1.18 — “Dramatis Personae”
Plot: Kira has suspicions that a ship visiting the station may be smuggling weapons material for the Cardassians. Meanwhile, after the rescue of a Klingon pilot from the wormhole, the crew starts taking sides against each other, developing factions and plots of mutiny.
Thoughts: If online sources are to be believed, “Dramatis Personae” is a favorite among the writers and cast of DS9. I guess it was fun to make, because it allows the characters to step outside from their usual roles and bounds.
But when the bounds being transcended are the bounds that separate drama from camp, realism from ham, and tight plotting from pure nonsense, are we better off?
This episode could have been better if it had signaled from the beginning that the characters are entering the twilight zone, rather than leave us wondering whether the show even knows it is going off the rails. It’s like “MIrror, Mirror,” except that the fact that all the characters have been replaced by their evil twins is held back as a surprise reveal in the last act, before which you are left wondering if the production just got hijacked by a bad script and an insane director.
The script is a mess. Early on, I was impressed by how many balls are thrown in the air. I looked forward to seeing how they would resolve it all. Kira must expose the Valyrians and stop them from smuggling weapons-grade phlebotinum to the Cardassians! Odo is stricken without warning by a near-fatal health attack! A Klingon attack cruiser is destroyed under mysterious circumstances!
Two out of three of these plot strands, the smugglers and Odo’s attack, are dropped completely. We never see the Klingon pilot again, and are left to infer that an unhappy version of “Day of the Dove” played out on his ship, allowing the “telepathic virus” (er, what?) to escape to Ops just before the ship was lost. What kind of virus? Never mind.
sunny jim points out how irritating it is that the only place they can think of to go with Dax when she is infected is to make her turn stupid.
If the episode was managed differently, a scene like Kira seducing Dax in Quark’s Bar under an alien influence could have been a highlight of the season. It’s no secret that Kira is my favorite–we should get more oomph out of her leading a mutiny. Whether because of the direction received or the script, the actors aim for silly instead of dangerous. The Kira I like best is dangerous, because she leads with her moral outrage and fights with her brain. The next episode, happily, provides a good illustration of this.
The principle of “show, don’t tell” is violated repeatedly, e.g. by O’Brien and Bashir telling us that Kira is leading a mutiny before we see her do it. Wouldn’t Kira recruit a fighting force of Bajorans, rather than spend her time chasing Jadzia Dax, especially when Dax is behaving foolishly?
At least Avery Brooks looks like he is having fun. 2 out of 5 model clocks.
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