Star Trek DS9 - Season 3 - Episode 24
Star Trek DS9 - 3x24 - Shakaar
Originally Aired: 1995-5-22
Synopsis:
Sent to Bajor on a mission against her former leader in the resistance movement, Kira ends up joining him as a fugitive. [DVD]
Filler Quotient:
0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Problems
None
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- I like the look on Kira's face when she realizes that Kai Winn's plans for Bajor, improved economy, joining the Federation, and whatnot actually made sense and that she's probably not up to no good for once this time.
- Shakaar: "You cut your hair." Kira: "You let your's grow." Shakaar: "I liked you the old way." Kira: "I was thinking the same thing about you."
- Furel discussing why he didn't replace his missing arm. Very moving.
- O'Brien screwing Quark over with his injury.
- Kira and Shakaar blackmailing Winn.
- Morn Appearances; 1. Watches Dax and O'Brien play darts. 2. In the background when O'Brien dislocates his shoulder. 3. At the bar when Bashir enters "the zone."
My Review
Kai Winn to become First Minister of Bajor! Now there's twisted irony. I liked the continuity with DS9: Life Support. Kai Winn is doing exactly what they predicted she'd do. She's taking credit for Vedek Bareil's achievements and grabbing even more power. She's so deliciously nasty! Despite this, Kai Winn's goals were decidedly noble in this episode. She wanted Bajor's economy to grow and for Bajor to make preparations to join the Federation. Unfortunately, her methods leave much to be desired. Pissing off a bunch of your own people unnecessarily is a poor way to run a government. I like the way she is ousted from her position as First Minister and I like the B plot with O'Brien in "the zone." An enjoyable episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
Two problems for me with this episode:
1. Are a few soil reclamators used by a handful of farmers actually supposed to reclaim enough soil elsewhere to support an interstellar trade in foodstuffs? Why not build a couple new reclamators?
Furthermore these reclamators are very ineffective. There is a tiny community of farmers, and yet one of them has not even benefited from the machines yet, but must wait her turn.
2. The politics are startlingly naive. To me it was obvious from the beginning that Kai Wynn was engaged in corrupt relations with a huge corporate agribusiness which intended to exploit Bajoran government funding for profit. The reclamators were intended for the feeding of Bajorans, not the profits of a food-export corporation.
I liked this episode a lot. The Bajorans, like so many real-world peoples, are dealing with internal turmoil and conflict after throwing off their occupiers. In this case, it's driven by an aspiring despot who hopes that boosting her planet's economy will also aid her own personal ambitions. It pushes her to risk civil war, something few others have the appetite for given the issue is the use of farm equipment. It's a well-written, well-acted episode.
Why not build more reclamators? Well, I'm guessing they are sophisticated pieces of machinery that rely on several industries to build. Bajor, still wartorn and relying on aid and loans, can probably only afford to build a couple of them. Plus, they probably have to wait a while because it takes time to detoxify large amounts of land. Real-world soil detoxification takes months or years and requires lots of composting and solarization. Even in sci-fi world, this process probably takes a while. I think the reclamators make a good plot device in this episode for the premise that the writers were going for.
The B plot in this episode is so strange. I know it was just to pad out some runtime in the episode, But maybe I wasn't paying attention to it enough- I don't recall the Chief making plans with Bashir to fake the injury - as i'm pretty sure that is what happened. Bashir played along, and because of it, ended up stuck with Quark at the end instead. That would've made for at least a more logical side story.
Ah, I love Winn. Love to hate her, anyway. Louise Fletcher is amazing. Seeing her go from calm to livid with the most subtle of facial expressions is amazing. Anyway, I recall from early season 2 that Winn was associated with the Circle, and thus seems to be an isolationist and/or a complete opportunist. Thus her flowery language of joining the Federation is probably all a ruse. It's been so long since I saw the whole series last, I don't even remember! But by now it's basically established that if Winn is breathing, she's up to something, and if her lips are moving, she's lying. And she knows Kira is onto her, but can't let it slip that she knows. Visitor and Fletcher play off each other wonderfully.
I just love the character development in this series, especially compared to my bae TNG. All these events in Kira's life are changing her and affecting her and keeping her interesting. Her covert/overt antagonism toward Winn is always shifting. I like the accumulating backstory of her as a freedom fighter, and how her relationships with other fighters has changed. It's also fun to see Bashir and O'Brien become bros.
Watching this I thought O'Brien and Bashir faked the injury together so O'Brien could get out of the spotlight. I like how they left it open to interpretation.