Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

This is the first episode of Season Four, I never really watched Deep Space Nine, I was put of by the atricious First and Second seasons, but have enjoyed the episodes I've seen and know how well regarded the series is, and thought I'd start by reviewing season four when things reallys start to get good. SPOILER ALERT: If you want to avoid finding out the plot skip to final thoughts for critique.

Episode One - The Way Of The Warrior Part I & II

The episode starts well if rather predictably with the crew sweeping the station for a changling only for it to turn out to be Oddo. The addicting is markable improved from the early days and the characters are alot more subtle and round from those in the early seasons. Sisko is finally in control of his acting and range.

The plot really gets rolling as a whole Fleet of Klingon War ships appear around the station and come on board for shore leave. Seemingly scared by changlins the Klingons are on edge and are taking rigerous safety checks, and have runs ins with Garak and Oddo. Things come to ahead when the Klingon task force begins searching ships leaving Bajorain space. DS9 stand up for the rights of peoples and force the Klingons to let people travel freely. The Klingons are outraged, kill there commanding officer for not carrying out his order, and with Tensions running high, Sisko calls for Wharf.

A really good start to the episode, the characters play off each other well, even the interaction between Dax and Keira are intruiging when once they'd be underbearable. The stand off between the Klingons and DS9 is interesting, and the addition of Wharf is of course a brilliant move. While at times in TNG his character could be annoyingly one dimensional, its create to see him in DS9 delving into the depths of his character. The issue of being the first Klingon in the Federation is an intersting one and his insecurities were never really explored.

The episode continues with Wharf excerising his desire to quit but soldiering on in to do his duty. He begins interacting with the crew and they play with his status as an outsider, which again in TNG was never really explored, as he seemed to fit right in, despite his odd and aggresive culture. Here his relationship is explored more realistically. Unfortunately we get more "comedy" with Keira which is uniformly cringe worthy but its short and out of the way so we'll let it slide.

Wharf's investigation into the Klingon presence is intriguing as is his buddying relationship with Dax. However his discussion with his old Klingon buddy who owes him a favour is chronically cringe worthy "I owe your father everything, If only there was some way I could repay him", it makes one roll ones eyes, but the episode chugs along nicely. Seeing Oddo come face to face with Wharf is something star trek fans will have wanted to have seen for along time and there first encounter is a nice teaser of things to come.

Wharf unvails what he has learnt to Sisko, yet again choosing Star Fleet over his own people, following his discussion with Oddo. The Klingons are on the verge of attacking the Cardassians, in the name of protecting the Alpha quadrant. The Klingons are told they must choose between battle with the Cardassian or the treaty Federation. The Klingons choose battle. The intrigue level is up immediately, what makes DS9 brilliant is the inworkings of spacial politics and the interelations of so many races in one place and this episode has all those factors in spades.

The conjecture begins, have the Cardassians been overthrown by the Dominion? Have the Klingons gone back to there old ways? Will Bajore and DS9 be the next target? There's only one solution. Garak! Oh yeah, anything with Garak in is brilliant in my book. DS9 can't warn Cardassia, that would be going back on there ally, so Garak overhears of the plans intentionally and tells Gul Dukat of the Klingon invasion. Dukat is in no mood to fight, the Cardassians are having enough trouble of there own. To make matters worse, the Federation disowns the Klingon action, so the Klingons renounce the peace treaty expelling all Federation people from there empire. Again this is DS9 nine at its absolute best, you don't see anything happen but the political actions that DS9 are in the middle of make fantastic listening.

Wharf definitively has to choose between battle with the Cardassians or turning his back on Chancellor Gowron and the Klingon empire. He chooses his duty and his honour with Star Fleet in a well written scene. However discussing his future with O'Brien he decides he should resign his post in Star Fleet. Sisko won't accept Wharf's resignation but before they can discuss it further the Klingon fleet breaks through Cardassian fleet. Sisko speaks urgently with the Cardassians and he gets Gul Dukat in his new post as Military advisor, and Sisko is set on saving the Cardassian high council who have to flee Cardassia prime before its captured and the politicians are slaughtered. Its all compelling stuff.

Sisko banks on the Klingons not firing on a federation ship as he heads out to rescue the Cardassian Council in the Defiant. The come face to face with the wreakage of war and the Klingon idea of honour. Sisko is also forced into making important moral or immoral decisions leaving the victims of war to die and having to fire on a Klingon ship. We get the usual ropey star trek battle seens but for 1995 thre not bad and the score is good as usual. The drama is brilliant, and its fun to see the Klingons firing on the federation again. Plus anything will Gul Dukat in is awesome, he's been consistantly genius since his debut TNG.

Speaking of excellent characters Garak discussion of the federation with originally awful but now palatteable character Quark. Comparing the Federation to root beer, and how insepid it is but how one comes to love it. It's only a small peice of dialogue but nevertheless it excellent and at heart its what DS9 does best.

The Defiant returns home safely, but they lost there cloak in battle and lead the entire Klingon battle station back to DS9. Its battle time, the station is militarized. First things first however we get our confrontation between Garak and Gul Dukat, its as frayed and tense and seeing them going into battle side by side is just fantastic. As is the stand off between the Sisko and the Klingon commanders, everything about this episode is superb. They even the cheesey "History is written by the Victor" and the even chessier "Today is a good day to die", is flawless in this context and the battle hasn't even started yet.

The battle is as mamoth as could be expected, its Star Trek so its hooky, and the overselling of some of the blows is ridiculous, but is none the less a cool spectacle to see so much violence in a Star Trek episode. The post battle shot of all the Klingon dead is excellent, and its good to see the likes of O'Brien and Keira take major blows. The highlight though is not the battle its the big moral show down between the Klingon commanders and Sisko and Wharf as the arguement is clearly made that they are infact playing into the Dominions Hands. The Klingons stand down but say they will not forgive and they will not forget. The episode finishes with Sisko talking to Wharf about his resignation and his wifes death, and he of course decides to join the DS9 crew. The Klingons however decide that they will not return there new colonial possesions and are now a permanent fixture in the series.

Final Thoughts: Without doubt one of the best episodes, in the history of star trek, with the exception of two minutes hear or there it was thoroughly excellent. It is perhaps made even better in a twenty first century light, as the theme of fear and terror of the dominion and the founders leading the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant as a whole to give up on its firm beliefs, break alliances and rage war with itself is ever more relevant in the age of "terrorism". This sets the mould for the rest of the series to come and more than parrarells with todays earth the idea of putting security before freedom and the chaos it can cause, the enemy winning the battle without lifting a finger causing the otherside to betray its own idology and interlectual arguement out of fear. Fantastic stuff and a great start to the season (*****)