[7.2/10] “The Sword of Kahless” is two-thirds of a good episode. The first third is a fun adventure story, of two generations of Klingons, and a Trill comrade who unites them, venturing forth to retrieve a sacred object from their people’s past. The second third is a survival story, when they’re escaping pursuers after the same prize, but more of a character clash, between a colorful warrior whose best days are past, and a more stoic Klingon who’s disappointed when he sees the reality of his one time hero. If you continued on that trajectory, this could have been a great adventure with the sort of personal stakes and personality that are the hallmarks of the franchise.
But in the last third, “The Sword of Kahless” leans hard into the Treasure of Sierra Madre homage, as Worf and Kor turn suspicious and even combative at one another’s intentions for the titular object of legend, in ways that feel out of character and with disputes that feel all too easily resolved. There was a way to do this sort of thing, with the clashes, the challenges, the slow realization that this quest is tearing them apart, but this isn’t it.
It’s frustrating, because those clashes are the best part of the episode up until they feel too over the top and miscalibrated to pass the smell test. It’s a treat watching Worf interact with Kor. The Starfleet officer is an outsider who idolizes this man with countless songs and stories about his conquests and escapades. His aged counterpart is a warrior with enough grievances with Gowron and clout of his own to welcome rather than reject Worf’s company, despite his status as a pariah. Seeing the two find common ground, revel in the chance to uncover a sacred implement in the hallowed past and use it to help unite their people against the current unjust leadership is a treat.
But there’s also meat to what drives them apart, in ways that make their conflict compelling long before it turns into a bizarre contest over who deserves to rule. Upon spending time more time with his childhood idol, Worf comes to see Kor as a drunkard and a fabulist, more desperate to relive his glory days than he is to uphold true Klingon honor. Kor comes to see Worf as too demure, too human, too removed from his people’s values to be worthy of this crusade or to carry on their traditions.
The accusations on both sides touch nerves, because there’s a grain of truth to each of them. Seeing these two men seem like fast friends after a rousing first meeting, only to fall into disagreement and disdain as their time together continues, sets up a nice arc for both of them. Their arguments set the stage for something on the adventure to make them see how they’re more aligned than they think, or at least still able to find something to admire one another.
Instead, we just get baseless jealousy and delusions of grandeur. Once they find the fabled Sword of Kahless, Kor and Worf each decide that they, rather than the Kahless clone, should wield it and lead the Klingon Empire, and it feels out of character. The script does its best to spackle over that. For Worf, they return to his “Do something no Klingon has ever done before” vision and try to spin it as a call to the divine right of kings, couching it as a psychological tonic to Worf’s sense of alienation from his people. That gives it the whiff of plausibility, but the Worf we know is too duty-bound and honorable to be so greedy or selfish in his ambitions. Granted, we don’t know Kor as well, given that he’s had comparatively few other appearances in canon. You do get the sense of him stuck reliving former glories and apt to have one last great adventure. But even he seems more like a big talker as more anxious to find a romp worthy of more grand bar room stories than to command the fealty of his people. The screenwriters acknowledge the problem, and try to address it in dialogue, but without some conceit like the sword being magic, neither Worf nor Kor play like the characters we’ve known to this point, which renders their whole mortal conflict something of a head-scratcher.
Which is a particular shame since John Colicos is so dang fun as Kor! His bluster and bloviating is the exact sort of thing that would come to annoy Worf, but his carefree, grandiose attitude toward everything is infectious and fun. The quest itself starts out as a blast, with a fantasy-style “We must uncover this hallowed relic of legend in a forbidden land” premise, an unlikely trio of crusaders, and an unexpected rival group going after the same prize. (Speaking of which, I appreciate some follow-up on what happened to Toral, but man, does every group of bad Klingons have to be affiliated with the House of Duras?) It’s definitely a heightened tone for a Star Trek episode, but one that the writers revel in to great effect.
The only one who suffers from beginning to end is Dax, who’s ostensibly the link between these two characters, but who’s mostly rendered dramatically inert by comparison. Once the tension between Worf and Kor froths to a boil, she gets a little more to do as a mediator, but mainly, she’s just there, which feels like a missed opportunity. She does help reach the endgame, effectively calling both her partners idiots and stunning them before getting Toral to stop his jammer, but even that feels like a quick fix rather than something that emerges from her character.
If anything, it feels like the writers of “The Sword of Kahless” had a particular ending in mind -- the whole “This is too much power for anyone person to hold” angle -- and contorted their characters and plot to get there regardless of whether they had the right personalities or enough time to make it happen. Worf and Kor choosing to let the titular bat’leth drift through space lest it divide their people as it divided them has some poetry to it. But when their conflict over it plays as off-brand and unconvincing, jettisoning such an important icon scans plainly as the writers’ choice rather than a character’s choice.
