Shame, what this show became...soap f*ing opera
More entertainng than part 1, but a lot more stupid. Data's change is nonsensical and Lore is reduced to a James Bond villain. Picard and Geordi's method of re-enabling Data's ethics is a giant WTF moment. And while the return of Hugh is welcome, he isn't given anything interesting to do. I don't understand why the writers didn't team him back up with Geordi given their past friendship.
I really enjoy the stuff on board the Enterprise with Beverly in charge though, it just makes a pleasant change, and similarly it's great to see an untested bridge crew. But Lore deserved a better send off.
One of the more bizarre offerings of the show. The stuff with Picard and Ana down on the planet falls into some terrible TV tropes, but it turns out that it's all on purpose - and somehow, that doesn't make it any better. Far more entertaining is Worf's situation, but we don't really get to see much of it.
I honestly have no memory of seeing this episode before, it has almost zero substance. I wonder if upon reflection Picard feels okay about the ambassador kissing him so much!
Sure, let's take the one thing that makes Star Trek possible and demonize it. It's painfully obvious that the writer of this episode wanted to make a political point about the use of fossil fuels here on earth. Leave it to a liberal to pee on everyone's parade.
Correct order: Episode 1
It was nice to watch, I enjoyed it, given it was 2002 back then, so it is a 9/10 XD
I am watching the series in preferred order:
I have to be honest. I found the first two episodes to be rather boring with low production values (which I expected given ultra low budget) and weak performances from several cast members.
But my friends urged me to continue on, so here I am, watching the 3rd episode. Well, Bushwhacked wasn't boring, with Alien-like undertone. And some of the characters like Mal, Wash, and Jayne are starting to grow on me. I am still not entirely sure the series will live up to ultra high hype, but I am now looking forward to watching the next episode.
Correct order: Episode 5
Have fun!
"If you take sexual advantage of her, you're going to burn in a very special level of hell.
A level they reserve for child molesters and people who talk at the theater."
Correct order: Episode 14 (last episode)
It was great, but many loose ends :( Not the show's fault, it is the damn stupid channel who messed the episodes' order and canceled the show!!!
Update: Check Serenity 2005, it is a movie that continue the actions after this episode, this movie almost wrap up all loose ends like a season 2 that never happened.
Someone is trying to start a war and it isn't Mars. Is it just the Belt? Or is someone on earth vying for control of it all?
Avarsarala is my favorite so far. Even while using her friend to get around the rules, she is not made out to be cold hearted, but rather determined and with strong convictions. These characteristics are usually placed with men, but it's so refreshing to see a clearly morally gray female character that isn't automatically demonized. Here we see her use her friend and ambassador to confirm if Mars is behind the attack, which ultimate leads to him being collateral damage in her search for evidence against the Red Planet. What she does find instead is that Mars isn't at fault. But the ambadassor does give us insight into her: she's a smart, cunning and bold woman who always gets what she wants and usually she wants to "win", even if that means she has to make up her own rules. (Note: out of all the cast so far, she is by far my fav. So much under the surface that I want to see more. Is she a good? a bad? or forever in the vastness of the gray?)
After beeing arrested by the Mars Federation, our small crew from the water carrier/Canterbury is placed under interrigation and everyone's secrets come out (Former Mars Military, a Possible OPA Member, and a privilged Earther). This crew is much more than they seem. No one really knows anyone and they might just turn on each other as they feel the flames of power. The crew survived space, but can they survive each other?
Loved the interrogation scenes. These remind me of what care the showrunner/directors take in showing us the differences in physiology between the three groups. Here we see the enhaced/altered abilities of the Mars people as the interrogator has enhanced vision, camera focusing on his eyes as he interrogates and notices nuances or small movements in the prisoners, almost as a lie detector. They use this to create the tension in the interrogation, having the viewer watch him what the prisoner, looking to see if he catches a lie or false info, revealing a possible culprit.
