DS9 Spoiler: Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Vortex"
Tim Lynch
Review by Tim Lynch <tly...@juliet.caltech.edu>
===============================================
WARNING: This article contains heavy spoiler information for "Vortex", the
most recent DS9 episode. Continue at your own risk.
Um...okay.
"Vortex" was a rarity among DS9 episodes to date; it didn't inspire much of a
reaction at *all* in me. There was a lot of promise here, with only a
fraction of it borne out -- but unlike, say, "Q-Less", there also wasn't much
here that was wrong. There just ... wasn't much here at all, I suppose.
That doesn't mean there weren't things I liked, of course -- there certainly
were. The strongest plus the show had was the character and portrayal of
Croden. The setup surrounding him (bad guy who's really a good guy whose
crime was to disobey a totalitarian government) was hardly new; in fact,
"hackneyed" is probably the word that first comes to mind. However, Croden's
matter-of-fact acceptance of his fate was at least a somewhat new spin on
things, and Cliff De Young's portrayal was surprisingly low-key. The usual
"good-guy terrorists" are a bit over-the-top for me, and De Young seemed
*extremely* laid back in nearly everything he did. That was interesting,
particularly considering how jumpy the only other adult Rakharian was.
I also thought that _at times_, Rene Auberjonois did some wonderful work.
Odo's been a pretty rigid guy so far in nearly every respect, and it was
intriguing to see that bend on more than one occasion and in more than one
way.
The first major difference was Odo's obsession in checking Croden's story.
It made perfect sense, but the most compelling part of it came when he
harassed Quark into telling him what he knew. Quark thought the whole time
that Odo was after *him*, as usual -- and I'm not entirely sure he even
realized otherwise after Odo left. Here, it wasn't so much Odo's new
behavior as the effect it caused that was worth watching.
Then, there's the ending. Although I have some difficulty believing Odo
would turn _that_ compassionate, particularly when Croden really had turned
out to be lying through his teeth, Auberjonois's ability to get that across
in both words and body language was terrific. Acting through that much latex
can't be easy, particularly when it's designed to deliberately be impassive
and unexpressive as it is for Odo -- but he managed it. Look at his eyes
right after he's let Croden and Yareth go, and at his very small smile at
"Yes, I suppose I am [a changeling]." Marvelous.
The only other thing that really struck me as positive was the story itself
that Croden dreamed up to talk to Odo about. Although I was willing to bet
it wasn't true, that was primarily because I doubted we'd see more of Odo's
race this early in the show's existence, not because of Croden's tale itself.
The tale had the ring of truth to it, particularly when it came to the
persecution and pride of the changelings. I think we'd be well served if
aspects of the story, completely unknown to Croden, really _did_ turn out to
be true in the end.
Now to the rest. As I said at the start, there's not very much that felt
wrong about "Vortex", but there's a lot that felt uninspired or pointless.
The entire subplot with Ah-Kel was an example. The initial concept of a
"twinned" species was intriguing, particularly when it seemed that Ah-Kel was
physically damaged by his brother's death. However, after that initial scene
where Ah-Kel swears revenge, that's dropped, and it turns into one long "Ah
swore Ah'd git the man who killed my brudder" revenge riff. Sorry, not
interested. I didn't particularly care about it when they had to find a way
off the station around him, and I didn't particularly care when he threatened
Quark.
In fact, the "threat" posed by Ah-Kel's singlemindedness on the station
brings up something that does feel rather wrong. The security on the station
was _appalling_ if one guy can make that much of a threat. I mean, really --
if you can't trust him enough not to make attempts on Croden, then do as Odo
threatened and lock the guy up until Croden's gone. End of problem. And
barring that, why didn't anyone try using a tractor beam to stop Ah-Kel's
ship when he went off after them? He didn't seem the type who'd just back
down after being talked to sternly. Yeesh.
There were also many cases where the dialogue seemed to have turned into
stock phrases or just plain wasn't delivered well. An example of this would
have to be Odo's discussion with Bashir about his "cousin". While most of it
was among the more interesting scenes in "Vortex", Odo's last line about
"Unfortunately, the only person who can tell me is less reliable than Quark"
was a line I could see coming from a long way off, and didn't do anything to
make the trip worthwhile.
To make up for that, of course, there were a few clever bits of dialogue.
Quark's taunt about "why no one's ever seen another shapeshifter -- they're
all hiding!" was very well placed. It felt true to Quark, and did a nice job
of setting up the rest of the show to boot. Somewhat more amusing had to be
the exchange between Quark, Odo and Rom when Odo first "suggests" that Quark
set up the robbery. Odo was right back in "Babel" -- Rom really *is* an
idiot who probably couldn't fix a straw. :-)
There's very little else to say about the characters, because aside from Odo
and Quark, the regulars pretty much were just walk-ons this time. The story,
alas, doesn't have much to talk about either.
I mentioned earlier that the "Croden's crime" plot was rather worn-out.
Unfortunately, so is the "how does it feel not to fit in?" issue that Croden
kept trying to use on Odo. More specifically, when done in this very
straightforward "I'm not like the others here and thus feel alone", it's
*very* old -- we've had three regulars on TOS and TNG who had that situation
on a periodic basis. There are much better ways to do it with Odo. For
instance, it's been pointed out more than once that Odo's abilities invite a
great deal of paranoia on the part of anyone who _isn't_ Odo, and some
feelings of aloneness based on no one trusting him would work far better.
As testament to how ... unobtrusive an episode this was, some of the best
elements to the story I can think are the pitfalls it managed to *avoid*.
For instance, it did _not_ actually have Quark helping Croden escape -- nor,
for that matter, did Croden ever try. It also did *not* have a great deal of
suspicion on the regulars' part about Odo's loyalty, which is a plot device
that tends to get overused. I suppose there are better things one can say
about a show than "it didn't make any mistakes", but there are also much
worse ones.
I think that's about it. So, some short points:
-- The Ganges computer has had an overhaul, apparently; now it's deliberately
talking in a confusing way. You'd think someone would have figured out that
it could just say "a photon torpedo blast" instead of the two-line
gobbledygook we got.
-- As an unfortunate juxtaposition, I read the DS9 novel _The Siege_, in
which Odo is "revealed" to always keep the same mass, in the same 48-hour
period when I saw "Vortex", which clearly invalidated that idea. Ah, well --
back to the drawing board. :-) (The morphing from the broken glass,
however, was visually VERY impressive.)
-- Cliff De Young looked and sounded familiar to me, but I can't place him.
Anyone know?
-- Odo's strategizing to get away from Ah-Kel seemed to come right out of
pulp SF stories, but it was definitely entertaining in its own way. It's
probably one of the most subtle things Odo's ever done, too.
That's about it. "Vortex" wasn't something to get angry at or about, but it
wasn't something that enraptured me, either. After several weeks of reruns,
this new addition to DS9 was just ... there.
So, the numbers:
Plot: 5. Competent but uninspired.
Plot Handling: 5. See above.
Characterization/Acting: 6. Croden was generally good, but Odo and Quark
were both very uneven, and Ah-Kel was a raging bore.
TOTAL: 5.5. Neither good nor bad.
NEXT WEEK:
Some of the regulars are trapped on the planet housing the Gorge of Eternal
Peril. :-)
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"Don't thank me, I already regret it."
-- Croden, then Odo
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
--