 2: “The Abandoned”
- January 7: “Civil Defense”
- January 9: “Meridian”
- January 14: “Defiant”
- January 16: “Fascination”
- January 21: “Past Tense, Part 1”
- January 23: “Past Tense, Part 2”
- January 28: “Life Support”
- January 30: “Heart of Stone”
3.05: “Second Skin”
I really like this one. Always have. Nana Visitor is fantastic, AND there’s plenty of great Garak content. On this rewatch, it reminds me a bit of “Whispers”, and if I’m being honest, I think that one might be the better-constructed episode, but I love A) Kira, B) Garak, and C) Cardassian politics and intrigue, so.
3.04: “Equilibrium”
In terms of the concept, this one is right up there with “Whispers” as precisely the kind of unsettling/creepy thing that I really like. The execution in that one was generally better, I think — I feel like they never fully realize the creepiness in this one the way they might have — but it’s still a solid episode.
3.03: “The House of Quark”
Remember last week, when I said that a couple of my go-to “comfort food”-type episodes were coming up? Well, this was one of the ones I meant. (It’s not at the very top of my list — that’s not for another few weeks — but still pretty high up there. Maybe as high as #2, even.)
3.02: “The Search, Part 2”
(Alternate title card for this one: “Odo Loses His Virginity”.)
WHEW! So, a whole lot happens in this one, even if some of it was just a dream simulation. The biggest thing, of course, being the revelation, soon after Odo finds his people, that they are, in fact, the mysterious Founders, the power at the center of the Dominion.
3.01: “The Search, Part 1”
Wow, wow, wow. I know I said back at the end of season one that I was shocked to have gotten all the way there, but that applies even more now, let me tell you. It has been a lot of fun, and I am really, really grateful to everyone (well, all four of you, by the most generous estimate) who’s been reading and commenting and talking to me on Twitter. Here’s to season three!
(Bonus: a couple of my top “I need cheering up” episodes are coming up in the next few weeks, so we’ve all got that to look forward to, as well.)
2.26: “The Jem’Hadar”
This episode is interesting for me, because while it does its job — having Our Heroes encounter the Dominion directly for the first time, and making it clear that the Dominion will be a direct threat in the future — those parts aren’t actually what I enjoy most about it.
2.25: “Tribunal”
Geez. I mean, I know that episodes where O’Brien endures some new hellish ordeal are a tradition, but y’all could’ve at least spaced ’em out over once a season, you know? “Whispers” was just a few weeks ago, and hell, I’d count “Armageddon Game” among them, too, seeing as not only is he in hiding and suffering from the effects of a bioweapon, but he’s dealing with all that alongside Julian Bashir.