Still, if you can ignore a disappointing final frame, the episode is still plenty of fun. There is an inherent thrill to seeing an Original Series-era Klingon interact with a Next Generation-era Klingon for (I think?) the first time. Worf and Kor’s initial camaraderie, their personal and cultural differences, and an epic adventure to force them to find where their talents and personalities align remain wonderful elements that make this one worth watching despite its stumbles. It’s just a shame that, like Kor himself, it narrowly avoids falling off a cliff later in the story.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-01-23T15:30:40Z
[7.2/10] “The Sword of Kahless” is two-thirds of a good episode. The first third is a fun adventure story, of two generations of Klingons, and a Trill comrade who unites them, venturing forth to retrieve a sacred object from their people’s past. The second third is a survival story, when they’re escaping pursuers after the same prize, but more of a character clash, between a colorful warrior whose best days are past, and a more stoic Klingon who’s disappointed when he sees the reality of his one time hero. If you continued on that trajectory, this could have been a great adventure with the sort of personal stakes and personality that are the hallmarks of the franchise.
But in the last third, “The Sword of Kahless” leans hard into the Treasure of Sierra Madre homage, as Worf and Kor turn suspicious and even combative at one another’s intentions for the titular object of legend, in ways that feel out of character and with disputes that feel all too easily resolved. There was a way to do this sort of thing, with the clashes, the challenges, the slow realization that this quest is tearing them apart, but this isn’t it.
It’s frustrating, because those clashes are the best part of the episode up until they feel too over the top and miscalibrated to pass the smell test. It’s a treat watching Worf interact with Kor. The Starfleet officer is an outsider who idolizes this man with countless songs and stories about his conquests and escapades. His aged counterpart is a warrior with enough grievances with Gowron and clout of his own to welcome rather than reject Worf’s company, despite his status as a pariah. Seeing the two find common ground, revel in the chance to uncover a sacred implement in the hallowed past and use it to help unite their people against the current unjust leadership is a treat.
But there’s also meat to what drives them apart, in ways that make their conflict compelling long before it turns into a bizarre contest over who deserves to rule. Upon spending time more time with his childhood idol, Worf comes to see Kor as a drunkard and a fabulist, more desperate to relive his glory days than he is to uphold true Klingon honor. Kor comes to see Worf as too demure, too human, too removed from his people’s values to be worthy of this crusade or to carry on their traditions.
The accusations on both sides touch nerves, because there’s a grain of truth to each of them. Seeing these two men seem like fast friends after a rousing first meeting, only to fall into disagreement and disdain as their time together continues, sets up a nice arc for both of them. Their arguments set the stage for something on the adventure to make them see how they’re more aligned than they think, or at least still able to find something to admire one another.
Instead, we just get baseless jealousy and delusions of grandeur. Once they find the fabled Sword of Kahless, Kor and Worf each decide that they, rather than the Kahless clone, should wield it and lead the Klingon Empire, and it feels out of character. The script does its best to spackle over that. For Worf, they return to his “Do something no Klingon has ever done before” vision and try to spin it as a call to the divine right of kings, couching it as a psychological tonic to Worf’s sense of alienation from his people. That gives it the whiff of plausibility, but the Worf we know is too duty-bound and honorable to be so greedy or selfish in his ambitions.
Granted, we don’t know Kor as well, given that he’s had comparatively few other appearances in canon. You do get the sense of him stuck reliving former glories and apt to have one last great adventure. But even he seems more like a big talker as more anxious to find a romp worthy of more grand bar room stories than to command the fealty of his people. The screenwriters acknowledge the problem, and try to address it in dialogue, but without some conceit like the sword being magic, neither Worf nor Kor play like the characters we’ve known to this point, which renders their whole mortal conflict something of a head-scratcher.
Which is a particular shame since John Colicos is so dang fun as Kor! His bluster and bloviating is the exact sort of thing that would come to annoy Worf, but his carefree, grandiose attitude toward everything is infectious and fun. The quest itself starts out as a blast, with a fantasy-style “We must uncover this hallowed relic of legend in a forbidden land” premise, an unlikely trio of crusaders, and an unexpected rival group going after the same prize. (Speaking of which, I appreciate some follow-up on what happened to Toral, but man, does every group of bad Klingons have to be affiliated with the House of Duras?) It’s definitely a heightened tone for a Star Trek episode, but one that the writers revel in to great effect.
The only one who suffers from beginning to end is Dax, who’s ostensibly the link between these two characters, but who’s mostly rendered dramatically inert by comparison. Once the tension between Worf and Kor froths to a boil, she gets a little more to do as a mediator, but mainly, she’s just there, which feels like a missed opportunity. She does help reach the endgame, effectively calling both her partners idiots and stunning them before getting Toral to stop his jammer, but even that feels like a quick fix rather than something that emerges from her character.
If anything, it feels like the writers of “The Sword of Kahless” had a particular ending in mind -- the whole “This is too much power for anyone person to hold” angle -- and contorted their characters and plot to get there regardless of whether they had the right personalities or enough time to make it happen. Worf and Kor choosing to let the titular bat’leth drift through space lest it divide their people as it divided them has some poetry to it. But when their conflict over it plays as off-brand and unconvincing, jettisoning such an important icon scans plainly as the writers’ choice rather than a character’s choice.
Still, if you can ignore a disappointing final frame, the episode is still plenty of fun. There is an inherent thrill to seeing an Original Series-era Klingon interact with a Next Generation-era Klingon for (I think?) the first time. Worf and Kor’s initial camaraderie, their personal and cultural differences, and an epic adventure to force them to find where their talents and personalities align remain wonderful elements that make this one worth watching despite its stumbles. It’s just a shame that, like Kor himself, it narrowly avoids falling off a cliff later in the story.