[7.3/10] It’s “What Happened to You, Kira? You Used to Be Cool”: The Episode! I’m being glib there. There’s a legitimate vein of character to explore here. Kira was a Bajoran freedom fighter battling the Cardassians. Now she’s a Federation liaison dispatched by the provisional government. Her former comrades think she’s sold out, and her new Starfleet colleagues think she’s disloyal. She’s caught in the middle, trying to figure out who she is after the fighting ends.
There’s a worthwhile story to be told there! The problem is it all just feels a bit flat and rote here. Her old friend from a Bajoran extremist organization, Tahna, is a more device than character here. He’s there to challenge Kira’s loyalties, but lacks a real inner life. Sure, he’s a generic zealot, questioning his former compatriot’s devotion to the cause and decrying anything less than full devotion to their goals by any means necessary as a form of impurity. But we’ve seen this story before, and “Past Prologue” doesn’t find much in the way of new angles on it.
Maybe it’s just the jumbledness of the central plot. The prospect of a Bajoran extremist seeking asylum aboard a Starfleet-administered space station while the Cardassian are in hot pursuit would be enough. Kira having to decide whether to trust that her friend has reformed and renounced violence or is taking advantage of her trust to cause more trouble would be enough.
Instead, it’s a multi-faceted conspiracy. Tahna stole an antimatter converter from the Cardassians, which is why they’re after him. He’s actually on Deep Space 9 to try to talk Kira into giving him a runabout to go make mischief. But that’s not enough! He’s actually in league with the Duras sisters who are trying to raise enough money to build an army. They’re bringing Tahna an energy source that would allow him to turn the antimatter converter into a bomb. Except they’re also ready to turn him over to the Cardassians, using a local spy on DS9 as an intermediary, in the hopes of raking in even more latinum.
It’s all clockwork enough. The conspiracy adds up if you step back and give it the ten thousand foot view. But there’s too many angles and too many secrets to it for one forty-four minute episode. And we get it in scatted bits and pieces. It takes a good long while before the broader picture comes into view. The result is that the exact stakes for who Kira’s going to side with and what the consequences are less clear, which makes her character arc in the episode less meaningful.
The other side of the coin is that the cloak and dagger plots aboard the station provide an excuse for Deep Space 9 to introduce “simple plain Garak,” one of the series’ most memorable characters. He immediately cuts the figure of a dapper, knowing, and gregarious figure, with the hint of something more sinister behind it to give him an edge. The character makes an instant splash, and the way he flits around the skullduggery aboard the station is prime entertainment.
Much of that, though, comes from the fact that he’s paired with the green and naïve, Dr. Bashir. Julian is bright-eyed and flabbergasted that a purported Cardassian spy decided to become “friends” with him, and yet he’s too much of a dolt to figure out when Garak is talking in code or otherwise strongly hinting that something untoward is afoot which Starfleet might like to know about. The cunning spy master and the rookie/rube is a pairing works wonders, and Garak (a figure who presages Varys in Game of Thrones), is a blast from the jump.
That is, however, what Kira is hoping to avoid. Part of the jankiness of the plot in “Past Prologue” comes from the fact that who knows what and when is all over the place. Kira knows her friend has more devious plans. Odo knows the Duras sisters are in league with Tahna. Dr. Bashir knows they’re trying to sell him out. But it takes a while for the main characters to trust one another and put all the pieces together. And even when they do, it turns out that Tahna doesn’t want to hurt Cardassians, doesn’t want to hurt the Federation by destroying Deep Space 9, but actually wants to destroy the entrance to the wormhole. “Past Prologue” packs in a heap of twists and turns to keep up with.
I actually like that last story choice though. There’s some resonance to the idea that even if Tahna doesn’t want to hurt people, he’s been fighting for an independent Bajor away from the interference of the Cardassians or the Federation. It’s short-sighted, but destroying the key resource that would make Bajoran territory of interest to Starfleet and a renewed target for the Cardassians is a blunt but effective way to accomplish that.