Back on Ceres things are getting really interesting. The shipment of water is VERY LATE, due to the destroyed Canterbury, which has everyone on high alert, tensions palpable. With Holden's "Mars Attacked Us" message, the OPA is ready to revolt and now they have a martyr for their cause.
Miller has finally connected Mao's disapperance to the Scopuli, and to the destroyed water carrier, but he has also connected her to the OPA, but they are dangerous territory.
The Martians do give us another piece of the puzzle. Now we have Phoebe research station, a restricted station. What was going on on Phoebe that had the Martians so interested in what the Canterbury crew could know?
The pace of the show is still slow. Revealing small pieces of the puzzle, just like a book. Feels more like a mini series than traditional series.
Solid all around. Rate the ep a 7.5.
As hell breaks loose on Eros, the Rocinante crew figure out something is not right. Miller and Holden find an infected group of Belters as they are dosed with lethal amount of radiation. Enough to assure their deaths. Their only salvation is getting to the Rocinante for some radiation treatment, that's if they can make it through a station that neither of them know, where Corporation people are at every turn making sure nobody makes it out alive.
It's interesting that Miller and Holden are paired up, the realist who has to fight at every turn, knowing that the system is against them, and the ever hopeful, who feels like all can be saved if only you try hard enough.... both men always finding trouble wherever they go.
The rest of the misfit crew is working their way through the tunnels trying to find a way to the ship, trying to save themselves and as many people they can convince that salvation is with them.
Again, Chrisjen is my favorite. She knows she is playing a chess game and she knows that manipulation is her only salvation, the only way to get at the truth when those in power are lying/hiding.
Finally Holden and Miller make it to the ship, just in time to get radiation treatment. And the Rocinante blast off, leaving the ProtoMolecule infested Eros Station, They live to fight another day.
The final scene is the UN spy being devoured by the almost sentient PM, as we see it has taken over the whole station. What is it? Why did Mao Corporation create it? What was the point in using Eros as a lab? Where will the Rocinante find refuge? Can Chrisjen win the politics game to find the truth? So many questions answered, so many more raised.
Anyone care to explain to me why Bashir couldn't simply replicate another dress uniform when he realized he'd misplaced his? It's not like they're forced to ration replicator usage like the crew of a certain ship lost in the Delta Quadrant…
There ain't no party like a Liz Lemon party...
i really felt sorry for odo during this episode
This episode is a stark reminder of what can happen if we blindly follow religion, any religion, or people who think they know what faith dictates without questioning and listening to ourselves.
Strangely boring. I mean, I really struggled to keep my attention on this, and it's hard to say exactly why. Possibly because this is a trope-filled Star Trek courtroom episode with a main character on trial, and we know they always end exactly the same way. There's no real stakes. Worf being goaded into punching Ch'Pok was quite terrible, you can see it coming a mile off and it's ridiculous that Worf has so little self control.
Most of all though, the entire concept of the episode is absurd, because the Klingons and the Federation currently have no formal diplomatic relationship. Why the hell would there be any sort of extradition hearing?
A few interesting things, though, there was a nice cinematic technique in which the actors speak directly to the camera as they fill in their statements. Ron Canada also does a pretty good job in the role of Ch'Pok, but the best moment of the whole thing is the dressing down and discussion that Sisko gives Worf at the end.
I was expecting much more with its kind of rating
Never liked this episode, and doubt I ever will. It's dull and treats Odo's character in a peculiar way. Honestly, I kind of switched off and had it on in the background. I was also heavily distracted by the fact that Odo has nipples... why would he bother? Arissa is an incredibly arrogant character, too ("the only thing I've ever been admired for is my looks").
All of the scenes that don't involve Odo/Arissa are pretty great. I love Kira and Jadzia gossiping, Julian's holosuite adventure and I can't help but think that O'Brien's line about always playing the bad guy is a reference to Colm Meaney's movie career at this time (he played a lot of evil henchmen).
