Ok I complained that Dax had been pushed into the background and needed more to do in the last episode... I'd like to retract that. With the rest of the cast really in their stride at this point, good grief her range is, uh, challenged.. to be polite.
That said, this was definitely the strongest of the three-parter episodes. We open with some calm before the storm, tension rising stuff and it's all great. Jake and Nog's goodbye was surprisingly heartfelt considering how little we've actually seen them interact over the series so far - they play it perfectly, and i bought it wholesale. O'Brien and Keiko's stuff here was perfect too, and giving time to the human stakes of the situation is what sets a great episode apart from a good one.
Terry and Nana go off to find an old Battlestar Galactica fighter ship, and if you ignore Terry's acting it's all really strong stuff. The palukoo spider might be the best thing i've ever seen in trek. Please tell me it gets a tophat and a cane and becomes part of the regular cast. Nana gets to go all Han Solo and she's absolutely loving it - both character and actress. This is Kira in her absolute element. Use the force, Dax.
Back on the station, we've got all the cast crawling around in the ducts and honestly, i could have happily put up with an entire episode of Home-Alone-esque antics to capture the landing force of The Circle. Great back and forth with Bashir, O'brien and Sisko... I suppose by law that means I have to ring my Good Bashir Bell - and actually to be fair, he's great throughout the episode which is confusing for me to write.
I know I should hate the Quark stuff, but I don't. It hits the right level of silly for me, and even though the character is arguably regressing past some growth he made in season 1, I can't help but love it.
We don't get the villain turn i predicted from Bareil, which i guess means he's just a good dude - upcoming love interest for Kira going forward? Trek has a habit of introducing these characters and then forgetting to ever write them in again, so i'll be interested to see if he makes a reappearance.
Bit more fog-filled action, a mandatory totally irredeemable character who lies to the Circle general to keep the conflict going, and then another fatal phaser shot that Bashir on any other day really should have been able to heal. Is he just not a very good doctor?
Aaand then the episode ends. It's a pretty unsatisfying ending and more was sort of yadda-yadda'd away than I would have necessarily liked. There's been a bit of a theme of rushed third acts in DS9 up to this point, and I get that they want to give plenty time to the action, but maybe lose a Quark scene or two for the sake of expanding the resolution to, you know, the massive abuse of religion to influence global politcs on Bajor... no? Ok then.
Good ep.
That said, this was definitely the strongest of the three-parter episodes. We open with some calm before the storm, tension rising stuff and it's all great. Jake and Nog's goodbye was surprisingly heartfelt considering how little we've actually seen them interact over the series so far - they play it perfectly, and i bought it wholesale. O'Brien and Keiko's stuff here was perfect too, and giving time to the human stakes of the situation is what sets a great episode apart from a good one.
Terry and Nana go off to find an old Battlestar Galactica fighter ship, and if you ignore Terry's acting it's all really strong stuff. The palukoo spider might be the best thing i've ever seen in trek. Please tell me it gets a tophat and a cane and becomes part of the regular cast. Nana gets to go all Han Solo and she's absolutely loving it - both character and actress. This is Kira in her absolute element. Use the force, Dax.
Back on the station, we've got all the cast crawling around in the ducts and honestly, i could have happily put up with an entire episode of Home-Alone-esque antics to capture the landing force of The Circle. Great back and forth with Bashir, O'brien and Sisko... I suppose by law that means I have to ring my Good Bashir Bell - and actually to be fair, he's great throughout the episode which is confusing for me to write.
I know I should hate the Quark stuff, but I don't. It hits the right level of silly for me, and even though the character is arguably regressing past some growth he made in season 1, I can't help but love it.
We don't get the villain turn i predicted from Bareil, which i guess means he's just a good dude - upcoming love interest for Kira going forward? Trek has a habit of introducing these characters and then forgetting to ever write them in again, so i'll be interested to see if he makes a reappearance.
Bit more fog-filled action, a mandatory totally irredeemable character who lies to the Circle general to keep the conflict going, and then another fatal phaser shot that Bashir on any other day really should have been able to heal. Is he just not a very good doctor?
Aaand then the episode ends. It's a pretty unsatisfying ending and more was sort of yadda-yadda'd away than I would have necessarily liked. There's been a bit of a theme of rushed third acts in DS9 up to this point, and I get that they want to give plenty time to the action, but maybe lose a Quark scene or two for the sake of expanding the resolution to, you know, the massive abuse of religion to influence global politcs on Bajor... no? Ok then.
Good ep.