DS9 Spoiler: "Invasive Procedures" [sflaaebs]
SFLAaE/BS
Review by the Star Fleet Ladies' Auxiliary and Embroidery/Baking Society
Submitted by Janis Maria Cortese <cor...@netcom.com>
=====================================================
Due to a shortage of time on the part of the regular reviewers, one of
the associate members was asked to help out with this one -- Cindy
Tittle Moore (tit...@netcom.com).
Overall:
JMC
This wasn't QUITE what it could have been. While it was certainly
watchable, it was also a little bland. Once AGAIN, they have the
opportunity to show us more of Jadzia's past and the nature of Trills,
and they make her vanilla pudding! DAMN IT! WHEN will they learn how
to write for Jadzia?! In "Dax," she stood there and said, "I don't want
to talk about it," for most of the show. Here, she was unconscious for
most of the show. While I appreciate the insights gleaned from these
shows into her character, they were mighty thin on the ground compared to
what they could have been.
KMS
All right! Stop maligning Vanilla! Vanilla is very sensual! How about
just saying that so far she's been a bland, no-flavor pudding? Sweet, but
without an essence. I was disappointed, too. I wanted to learn more about
Jadzia and instead they just had her lay there in a coma the whole time! I
wish they had written it in such a way as to allow her to be conscious, so
we could see how she differs from the Dax/Jadzia being we see normally.
We learned a little about Dax, but nothing about Jadzia.
CTM
I agree. While I thought the scenes with Jazdia were very well done,
I felt cheated because we didn't get nearly the insight into her that
we could have. The scenes with Verad were *very* well done, but in a
sense, who cares about character revelation with him? He won't be
back again (I hope). They didn't even give a particularly good reason
for her to be comatose.
JMC
Some of my annoyance may have come because I also had my own ideas of
what to do with the Jadzia-and-Dax-get-separated story. If I do say so
myself, I like mine better since it deals more with her past and
presents her in a more active role instead of just lying there
unconscious for most of it. And given the nature of the gimmick, there
are only one or AT MOST two times they can do a story separating Jadzia
and Dax. Until at least the fourth season, this storyline is closed to
them, and they blew their opportunity.
Don't get me wrong; it wasn't BAD. Just wasn't nearly what it could
have been. There were some good character moments, but not NEARLY enough
for Jadzia herself!
PLOT:
JMC
A bit simpleminded, considering that they had -- as I said previously --
one and only one chance for at least four years or so to do this type of
story. "A vengeful Trill steals Jadzia's slug." *yawn* Huh? Couldn't
they have thought of a better way to get the two of them apart, one that
involved more of Jadzia's past and gave us more of an opportunity to
learn about her past? This storyline was the easy way out.
Okay, after bashing the general idea, I have to start in on something
else. Just how likely is it that the station would be operating on a
skeleton crew without hope of assistance at all? If the thing had to be
evac'ed for any reason, what with its instrumental position in the area,
the Feds would doubtless put a few ships in the area, just to send the
message to the Cards that, even though the place is on a skeleton crew,
it's not defenseless.
The ships would probably still be in the area, given that evacuating a
place that big is nontrivial. This has always been a big beef with me
and Trek -- the simplicity of the idea of an evacuation. Do they really
know how hard it is to get nonmilitary people to just up and LEAVE, even
temporarily? There have been times when they have had ships such as the
Big E just evacuate entire planets without any trouble at all. Even with
the transporters to help this along, I'm sorry -- it just wouldn't be
that easy. Too many people would refuse to go out of stubborness, or the
same sort of anti-evolutionary stupidity that makes people surf in
hurricane swells.
Not to mention dealing with the people who are freaking out scared and
have to leave cherished belongings behind. And then there's the question
of where you PUT all these people for a few days. The Bajor Holiday Inn?
Must get pretty crowded every now and again. At any rate, this would
make it almost a lead-pipe cinch that Julian would have been nowhere NEAR
the station in the middle of all this. His services would have been MUCH
more vitally required at the site where the station inhabitants were
placed.
Even Kira's presence was not required. All they really needed was Odo,
and a few of O'Brien's miracle workers just in case something went wrong.
And Dax -- to oversee the computer's taking data about the storm. NONE
of the other regulars needed to be there.