An episode that falls apart a little bit when you think about it (time paradoxes are tricky), but is quite emotionally affecting. I like that it moves the Kira/Odo relationship along and that it does it in a quite uncomfortable way. I like the guilt that characters feel throughout this, with Terry Farrell doing it especially well as Dax. I also kind of think it would have been nice if Odo was finally able to look fully human after 200 years.
What bugs me is that the episode only deals with the bridge crew of the Defiant, and ignores the other 40-something of them. Sisko makes the decision to leave, then O'Brien has a change of heart and says he doesn't think they should go, and apparently that's enough.
I quite enjoyed the would be Klingons, unfortunately the little boy involved with them wasn't up to the acting challenge. Interesting to note that there isn't a single scene of this episode set on Deep Space Nine. Sisko playing with the baby is delightful.
Intense, thrilling, and immensely satisfying. This episode is a payoff to so many things that have been building, and lets rip by officially kicking off the Dominion War. Time is given to each main character as plans are set in motion, and there's a sense of inevitability throughout the whole thing - although, the whole way through we expect the crew to be able to defend the station; instead, they evacuate it and it ends up in Dominion/Cardassian control. A bold move.
There's time for some lighter stuff admidst everything. Rom and Leeta's wedding is short and cute, as well as the Rom/Quark brotherly love which fights its way to the surface. I'm also glad that Kira and Odo finally address the tension between them which begun back in 'Children of Time'. There's further romance in the air when Dax agrees to marry Worf and manages to take him by surprise, which is a rare sight by itself.
I also particular love Garak's view that shooting somebody in the back is "the safest way". He also has a quite magnificent talk with Ziyal.
The episode really revolves around Captain Sisko, though. He's a rock here, making firm decisions and planning things out while recognising that it's a lost battle. Speaking of the battle, it's a glorious space fight that ticks all the boxes and feels pretty epic. It allow us to also see the already broken dynamic between Cardassia and the Dominion as Dukat and Damar clash with Weyoun over their desire to subjugate Bajor again.
The mines seem like a good idea, but the method of implementation felt flawed to me. Surely there were other ships to help out?
But anyway, my favourite moment of the episode comes from Kira as she officially protests the Federations unwillingness to turn the station over to the Dominion, then reports for duty. The planned sabotage towards the end is also a fantastic twist. I know what's coming but I can't wait to watch it all again. I'm going to have to wait a little bit, though, because I'm reading Trek books alongside my rewatch and I have a couple of Dominion War novels to get through which fill in some events between this and the next season.
Suffice to say, there's a lot packed into this one, so it's interesting that it doesn't move at a breakneck pace and spends a fair bit of time on character moments. That's in stark contrast to what Star Trek: Discovery is doing, and I definitely prefer DS9's approach
I agree. I live Jodie Whitaker as an actress, but the writing and stories need to be better. Also, I don’t really care about the supporting cast so they add no emotional value. I think it is because there are too many of them. 2 companions, tops. Otherwise you cannot develop characters well, out the story lines will suffer trying to build character over creating a compelling story arc.
Writing suffered greatly at Capaldi and has not yet recovered.
omg, it was such a nice episode - right up until the end when the writers decided that we needed a 2 minute lecture about climate change.
I was actually impressed by the subtile beauty of the message until Yaz had to yell "CLIMATE CHANGE" continued by a lecture about being responsible to the people actually least able to do anything about it, since they aren't actually on earth but travelling with her...
I like subtile messaging about issues - I HATE being preached to when trying to be entertained, so thats a 4/10 from me...
[7.8/10] A very fun episode that has the sort of solipsism and insane twists that are endemic to The Gang and lead to plenty of comedy. I particularly appreciated the fact that, as Dennis predicted, Dee (and by extension Mac) are legitimately in a Dinner for Schmucks/Pig Party situation, where Trevor Taft is in a competition with his frat brothers to find the biggest loser, but in the end, it’s Charlie who’s pulling a Dangerous Liaisons/Cruel Intentions on Ruby Taft and not the other way around.
