[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
Timothy W. Lynch
Faith, and the Great River" -- oh, and DS9 spoilers below.
In brief: A decidedly uneven hour; lots of Big Events moving things
forward, but far from perfectly.
======
Written by: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson (teleplay);
Philip Kim (story)
Directed by: Steve Posey
Brief summary: Odo's mission to reach a Cardassian informant takes
an odd turn when he finds Weyoun there, waiting to defect.
======
I'll say this for "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River": it's
ambitious. The deaths of Weyoun-5 and Weyoun-6, the corruption of
Weyoun-7 to the point where he's willing to kill Odo, Damar's
ascension to dominance in the Damar/Weyoun relationship, and Odo's
discovery that the Founders are dying ... all told, there's an awful lot
here, and despite the fact that I've liked the last few "filler" episodes, I
very much appreciate getting back into the war.
One thing I particularly liked was getting the information only a bit at a
time. Unfortunately, the preview from "Chrysalis" did a very
effective job of giving away (1) that Odo was meeting Weyoun, and
(2) that the Weyoun he meets isn't the "real" one; as a result, the
impact of both of those was lost. (I once again used Lisa as a
baseline, though; she didn't see said preview, and so came upon both
revelations unaware.) It was no real surprise that Odo's summons
was made under false pretenses, but the idea of Weyoun defecting
was a promising one -- unlikely, perhaps, but promising. Once
Weyoun started saying that he fled because his life was in danger, it
even seemed plausible that he might want to save his skin after being
blamed once too many times for Dominion reverses.
Before long, of course, it's revealed that the Weyoun with Odo isn't
the same one he's dealt with for over a year -- but while that was
already spoiled in advance, the real surprise was that the Weyoun we
saw with Damar wasn't the "real" one *either*. Damar taking matters
into his own hands and replacing the old Weyoun with a "younger,"
potentially more pliable one certainly makes sense, and the idea of a
peace-loving, "defective" Weyoun at odds with a more normal one
definitely carries with it a certain appeal.
That casual replacing of Weyoun also carried with it some problems,
though. In particular, when I complained earlier that Damar/Weyoun
just didn't have the same spark to it that Dukat/Weyoun did, the
concept of just doing away with Weyoun entirely was not what I had
in mind. The old Weyoun, at least during the peak of the
Dukat/Weyoun interplay, was often a fascinating character to watch;
simply replacing him with a lookalike in an *off-camera* death
rankles more than a little. I realize that there was no way to set this
one up in advance without spoiling the surprise, and that some of the
Dominion turmoil also explains the several-episode lull in the war
we've seen lately, but I can't help feeling a bit cheated in that we lost a
personality without losing the "official" character behind it.
One good outcome of Weyoun-5's departure, however, is that we got
one of the more interesting and *honest* Weyoun/Odo conversations
in quite some time as a result. Okay, the "it's an honor to be near a
god/I'm not a god/Oh yes you are/Oh no I'm not" part of the
conversation is one we've all seen many times over, but the chance to
hear deeper thoughts from Weyoun, even if not "our" Weyoun, was
helpful. The Vorta's story of their own creation by the Founders was
intriguing as well, though I'm not sure I buy it -- and I certainly don't
buy that it was due to any generosity on the Founders' part. So far as
I can see, it means the Founders happened to stumble across a race
with a built-in predilection for serving the Founders, then enhanced
that for their own ends. (Think of David Brin's Uplift series. How
many patron races are really *generous* to their clients? Not many.)
As for the news of the Founders' illness, I'm not sure where I stand
on that so far. I certainly appreciated that we got to see evidence of it
before we heard about it (in one of the nicer scenes with Damar and
Weyoun-7), but what I think of the idea depends a lot on where they
go with it. I like it in that it's setting up Odo as some sort of tragic
hero, but as with some other developments this season, I can think of
more goofy ways to resolve the situation than I can reasonable ones.
(An obvious goofy one: somehow, the Founders are missing
something crucial to their continued well-being, which it so happens
occurs naturally in Odo due to his interaction with solids. Thus, his
returning to the Link saves the entire race.)
I'm also not entirely happy with the new Damar/Weyoun relationship
established here. Among other things, Weyoun-7 turned way too
easily in terms of his willingness to kill Odo. The old Weyoun would
very likely not have consented to Damar's plan under any
circumstances; the fact that this one did means, to me, that he's
another clone the Founders would consider "defective." This is
certainly something that could be made very interesting by future
developments, but for now it strikes me as an attempt to make
Damar/Weyoun more interesting by undercutting one of the
characters. Here's hoping for a more reasonable outcome.
One nice result of Weyoun-7's bloodlust, however, was the
Jem'Hadar's pursuit of Odo. This led to some nice chase tactics and
battle tactics on everyone's part. Okay, so the Kuiper Belt full of
comet fragments was way too closely packed to be remotely realistic,
and the Jem'Hadar's methodical destruction of those fragments was
reminding me of several different moments, some Pythonesque ("Mr.
Odo has presented us with a puzzler: we do not know which of these
comet fragments he is hiding in. However, we can soon find out."
<BOOM>). Even so, I appreciated the combat (including the use of
an actual *third* dimension in spots), Weyoun's assistance and
subsequent guilt, Odo's tactics, and Weyoun's eventual resolution.
All in all, then, the A-story of "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
certainly opens a lot of doors for the future, but I'm concerned it did
so by simply shunting a character aside in favor of a plot device.
Aspects of that mirror what happened to Dukat, so I'm frankly starting
to worry that we're running out of villains who even approach three
dimensions. We'll see.
Meanwhile, we also had the B-story, namely Nog "helping" O'Brien
get hold of a gravity stabilizer in time to meet Sisko's rapid deadline.
