PLOT (heavy spoilers!!!)
On a routine supply mission the Defiant has to leave after a Dominion attack leaving Sisko, Bashir, Quark, Nog and Ezri in a barren place holding an important Dominion communication's array, defended by a quickly diminishing group of stressed and fatigued Starfleet officers. It becomes clear quickly that these people are on the brink of mental and physical collapse. Quark tries to shield Nog but Sisko sends him on a mission that gravely injures him. Taking heavy casualties Starfleet holds on and finally get relieved by fresh troops.
GOOD STUFF
For once this isn't the Enterprise destroying an opposing, heavily armed cough cough warship with one phaser beam or a great battle mentioned in stories. We get right in on the action, and much like Quark points out, these are no longer kind and calm Starfleet officers but weary and hostile animals, looking either for a way out or a kill to make. I love the dark setting, the barren rock that no one will ever hear of, the guest stars who make the most of their material. The action is believable and incredibly violent, at least for Trek, there is a real sense of danger and traumatic fighting.
Quark steals many a scene, pointing out humanity isn't so sweet and nice when basic comforts disappear and war is all around; questioning Sisko's decision to send Nog on a mission; questioning whether Sisko even cares for his people; and staying with Nog distracting him. He makes a reasonable point that the Ferengi would choose to negotiate rather than fight an endless battle.
I especially like Vargas and Reese. Very different but understandable creatures in a besieged war front. I love the idea of the Dominion using holograms to establish the position and strength of the enemy, and mines in subspace that can go off without any warning.
Sisko sometimes becomes so angry he's almost scary. In those moments he's more real, more palpable than any other Captain. Avery Brookes may sometimes be called a Shakesperean robot when he acts out anger but I believed every bit of it.
BAD STUFF
Quark being send by the Nagus to inspect battle lines seems a pretty shallow way of just getting him involved. Why would Starfleet inundate the Nagus with reports? What the hell are they gonna do? Pay the Dominion to stop their expansionist, genocidal ambitions? The second Bill Mumy asks Ezri to hand him a tool you know they will flirt with or befriend each other. Wouldn't the Houdini mines also injure Jem'Hadar soldiers making them unusable in actual combat?
More importantly, if Starfleet recognizes the vast importance of the array when and if their engineers can crack it, shouldn't they send some engineers? Your best engineer is in orbit, hello? Remember the massive advantage the USA had when they cracked the Japanese transmissions.
It also seems a bit like a cheap plot device to give the least experienced crew members (Ezri, Nog, even Bashir) their trial by fire in this manner. I can appreciate them becoming better soldiers and proving themselves AND experiencing real warfare, but if the place is under constant attack why not bring Worf, Kira or O'Brien, experienced soldiers? Why not bring tough resistance-trained Bajoran soldiers? Why not send a contingent of tough Klingons? Hell, why not just hire some Nausicans. They love to fight. In the end, Starfleet goofs again by sending another group of inexperienced officers in clean uniforms and dreams of rainbows and sugar, rather than a battalion of battle-hardened super-soldiers. I mean the Federation duked it out with Cardassians, Borg, Klingon and Dominion in recent years, they must have an abundance of veterans.
MILITARY PERSPECTIVE
I have never been a soldier nor am I a military historian. I am however, feel free to believe or disbelieve me, a historian (University of Amsterdam, class of 2011) and I raise some serious questions on Dominion strategy. We always hear Jem'Hadar are super-soldiers and the Dominion are aces in tactics. Yet despite the ability to cloak soldiers, place subspace mines and bomb cities from the skies they simply just charge in the open and barely take cover. They have phaser-type weapons that they use as clubs. I can understand they won't bomb the structure because they want the array, but I do not understand the total lack of artillery. They found out the positions of the defending force, mull it over, then charge the positions. People, just use an artillery barrage. You can keep the array safe whilst inflicting heavy casualties without risking your own forces. But the 24th century seems to have forgotten artillery and they're proper fools. Give me even a 1860s platoon of soldiers, 3 Gatling-guns and two batteries of artillery and the Dominion will never come close to hand-to-hand combat.
CONCLUSION
A very dark and good episode showing Starfleet in a very different light. The military quality of it is somewhat debatable and dubious but the action feels fresh and alive. It fools you into thinking it's a fun episode by having Rom sing as an opener, and then smack you down by getting in the blood and bombs filled theatre of actual war. This is what soldiers experience everywhere and it's hard to stay humane. Quark has some tough but true lessons for Nog and Sisko, our freshest cast get baptized in violence and gore, supporting actors shine, feel very real. It's a great episode that I truly think only DS9 could pull of, already a more dark and bitter show. No nice moral, no sweet ending, no ship ex machina - just real people battling for their very lives. Powerful stuff. 8/10.
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