I bring this up not to say that they should have adhered to reality more
strictly and given half the main cast the week off, but that this story,
if considered properly, SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DONE. The nature of the
takeover was also implausible. Quark is always the best plot device to
turn to when you want something screwed up, but given the magnitude of
his screw-up, I'd have problems believing that Sisko'd even allow him to
remain on the station after this; as Kira said, "You're through here."
Of course we all know that won't happen, which again weakens the story.
Wow. I thought this one was okay, actually, but now that I think about
it, I'm really picking holes in it, aren't I? I think this is (so far)
the second season's version of "The Storyteller": watchable for the
character stuff, but entirely stoopid in terms of plot. (Even then, "The
Storyteller" at least had the priceless interaction between O'Brien and
Julian going for it; this was a little flatter.)
The only thing I can say GOOD about this plot is that they didn't almost
have the station explode for no reason at all.
KMS
Well, Janis didn't leave me anything to pick apart as far as plot goes, so
on to characterization!
CTM
I actually didn't think the plot was *that* bad. It didn't bother me
that the station was evacuated (perhaps I was under the
misapprehension that they were still evacuated from "The Siege). I
did like how they were effective in neutralizing the crew -- Odo into
the box in the stasis unit -- boy they're not taking any chances! I
cared less for the "let's escape to the Gamma Quadrant" angle. I
mean, this place is being heavily explored and opened to trade and is
to some extent a happening place. But they keep treating it like a
back door no one knows about.
CHARACTERIZATION
JMC:
Okay, I'm annoyed. We know that already. Once again, just as in "Dax,"
we have Farrell doing an excellent job with the few things she's actually
GIVEN -- but those things are few and far between. Her assurances to
Julian that he need not feel guilty were well-done, as was her wake-up
in the infirmary without Dax. I'd imagine that after being together so
intimately -- every waking AND sleeping moment -- with another being,
being completely alone like that would be downright terrifying.
(For those of you into techie junk, it may be that the trauma
suffered psychologically would actually be a large part of the death of
the host.) Waking up like that, weak and entirely alone, would have been
scary as all hell -- and there was nice, empathetic Julian to deal with
it. He really does care about her more than he ever realized, and in a
much less self-interested way than he could have imagined. (I wouldn't
have minded having a major body organ removed to get him to look at me
and touch me that way, you can bet on that!)
Julian was also really well done, as usual. His staunch refusal to take
part in the procedure was on target, as was the way it was played -- not
as a hero, but as someone a bit on the idealistic side who simply couldn't
DO what they were asking him to do. Putting that character in the
position of choosing between taking part in the killing of a friend and
watching other friends die would have been the easiest way to drive him
crazy. I don't know if he would have remained in the Fleet had Jadzia
died -- merest speculation, of course. His reaction to Yeto was also
REALLY good -- purely because I've been waiting for someone to come out
and say what he said. I've been WAITING for someone to tell a Klingon
off when they get like that:
"I"I am a KLINGON!! I am a WARRIOR!"
"Oh, put a cork in it."
CTM
Hee, hee, hee. I did enjoy these scenes immensely.
You know, that scene from "Indiana Jones" pops to mind -- where that
maniac is waving his sword all around and in exasperation he blows him
away with his gun.
Sisko was WONDERFUL, a real high point, and one of the only reasons to
watch the show. He was perfect: concerned, level-headed, and tough as
NAILS. The way he said, "Our friendship is OVER," to Verad had every hair
on my body standing on END. He handled everyone perfectly, played them off
one another VERY well. I would just rather have had a scene between him and
Jadzia where she confronts this man who has been her friend for so long --
and doesn't really know him. And Sisko has to see this person who was such
a calm and cool friend scared and shivering and alone. Another missed
opportunity.
I also liked Sisko's decision to shoot Verad. There will be times when
I will actually WANT someone to do something like that when under
extreme provocation, and they will not do so. This was certainly extreme
enough, and beautifully in character. (I'm reminded of someone whom a
friend of mine knows who was in Sarajevo during a really bad sniper
attack. There was a sniper in a building across from where he and his
people were stuck, and one of his people was hit. He blew out the entire
side of the building. This got him in some trouble, and he said, "Now
my people are safe. Someone was shooting at us, and now no one is."
Perhaps blowing out the side of an entire building was going a bit TOO far,
but there comes a time when you just have to SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Sisko
did this. He's a pragmatist, and I like that. Sort of a synthesis of the
TOS "shoot to kill" attitude and the TNG "sweetness and light" one.)
Kira was passable, nothing really, although I did like the way she just
grabbed Quark by his collar without even waiting for an explanation.