And it hits on the major themes of the episode. Those are chiefly personal. The best scene in the episode comes when Kira picks Odo’s brain about her dilemma. She cares about her friend, but worries he’s neither trustworthy nor facing the new reality for their home planet. She cares less about Starfleet, but understands that Sisko and company are, at worst, a temporary but necessary evil, to keep the Cardassians away while her countrymen get their act together. She doesn’t know whom to side with. The statement “either way I’m betraying someone” is blunt dialogue, but an effective encapsulation of the issue.
At the same time, the whole episode serves as an affirmation for Kira, that even though she resents the current situation and wants better for her people, she knows that times have changed. She turns on her one time friend because she believes it’s what’s best for Bajor. He brands her a traitor, but when she comes to Sisko with her pleas and insistence, he listens, while Tahna just calls her out for supposedly going soft or not being willing to go as far as he is whens he does the same with him. She may not agree with everything about the current setup, but she’s coming to respect Sisko and see its value. And on balance, she’s willing to choose this new, uncertain path over her old life and the old ways.
Maybe that’s inevitable. The nature of ongoing television series is characters having the chance to go off and do other things and deciding to stay in the place where the show happens to be set among the other characters listed in the opening credits. (Hell, Sisko did it one episode ago!) Kira’s decision is never much in doubt, and the mechanism through which she’s making it is byzantine enough to rob the choice of any real urgency.
And yet, the core idea here remains strong. As much as Kira bristles at her new Starfleet colleagues, as much as she gripes about the Bajoran provisional government, as much as she hates the Cardassians, she realizes that she and her people can only move forward, not backward. She lays down her sword, takes up the pragmatism of “politicians”, because she believes allowing this process to work is her people’s best weapon. The execution of it may not be flawless, but it’s a strong foundation from which to launch Major Kira’s journey over the course of the series.
(As an aside, I like the callback here to Chief O’Brien’s first major episode of TNG, recalling his own experiences and hesitation regarding the Cardassians. His advice to Commander Sisko about not wanting to turn over an decent soul to Cardassian “justice” has extra weight for that reason.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-10-16T05:05:59Z
[7.3/10] It’s “What Happened to You, Kira? You Used to Be Cool”: The Episode! I’m being glib there. There’s a legitimate vein of character to explore here. Kira was a Bajoran freedom fighter battling the Cardassians. Now she’s a Federation liaison dispatched by the provisional government. Her former comrades think she’s sold out, and her new Starfleet colleagues think she’s disloyal. She’s caught in the middle, trying to figure out who she is after the fighting ends.
There’s a worthwhile story to be told there! The problem is it all just feels a bit flat and rote here. Her old friend from a Bajoran extremist organization, Tahna, is a more device than character here. He’s there to challenge Kira’s loyalties, but lacks a real inner life. Sure, he’s a generic zealot, questioning his former compatriot’s devotion to the cause and decrying anything less than full devotion to their goals by any means necessary as a form of impurity. But we’ve seen this story before, and “Past Prologue” doesn’t find much in the way of new angles on it.
Maybe it’s just the jumbledness of the central plot. The prospect of a Bajoran extremist seeking asylum aboard a Starfleet-administered space station while the Cardassian are in hot pursuit would be enough. Kira having to decide whether to trust that her friend has reformed and renounced violence or is taking advantage of her trust to cause more trouble would be enough.
Instead, it’s a multi-faceted conspiracy. Tahna stole an antimatter converter from the Cardassians, which is why they’re after him. He’s actually on Deep Space 9 to try to talk Kira into giving him a runabout to go make mischief. But that’s not enough! He’s actually in league with the Duras sisters who are trying to raise enough money to build an army. They’re bringing Tahna an energy source that would allow him to turn the antimatter converter into a bomb. Except they’re also ready to turn him over to the Cardassians, using a local spy on DS9 as an intermediary, in the hopes of raking in even more latinum.
It’s all clockwork enough. The conspiracy adds up if you step back and give it the ten thousand foot view. But there’s too many angles and too many secrets to it for one forty-four minute episode. And we get it in scatted bits and pieces. It takes a good long while before the broader picture comes into view. The result is that the exact stakes for who Kira’s going to side with and what the consequences are less clear, which makes her character arc in the episode less meaningful.
