[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Rejoined"
Timothy W. Lynch
"Rejoined". Anyone wishing to associate with spoilers from a past
episode is looking in the wrong place.
In brief: Definitely not what I expected ... and pretty good, too.
======
Teleplay by: Ronald D. Moore & Rene Echevarria
Story by: Rene Echevarria
Directed by: Avery Brooks
Brief summary: The wife of a past host of Dax comes on board the
station, and the two of them must reconcile their new-found attraction
with the Trill taboos against reawakening their past relationship.
======
As I said above, "Rejoined" is definitely not what I expected. Given
the hype the episode was given in some of the popular press, and the
truly terrible preview from the previous week, I expected the episode
to be another botched "issue" story similar to TNG's "The Outcast".
"The Outcast" was well-intentioned, but horribly done -- and I was
fearing a similar situation here.
I was pleasantly surprised to find exactly the opposite. This wasn't an
"issue" show in the sense that a same-sex relationship was looked
upon with consternation and dealt with in that context -- in fact, the
only place that Dax's lover being a woman was played up was in the
previews, the press, and various Paramount-generated hype. The
episode itself was a simple love story that could have been done very
easily with a male "Lenara" as with a female one. Perhaps the choice
to make her female was a ratings-minded decision; I don't know. But
from a story standpoint, it just _happened_ -- which strikes me as
exactly the right tone to take. So on that level, "Rejoined" worked far
more effectively than I'd have guessed a week ago.
Instead of a lesbianism taboo, we got a taboo that is far more uniquely
Trill, namely that of "reassociation". That's actually a taboo that
makes some sense given the culture; if, as was said, the goal of a
joined Trill really is to gather as much experience for the symbiont as
possible, then reassociation, essentially "living in the past", becomes
something retarding the growth of the symbiont and thus something to
be discouraged. I think the penalties sound just a wee bit severe, but
the taboo itself makes some sense given the tenets of the society --
which is a major strength.
After that premise, the rest of the episode is unsurprising -- so what it
comes down to is whether the execution manages to come off well.
On the whole, I'd have to say it did. While Terry Farrell will never
have the emotional range of, say, Patrick Stewart, her emotions felt
very real here, and she actually had me caring about Dax's reactions.
Similarly, Susanna Thompson did an excellent job as Lenara; I can't
put my finger on anything in particular, but Lenara and Dax actually
*felt* like two old lovers trying desperately not to let things get out of
control. That's not always easy to do, and I imagine it's particularly
difficult if you're playing opposite a gender you're not attracted to (as
Farrell's quite openly stated was the case for her). They managed it,
right up to and including the infamous kiss -- which was not played
up for effect any more than any other Big Romantic Kiss [tm], in my
opinion, which may have made it work even more strongly. In any
event, both actresses did the story justice.
The rest of the cast was somewhat less essential to the story, I think,
with the exception of Avery Brooks. Sisko was Dax's oldest and
closest friend on the station, and the only one who had even the
slightest inkling of exactly what she was going to. Brooks had to
cram a lot of emotion into a not particularly lengthy part this week,
and he also did a great job. Two moments in particular stand out for
him:
-- the wordless adjustment of Dax's combadge right after she's
finished insisting she's fine
-- and more importantly, the big "confrontation" of sorts between
Sisko and Dax. He hit the right balance between speechmaking and
plain old frustration; his "You came here for advice from a friend, and
that's EXACTLY what you're getting!" set me back on my heels
nearly as much as it did Dax.
Those are the real standouts, but I'm not sure Brooks had even one
"off" moment in the show. Nice work.
Other major cast members were somewhat less important, but most
still came off strongly. Alexander Siddig mostly got to be pleasant
and diplomatic this week as Bashir, for instance, but there was
certainly nothing to object to. Worf struck me as slightly mis-used;
given his somewhat rigidly defined position (as we saw laid out a
couple of weeks ago in "Hippocratic Oath"), using him on the
research mission seems more like a move to give Dorn screen time
than anything else. Everything else about Worf worked, however,
and I liked his deadpan response to the question of Klingon dreams.
Like Kira, I couldn't tell if he was joking, either. :-) (Speaking of
Kira, I'm not sure she came off particularly well in the banquet
sequence. She seemed more "random giggly female" than much else,
between her dialogue and the outfit she was in; a minor issue, but one
I'm still hoping not to see much of.) On the whole, though, everyone
was reasonable -- even Quark turned out listenable for a change.
The other guest stars came off somewhat less well. Fortunately,
neither had all that much to do beyond be the voice of Trill mores, so
it's not all that crucial an issue, but I didn't see the emotion in the
conversation between Lenara and her brother that I should have --
certainly nothing comparing to the emotion running in Lenara/Dax or
Dax/Sisko. The chemistry just wasn't there.
From a plot standpoint, there's not much to talk about. The "artificial
wormhole" issue struck me as really not much more than window-
dressing, but reasonable window-dressing. Its main purpose was
twofold: to get Lenara onto DS9 in the first place, and to get a
jeopardy situation in where Dax's commitment would be clear. It did
both fairly well, particularly the latter; the plasma fire was a serious
threat, and the rescue sequence was *extremely* well carried off, both
from an effects standpoint and from an originality standpoint. (I don't
think I've ever seen Trek use force-fields like that before, but it makes
sense that they could.) There were a number of random questions that
came up, mostly ones of personnel (why is Worf in charge? why is
*Eddington*, who's in security, running the engineering side of the
test?), but those were issues not really connected to the core story.
The core story was about Jadzia and Lenara (with good focuses on
both, not just a one-sided story), and that story worked.
