Behind the Lines
Oooo Rom, you sneaky devil you. Stealing Damars padd, tsk, tsk. I love it! And then leaving it for the Jem’Hadar to find, absolutely brilliant! It would appear that Rom has successfully driven a rift between the Cardassians and the Jem’Hadar. My fondness for that Ferengi grows all the time.
Weyouns one line reminds me of that song Dori sings on Finding Nemo- “Just keep smiling, just keep smiling”... I pictured him breaking out into that song and bobbing around. It was a welcome sight in my mind, I laughed.
I was a little shocked to see the female changeling. It must be really hard for Odo to have to choose between who he really is and who he has become. To have that constant need for something that the solids can’t offer him. To have such a strong experience through the link and not have anyone understand. “A drop becomes the ocean. The ocean becomes a drop.” It must be so powerful for him. I can somewhat understand why he'd long to be a part of the link and why it is so attractive to him.
Odo’s words hit a little close to home.
Female changeling: “You love her.”
Odo: “I wish I didn’t. I’m so vulnerable to her. All she has to do is smile at me and I’m happy beyond reason. A minor disagreement between us and I’m devastated. It’s absurd. Sometimes, I wish I could reach inside myself and tear out my feelings for her. But I can’t. ”
I’ve been there. I've experienced those feelings and it’s horrible. I really feel for Odo.
I wish Sisko was going with the rest of the crew on the Defiant- I like it when they’re all together. I'm a little sad that he was reassigned. He looks almost sad when he says goodbye to the crew and he stays behind. He looked a little more content at the end of the episode when Dax carried out the same ritual he had been performing. I think that’s an awesome ritual, it helps to keep the crew morale up.
Ha! I like drunk Quark. Kanar with Damar- that rhymes! I love it!
I’m really looking forward to the whole crew being all together again. This going back and forth between Starfleet and DS9 is starting to bug me. However, I do remember Dan telling it wouldn't happen right away, so I guess I'll just have to wait.
I have a hard time believing that Odo has just quit caring all together. I have a sneaking suspicion that the female changeling has done something to him. The Odo I know would never let Rom get caught.
I could almost feel Kira’s rage. I’ve been angry at characters before, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been this angry. I wanted to scream at Odo. Nana Visitor is such an amazing actress! And Rene Auberjonois is also amazing. The two of them together in that last scene is just wonderful.
Directed by LeVar Burton- I had a feeling from the moment I saw that credit, that this was going to be a good episode. And it was!
So far, I’ve really been enjoying season 6. I may only be four episodes in but if it keeps going like this, I can tell I’m really going to love this season. I even sit through all the opening credits just to get a longer experience. I was trying to explain DS9 to a TNG fan the other day. I found myself getting all worked up and I had to apologize. She laughed at me and said it was cool, she could tell I was passionate about it. Who knew that would happen?!?! I blame Dan.
LLAP
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"I tried. I tried my best to run my establishment under this occupation. But you know what? It's no fun. I don't like Cardassians – they're mean and arrogant. And I can't stand the Jem'Hadar. They're creepy. They just stand there like statues, staring at you. That's it. I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing business with these people. I want the Federation back. I want to sell root beer again!" ~ Quark, realizing that he was deluding himself back in "A Time to Stand," when he said that this occupation was "not so bad."
ReplyDeleteAccording to an interview with Armin Shimerman: "Quark is one of those deluded people who thought, 'This is fine – we all get to do what we want to do,' and didn't realize that liberty was more important than creature comforts. But he learns, and I was very appreciative for that aspect of the arc. Like any Everyman character, Quark has to go though some turmoil before he realizes the truth."
"Behind the Lines," more than anything, sets up events to come in the Dominion War arc. Rom has now been incarcerated as an enemy of the Dominion, Odo is no longer committed to aiding the resistance, seeing himself and other Changelings as above all of that, and Dominion forces are poised to come pouring out of the wormhole and descend upon the Alpha Quadrant like a horde of locusts.
An alternate title for this episode could have been "Our Darkest Hour."
I remember feeling the same hurt and anger when I first saw this episode. How could Odo turn his back on his friends and colleagues? Listening to Salome Jens speak at the Trek convention in Vegas about her character (the Female Shapeshifter) shed a little light on it all. In her mind, her character was never evil. She merely saw her, Odo, and the rest of her kind as being above all of the petty fighting and politics of the solids. She felt that they were small, almost insignificant, and that they would all eventually destroy each other. So, instead, the Changelings would control them, and therefore keep them from being completely annihilated in the long run. Odo, being influenced by her thinking, is beginning to see things the same way. The day-to-day happenings among solids are insignificant; all that matters is the big picture. He is a Changeling; he is timeless!
Of course, from our perspective, this is a very hollow-sounding rationale. Our lives do matter, and Odo has seemingly betrayed Bajor and the Federation.
One thing is for certain: Deep Space Nine is in for some rough times. I believe it was the famous French philosopher Voltaire who said, "shit just got real."
I never really thought of the changelings from that perspective before, but it does make sense. It is such a hard situation to really find the right and wrong. If I've learned anything from school, it is that sometimes there just isn't a right and wrong side of things. Since everyones perspectives and reasoning is different, what may be right for one person, is completely wrong for someone else. I think the challenge we have to face as people with such different ideals, is how to make those ideals work together. I know it's hard but I hope that one day, it will be possible.
ReplyDeleteIt's frustrating when one group thinks their way is better than someone else's and so they try to force their way onto the other group. History has shown us countless examples of this and how it usually ends up going wrong for the aggressive group. I guess it would make sense then, that far into the future, we could still be dealing with people like that. Although, in my ideal world, that wouldn't exist.
I also really enjoyed that little speech that Quark gave. He has come face his reality head on and it's nice to see.
After thinking about the Founders for a while, i can almost understand their point of view. They were hunted and mistreated by "solids" for quite some time before they founded the dominion. They are a race that has existed for who knows how long, and as we've never seen one die of old age, they might as well be immortal (in the ageless sense). If you count your lifetime in centuries, would you really care about something that lasts a couple of decades. if you lived for only 10000 days, would you care about something that lasts 1 day?
ReplyDeleteRecently they have been reminding me more and more of Elves in certain fantasy novels. The Elves are supposed to be the race of good. But then some of them started to believe they were better, and soon that became the viewpoint of all of their race. They were superior, because they were perfect, and eternal. Unlike the shorter-lived races whose candles burned bright and then extinguished. Their arrogance made them ignore the plights of others, or would see no problem if say humans had to die. for it was better to have a thousand humans die than letting one elf perish. The Founders almost seem to have this perspective only significantly more so. Better a million solids then 1 founder. All that is important is our safety, after that, what really matters.
Interesting comments Chris- gives a person more to think about.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a great point Chris, and I never really thought about it that way. Do any of us think about it if we step on a beetle or an ant? They're just bugs, and they're in my house. Get rid of 'em, they're just a nuisance!
ReplyDeleteWhich ants would you prefer? the ones running around your house, or ones trapped in an ant farm.
ReplyDeleteThe Founders just want those annoying pests place into something that keeps them out of the way.