The Cynics Corner

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

"Treachery, Faith and the Great River"

by David E. Sluss

6 November 1998

 
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THE BOTTOM LINE
: A step up from the last few weeks, but when you've hit rock bottom, there's nowhere to go but up. It's nice to see the war being addressed again, but after three weeks with bupkis as far as the war goes, it doesn't seem like we got enough here, especially since half the time was devoted to a half-baked B-story.

CYNICS CORNER RATING: 6.7 (D+)

CLONE OF THE WEEK: No, not the main man, Dolly the Vorta(s), but rather the charming B-story (or BS-story, perhaps) of Nog's hunt for the Tech Thingie, a "delicate" cloning of a B-Story from about five years ago featuring Nog and Jake engaging in sequential trading of "self-sealing stembolts" and other crapola to get their hands on some Bajoran real estate. (I can't recall what episode this B-Story is from, though; I believe it's from the second season. Come on, Trekkies, do me proud and cough up a title).

STARFLEET UNINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: After over a year of (alleged) all-out war with the Jem'Hadar, and three years of skirmishes before that, Starfleet never stumbled across the fatal flaw in the Jem'Hadar fighters' shields, one that is so fatal that a pissant runabout can take one out with a couple of shots? That's ridiculous, especially since they had over a year to study and reverse-engineer one of them, namely The Ship, for Pete's sake. And if Starfleet's supply lines are so pathetic that ships have to barter Ferengi-style for crucial equipment like phaser emitters, it's a wonder the Dominion didn't win over a year ago.

CARDASSIAN UNINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: Pending further revelations, it looks like Dumb-Ar had Dolly the Fifth offed. What did he hope to accomplish? Did he think the Founders would just sit there and sulk while he took the reigns? And Dumb-Ar gets to live up to his name once again: "Clones. So difficult to keep track of them." There's only two; use your brain cells to keep count if fingers are giving you problems.

DOMINION UNINTELLIGENCE OF THE WEEK: Is there any particular reason why the Founders have to have a Weyoun, any Weyoun, as liason to Dumb-Ar? It's not as though any of the Weyouns has been particularly effective. Weyoun-5 oversaw the loss of Terok Nor in "Craprifice of Angels" and the destruction of the Dominion shipyards in "Shadows and Symbols." Maybe it's time for some new blood?

QUICK FIX OVERLOOKED OF THE WEEK: Hey Miles, ever think of just replicating the desk? Hell, did you ever think of just replicating the Tech Thingie that you need? If Voyager can replicate pieces-parts to build entire shuttles (c.f. "Extreme Risk"), you'd think that this Tech Thingie could be replicated.

ETHNIC SLUR OF THE WEEK: Did you catch Nog's reference to "Al Lorenzo, Chief of Operations of Dagos Prime"? Good God, obviously no one proofreads DS9 scripts for logic, consistency, or common sense, but you'd think something like that would have been caught. [But in all honesty, this one slipped by me, and was caught by my cynic-in-training Cheryl, so I promised a Cynics Corner Credit].

NAME-DROPPING OF THE WEEK: Both DS9 and Voyager mentioned the revered Captain Picard this week. Here we had a reference to Picard's desk as part of the aforementioned Mr. Lorenzo's collection, and in Voyager's "In the Flesh," we heard about Boothby's role in shaping Starfleet captains, including Picard. Coincidence? You decide. But one thing is clear: dropping Picard's name is not going to yield Picard's ratings for either show.

Cheryl M. Capezzuti contributed to this review.
   

Previous: "Chrysalis"
Next: "Once More
Unto the Breach
"
NEXT WEEK: Klingon Klaptrap "sweeps" onto your screen.

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