The Maquis story finally comes to an end, and I can't help but feel like it never managed to take off in the first place. The show failed to portray them as much more than terrorists, and even while I could sympathise with their situation I never liked their methods. It also never helped that none of the shows gave us a charismatic character to speak for them. Overall, I'm quite glad to see the end of the Maquis (Voyager has more or less forgotten they were terrorists by this point).
The episode has some spectacular verbal sparring between Sisko and Eddington, and the Captain feels a lot more like himself than he did in the previous Eddington episode ('For the Uniform'). This time there is fortunately none of the awkward Les Miserables analogy. Just dynamic conversations that allow the sparks to fly without going into emotional outbursts.
But that's just about all the episode has going for it. Once it settles into the second half it becomes less interesting, and we get a cave fight that allows Eddington to go out on his own terms. It never really feels powerful. The shootouts with the Jem'Hadar manage to put some nice humour in, but it's not enough to save it. The b-story with Nog and the Klingons actually becomes the better part, even though it never delves to deeply.
VERY awkward insert of the space station from The Wrath of Khan.
Half decent continuation (or finale?) of the Marquis story line. Both the Marquis in general and Eddington in particular had so much potential. Renegades. A great story about betrayal. It became personal. A lost cause. Almost romantic. And they were not simple terrorists. You could call them freedom fighters. Their reasons were sound and sincere. Even an admiral switched sides. I'm really not sure whether Starfleet are the good ones here.
But somehow the story turned out to be lackluster. The Eddington story arch wasn't well prepared. He never betrayed me - I simply didn't know him very well and I'm still puzzled why he suddenly became the personal nemesis of Benjamin. The Marquis would have been much more interesting if we actually had seen their settlements, witnessed their hardships and understood the dire situation they found themselves in. We learn all that from intelligence briefings but we never had the chance to bond with the Marquis like - let's say - we were able to bond with the people in the previous episode. Why should I care about the Marquis (even after watching Voyager I never felt a bond with the Marquis). Eddington's explanations and justifications in this episode and learning that he has a Marquis wife are too late. The fake WMD torpedoes plan was smart though (every time I rewatch this episode I forget about this twist). What is very schematic though is the end: the nemesis dies in one last battle or as an act of self-sacrifice. Is there a less standard ending when you realize that there are probably no more interesting stories to tell?
But as I said, overall this episode is quite decent. I'm primarily unhappy with the Marquis story arch in general and still can't forget my disappointment with For the Uniform.
Best part: the story about Morn going crazy :-) and Nog chasing away the Klingons.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-10-03T00:58:07Z
[7.4/10] Deep Space Nine sympathizes with the Maquis. I don’t think that’s too controversial a statement. They’re not alone in that idea. Both The Next Generation and Voyager would explore what ideals the Maquis were fighting for and whether they were justified in sympathetic terms. But I think there’s something unique when it comes from DS9.
Because DS9 is a show that believes in the Federation -- see Kira’s steady appreciation for Bajor nearly joining it this season -- but is also deeply skeptical of its excesses. That’s part of what makes the show a thrill. It’s a critique, a deconstruction even, where the call is coming from inside the house. Part of the point of this show is to acknowledge that the Federation isn’t for everyone, and maybe it shouldn’t be.
So of course, a group of Federation citizens who want to do their own thing, who’ve fallen out of love with the Federation, whose very existence is a critique of Starfleet’s worldview, is going to resonate with the show’s writers. Doing an episode that puts the Maquis, and even Eddington in a more comprehensible light, is part and parcel with the broader project of the show.
So I wish I could articulate why “Blaze of Glory” doesn’t work for me as well as it should. I am not Starfleet-skeptical exactly, but I am a sucker for when stories are willing to examine the shortcomings of their own characters, worlds, and perspectives. I love stories where characters with conflicting views and lingering personal issues have to stay boxed in with one another. And I’m particularly big on episodes that capitalize on long-running character relationships and world-building elements. This episode has all of that, and somehow, it’s still a little less than the sum of its parts.
“Blaze of Glory” sees Sisko teaming up with an ostensibly resistant Eddington, to stop a Maquis plot to ignite the growing tensions between the Federation and the Dominion via some cloaked missiles directed at the Federation. The mission sees Sisko and Eddington forced to coexist despite their issues both personal and professional, and to manage a challenging military exploit in the process.
It’s a strong idea! I was cold on “For the Uniform” and the cat and mouse game between Sisko and Eddington. But it’s clear from that outing that Benjamin took Eddington’s betrayal personally. Having him resort to dragging the traitor out of Starfleet lock-up, in the hopes of averting war and saving billions of lives, while the two jaw and spar over their differences is a recipe for success.
Both Avery Brooks and Kenneht Marshall do a good job acting-wise. The tension between their conflicting views about the merits of the Federation versus the Maquis is compelling. The personal animosity between them over who betrayed whom and who set back the other’s cause is a worthwhile thing to explore.