As for the ending ... well, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little
disappointing, but I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't expected
something like it. The story itself was bold enough (ironically,
presenting a same-sex romance *without* making an issue of it comes
off as a far more gutsy move than giving it lots of associated shock
and angst) that I didn't think we'd actually see Dax and Lenara throw
Trill taboos out the window. About the most I reasonably expected
was that one of them might be willing to do so -- and that's just what I
got. It's worth noting, though, that it was Dax who was willing to;
whether that makes her the more principled or less principled one is an
interesting debate, but I think it's an interesting choice all the same.
That would seem to cover it. "Rejoined", far from being the ratings-
grabbing "look, we're doing a lesbian story!" episode I expected from
all the advance press, was a story with a solid emotional core to it, and
that *kept* to it regardless of consequences. With "Rejoined", DS9 is
now 5 for 5 this season; while not every episode so far has been a
standout, there hasn't been a clunker yet. That's a far cry from last
season, and a nice thing to see.
So, wrapping up:
Writing: A few plot contrivances here and there, but true to its
characters and to the main points.
Directing: Some nice transitions (the combadge being one of them),
and forceful without being exploitative (as it could well have
been).
Acting: Some of the guests were iffy, but solid on the whole.
OVERALL: I think this is a 9, actually. The more I think about it, the
more impressed I am. Good work!
NEXT WEEK:
Quark on Earth, about 400 years too early. This should be ...
interesting, he said with just a touch of fright...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu
"I didn't come here to listen to a lecture about my responsibilities!"
"You came here for advice from a friend, and that's *exactly* what
you're getting!"
-- Dax and Sisko
--
Copyright 1995, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net
compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the
author*. Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note.
Brian Freyermuth
One other thing that struck me about the episode was the sexual
tension between the two actresses. That's damn hard to pull off when you're
not in the least bit attracted to the other...
-B. Frey
:crp:
Timothy W. Lynch <tly...@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
}WARNING: This article contains spoiler information for DS9's
}"Rejoined". Anyone wishing to associate with spoilers from a past
}episode is looking in the wrong place.
}
}In brief: Definitely not what I expected ... and pretty good, too.
}Writing: A few plot contrivances here and there, but true to its
} characters and to the main points.
}Directing: Some nice transitions (the combadge being one of them),
} and forceful without being exploitative (as it could well have
} been).
}Acting: Some of the guests were iffy, but solid on the whole.
}OVERALL: I think this is a 9, actually. The more I think about it, the
}more impressed I am. Good work!
I think this the first time I've been diametrically opposite the consensus
opinion of this newsgroup. This was the 1st time that I actually stopped
watching an episode (at the halfway point). To me it was very predictable
what was going to happen, it was a rehash of the "Brigadoon" episode. The
actors execution did nothing for me, except for Brooks.
Eric West
In article <47h0pk$n...@gap.cco.caltech.edu>, Timothy W. Lynch wrote:
>
>In brief: Definitely not what I expected ... and pretty good, too.
I agree...better than the promos made it look. I'm concerned,
however, that it might (like most "character development" shows) exist
in a vacuum, and we'll have the "same ol' Dax" next week.
>Instead of a lesbianism taboo, we got a taboo that is far more uniquely
>Trill, namely that of "reassociation". That's actually a taboo that
>makes some sense given the culture; if, as was said, the goal of a
>joined Trill really is to gather as much experience for the symbiont as
>possible, then reassociation, essentially "living in the past", becomes
>something retarding the growth of the symbiont and thus something to
>be discouraged. I think the penalties sound just a wee bit severe, but
>the taboo itself makes some sense given the tenets of the society --
>which is a major strength.
I realize we've pretty much given up on TNG's "The Host" having
anything to do with Trills on DS9, but it would certainly put Odan's
feelings for Bev in a whole new light: Odan risking exile (and death)
for her love? :)
>As for the ending ... well, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little
>disappointing, but I'd also be lying if I said I hadn't expected
>something like it. The story itself was bold enough (ironically,
>presenting a same-sex romance *without* making an issue of it comes
>off as a far more gutsy move than giving it lots of associated shock
>and angst) that I didn't think we'd actually see Dax and Lenara throw
>Trill taboos out the window. About the most I reasonably expected
>was that one of them might be willing to do so -- and that's just what I
>got. It's worth noting, though, that it was Dax who was willing to;
>whether that makes her the more principled or less principled one is an
>interesting debate, but I think it's an interesting choice all the same.
It also brings up my earlier concern: how long before we get yet
another "Dax in love" story, and all of the supposedly "strong"
feelings we saw in this episode are ignored? It certainly didn't take
Jadzia 20 years to get over Mr. "Meridian." Yes, that wasn't thought
of as a wonderful episode, but if it happened, why ignore it when it
becomes inconvenient? It wouldn't have been unreasonable to have
Sisko at least mention it during their conversation; even better, why
couldn't he have asked, "Do YOU love her...or does Torias(sp)?" Dax
could come back with some quick rebuttal so as not to change the story
too much, but the ever-present problem seems to be that very few of the
most obvious questions are ever asked, in this story and several
others.
Still liked the episode though...maybe I've just gotten used to the
"vacuum-show" concept.
Todd Horowitz
Eric West <fi...@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> wrote:
>I realize we've pretty much given up on TNG's "The Host" having
>anything to do with Trills on DS9, but it would certainly put Odan's
>feelings for Bev in a whole new light: Odan risking exile (and death)
>for her love? :)
Well, some people have pointed out that there's no evidence that
the reassociation taboo applies to associations with non-Trills, otherwise
Dax's relationship with Sisko would be considered problematic, not to
mention her bout of Klingono-nostalgia in "Blood Oath".
-Todd