Wanderlust

3.12 — “Past Tense, Part II”

3.12 — “Past Tense, Part II”

Plot: Sisko and Bashir are penned up supervising hostages inside the Sanctuary District, having to worry about a violent and unstable fellow hostage-taker as well intrusion by the police. Will they be able to communicate their message about the injustices of Sanctuary District to the general public? Meanwhile, Jadzia, Kira, and O’Brien all try to come to the rescue.

Thoughts: I don’t feel that Part II lives up to the promise of Part I. It’s like all the ideas were wrung out during in the first half, and now they are just playing out the hostage/siege/rescue scenario. Which is a change of pace for Star Trek, but also something that other shows know how to do better. I would have preferred less time devoted to the hick with the shotgun who creates jeopardy every time he shoots off his mouth, but whose story goes nowhere.

Alexander Siddig (still credited until next season as Siddig El Fadil) says this episode is pivotal to Bashir being taken seriously, by demonstrating competence and responsibility in an away mission. It is strangely hard to remember how hapless the character was portrayed on occasion during the first two seasons. I’m not sure whether to credit Siddig or the writers, but Bashir has grown up.

I find it hard to follow what Sisko is demanding from the Government besides abolishing the concentration camps. A jobs program? Like in the New Deal? It sounds as if the 21st century is experiencing secular stagnation. Perhaps the precursors to 24th century post-scarcity technology are destroying productive jobs in the workforce? This interesting topic is the subject of active debate in the real 2017. I guess it’s unrealistic to expect a nuanced, illuminating discussion to have been written about it in 1994-1995. If the writers had actual ideas about how to solve near future social ills through socialism, however, they could have foregrounded them more effectively.

Teleplay author and executive producer Ira Steven Behr’s comments about the episode reported online show that he is proud of spotlighting homelessness as an obstacle standing in the way of Star Trek’s vision of a better future. I don’t deny that this is significant, but I would have liked a more entertaining and thought-provoking second half.

2.5 out of 5 manhole covers. Jadzia is amazing. She still looks immaculate climbing out of the sewer!

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Past_Tense,_Part_II

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4 responses to “3.12 — “Past Tense, Part II””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    “How did they let things get so bad???”

    “That’s a good question. I wish I knew.”

    I don’t always love Avery Brooks’ acting (I feel he overacts earlier in the episode) but here he is spot on, and I was moved nearly to tears. I kind of wish I knew, also. Or more importantly, how to change things.

    I agree that the second half misses the mark at times. I would have loved to actually see the dystopian future that Kyra and O’Brien apparently visited. The mouthy hostage seems to have no reason for mouthing off except the plot. The crazy ghost guy seems to have forgotten that he killed someone in cold blood in the first episode and becomes a source of comic relief. Dax seems to hold her rich guy in such thrall that his doing her bidding is never in any doubt. There is not much here that is surprising or that advances important ideas… why does it seem that most 2-parters in Star Trek have a stronger first half?

    I liked the workers’ testimonials. I would have been interested in hearing more of those.

    I guess that I was seeing the biggest social ill being targeted as the apathy and uncaring attitude of the rich toward the poor rather than homelessness itself. My sense is that, more than any specific social program, what is needed now and would be needed in the imagined 21st century San Francisco is the same: more empathy, more love, more curiosity and knowledge about how others live, more willingness to put nose to the grindstone and work until we find a solution to important problems, less hate, less selfishness, less denialism. The rest, it seems to me, is details.

    (And, on the topic of Bashir becoming less annoying, I have to assume it is mostly the writers. He doesn’t say any super-annoying things. It would be even better if something specific had happened during an episode to cause him to change, but I’m glad for the change nonetheless.)

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  2. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Yeah, I feel like the struggle they show us for Jazdia’s rich helper is whether he will stick his neck out by helping Sisko broadcast the message, but not the struggle they really needs to show us–making him realize his culpability for putting the people there in the first place, recognizing their common humanity and need to address the society’s problems together, instead of walling them off. Because what you do to the least of these you do for me, etc. Part II didn’t really do the work of showing us why this rebellion was transformative and changed the course of history, and instead we got a lot of “how do I keep this other guy from shooting the hostages, especially that mouthy one who keeps daring him to do it.”

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  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    They had the ambition to tackle some really big issues, the biggest, but not so much the goods to follow through. I feel like they’re leaving a lot of blank space for the audience to fill in. Which can be fine, but the second half takes such an action/suspense approach to resolving the conflicts that I don’t think there was a lot of breathing room for that to happen.

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  4. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    I wish you had been involved in writing this screenplay… I think your points are spot on about the development that could have fleshed out the societal conflict/social problem that they are exploring. I wish an episode about this could be made now, honestly. We need our media to be supporting us to tackle our problems rather than purely providing escapism.

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