Something about it just doesn't click. Both Brooks and Marshall are doing yeoman’s work in an episode that asks a lot of them. While there’s action at the end, most of this is the two of them having these sort of interpersonal debate contests and challenges to one another. This is a surprisingly talky episode for one meant as a semicolon, if not an outright period, on the Maquis storyline that had run through multiple Star Trek series for years at this point. And they both do interesting things, but never quite seem to mesh together in a way that makes you believe in the clash between them.
Thankfully, an otherwise low-key subplot provides a much more enjoyable pairing. THe simple tale of Rom standing up to General Martok is a basic story, but an enjoyable one. Rom is tired of being disrespected by the Klingons aboard the station. He makes his stand by exercising his authority as a member of the security team over the Klingon General himself. And despite some false starts, the kid proving his mettle earns him the respect, and on a practical level, the eye contract, of one of the most fearsome warriors on the ship.
The whole thing takes place in three and a half scenes, but it’s a nice little story. Seeing Rom come to his own is heartening after his challenges, and Martok’s “courage comes in all sizes” line is an all-timer. This is a very base-level tale of a young officer doing something difficult and developing the confidence to make it work. But that’s the type of story that almost always works with Rom, and this is no exception.
The Sisko-Eddington story is far more complicated and mutli-faceted. On the one hand, you have the exigencies of the immediate mission. The pair have practical tasks to overcome like evading Jem’Hadar warships or infiltrating an old Maquis base in the badlands. Despite the talk-heavy nature of the script, the writers do a good job of parceling in more immediate challenges for the duo to overcome, necessitating them setting aside their differences or forcing the other’s hand in ways that are clever.
On the other hand, you have the personal animosity between them, with lingering bad blood over broken trust and lack of sympathy. Each resents the other and wants the other one put away, if not dead. And then there’s the political debate over whose cause is just, who deserved more understanding or acceptance. Trying to settle all of that is a fool’s errand, and maybe that’s the biggest flaw in this episode -- as admirable as its goals are, it perhaps tries to accomplish too much.
But it does some things I really like. For one, it brings up Hudson, the other Starfleet officer-turned-Maquis who challenged Sisko’s conception of the rebel group. Frankly, I thought the show had forgotten about him, so it’s nice to hear Eddington not only mention the name, but bring it up as a cudgel to use against Sisko’s disdain for his comrades. I also like that the political is made personal. The Dominion-Cardassian alliance has wiped out much of the Maquis, and Eddington is our avatar for the tragedy of that. When he witnesses the piles of bodies strewn across his base, you feel his same anguish to see the sight.
He was so close. The part of the conflict that stands out to me here is the contrast between how Eddingotna and Sisko see what the Maquis had or were about to accomplish. Eddington saw the Maquis gaining the upper hand, veering closer toward expelling the Cardassians and being able to declare independence. Sisko sees the Maquis’ victories as part of what drove the Cardassians into the arms of the Dominion and threatened the whole quadrant with what resulted.
In true DS9 fashion, you can see both men’s perspectives. Eddington believes that if the Federation and Sisko had just stayed out of the way, the Maquis could have won their private little war. And Sisko thinks that if Eddington had sought peace rather than war, all of this Alpha Quadrant disrupting danger could have been avoided.. Each blames the other for stoking this, wanting personal victories rather than seeing the greater good.
I'm less enamored with Eddington’s feint of trying to use the torpedo threat to get Sisko to rescue his allies. It’s a bit too convenient and neuters the threats of the missiles. But I do like the idea that in the end, Eddington is a romantic. He is as loyal and devoted to his cause and to his people as Sisko is to his, He willingly gives his life so that his wife and comrades can be saved, and goes to wild lengths to see it done.
In the end, even Sisko admires that. The writing is too heavy-handed on the point, and it’s a little easy and a little quick how Sisko goes from hating Eddington’s guts to admiring his devotion to his ideals. But I admire what Deep Space Nine is going for with this one, trying to resolve the tension between Federation ideals and Maquis independence that speaks to the very soul of what the show means to say.
I think the big takeaway is that as much as the Maquis were a thorn in the side of the Federation, it’s easy to understand why they did what they did, why they wanted to keep their homes, why they were angry at a Federation that wouldn’t simply leave them alone. To have noble heroes whose interests are directly in conflict with those of Starfleet, who want to save their compatriots, who mourn their massacred dead, who would give their lives for a greater cause and the protection of those they love, is a statement in and of themselves.
I genuinely don’t remember if this is the end of the Maquis in Star Trek. The Dominion wipe-out is a good excuse to retire the concept as the show quickly has bigger fish to fry. But as a closing thought, the idea that whether you agree with [epp[;e ;ole Eddington or not, there’s something noble and legitimate about what he and his allies stood for, and cause to reflect for the show’s main character, is as Deep Space Nine a way to close out their story as I can think of.