Maybe it’s just me speaking as someone who naively thought Cruel Intentions was sexy and brilliant when I was 14, but Charlie using (I think) exact quotes from that movie got a luagh out of me. And the way he seemed to get over The Waitress, move on to Ruby, and then just when you think his heart’s going to get broken, he’s not only the same old Waitress-obsessed guy he always was, but he even semi-successfully pulls off this insane scheme! It’s a superb comic reversal.
The other half of the episode is more run-of-the-mill IASIP insanity, with Dee doing a ridiculous striptease, Mac continuing his propensity to interrupt Reynolds family relations and being really into wrestling, Dennis taking his physical appearance so seriously that a comment about him being pale sends him to the tanning salon, and Frank sneaking into the Waitress’s apartment to put rat poison in her shampoo. It’s the sort of deranged antics that the show regularly wrings comedy out of.
Overall, a very nice episode that plays on things we already know about the characters, but doesn’t just regurgitate past hits. Breath of fresh air.
One thing I can say about this, is that when DS9 decides to do something strange then it fully commits to it. This episode is one that almost fails but pulls through due to its charm and the rich history of the characters and relationships on screen. The pairing of Kira and Odo is one that I've read a lot of viewers discontent with, but I actually found it to work despite the somewhat manufactured nature of it.
A lot of the odds are stacked against this one. We are introduced to Vic Fontaine who I have to admit is a character that I never quite clicked with, but he somehow manages to not grate too badly with me (once I get past his annoying use of dialogue). The 1960s swing music is a a bit too much - and we have to sit through complete songs - but the whole setting somehow seems to nestle comfortably into the show. I'll feel similarly annoyed when he makes future appearances, but I'll also warm to him as the episodes continue.
It's also a far more natural holodeck environment than anything Voyager has done by this point in time. I can understand why the crew would come here to relax.
I remember watching this episode when it first aired and feeling a bit sideswiped by the whole thing. I think that's just because I wasn't expecting it, and I've found myself warming more to it with subsequent rewatches. It's due to the journey we've been on with both Odo and Kira that I feel very invested in what happens between them, but the show could have done a bit more to build up to this naturally.
The dinner between Kira and Odo is genuinely tense and exciting stuff due to the way it's arranged, with Odo not realising he's speaking with the real Kira. We as an audience are waiting for everything to crash and burn in ruins, but simultaneously delighting in seeing Odo really doing well and wanting it to work out. The final moments between them on the promenade manage to be both silly and gorgeous, and I can't help smiling. I'm happy they finally get together.
There is a truly awkward moment during the dinner scene where Vic randomly begins singing and is just staring at Kira and Odo. It's weird and creepy.
A much stronger follow up to 'The Siege of AR-558'. This puts Nog front-and-centre, which doesn't happen often, and deals with his recovery from losing his leg. Aron Eisenberg gets to show that he's a better actor than most of us expect and puts in a very strong performance that requires a lot of him. The episode also performs the miracle of making Vic Fontaine an integral part, and I actually found myself really liking him for the first time.
It's a downbeat episode for the majority of the running time. Nog becomes kind of exasperating to watch, and it's easy to understand why Jake loses his temper with him. It all feels very realistic, though - not that I have any experience of losing a limb or being around someone who has. The low mood all gives way to quite a gorgeous and positive ending, though, so it's worth it. It's impressive that the two main characters in this episode, Nog and Vic, are just secondary characters who don't even have their names in the opening titles. There is so many depth and good writing to all involved in this show that we can have episodes like this and it just works.
I also love the background stuff that happens, such as the worry shown by Rom and Leeta (and even Quark!). The sense of their family really shines through. I also love Bashir's exasperation when his holosuite programs are belittled.
If I have any complaint, it's the overuse of damn swing-jazz lounge music. I just cannot get behind it's inclusion in the show, and the fact that every character who comes into contact with it seems to fall in love with it just bewilders me.
