Wanderlust

1.15 — “Progress”

1.15 — “Progress”

Plot: Your twofer plot for today: Kira’s assignment to oversee the evacuation of the fifth moon of Bajor is complicated by a family of refugees who refuse to leave. Jake and Nog venture into the world of commodity trading.

Thoughts: This bears the hallmarks of another uninspired filler episode to round out first season. Hey, it’s hard to assemble scripts for 20 great episodes when you’re still figuring out who the characters are and how things will work. The B story (or is it the A story?) with Jake and Nog is emblematic of this. It’s one simple idea strung out at tedious length, without any depth or consequence.

I want to like the idea of Jake and Nog’s friendship, but it would help if the Ferengi were more complex characters.

The eminent domain plot is uninteresting, since the premise is so stacked in favor of the government. Pick a side and fight for it, fine, but it’s obvious that the side that wants to heat several hundred thousand homes should win.

It doesn’t help that Mullibok is terribly miscast. Even Kira feels miscast playing nursemaid and waxing sentimental about rural life. It feels like a script written blind to the actors and their strengths, maybe turned out before shooting started on season one?

So, my toe was virtually tapping with impatience. Then, darn it if Nana Visitor didn’t win me over! Starting with her scene with Sisko. Suddenly the story is about letting go of childish things and accepting the present. Kira’s lower lip starts trembling, and I’m rapt. I care again; I can’t help it.

It’s not my fault.

Still, we know DS9 can do better.

2 of 5 stone ovens.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Progress

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4 responses to “1.15 — “Progress””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    So much to say…

    I actually thought the “B” plot had potential. I was hoping that Jake and Nog had bribed Odo to set up Quark to purchase the land… or that Quark had convinced Odo to set a trap for Jake and Nog. Oh well. I agree the characters lack complexity… it seems that the script-writers find it hard to write for teenagers.

    Yes, Nana Visitor = awesome. I remember not liking her much when I was younger because I think I didn’t like her look or her spunky demeanor at the time… funny how being older has changed that… I think Kira’s my favorite character on the show now.

    I’m curious who you think would have done a better job as Mullibok, Kev. It seems like the dialogue at least was good, but I certainly agree he was a selfish ugly tree, as Kira would say. I.e. not much justification for the stance he was taking.

    These past two episodes are reminiscent of early TNG with the two unrelated parts and lame plotlines, but I think are made watchable by the better quality of dialogue and acting.

    Reply
  2. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    PS – The whole “what’s a self-sealing stembolt” type of dialogue is made totally outdated by the fact that we have google now.

    Reply
  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    Yes, and can’t they also hire an agent to sell their real estate for them? Are phone books also not yet available?

    Reply
  4. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I thought Mulibok, as portrayed, was both dull and unlike an actual person. Memory Alpha says: Writer Peter Allan Fields was not happy with how Mullibok came across in the finished episode. According to Fields, he’d written the Bajoran as a much more manipulative and less likable character; “I wanted a strong guy who did not change at the end. There are too many old guys in television dramas who start out nasty and then get meek and gentle at the end. That’s not what I wanted.” To help illustrate what he means, Fields cites the scene when Mullibok asks Kira for her given name. In the script, this question was specifically used to manipulate Kira (“He said it because he was trying to con her”), but in the final episode, it seems as if Mullibok feels a degree of warmth for her. Fields says he doesn’t fault Brian Keith’s performance, but instead Mullibok simply comes across as too sympathetic a figure; he is “less of an adversary than he ought to have been. He was less of a mountain for Kira to climb.” (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

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