1.13 — “Battle Lines”
Plot: A visit to DS9 by the Kai Opaka, Bajor’s spiritual leader, and tour of the wormhole go awry when a runabout holding Kai Opaka, Sisko, Kira, and Bashir crash lands on a planet populated by combatants who strangely cannot die.
Thoughts: “When you cease to fear death, the rules of war begin to change.” There’s a lot to like in this episode.
For one thing, Kira has more to do in the teaser than she has been given in several previous episodes.
There are many fine visual touches, from the new special effects employed travelling through the wormhole, to deft cuts and visual flourishes employed by the director, especially the transition from the downward motion action of the crashing roundabout to the upward pan revealing the crash site on the surface of the moon in the Gamma Quadrant.
While I am swooning over Kira’s scenes with Opaka confronting violence and the need for self-forgiveness, I can’t miss my second favorite line in the teleplay: “I don’t need you to interpret the Prime Directive for me, Doctor.” Sisko is right on and red hot responding to a moral imperative he considers to be more inflexible than Starfleet regulations. It feels like a real moment that reveals the story, Sisko, and Bashir all at once.
I also love the casting of Jonathan Banks as the rebel leader, Golin Shel-la. You may recognize him from his role as Mike in Breaking Bad (2008-2013).
The premise of two factions fighting endlessly as an example to prevent war reminds me of the Original Series episode “A Taste of Armageddon.” Memory Alpha points out that the premise is perhaps more similar to “The Day of the Dove.” Either way, this is more than a retread. I hope that Kai Opaka’s promise that she will see Sisko again is kept. I want to see where this goes.
I do have a criticism. O’Brien and Jazdia Dax’s scenes play out as O’Brien, the experienced and creative hand, explaining things to the innocent Jazdia, who continually asks questions because she has no idea what is going on. An ignorant character asking questions of an informed one is an efficient and reliable way to deliver exposition in a constructed scene. But with Dax on board, isn’t O’Brien the inexperienced one? The writer could at least have given Jazdia the solution, and these scenes would come off as only half as sexist.
4.5 of 5 nanobytes of resurrection.
Leave a Reply