[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "When It Rains..."
John C. Baker
<gla...@DeepSpaceNine.com> wrote:
> Timothy W. Lynch wrote:
>
> > -- "I need to borrow a cup of goo"? Please, Julian, let's be a little less
> > tacky. Surely you can find some suitably medical terminology -- at
> > the very least, "a cup of *you*" would have been better.
>
> I thought he did say "a cup of you" and I thought that was very cute. Anyone
> with captions out there?
>
My captions say ... cup of "goo." Sorry.
Timothy W. Lynch
disgruntled people who have been accidentally spoiled. Don't be one
of them.
In brief: A bit more padded than some other recent offerings -- it's
definitely good in some plotlines, but a letdown after its predecessor.
======
Written by: Rene Echevarria (teleplay);
Rene Echevarria & Spike Steingasser (story)
Directed by: Michael Dorn
Brief summary: Gowron comes to the station with surprising plans
for Martok, Dukat's plans take an unexpected turn, Kira begins
training Damar's resistance movement, and Bashir makes a disturbing
discovery.
======
"When It Rains..." was a bit frustrating, but I suspect that's mostly in
comparison to the last four weeks, which have been fairly strong
material overall. Although there are elements to "When It Rains..."
which are superb (one storyline in particular), other pieces feel
somewhat padded out to keep things going.
One story which I'm definitely getting tired of is the continuing Ezri
Romance Follies. For three weeks, we had the "are she and Worf an
item or not?" question, which did in the end actually go somewhere,
but felt like it took twice as many scenes as necessary in order to get
there. Now that that issue has been resolved, we instead find Ezri
playing hard-to-get with Bashir, despite the fact that we've been 'told'
that she's certain he's the man for her. "When It Rains..." marks the
fifth episode in a row where Ezri's romantic interests have played a
significant role (either foreground or background), and they weren't
exactly lacking for exposure in the early part of this season. Perhaps
I'm an unromantic clod, but it seems to me that if the only role Ezri is
going to play is that of conflicted love interest, she's not a particularly
well-founded character. Regardless, the whole "who will Ezri end up
with?" issue is stretching on way too long, and at this point I think it's
starting to actively get in the way. Move along, please.
Fortunately, the episode does move along on a number of different
fronts. The most prominent story in terms of screen time is probably
Kira's new mission: Sisko, in light of Damar's new Cardassian
resistance, is trying to help him learn resistance tactics by sending
along a consultant who's an expert in such tactics, namely our own
Kira Nerys.
The only real issue I have with this story is that it's being laid on a bit
too thickly. Having the Cardassians espouse Bajoran-style ideals is
definitely ironic enough; having Kira then move over and have to
work with Damar may be stretching the point. I have a particular
issue with Sisko's logic underlying his order: one, Damar *has* had
some experience with resistance tactics while serving on board
Dukat's Bird of Prey; and two, Kira's resistance expertise is limited to
tactics on a single planet, which is most emphatically *not* the
situation Damar faces. I understand the appeal of putting the two of
them together; I think it's just a bit of a reach.
That said, then, I thought this part of the story was executed fairly
well. Damar's inner renaissance is continuing apace, even to the point
where he's barely batting an eye at Kira's presence; that's something
we certainly couldn't have said during the Dominion occupation of the
station. On the other hand, most of the other Cardassians with him,
particularly Gul Rosot, are taking every opportunity to differentiate
themselves from Bajorans and Bajoran ideas, even trying to drive
wedges between onetime resistance fighter Kira and onetime
collaborator Odo. They don't succeed, of course, but they certainly
manage to annoy everyone quite substantially. A Cardassian soldier's
snide question about why Odo didn't resign in protest of Cardassian
policies was particularly pointed, and well done.
Speaking of Odo, he's suddenly coming back into the story with a
vengeance, as we find that the wasting disease which has affected the
Founders all season has now infected him as well. On one level, this
has given Odo a substantial sense of his own mortality; we're only
beginning to see what this will do to him physically or psychologically
(or whether a cure will be found, though I suspect it will), but so far
it's promising.
