[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Equilibrium"
Tim Lynch
"Equilibrium". As such, those not previously aware of the show's content
may suffer a certain loss of equilibrium if they proceed further.
Nice. Very nice indeed.
So far, "Equilibrium" is probably my favorite of the season. But, before
I get into commentary ... a quick summary.
======
Dax faces a series of terrifying hallucinations that spark revelations
about her past and the very fabric of Trill society.
======
Now that *that's* over with...
Okay. After a disappointing season premiere and a fluff piece, we finally
start coming to the real meat of the season -- and so far, so good.
I have a few small quibbles, so let me get them out of the way now. First,
there's the Defiant. As I worried a few weeks ago, it's being used for no
good purpose other than to show off this nifty new model that's been created.
Sorry, folks, but if the Defiant is around for defending the station (which
makes sense), then you LEAVE it there to defend the station; you don't wander
off to the oh-so-dangerous Trill homeworld in your new warship. There were
only three people really going to Trill -- Sisko, Bashir and Dax -- so use a
runabout. That's what they're there for. (My other main quibble is that
again, Odo's new revelations about himself appear to have been swept under
the rug -- but that's a comparatively minor point, since we only saw him for
about two minutes.)
For the most part, though, "Equilibrium" was one of the better Dax pieces
that's come along so far. Part of that may be a bias on my part -- let's
face it, if you haven't figured out by now that I'm a sucker for good dream
sequences you haven't been reading long. :-) However, what we had here was
a good, solid story that not only fleshed out a side of Dax we rarely see,
but also one of the deepest examinations of Trill culture we've seen to date
(or are likely to see, I suspect).
I also liked the early, lighter character moments. I've been reserving
judgement on the emphasis on "We WILL Humanize Sisko!", but here it
definitely worked. Let's face it, any scene that can use the line "Beets are
a very misunderstood vegetable" and make it *work* definitely has something
going for it. The only part of the dinner scene that I really thought fell
flat was the bit with Odo, mostly because "let's make Odo look cute" moments
almost *never* work with me. The rest of it was nice, though, and the abrupt
transition from "tra-la-la, happy family" to "something is definitely wrong
here" jarred me very effectively.
The hallucination sequences were quite good as well. They weren't quite on
the level of, say, a "Frame of Mind" or a "Phantasms" [both TNG pieces], but
definitely served to get you worried.
[The significance of the mask was never really explained, but my assumption
was that the changing masks typified changing hosts. I'm open to
alternate suggestions, though -- any thoughts?]
Dax's worries about going back to Trill worked quite well. We've already
heard from the "Dax" episode that it's a rare thing to become joined, and
we've also seen that Dax's time as a Trill initiate was far from easy (in
"Playing God"). Given that, it makes perfect sense that her memories of the
Symbiosis Institute weren't exactly pleasant ones, and that she wouldn't want
to go back in any capacity, let alone as a patient. Bashir's story about
fearing doctors got a little wearing to listen to, but it got the point
across -- and he acknowledged afterwards that it was dull, too, which
helps. :-)
Then, there was the cultural side of things. First, I should qualify my above
claims about depth; the symbiont/host issue was delved into a lot, but the
rest of the culture is still a mystery. What we did see, however, was
extremely interesting -- at times a little too mystical for my tastes, but no
more strange than many other cultures we've seen over the years. Timor, in
particular, was excellent. I liked seeing someone who rarely deals with
humanoids and so isn't up on much in the way of social graces at all.
(Besides, I've always liked opportunities where one can answer "Can I ask
what you're doing?" with a simple "yes" and leave it at that.) His comment
about the balance 'twixt host and symbiont being the only one that matters
also seemed true to life.
This was, in some ways, one of DS9's better mysteries, also. Not because we
were in the dark about Dax's hallucinations -- it seemed relatively likely
to me from the start that they were memories of a past host. The ramifica-
tions of everything, however, were not quite so obvious; and, in a somewhat
rare turn of events for Trek, they were actually _examined_. If Dax didn't
remember a past host, why not? If she had a past host that was violent, what
might it mean? There was a lot of baggage attached to this story, and it was
wonderfully dealt with.
What's more, we had leads that actually *worked* for a change. Looking back,
it was really only Dax's recall of the music that kept the cover-up from
working, and that's not much to go on. Even after that, it was only Sisko's
thought to check music academy enrollments that tracked down the real issue,
and that's even slimmer. We didn't have a victory here because Dr. Renhol et
al were stupid; we had it because Sisko et al were smart. That's the sort of
victory that makes for much more interesting viewing.
It also makes some sort of sense that Trill joining might not be so rare
as earlier suggested. Even back in TNG's "The Host", a certain flexibility
was suggested if the symbiont was able to jump between hosts that were
different species. (Granted, "The Host" also suggested a lot of other
things that have since gone ignored, but I like to keep up a pretense at
continuity as long as possible.) I'd always more or less assumed that the
Symbiosis Committee was picking the very best Trill to be joined, not just
trying to avoid rejection -- but the consequences of knowing just how much
of the population can be joined had never really occurred to me, and shook
everything up a bit. Very nicely done.
That's really about it. "Equilibrium" isn't necessarily a show that will
spark a lot of discussion, but in its own quiet way it made a lot of
advances. I liked it rather a lot -- if this is a sign of what's to come,
I'm satisfied.
So, some smaller comments:
-- A wording quibble. (Hey, I need at least *one*, right?) Unless the Trill
population is an awful lot smaller than that of most planets, Sisko's
"thousands more might be capable" isn't a big deal compared to the "1 in
1000" criterion we'd already been given...
-- I would definitely like to have seen who Dax actually knocked out while
in her second hallucination. Given that the other phantom turned out to be
Bashir, I have a sneaking suspicion that she took out Sisko, but it'd have
been nice to see either way.
-- Kudos to the writers for *not* making anything untoward come of Dax going
to Bashir's quarters to talk. I was worried for a moment that we might see a
quick jump in the sack or something, and was relieved to see that everything
was kept serious.
That's it. So, in closing:
Plot: Pretty tight. A few plausibility strains here and there,
especially with the Defiant, but generally quite nice.
Plot Handling: Very nice. I wasn't sure Cliff Bole was really much for
dream sequences, but he did an excellent job with them.
Characterization: Spot-on.
OVERALL: Call this a 9. I'm impressed.
NEXT WEEK:
Kira molts. :-)
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
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"Beets are a very misunderstood vegetable."
-- Sisko
--
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