[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Civil Defense"
Tim Lynch
automatic security system. The fully armed nuclear missiles are, of
course, merely a courtesy detail.
Whew. *That* was fun. Could've used another two minutes for a proper
ending, though.
This is definitely one of the best things of the season so far, though. More
in a moment -- but first, a capsule summary:
======
The crew accidentally triggers an old Cardassian security program that
threatens to destroy the entire station.
======
Now that we have *that* out of the way...
One of the best things about "Civil Defense" was the slow and gradual way in
which everything built up. The situation, fortunately, wasn't nearly as
simplistic as I described above: the program did *not* initially try to
destroy the station, merely to control what was perceived as a minor problem.
It was only when, from the program's perspective, the "rebels" had more and
more success that the problems escalated. This could easily have turned into
a "Disaster"-type show with problems coming out of nowhere, but instead there
was a lot of care taken to actually make the program *sensible*, at least by
Cardassian standards. Nicely done, that.
The other major dose of plot cleverness whirled around, you guessed it, Gul
Dukat. Oh, not his arrival and taunting -- cute as it was, had his role been
limited to the blackmail threat I'd have protested. The way that he ended up
caught in his own trap, though, was absolutely priceless, from Legate Kell's
automated condemnation to Dukat's jaw landing on the floor as a result. Grim
though it was for the crew, it was one of the funniest damn scenes Trek has
had in a long time.
Character-wise, we had three distinct sets of characters to play with here:
Miles and the Siskos (sounds like a new musical group), trapped in the
grungier areas of the station; Odo and Quark, trapped in Odo's office; and
the rest of the bunch up in Ops. Of the three, I think the Odo/Quark
segments were the weakest -- possibly because they had the least connection
to the plot, but mostly because we've seen all of this before, and they were
distractions from the main event, that being the Dukat/Garak Posturing
Contest [tm]. Some of it was cute, to be sure (in particular, when Odo
answered Quark's challenge to name a more devious Ferengi with "your brother
Rom", it *really* hurt), but they were mostly filler. (As a plot issue,
though, remembering that Odo should have some Cardassian security clearance
was a good point.)
On the other hand, virtually everything else we saw was golden. Miles and
the Siskos made a good team, for instance. Miles had most of the needed
technical knowledge to get them from points A to B to C, while Sisko got to
play strategizer (even if in some cases the solution was obvious, like
surrendering as "ordered"). Jake's presence may not have been absolutely
required, but it felt natural rather than shoved in, and the big revelation
that "yes, Jake *is* a big boy now and ready to help" worked just fine. (In
particular, Jake's crawl up the chute to get them out of the first room rang
very true; while he was willing and competent, he was clearly scared about it
*and* wasn't perfect.)
As for the Ops folks, I enjoyed nearly every moment of it. Two things seemed
a bit off, but both were small. (They were that I thought Bashir's line
about communications wasn't right for him to deliver, and that Dax's reaction
to being burned was way too fluttery.) The exchanges between the regulars
were a great deal of fun, but the true entertainment came with the arrivals
of Garak and Dukat.
Their animosity has never been more evident -- but frankly, part of me almost
hopes it's a ploy of some sort. The arguments between the two opened up lots
of speculation, as it always does (Garak knew Dukat's father? Dukat tried to
execute Garak?), but with every Garak show dropping hints about a *different*
major event involving him, Garak's in danger of turning into a running gag.
So ... why not turn everything around a bit? What if Garak were still
working for the Cardassian government (potentially likely anyway), if Dukat
and he have to occasionally coordinate their efforts (not beyond belief), and
what if the two actually get along really well, but have to pretend otherwise
to avoid suspicion?
(Lisa took it a step further, and proposed that their entire argument was
improvised. "Your father was the same way!" [father? what the hell? okay,
run with it...] "Leave my father out of this..." Unlikely as hell, yes, but
highly entertaining. :-) )
Dukat's presence here also raises an interesting question. Last time we saw
our friendly Gul was "The Maquis", and at that time he wasn't exactly the
Central Command's fair-scaled boy. Now, all of a sudden, he says he's been
out patrolling the DMZ. One wonders how his reputation is doing at present.
Personally, I think he's still less than the power he likes to present
himself as. This would explain the added bluster and taunting we saw from
him here -- although a substantial amount of bluster *is* his style, Garak
was right when he pointed out just how obvious and silly Dukat's posturing
was once he was stranded with the others. If he's puffing out his chest
*more* because no one "in the know" actually gives a damn about him any more,
that could explain a thing or two.
Regardless, Dukat's initial arrival was one of the best "arrival of the
villain" scenes I can recall -- everyone's pinned down, trying just to stay
alive, when suddenly Dukat just ... pops in. He muses a bit, chuckles over
the situation, clucks out some sympathy, and settles down for a cup of tea,
all without lifting a finger to help anyone else. I doubt I was the only one
hoping to see him suddenly get trashed by a passing asteroid as a result of
this hubris, but my word, it was entertainingly offbeat.
That just leaves the ending. Alas, this was the weak spot. It wasn't *bad*,
really, so much as *absent*. The saving of the station was ... okay, but
heavily technical solutions don't usually wow me that much, and for some
reason the "crawling through the fiery passage" idea fell a little flat
(though the plasma fire was *green*, which was really eerie). More
importantly, though, we had a resolution that was basically "problem solved,
station saved, THE END" -- and that felt unsatisfying. What I really wanted
to see was at least one more scene with Dukat: either with Garak, with Kira,
or with Sisko (saying basically "you did WHAT when you arrived? Here, hold
still for a second..."). As it is, we've no idea what explanations were
forthcoming, if any -- and I think we're entitled to see them. Ah, well.
Even so, though, "Civil Defense" was terrific -- not something for the record
books, but certainly something to see at least once. So, a few short takes
and then I'm off:
-- One wonders if the early levels of this program were ever actually *used*.
It certainly might prove effective...
-- That electrical cable had to be one of the silliest-looking props I've
seen in a long while. Please, let's not have a repeat performance of it.
:-)
That's about it -- not much in the way of tidbits this time. So, summing up:
Plot: Terrific, except for the missing three minutes or so of ending.
Plot Handling: Crisp and deft, though the Odo/Quark stuff felt unnecessary
to me.
Characterization: Slight weirdnesses with Dax and Bashir, but otherwise
excellent.
OVERALL: A solid 9. Very enjoyable.
NEXT WEEK:
Follow the blinking planet...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Let me guess. Someone tried to duplicate my access code, mmm?"
-- Gul Dukat
--
Copyright 1994, 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.