The first episode of season 3 shakes things up a little. New combadges, new hairdos, a new cinematography style and some new sets with the wardroom on board the station and the various locations on the new starship Defiant. For all the newness, though, the story is picking up from right where we left things at the end of season 2: the threat from the Dominion.
Of course, there's also new faces behind the scenes. The brilliant Ronald D. Moore came over from TNG and joined the writing staff on this show, and made his mark with his first episode here.
Being the first part of a double episode, this one moves at a leisurely pace and allows for some calm character moments. Again, we're reminded of the deep bond between Sisko and Jake as they officially begin to think of Deep Space Nine as their "home". Far more electric is the scene between Quark and Odo, the latter becoming extremely forceful and feeling far more aggressive than we've ever seen him before. It's clear that something more is wrong that we've been told. Quark handles it pretty well.
The new ship, the Defiant, is a glorious creation. An overpowered little warship, it's going to give us a lot of fun. In an interesting twist it has a cloaking device which comes along with its own Romulan operator (not sure how long she'll be around). It's a bit of a let down when it seemingly gets utterly thrashed during its first battle. We also meet Michael Eddington who appears to be replacing Odo as the head of security on DS9, and causes a massive upset. Odo's on his own quest here, though, and it's causing him to act far more irrationally than usual.
It's always bugged me that, when Odo finally finds his own people, they all just happen to look exactly like he does. I know it's a contrivance of television storytelling to make things clear for the audience, but it makes absolutely no sense.
This would be a very grim episode if not for the lighter material provided by Quark. As a season opener it's intriguing and begins to take us in new directions.
The defiant was such a good idea. It does solve a lot of the problems this show had because of the mere matter of fact that the station is, well, stationary. I thoroughly enjoyed season two and three. They are not bad at all. I'd argue they are necessary for the show. They prepared the chessboard for what is about to begin with this season. But the real store starts now. The Defiant is also a promise: the Enterprise may be gone but you'll love the Defiant. It's an exciting action episode that catapults this show's story forward. Suddenly Odo became the most important character of the show. And you thought he was just a side character that was added to the cast for his oddity? I told you before: they have a plan.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-09-25T22:45:51Z
[8.0/10] Deep Space Nine didn’t need a course correction. The first couple seasons get a bad rap, but there’s tons of solid-to-great Trek there, with a show willing to ask not only how those outside of Starfleet view the Federation, but also whether they might have a point. And yet, it’s hard not to be excited by the new direction the show takes at the dawn of its third season.
(This is, incidentally, the only stretch where DS9 was the lone torchbearer for the franchise, with TNG having gone off the air in the spring, and Voyager not premiering until the following year.)
Were you unhappy with the show being set on a space station and thus unable to engage in the exploration at the heart of the franchise? Well here’s the Defiant, a Borg-battling warship for Sisko and company to take wherever they need to go! Tired of the comparatively smaller stakes of Federation envoys managing relations between the Bajorans and the Cardassians? Well enter The Dominion, a threat to the entire Federation with our heroes as the first line of defense! Frustrated with Odo’s quest for identity coming with only cryptic clues as to his origins? Well here he is reaching his fellow shape-shifters and returning home!
In the five seasons that follow, Deep Space Nine wouldn’t lose its contemplativeness, or the domestic politics, or Odo’s self-reflections under the watchful eye of new showrunner Ira Steven Behr. But it’s hard to see the first part of “The Search” duology as anything but a reassurance to Star Trek fans. “We know The Next Generation is gone, but stick around! We’ve got a cool new vessel! And a shadowy, powerful new enemy! And answers to the show’s big mysteries! And action, mystery, and intrigue out the wazoo!”
I’m whinging a little bit here, but I’m also here for all these things. They aren’t new developments for me, but if anything, it makes me extra hyped to see the Defiant arrive, to watch our heroes affirmatively seek out the Dominion, to see Odo finally make contact with his people. The show had accomplished plenty in its first two seasons on air, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exciting to see it expanding its ambit to reach the powers of the Gamma quadrant in earnest and set Odo on the path to the first major truths about his origins.