Far more promising, however, is what Bashir is finding out about the
disease during his research. When Bashir tries to obtain a copy of
Odo's medical records from his trip to Earth, he is rebuffed at every
turn, with one Commander Hilliard all but accusing him of treason for
wanting to find a cure to this disease. After a quick off-screen plea to
Sisko which expedites matters, Bashir and O'Brien get a copy of the
report ... only to have Bashir discover (through a genetically enhanced
memory and a small stroke of luck) that the report's a fake,
incorporating Dr. Mora Pol's research on Odo from a decade ago
rather than the more current file. When further investigation lets them
discover that Odo was apparently infected on the exact day he was at
Starfleet Medical, an awful truth sinks in: the virus was engineered by
the Federation, likely Section 31, and Odo has been used as a carrier
for three years. Starfleet Medical's reticence to help Bashir is now
obvious, but he and O'Brien realize that they need to obtain a cure
from Section 31 before that organization realizes they've been found
out.
Apart from some minor logistical problems which I'll mention later,
this is juicy stuff. Among other things, it finally gives Bashir and
O'Brien some non-laughable material for this final arc, which is a
blessing in itself. More importantly, though, bringing Section 31
back into the fold means we may well get a bit of the "cleansing of the
Federation" I was wondering about half a dozen or so episodes back;
certainly, if Section 31 is figuring this heavily into the war against the
Founders, they need to be dealt with substantially before the war can
be said to be truly over. In many ways, the story here was mostly
setup -- but it was good, promising setup, so we'll see.
Possibly the most delicious part of "When It Rains...," however,
came from Winn and Dukat, as is becoming somewhat common.
Early on, things seem status quo: Winn is still allied with Dukat to
help the Pagh Wraiths, but she deeply dislikes what she's becoming
and particularly dislikes discovering who her new ally is. Dukat, on
the other hand, is becoming more charmingly arrogant by the second:
when Winn tells him to remember his place, he quickly responds that
"I thought my *place* was in your bed." Not the wisest thing he
could have said, perhaps, but absolutely pure Dukat, and marvelous
stuff.
It becomes clear, however, that Dukat is chafing at the slow pace of
his plan, and he wants to "help" Winn along with her research. Thus,
one night, he breaks into Winn's office with the key to the Kosst
Amojan in his hand. Despite Winn's earlier admonitions that the book
was for her eyes only, he breaks the seal and begins musing over the
book, wondering "what dark secrets" Winn has kept from him. The
script begins to glow ...
... and Dukat suddenly finds himself blinded and screaming in agony.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, I say. :-) Seriously, while having
Dukat's blind arrogance turn into not-so-arrogant blindness is fun
enough, Winn's opportunity for some pointed vengeance is better
still. She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and
to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try
to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people. Marvelous, marvelous
stuff, and apart from the obvious conclusion that Dukat's going to be
royally ticked off at Winn I haven't a clue as to where it's going.
Lastly, and perhaps most crucially for "Tacking With the Wind" next
week, we have some movement on the Klingon front. At the outset,
the Klingons find themselves in a relatively nice position: a chance fix
to one ship's engines has revealed a way for the Klingon ships to
outwit the Breen energy-draining weapons, so the Klingons are the
only real force able to combat the Dominion at the moment. The
chance for glory is evident, and in addition Gowron himself is on the
way to DS9 to induct Martok into "the Order of Kahless." One quick
Klingon ritual later, bam -- Martok's one of the greatest heroes of the
Empire.
Unfortunately, he's out of a job at the same time. Gowron has
decided that Martok has borne the burden of this war long enough, so
he releases Martok from his oversight role, instead taking direct
command of the Klingon forces himself. As Gowron isn't half the
tactical genius that Martok is, Worf suspects this to be nothing more
than political maneuvering, and is concerned about Gowron's ability
to lead, particularly after Gowron decides to take the Klingon fleet on
the offensive despite being outnumbered 20-1.
I suppose this kind of upheaval is very much in keeping with the
"when it rains, it pours" sentiment of the title -- after all, both the
Federation and the Dominion are dealing with internal strife just
now -- but so far I'm not finding it all that impressive. First, we've
seen so many Klingon rituals that they're getting a bit tiresome.
Second, and more importantly, this feels so far as though it's here
*only* because of a desire to bring yet another principality into
upheaval. It doesn't seem particularly out of character for anyone, at
least, but it doesn't seem much of anything else, either. I'll wait and
see.
Other thoughts:
-- My logic concern about Bashir's detective work: how the hell can
he figure out exactly when Odo was infected? Figuring out the
replication rate of the virus shouldn't be that bad, but even assuming
it's constant, Bashir has no idea of the virus's origin unless he
assumes that precisely *one* complete virus was used, and no more.