The other side of the coin is that the cloak and dagger plots aboard the station provide an excuse for Deep Space 9 to introduce “simple plain Garak,” one of the series’ most memorable characters. He immediately cuts the figure of a dapper, knowing, and gregarious figure, with the hint of something more sinister behind it to give him an edge. The character makes an instant splash, and the way he flits around the skullduggery aboard the station is prime entertainment.
Much of that, though, comes from the fact that he’s paired with the green and naïve, Dr. Bashir. Julian is bright-eyed and flabbergasted that a purported Cardassian spy decided to become “friends” with him, and yet he’s too much of a dolt to figure out when Garak is talking in code or otherwise strongly hinting that something untoward is afoot which Starfleet might like to know about. The cunning spy master and the rookie/rube is a pairing works wonders, and Garak (a figure who presages Varys in Game of Thrones), is a blast from the jump.
That is, however, what Kira is hoping to avoid. Part of the jankiness of the plot in “Past Prologue” comes from the fact that who knows what and when is all over the place. Kira knows her friend has more devious plans. Odo knows the Duras sisters are in league with Tahna. Dr. Bashir knows they’re trying to sell him out. But it takes a while for the main characters to trust one another and put all the pieces together. And even when they do, it turns out that Tahna doesn’t want to hurt Cardassians, doesn’t want to hurt the Federation by destroying Deep Space 9, but actually wants to destroy the entrance to the wormhole. “Past Prologue” packs in a heap of twists and turns to keep up with.
I actually like that last story choice though. There’s some resonance to the idea that even if Tahna doesn’t want to hurt people, he’s been fighting for an independent Bajor away from the interference of the Cardassians or the Federation. It’s short-sighted, but destroying the key resource that would make Bajoran territory of interest to Starfleet and a renewed target for the Cardassians is a blunt but effective way to accomplish that.
And it hits on the major themes of the episode. Those are chiefly personal. The best scene in the episode comes when Kira picks Odo’s brain about her dilemma. She cares about her friend, but worries he’s neither trustworthy nor facing the new reality for their home planet. She cares less about Starfleet, but understands that Sisko and company are, at worst, a temporary but necessary evil, to keep the Cardassians away while her countrymen get their act together. She doesn’t know whom to side with. The statement “either way I’m betraying someone” is blunt dialogue, but an effective encapsulation of the issue.
At the same time, the whole episode serves as an affirmation for Kira, that even though she resents the current situation and wants better for her people, she knows that times have changed. She turns on her one time friend because she believes it’s what’s best for Bajor. He brands her a traitor, but when she comes to Sisko with her pleas and insistence, he listens, while Tahna just calls her out for supposedly going soft or not being willing to go as far as he is whens he does the same with him. She may not agree with everything about the current setup, but she’s coming to respect Sisko and see its value. And on balance, she’s willing to choose this new, uncertain path over her old life and the old ways.
Maybe that’s inevitable. The nature of ongoing television series is characters having the chance to go off and do other things and deciding to stay in the place where the show happens to be set among the other characters listed in the opening credits. (Hell, Sisko did it one episode ago!) Kira’s decision is never much in doubt, and the mechanism through which she’s making it is byzantine enough to rob the choice of any real urgency.
And yet, the core idea here remains strong. As much as Kira bristles at her new Starfleet colleagues, as much as she gripes about the Bajoran provisional government, as much as she hates the Cardassians, she realizes that she and her people can only move forward, not backward. She lays down her sword, takes up the pragmatism of “politicians”, because she believes allowing this process to work is her people’s best weapon. The execution of it may not be flawless, but it’s a strong foundation from which to launch Major Kira’s journey over the course of the series.
(As an aside, I like the callback here to Chief O’Brien’s first major episode of TNG, recalling his own experiences and hesitation regarding the Cardassians. His advice to Commander Sisko about not wanting to turn over an decent soul to Cardassian “justice” has extra weight for that reason.)