[8.4/10] Far and away my favorite of the season so far. Just the premise of Mr. Deadly, a polite, sentient doomsday device that wants nothing more than to explode, is hilarious. Matt Berry does a great job giving the character a dry affect, and his constant efforts to get people to say the phrase “please detonate” is great. Even better are Lana’s efforts to convince him that life is worth living, because (1.) he’s a sentient creature who deserves the joys of life (2.) that way he won’t explode and kill millions of people and (3.) to prove Archer wrong.
As I’ve said in prior write-ups, we’ve gotten a lot of good Lana/Archer material in this one, and Archer criticizing her need to fix things as the cause of their break-up, while she turns it around and blames it on his constant extramarital schtupping, is more digging into the pair’s relationship, past and present.
It’s also an episode with great setups and payoffs galore. Lana’s quest to prove that life is worthwhile to Mr. Deadly culminates in her taking a bullet for him, which is a nice place to build to after butterflies and whiskey. All of Krieger’s demented Q-style gadgets come into play in fun ways. And Archer’s fear of black holes comes back a cool, character-worthy fashion as well.
Plus the stuff on the margins is great too. It’s nice to have Thomas Lennon back as Rudy (this time in steel-nosed, Tycho Brahe-esque bounty hunter form). The gags about Mallory trying to sell Mr. Deadly on the black market are fun (and Pam and Krieger’s mix tape cracked me the hell up). Cheryl’s death wish/sexual fixation on dying went to the usual insane but amusing places. And Pam’s pastafication/pasta vacation gags are the kind of dumb but sublty brilliant humor that I love from Archer.
There’s also the part of me that loves how this one riffs on well-worn sci-fi tropes, like doomsday devices in general, and semi-sentient defense mechanisms from long-defunct alien civilizations in particular. The original Star Trek went to that well all the time, and it’s fun to see this spoof of the idea.
Overall, this is a clever, well-written, and above all else very funny episode of the show.
“We were meant to be together, but we were never meant to be.”
Yowch.
Less of a "holodeck gone wrong" episode than it is a "holodeck gone weird". And I feel quite weird myself, because apparently this episode is a favourite among fans and the cast/crew. I honestly struggled to keep my attention on it.
Maybe it's because it feels like ground that's been trodden so many times before, or maybe it's because of how unimpressed I was by the Beowulf environment. Trek has done this endless times over, they just normally substitute the halls of Viking warriors for Klingons.
If anything, I felt that it highlighted how much Robert Picardo stands out among the rest of his cast mates as having a fantastic character to work with. The Doctor is fun to watch and he has some great comedy moments here. In theory, the concept of sending the Doctor onto the holodeck to do the crew's work for them would make sense, but it just raised so many questions for me about what he is. The characters, and indeed the show itself, is treating him as if he were a real person now with feelings, desires and specialities. That would suggest that holograms are capable of becoming a recognised life form and that Starfleet ships can create them (a subject done by TNG).
It's just very quaint, very safe, and an uninteresting side step for the show. I do admit, though, that Freya the Shield-maiden was pretty awesome.
Bonus points: no Neelix.
Pretty good stuff, despite my dislike for Neelix. It seems that if he's given a more serious storyline then Ethan Phillips is capable of making Neeilx a far more interesting character. It's not all down to him, though, because he gets to play off the fantastic James Sloyan as Dr. Jetrel.
There's an obvious parallel to America dropping the H-bomb on Japan here, and I think that the show does get across the utter horror of it. It manages to make Jetrel sympathetic despite being the creator, but if there's a flaw then it really does lack subtlety. It's completely obvious from very early on that Jetrel is not telling the truth about what he's really there for, and it's equally clear that his experiment is going to fail.
But as an episode that allows Neelix to forgive the man he holds responsible for the death of his family, as well as revealing his own inner demons to us, it's a success, despite the quick and simple emotional journey he goes through which lacks any real complexity.
However, we can't forget the sacred Voyager mantra: "now, let us never speak of this again."