That strikes me as silly. A general date would have worked better.
-- Similarly, Miles' logic that "if Section 31 is behind the virus, they
must have a cure" is a little specious. The U.S. developed the first
nuclear bomb; have we developed a "cure" for that, or even a
workable defense? Hoping they have a cure is certainly a good idea,
but I wouldn't rely on it.
-- A rare mispronunciation from Colm Meaney: he pronounces
"tritium" as "TRY-tee-um" in the teaser. Tsk, tsk.
-- If Odo's been infected all this time, that means that Laas (from
"Chimera") is as well. Let's hope he *doesn't* find his people,
then...
-- Although the Bashir/Ezri work did nothing for me, Bashir's "oh my
God" when seeing Odo's test results was very nicely delivered.
-- Why exactly *does* Bashir need the Starfleet Medical records? If
he wants a study of healthy Odo for comparison, why not use
something from the first few seasons of the series? He certainly
studied Odo enough.
-- Kira's point about the resistance being willing to kill Cardassians
was well taken.
-- "I need to borrow a cup of goo"? Please, Julian, let's be a little less
tacky. Surely you can find some suitably medical terminology -- at
the very least, "a cup of *you*" would have been better.
That should cover it. Essentially, "When It Rains..." is a bit of a lull;
while there's little about it which seems bad, a lot of it feels more like
marking time than anything else. The Section 31 material and the
Winn/Dukat material are extremely promising, and much of the rest
might turn out well -- but for now, this one felt more "okay" than
wonderful.
Wrapping up:
Writing: Beautiful Winn/Dukat work and some nice material bringing
Section 31 to the fore; the Bashir/Ezri stuff is getting very old
very fast, and the rest is too murky to tell.
Directing: Not quite as spiffy as Vejar's work last week, but certainly
fine, particularly on the better-written material.
Acting: No complaints ... no surprise there.
OVERALL: 6.5. Some promising stuff, but thin. We'll see how it
ages.
NEXT WEEK:
Worf's divided loyalties.
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"Remember your place, Dukat."
"I thought my *place* was in your bed."
-- Winn and Dukat
--
Copyright 1999, 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.
Rich
Lynch) wrote:
>Other thoughts:
>
>-- My logic concern about Bashir's detective work: how the hell can
>he figure out exactly when Odo was infected? Figuring out the
>replication rate of the virus shouldn't be that bad, but even assuming
>it's constant, Bashir has no idea of the virus's origin unless he
>assumes that precisely *one* complete virus was used, and no more.
>That strikes me as silly. A general date would have worked better.
This is a very weak premise. It is one thing to model generation time
of, say, a bacterium in vitro...entirely another in the body. And
working with an unknown virus which may undergo unknown periods of
dormancy and reactivation...nope, it doesn't work for me. They should
have gone for some medical technobabble...discovered some unusual
resonance pattern in Odo caused by the virus which required an
adjustment of the medical scaners to detect, then study the old med
records or the transporter pattern buffer records back several years
for Odo's transports...or some such stuff.
I can't care about it too much, I have enjoyed this arc greatly. It
seems a fine way to wrap up the series.
BTW, I thought back in TNG, the the transporter was able to screen
and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
reason why it can't be done.
Rich
************************************************************************
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
************************************************************************
prince
Rich <sea_...@orland.net> wrote in message
news:37365a52...@news.cwo.com...
> >
> >-- My logic concern about Bashir's detective work: how the hell can
> >he figure out exactly when Odo was infected? Figuring out the
> >replication rate of the virus shouldn't be that bad, but even assuming
> >it's constant, Bashir has no idea of the virus's origin unless he
> >assumes that precisely *one* complete virus was used, and no more.
> >That strikes me as silly. A general date would have worked better.
>
> of, say, a bacterium in vitro...entirely another in the body. And
> working with an unknown virus which may undergo unknown periods of
> dormancy and reactivation...nope, it doesn't work for me. They should
> have gone for some medical technobabble...discovered some unusual
> resonance pattern in Odo caused by the virus which required an
> adjustment of the medical scaners to detect, then study the old med
> records or the transporter pattern buffer records back several years
> for Odo's transports...or some such stuff.
>
> I can't care about it too much, I have enjoyed this arc greatly. It
> seems a fine way to wrap up the series.
>
> BTW, I thought back in TNG, the the transporter was able to screen
> and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
> that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
> to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
> reason why it can't be done.