What I forgot, though, is the sense of desperateness that comes with this initial sojourn in the hopes of meeting the leaders of the Dominion to communicate that the Federation is not a threat. The Gamma Quadrant forces decimated Starfleet’s ships without even really trying. What the Dominion is, what it wants, and what it’s capable of, is still largely shrouded in mystery. And to navigate this perilous scenario, Sisko is using an experimental ship, that nearly tore itself apart in testing, with the cooperation of the Romulans, who’ve contributed a cloaking device and an officer to the effort. This is all in direct opposition to the peaceful principals at the heart of the Federation, and the desperate measures mark the seriousness of this threat and the danger it poses to the entire Alpha Quadrant.
(As an aside, this also presages the Enterprise NX-01’s journey into the Delphic Expanse, replete with new war-like outfitting for the vessel du jour, an existential threat, and a new defense-minded attitude that cuts against the Federation’s usual high-minded pacifism.)
I appreciate that amid all this tumult, “The Search” doesn’t forget to include a throughline of character development for one of my favorite players. Yes, it’s a big deal that Odo is drawn to the Omarion Nebula like a salmon returning to spawn. Yes, it’s a big deal that he finally finds his people, and with them, presumably answers about who he is and where he comes from. But I’m as much, if not more, interested in his friendship with Kira, him being squeezed out by Starfleet, and questions over whether he’s suited to his post.
I like Odo a lot! He’s grumpy but lovable. He doesn’t always take orders well, but his heart is in the right place. And he’s sympathetic despite his gruffness given the difficult personal history he endured. Despite all that, Sisko isn’t wrong when he points out that Odo doesn’t follow protocols, doesn’t think much of the chain of command, and isn’t above violating civil liberties if he thinks it’ll help him achieve justice. He wants Odo to stay as much as we do, but he also recognizes, fairly, that Starfleet isn’t off-base (no pun intended) in having a problem with the ways the constable enforces security on a Federation-administered station.
At the same time, we also sympathize with Odo for being marginalized, for being effectively rejected and told he’s unwanted despite two years of difficult service aboard DS9. He’s testier with Kira and even Quark than we’ve ever seen him. Odo has always carried a certain amount of pride to him, and having that cracked by this demotion, being stripped of the duty that gave him purpose, makes it that much more believable that he might choose to abandon his Federation and Bajoran colleagues and pursue a new life in the Gamma Quadrant. Kira remains as his tie to our world, and one who it’s just as easy to feel for, but his plight and their friendship means there’s an emotional quotient to this hour beyond the intrigue and fireworks of the Defiant’s maiden voyage.
The same goes for Commander Sisko. (Can we finally call him Captain now? He’s commanding a vessel. I didn’t check his pips!) He delivers plenty of exposition about the new threat facing the Federation and the daring plan to reach a detente with their Gamma Quadrant aggressors and the prototype Borg-fighting warship (the project Cmdr. Shelby once alluded to?) that will enable it. He makes life or death decisions about whether to come out of cloak, and if they should leave their comrades behind for the good of the mission, and when to fire on some terrifying Jem’Hadar ships.
In the same episode, though, he reflects with his son on how, at some point over their time on the station, Deep Space Nine became home. He commiserates with Dax over whether volunteering for this mission is a good idea, and hears her counsel on whether he could ever merely be one of the bigwigs making the big decisions, or if he will always need to be in the thick of things. There’s even a touch of comedy and practicality in his leveraging the Grand Nagus’ wishes to impress Quark into service on the mission. For as much as the series seems to want to reassure fans that there is plenty of action and excitement in the offing, this is still a mature, thoughtful hour of television that marries geopolitical realities with personal reflections, both of which gain heightened importance under the circumstances.
Deep Space Nine could have stayed on the same course and still prospered. The roots of the show are still firmly present from the first episode to the last. Nevertheless, the first part of “The Search” does mark a new era of the show, one that kicks off with more firefights, maneuverability, and big answers than viewers had seen to date. The threat of the Dominion and Odo’s odyssey come with the major personal and political questions that Star Trek specializes in, but also the promise of more: more drama, more thrills, more excitement than the deliberate, thoughtful show had been known for to this point. As the world of the series began to expand, so too did its possibilities, and steadily, so did its greatness.