{"id":5462,"date":"2018-12-13T07:36:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T07:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/424-The-Quickening"},"modified":"2018-12-13T07:36:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T07:36:59","slug":"424-the-quickening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/13\/424-the-quickening\/","title":{"rendered":"4.24 — \u201cThe Quickening\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

4.24 — \u201cThe Quickening\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> A runabout carrying Bashir, Dax, and Kira diverts to a planet in the Gamma Quadrant which is devastated by a genetically engineered plague inflicted 200 years ago by the Jem\u2019Hadar. While Dax suggests alerting the Federation to prepare a rescue mission, Bashir feels compelled to stay and try to help the residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> I don\u2019t always know the point we are supposed to glean from these stories. \u201cThe Quickening\u201d depicts a lushly realized, unusually bleak dystopia, a terrifying society in which conditions are so harrowing that the citizens fetishize death, longing for its release. It’s one of the darkest creations I can recall from the franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet overlaid on this is a simple morality play about the hubris of Bashir. How would we know he is prideful if he didn\u2019t fall? How else could he learn to be a better person? Bashir the martyr. Should we feel bad for him experiencing the unfamiliar frustration of failure, or for the dozens of villagers suffering and dying in medium focus in the background?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Or maybe the raison d’\u00eatre is to remind us of the cruelty of the Jem’Hadar. Do the producers fear their top villains have grown too cuddly with their knobbly heads and clever makeup? We need to refresh the point that they are evil, man. Eeeeevil!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I sense that I’m being manipulated, I just want to know to what end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I do worry sometimes I\u2019ve become jaded and cynical. This is a quite beautiful episode, elevated by an uncommonly powerful guest appearance by Ellen Wheeler as Ekoria. I clicked on Ellen\u2019s Wikipedia page and I am fascinated. She is a soap opera queen! After performing multi-year turns on Another World<\/em> (1964-1999) and All My Children<\/em> (1956-2010), she transitioned into the roles of director and then executive producer, shepherding Guiding Light<\/em> (1937-2009), the longest-running soap opera in history, through its final years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trevean feels like a new kind of character, after 415 Star Trek episodes. I like how he stands by his principles, but is flexible enough to come over to Bashir’s side when he sees the advantage for his people. Dodgy medical science aside, this is one of the better ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4 out of 5 death parties.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Quickening_(episode)<\/a>