>
> Rich
>
> adam
> pri...@adnc.com
Stephen C. Gallagher
>
>BTW, I thought back in TNG, the the transporter was able to screen
>and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
>that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
>to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
>reason why it can't be done.
>
>Rich
>
It was also shown in TNG that the transporter's biofilter can remove
contaminants that it is programmed to remove. That being said,
we know from the fact that diseases do exist in the TNG universe
that not every disease/infection can be screened out.
Stephen Gallagher
Joe
>She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and
>to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try
>to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people.
While that was a very fun scene, it does stretch credulity a little (a
lot actually). I mean, it's the 24th century on a modern, enlightened
planet, and blind people are still tossed out onto the street like
trash? Hell, we have better support systems than that in the
resource-straped, moraly-challenged late 20th century.
Joe
John R Stobo
> tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) wrote:
>
> >She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and
> >to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try
> >to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people.
>
> While that was a very fun scene, it does stretch credulity a little (a
> lot actually). I mean, it's the 24th century on a modern, enlightened
> planet, and blind people are still tossed out onto the street like
> trash? Hell, we have better support systems than that in the
> resource-straped, moraly-challenged late 20th century.
>
> Joe
>
Bajor is about ten years or less removed from the Cardassian occupation.
I doubt that in the time since that the entire planet has been able to
recover from that devastating period of time, especially when it has
remained outside the Federation.
-jack
Adnan Virk
much? Methinks you spend a little too much time analyzing and not enough
just sitting back and watching the episode for what it is.
Nevertheless, good reviews.
Gabrielle Lawson
Timothy W. Lynch wrote:
> WARNING: "When It Rains" DS9 spoilers, it can also pour
> disgruntled people who have been accidentally spoiled. Don't be one
> of them.
>
> In brief: A bit more padded than some other recent offerings -- it's
> definitely good in some plotlines, but a letdown after its predecessor.
>
> ======
> Written by: Rene Echevarria (teleplay);
> Rene Echevarria & Spike Steingasser (story)
> Directed by: Michael Dorn
> Brief summary: Gowron comes to the station with surprising plans
> for Martok, Dukat's plans take an unexpected turn, Kira begins
> training Damar's resistance movement, and Bashir makes a disturbing
> discovery.
> ======
>
> -- "I need to borrow a cup of goo"? Please, Julian, let's be a little less
> tacky. Surely you can find some suitably medical terminology -- at
> the very least, "a cup of *you*" would have been better.
I thought he did say "a cup of you" and I thought that was very cute. Anyone
with captions out there?
--
--Gabrielle
I'd much rather be writing!
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/2460
chri...@my-dejanews.com
"Stephen C. Gallagher" <gall...@istar.ca> wrote:
> (snip)
> >
> >BTW, I thought back in TNG, the the transporter was able to screen
> >and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
> >that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
> >to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
> >reason why it can't be done.
> >
> >Rich
Wouldn't the virus be in his cells though? So wouldn't you have to
remove whole cells to get rid of it? Plus since he's been carrying the
virus for a long time, it's probably fairly well spread. I guess the
transporter could be advanced enough to go inside nuclei and pick what
it wants, though if that were the solution, I'm sure the Vorta would
have found it long ago.
--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
Devin Clancy
sea_...@orland.net (Rich) wrote:
> On 10 May 1999 03:47:53 GMT, tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W.
> Lynch) wrote:
>
> >Other thoughts:
> >
> >-- My logic concern about Bashir's detective work: how the hell can
> >he figure out exactly when Odo was infected? Figuring out the
> >replication rate of the virus shouldn't be that bad, but even
assuming
> >it's constant, Bashir has no idea of the virus's origin unless he
> >assumes that precisely *one* complete virus was used, and no more.
> >That strikes me as silly. A general date would have worked better.
>
> of, say, a bacterium in vitro...entirely another in the body. And
> working with an unknown virus which may undergo unknown periods of
> dormancy and reactivation...nope, it doesn't work for me. They should
> have gone for some medical technobabble...discovered some unusual
> resonance pattern in Odo caused by the virus which required an
> adjustment of the medical scaners to detect, then study the old med
> records or the transporter pattern buffer records back several years
> for Odo's transports...or some such stuff.
>
> I can't care about it too much, I have enjoyed this arc greatly. It
> seems a fine way to wrap up the series.
>
> and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
> that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
> to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
> reason why it can't be done.
>
> Rich
There's a can of worms that should never have been uncorked.
