DS9 Spoiler: "Whispers"
Tim Lynch
Review by Tim Lynch <tly...@juliet.caltech.edu>
===============================================
WARNING: Rumors are running high that this article contains spoilers for
DS9's "Whispers". Just between you and me, if you haven't seen the show yet
you'd be better off skipping the article for now...
Well, *now* I remember what I watch DS9 for. Episodes like this.
My heavens, this was lovely. "Whispers" is definitely the best thing DS9 has
done since "Necessary Evil" in the fall, and is among the best shows they've
done to date. Virtually everything about it clicked, and the show managed to
keep me guessing right up until the end.
The O'Brien voiceover, _film noir_ style, used the same sort of approach as
TNG's "Suspicions" from last year, which featured similar narrations.
However, this time it *worked*. I suppose that in part, it worked because
one will talk to oneself (as O'Brien was basically doing here) very
differently from how one would tell a story to someone *else* (a la
"Suspicions"), but part of it also worked because "Whispers" had real
suspense involved, and "Suspicions" had virtually none.
O'Brien's narration not only kept me interested during the course of the
show, but also served to make it _vastly_ more difficult to even guess the
final surprise of the show, namely that the O'Brien we saw all episode was a
replicant and not the real thing. The reactions, the expressions, even the
core thoughts expressed during the voice-overs were all so perfectly in
character that I'd be surprised if more than a slight handful of people
without prior knowledge actually guessed he was an impostor. I surely
didn't.
"Whispers" is the sort of show that needs to be seen not only once, but
twice. I've done so, and many of the scenes resonate on a very different
level once you're aware of what's really happening. For instance, Jake's
"conversion" into one of "them" seemed extremely sinister first time around;
I mean, my god, even a *kid*? In retrospect, though, all that happened is
that Sisko realized Jake was hanging out with the replicant too much, and
needed to be brought in the loop on what had happened.
Similarly, Bashir's apparent memory lapse during the physical at first seemed
very disturbing, as though whoever had taken over Bashir hadn't quite gotten
every detail right. Later, though, it becomes obvious that the lapse was
invented and used to test _O'Brien's_ memory, and O'Brien passing that was a
further complication to the rest of the station.
Basically, "Whispers" is a giant paranoia-fest, and the best-working one
since "Frame of Mind" last year. Colm Meaney, who generally gets underused,
has had two terrific weeks in a row with this and "Armageddon Game". Both
his initial attitudes and his growing suspicions were handled about as well
as they ever have, and there's not much more to say beyond "good job".
Watching the show a second time, as I said, gives a very different
perspective -- but two scenes don't work very well for me with that
interpretation (actually, one didn't work either way). First, there's the
dinner sequence, where O'Brien gets suspicious of the stew. So am I, because
unless there really _was_ something wrong with the stew, I don't know why
Keiko would want to put him on edge by making something she wouldn't want to
eat herself. Given that there's nothing wrong with her -- she's just wary of
him, with good reason -- why put him on his guard? [The idea that came to my
mind is that maybe she was testing him again to see if he'd _remember_ she
didn't like that stew, but it feels like a reach to me.]
The other problem came during O'Brien's otherwise superb escape from the
station (even down to the music, which was some of the best work I've heard
from McCarthy in a while). Exactly why was O'Brien's trick of putting up
every force-field effective? From there, the easy thing to do from Sisko's
POV would be to beam O'Brien into the brig, beam Odo into the same section of
corridor as O'Brien, gas O'Brien, or something else. Once he's subdued, then
drop the force-fields; but why do it initially and give him the extra room to
maneuver?
(Another minor problem is that I'd have waited a few seconds longer to open
the ventilation panel to escape through if I'd been O'Brien; with Jake still
in the area and on everyone else's side, it would be way too easy for Jake to
see him and tip Odo off. That's a nitpick, though.)
To a point, also, the death of the replicant O'Brien seemed a little too
convenient for me. Granted, they've broken with tradition by keeping doubles
around before (Tom Riker, for instance), and this one might be dangerous in
ways they hadn't realized yet, but even so it seemed to be a case of "oh, he
wasn't real, so let's kill him." It was only vaguely disquieting, but it was
a little disquieting.
Apart from those fairly small problems, though, the show was perfect.
Everyone but Meaney acted in such a way as to make both the initial
"something's wrong with them" conclusion easy to reach and to make the later
"they're trying to find out about *him*" conclusion easy to reach afterwards.
That's a difficult layering to write, to direct, and to perform -- and all
parties involved should be proud.
A few shorter points, then, and I'm off:
-- The new runabout is named the _Mekong_. Not bad, but I'm still holding
out for a _Thames_ one of these days. :-)
-- I wasn't surprised to hear Keiko say she was up at 5:30, and nor should
O'Brien be; for many teachers, 5:30 is almost a *late* start, not an early
one. (No, I'm not enchanted by this particular fact. :-) )
-- O'Brien's search through the system for anomalies made sense -- I think he
covered virtually all the bases we've seen in televised SF for "the crew's
acting weird" for the last two decades.
-- When O'Brien asked "Had someone or something started to infiltrate _all_
of Starfleet?" after talking to the Admiral, I shivered a bit. My first
thought, thinking way back to early TNG, was "check for a bluegill, Miles!"
'Course, it was a pipe dream, but the idea was pleasant to think about for a
few minutes, anyway.
That about takes care of it. "Whispers", as I said at the start, is one of
those shows that reminds me why I watch DS9. It was riveting from start to
finish, and stylistically different from most DS9 to date. Nice job.
To sum up, then:
Plot: Almost (if not quite) airtight, and a nice choice of storytelling.
Plot Handling: Top-notch, from pacing to camera-work.
Characterization: Almost beyond compare. Superb.
OVERALL: A 9.5. Damn near perfect; nice work.
NEXT WEEK:
Sisko and O'Brien trapped by a cult of primitivism. Hmm...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"No, they did, they *got* to you..."
-- O'Brien
--
Copyright 1994, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...