After Kira's rescue of Bajoran hero Li Nalas, the ambitious politician Jaro Essa installs Li in Kira's job aboard Deep Space Nine. Suddenly stripped of purpose, Kira is invited to the Bajoran monastery by Vedek Bareil for spiritual exploration. But her stay is cut short when she's abducted by operatives of the nationalist terrorists known as the Circle. Her friends on the station must stage a rescue against a ticking clock -- the provisional government is coming under the sway of Jaro and his philosophy, and the Federation may soon be expelled from Bajoran space.
The middle part of this Deep Space Nine trilogy was scripted by staff writer Peter Allan Fields. His primary responsibility was to amp up the conflict of the story and develop the main adversary, Jaro Essa. Here, actor Frank Langella gets to sink his teeth into something fun. The episode isn't too interested in red herrings. Jaro is rather villainous right out of the gate, and the revelation that he's the leader of the Circle hardly feels like it's meant to surprise. Because there's no bait-and-switch, Langella gets more opportunities to mug for the camera, first in a great "explain my evil plot" scene with Kira, and later in a delicious one-on-one with Vedek Winn (a scene in which two great award winning actors get to twirl their figurative evil mustaches).
Louise Fletcher is back as Winn, firmly establishing her (and Bareil, and Bajoran politics) as a regular fixture on the show. Once again, Fletcher is the master at delivering a "chocolate covered cobra," smiling pleasantly as she cuts with her words. The shots she takes at both Kira and Bareil are both hilarious and infuriating. She is the perfect holier-than-thou clergy member.
It's not just the guest stars who get to have fun and show off their skills. In an early scene in Kira's quarters, nearly the entire main cast of characters comes to wish her goodbye. The scene was written by Fields as a deliberate farcical homage to the Marx Brothers. Episode director Corey Allen chose to film it in a single, uninterrupted take, knowing the core of mostly theater-trained actors would be up for the challenge. Unfortunately, this was a few years before TV audiences were given credit for being ready for the idea of a "one-er," and Allen was forced by producers to shoot close-ups to also edit into the scene. Even if the end result isn't quite Allen's vision, the comedy totally plays -- as does the dramatic punctuation on the scene, when Kira introduces Bareil to the people she realizes in that moment are her friends.
Fields takes another chance, writing a more dream-like and impressionist "orb experience" for Kira than the quite literal flashback Sisko had in the series pilot. The sequence plays well, as do a handful of other good character moments for the commander. In the opening scene with Jaro, Sisko conveys the force of his anger without ever raising his voice, saying a lot about his character. Later, Sisko's honorable nature is underscored when he approaches a Bajoran military leader for a favor without trying to strong-arm it out of him.
But there are also less successful aspects of the episode. Kira's departure from the station is something of a mixed bag. Her goodbye is given appropriate time and weight, including a nice scene with Sisko and a farewell to Ops itself (which includes a neat upward angle showing off the multi-story set). Yet despite all this, it never for a moment seems real to the audience that Kira will actually be leaving the station for long. Her captivity is similarly short; she's rescued mere minutes after she's captured.
The character of Vedek Bareil doesn't work very well for me either -- though I'd chalk this up more to performance than writing. Actor Philip Anglim's take on serene wisdom comes off to me more like dispassionate detachment. The suggestion that he might now or in the future be a love interest for Kira feels rather far-fetched as of this episode (though I suppose you could argue that's the point).
In the outright failure column, I'd put Li Nalas. After the previous episode set up an intriguing character, this one doesn't really know how to use him. Fields himself acknowledged this shortcoming, noting that the character barely had an arc in the three-parter overall: "He was an okay guy in part 1, part 2, and part 3." The core idea seems to be one of a coward who ultimately stands up. It doesn't really play, as Li really isn't "cowardly" enough (nor really, much of anything) here in this middle chapter.
The episode also falters in conveying the state of Bajoran society and politics overall. The serene monastery and the sterile and spartan war room do little to demonstrate that the government is truly on the brink of collapse. The episode's conclusion, an ultimatum to the Federation to leave Bajoran space, feels like a plot contrivance more than an inevitable development.
Other observations:
- Odo has a weird pop-up screen built into his desk, which is never seen again after this episode. That's a good call, as what's projected on this screen winds up looking a bit like a baseball card photo.
- Speaking of Odo, this episode recalls his trick from the pilot of sneaking aboard a docked ship to do reconnaissance. Sometimes it feels like Odo's obvious "stealth capabilities" aren't used nearly as much as would be logical.
- The series continues to spend money to make this three-parter special. There's more shooting on location, this time to portray the Bajoran monastery.
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