Odo and O'Brien had so little to do that there was really no reason to
include them. This makes sense since they probably have the smallest
personal involvement with Dax -- unlike Kira, Sisko, and Julian who are
closer friends.
The guest stars were really quite good here, also -- John Glover's Verad
was quite good -- a little overboard on the stilted unease earlier on,
but really very good as Verad Dax, especially taking into account the
difference between the two characters. There are times when you sit back
and think, "Gee, acting really *is* work," and this is one of them. His
snap at Mareel(sp?) -- "Because he's my *friend!*" -- also made my hair
stand on end. This was the first realization I had that this was indeed
more complicated than you'd think, and with only one tiny line, they got
it across.
KMS:
I was very bugged by the Verad/Dax entity! Because of this episode, I now
have the impression that the Dax symbiont is utterly amoral. It does not
care who its host is as long as it has a host. I suppose that would
figure, since it is, after all, a parasite, but I would have liked to have
seen some confusion on the part of Verad/Dax after the symbiont was
transferred showing that the Dax part was morally at odds with the Verad
part. I would have thought that after 300 years of living with various
hosts, it might have picked up on the difference between right and wrong!
CTM
Well, this opens up a whole 'nother can of worms (so to speak).
Remember how Jazdia Dax was talking about the psychological dangers to
"joining"? "Aha," says I, "that will be the problem here, no matter
how good a match he thinks it is." So supposing the problem is that
Verad Dax wasn't actually fully integrated? For me, the question was,
just how much *Dax* was there? The memories were obviously there, but
the transition from Jazdia Dax's "don't let anyone die for me," to
Verad Dax's "isn't 300 years of knowledge worth more than anyone's
life" is just too much. Sisko was obviously hoping to play off this,
and obviously surprised when it didn't work. So did Verad just have
access to Dax's memories and not to his personality, as it were? If
it were a matter of time to integrate, then Jazdia should still have
been more Jazdia after getting her symbiont back. There's a LOT they
fudged here that should have been explained!
JMC:
Mareel was also quite good -- I especially liked her comment to Sisko
when she finally let him have the phaser: "You hurt him, and I'll *kill*
you." She really came across as properly torn, yet still loyal, and
yet I'm shocked that Verad actually would have left her. I agree that the
wind was certainly blowing that way, but still . . . how much of Dax and
how much of Verad went into this? And precisely when does this joining
complete itself psychologically? And which personality is in charge and
when?
KMS:
Mareel made me think of the classic enabler... knowing that what your
partner is doing is utterly wrong, yet allowing, and even abetting it!
CTM
I agree. I didn't care for her much at all, but I suppose she was well
played.
JMC:
Hmph. We could have had more questions answered and didn't. This IS,
however, the character portion of the review, so I'll leave it alone.
VISUALS:
JMC:
Eh. Nothing much. Typical space goop for the storm, and typical icky-
poo slime for the slug. This is also an instance where you realize that
acting is WORK. Can you imagine trying to pull that off SERIOUSLY?
KMS:
Yeah! I mean really... having to act like you want nothing more in the
entire universe than to have some parasite embedded in your body! Tough!
I didn't envy that actor!
JMC:
I was thinking more along the lines of the "serious" looks on everyone's
faces in the infirmary when Julian was performing the operation. HOW do
you look that serious when you're holding a piece of plastic with K-Y
and food coloring all over it? ;-)
CTM
I bet they had to do a lot of retakes! Can you imagine SEF pulling off
various antics with that thing? ;-) Doing scenes from "Aliens" comes
to mind ;-). Or even that TOS episode with those flying pancakes that
smack into Spock's back: "Banzai!" <lob>
MISCELLANEOUS:
JMC:
Who else felt faint at the expression of tenderness on Julian's face?
***************************
The Star Fleet Ladies Auxiliary and Embroidery/Baking Society is:
Catherine Cartwright CCar...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Janis Maria Cortese cor...@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu
Sandra Guzdek SGu...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Julia Kosatka JU...@Jetson.UH.EDU
Kellie Matthew-Simmons matt...@ucsu.colorado.edu
Melanie A. Miller (on sabbatical)
Lisa Beard lgb...@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
copyright retained by the authors, permission to distribute freely
(within reason) is granted. SFLaAE/BS reviews will be posted to:
rec.arts.startrek.current, and rec.arts.startrek.reviews on a semi-
regular basis.