It's sometimes a double edged sword when the writers try to tone down
technobabble. Things can start to make no sense at all instead of just
being confused.
-Devin
IWCFVB
>God" when seeing Odo's test results was very nicely delivered.
>
>
Yes, I too noticed this. Very rarely does one line or look that isn't meant to
be exciting (i.e. Riker's "Then take your best shot Locutus, for we are about
to intervene," in BBWII in TNG) really amaze me, but this one did. The way he
delivered the line and just the look on his face. You KNEW what he was going
to say. It was amazing.
-Mike
Shawn Hill
: I can't care about it too much, I have enjoyed this arc greatly. It
: seems a fine way to wrap up the series.
This arc, as a whole, is an excellent fulfillment of DS9's potential. For
me, it's an echo of when I first realized how good this show could be, in
Season One, with the three-part Circle, Seige, and whatever the third one
was arc. Frank Langella and Kai Winn, and now Kai Winn and Dukat. And a
few cool space battles.
: BTW, I thought back in TNG, the the transporter was able to screen
: and/or clean the transportee of known organisms. Am I off here? Now
: that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
: to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
: reason why it can't be done.
For all we know, this is how they will cure Odo. They'll wait for some
traumatic near-death moment, and then Bashir will go "eureka!"
Shawn
* . * . * . * .
Q: "Am I still your woman?"
A: "You're the captain's woman...until he says you're not."
. * . * . *sh...@fas.harvard.edu
Shawn Hill
: tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) wrote:
:>She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and
:>to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try
:>to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people.
: While that was a very fun scene, it does stretch credulity a little (a
: lot actually). I mean, it's the 24th century on a modern, enlightened
: planet, and blind people are still tossed out onto the street like
: trash? Hell, we have better support systems than that in the
: resource-straped, moraly-challenged late 20th century.
Ah, but we are not a planet ruled by one religion.
Shawn
David E. Sluss
>Rich <sea_...@orland.net> wrote:
>>Now that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
>>to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
>>reason why it can't be done.
>
>For all we know, this is how they will cure Odo. They'll wait for some
>traumatic near-death moment, and then Bashir will go "eureka!"
Yeah, that would be great writing <snicker>. How about Odo _dying_?
With four episodes left, now seems like a pretty good time to retire
the reset button.
--
// David E. Sluss (The Cynic) \\ // "I'm impatient with \\
//_________ sluss%dhp.com _________\\//__ stupidity. My people have __\\
\\ Cynics Corner Interactive //\\ learned to live without it." //
\\ http://users.dhp.com/~sluss // \\ Klaatu //
David B.
> tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) wrote:
>
> >She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and
> >to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try
> >to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people.
>
> While that was a very fun scene, it does stretch credulity a little (a
> lot actually). I mean, it's the 24th century on a modern, enlightened
> planet, and blind people are still tossed out onto the street like
> trash? Hell, we have better support systems than that in the
> resource-straped, moraly-challenged late 20th century.
We're talking about Bajor not Earth. On Earth there are no beggars but there
seems to be beggars on Bajor (probably for some religious reason or
something).
Stephen C. Gallagher
David B. wrote in message <373A663D...@hotmail.com>...
>> >to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can
try
>> >to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people.
>>
>> lot actually). I mean, it's the 24th century on a modern, enlightened
>> planet, and blind people are still tossed out onto the street like
>> trash? Hell, we have better support systems than that in the
>> resource-straped, moraly-challenged late 20th century.
>
>We're talking about Bajor not Earth. On Earth there are no beggars but
there
>seems to be beggars on Bajor (probably for some religious reason or
>something).
Remember also that Bajor is still on the recovery from several decades
of Cardassian occupation.
Stephen Gallagher
>
Helen Read
>
> Shawn Hill <sh...@fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
> >Rich <sea_...@orland.net> wrote:
> >>Now that the virus in Odo is known, couldn't you program the transporter
> >>to remove it when Odo transports? I'm sure there is some good techno
> >>reason why it can't be done.
> >
> >For all we know, this is how they will cure Odo. They'll wait for some
> >traumatic near-death moment, and then Bashir will go "eureka!"
>
> Yeah, that would be great writing <snicker>. How about Odo _dying_?
> With four episodes left, now seems like a pretty good time to retire
> the reset button.
My prediction: Odo will die, but in a major reset, Bashir will
re-generate him from the cup of Odo-goo that he still has.
HPR