Deep Space Nine 602 "Rocks and Shoals"

Let me lead with the statement that I love this episode. It's in my top ten of the series. LOTS of great stuff about Trek in play here, all the things that make it a great series of shows, and a great universe to play in. Ethics, action, high stakes drama... My favorite stuff.

So we open with something of a "shark attack" in the form of our heroes having the crap beaten out of their new ride and crash landing on a planet inside of a "dark matter nebula" after encountering a "gravitational spike". Trek is usually good about backing up their scientific technobabble, but this was kind spoof a silly bit of 1950's-esque tomfoolery.

But forget all that, because the upshot of it is because they wind up crashing on a planet inside said dark matter nebula (again, dark matter was kind of new to the scientific conversation at this point and I think they were just using the term because they thought it sounded cool), and they're REALLY in trouble because O'Brien has torn his pants, on top of everything. Little do our heroes know that there is a similarly marooned gang of Dominion thugs on this little desert island planet as well. And they are suffering from space-cocaine withdrawal.

You know, weirdly enough, they never explained why the Dominion crew were marooned ere as well. We're they in pursuit, or were these jerks just guilty of bumbling into this nebula the same way Our Heroes did? I welcome any theories.

So yeah, the interesting members of the crew are camping out in a cave until the Jem'Hadar get all attitudinal with them on account of their not having enough space-coke to go around, and after one thing leading to another, Sisko and Dr. Bashir are fixing up a wounded Vorta.

Now here's where it gets good. The Vorta, upon waking, informs the Captain that he's nearly out of Jem'Hadar smack-treats (ketrecel white for the purists out there) and that once he's done, the Jem'Hadar will throw the ultimate temper tantrum. The Deadliest Tantrum of Death. AHA, but what is he going to do? Nothing short of order the Jem'Hadar to attack Our Heroes position BUT not after divulging their attack plan to Our Heroes. Then the Vorta will spend the rest of the war playing tiddly-winks in Federation Space Jail (hey! Say HI to Julian's dad! He's having seminars on architectural landscaping!). It's a pretty sweet deal for him, if you think about it.

So what do they do? Well, as Sisko pointed out, there WAS no choice. Due to the way things were, it was just destined to go down only one way. The Jem'Hadar get wasted, The Vorta goes to Space Jail, and our heroes live to fight another day. Sisko, to his credit, DOES try and do the right thing, but to no avail. These Jem'Hadar are determined to obey orders without question, and that gets them killed. I do believe there is something to think about there. Especially since as we have seen, not all Jem'Hadar are quite so fanatically devoted.

I am forced to wonder what would've happened if it had been a Klingon crew that crashed instead of the Federation.

And the runner in this one had Kira resolving to start the new Bajoran resistance after a high priest hangs herself to make a point, and she can no longer look at herself in a mirror. Good thing she let Odo in on it. He always does what's best for everyone.

NEXT UP, a great episode of Silver Spoons in Space when we realize that crappy parenting and teenage kids with bad attitudes transcend time, space, and all humanoid species.