While it was vaguely entertaining trying to figure out what was going
to go wrong next with the plan and seeing O'Brien get in further and
further over his head, the story in general left me cold. There's no
shortage of "trade X to get Y to trade for Z to trade for ..." stories out
there, and I've both read and seen ones more entertaining than this.
(Among other things, there's an early episode of "MASH" which had
far more comic mayhem than we had here, and DS9's own "In the
Cards" a year and a half ago also did a much better job.) This mostly
felt like filler -- it wasn't bad filler, but it also didn't do much other
than pad out the hour and give lots of actors their token scenes. (I did
like seeing Kira yelling at O'Brien in the empty room which used to
hold Sisko's desk, though.)
Other thoughts:
-- I liked Odo's backrub style; I wish I could do that myself.
-- At least some aspects of the many Weyouns remained consistent.
In particular, Weyoun-6's lack of outrage at being programmed by the
Founders was superb.
That about covers it. How "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
turns out in the end may well depend on how many of the things
which bugged me wind up being setups for future plot points. For
now, I'm being a bit cautious: it's a reasonable hour, but one that
could've been better.
So, wrapping up:
Writing: I don't like Weyoun-5's casual and unsung death, and
Weyoun-7's characterization bugged me. Most of the
remaining A plot was very intriguing, however.
Directing: Nice set pieces during the battle, but the O'Brien/Nog
material lacked the spark necessary to really be amusing.
Acting: No real complaints, and Jeffrey Combs did a good job with
his double duty.
OVERALL: a 7, but at least partly for ambition; this one could move a
lot up or down by season's end. We'll see.
NEXT WEEK:
Our old friend Kor comes back for one last stand.
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"Has it ever occurred to you that the reason you believe the Founders
are gods is because that's what they want you to believe? That they
built it into your genetic code?"
"Of course they did. That's what gods DO."
-- Odo and Weyoun-6
--
Copyright 1998, 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.
Laurinda Chamberlin
>WARNING: There are only four certainties in life: "Treachery,
>Faith, and the Great River" -- oh, and DS9 spoilers below.
>
>[...] Damar taking matters
>into his own hands and replacing the old Weyoun with a "younger,"
>potentially more pliable one certainly makes sense, [...]
No it doesn't! How could Damar know *what* he'd get as a replacement?
The only way it would make sense is if Weyoun 5 had become some kind
of direct threat to Damar, leaving Damar no choice.
>That casual replacing of Weyoun also carried with it some problems,
>though. In particular, when I complained earlier that Damar/Weyoun
>just didn't have the same spark to it that Dukat/Weyoun did, the
>concept of just doing away with Weyoun entirely was not what I had
>in mind. [...]
Indeed. The weak link here is the absence of Dukat, not anything that's
going on with Weyoun. Nothing we've yet seen from Damar-Weyoun rivals
the War Arc conversations between the egotistical, ambitious Dukat and
the smirking, insincere Weyoun 5.
>All in all, then, the A-story of "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
>certainly opens a lot of doors for the future, but I'm concerned it did
>so by simply shunting a character aside in favor of a plot device.
>Aspects of that mirror what happened to Dukat, so I'm frankly starting
>to worry that we're running out of villains who even approach three
>dimensions. We'll see. [...]
Have you considered the plight of Weyoun in light of "The Enemy Within"?
We have a transporter accident, and suddenly we're left with the "good"
Weyoun 6 and the "bad" Weyoun 7. Hmm....
;)
--
Laurinda She walked by herself, and
all places were alike to her.
Piotr Trela
: WARNING: There are only four certainties in life: "Treachery,
: As for the news of the Founders' illness, I'm not sure where I stand
: on that so far. I certainly appreciated that we got to see evidence of it
: before we heard about it (in one of the nicer scenes with Damar and
: Weyoun-7), but what I think of the idea depends a lot on where they
: go with it. I like it in that it's setting up Odo as some sort of tragic
: hero, but as with some other developments this season, I can think of
: more goofy ways to resolve the situation than I can reasonable ones.
: (An obvious goofy one: somehow, the Founders are missing
: something crucial to their continued well-being, which it so happens
: occurs naturally in Odo due to his interaction with solids. Thus, his
: returning to the Link saves the entire race.)
Or our genetically-enhanced doctor finds the cure - and after convincing
Sisko and escaping that counter-intelligence Federation outfit (the
one that already had hands on him) which wants to withhold the cure
and get rid of changelings for good - he (and/or Odo) gives it
as gesture of good will to the Link. The Link, cured and deeply moved,
reevaluates it's position on solids, calls off the JemHaddar and
everybody lives long and prospers, that is until the first DS9 movie.
: Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
Piotr Trela
Timothy W. Lynch
>tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: There are only four certainties in life: "Treachery,
>>Faith, and the Great River" -- oh, and DS9 spoilers below.
>>[...] Damar taking matters
>>into his own hands and replacing the old Weyoun with a "younger,"
>>potentially more pliable one certainly makes sense, [...]
>No it doesn't! How could Damar know *what* he'd get as a replacement?
He might not, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it anyway. Damar
is not necessarily what you'd call a long-term thinker.
>>All in all, then, the A-story of "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"
>>certainly opens a lot of doors for the future, but I'm concerned it did
>>so by simply shunting a character aside in favor of a plot device.
>>Aspects of that mirror what happened to Dukat, so I'm frankly starting
>>to worry that we're running out of villains who even approach three
>>dimensions. We'll see. [...]
>Have you considered the plight of Weyoun in light of "The Enemy Within"?
>We have a transporter accident, and suddenly we're left with the "good"
>Weyoun 6 and the "bad" Weyoun 7. Hmm....
Snort. Please, *please* don't go there. :-)
Tim Lynch