Leaders and Followers

"To The Death" Plot Summary:

Sisko and his crew aboard the Defiant join forces Jem'Hadar soldiers to stop a group of renegade Jem'Hadar from taking power.

Analysis:

A recycled TNG idea with a bunch of recycled DS9 staples and a format borrowed from Voyager -- the gateway, the Jem'Hadar, the need to combine two antagonistic crews under a Starfleet banner. This wasn't a bad episode, just not an original one. The Jem'Hadar reminded me a bit too much of the TNG Klingons -- I can only take so much talk of dying honorably before my eyes start rolling -- and Sisko reminded me a bit too much of Picard in some of the sillier episodes where he had to play father-figure to a crew which seemed to have forgotten its manners around hostile aliens.

The setup had merit -- rebel Jem'Hadar threaten the balance of power in the Gamma Quadrant! Should Starfleet get involved? What the heck, they do so much meddling over there anyway, and their own back door might be at risk...so once again most of the command crew leaves the station defenseless in the face of a potential invasion, and goes off to perform a quick-fix cure. My favorite scene was the trial break-in, where the crew wasted all its time looking for a third Jem'Hadar guard who wasn't there. I like watching Starfleet officers get reminded that their rigid dedication to certain protocols can backfire. The break-in itself seemed far too easy -- occasional bodies, but no real injuries to the Starfleet crew, which seemed unlikely given what we know of Jem'Hadar fighters. I kept waiting for a surprise twist which never came: this episode laid out its plot and systematically executed it with no surprises.

Even Sisko's most dramatic scene -- watching the alien leader execute one of his men for disobedience, then refusing to do the same to Worf -- sounded overly comfortable. His certainty that his people are loyal was touching, but isn't this the same man who just learned that his lover and one of his key officers were Maquis agents? Of course he let Worf live, but I'm tired of Worf getting away with whatever he wants to -- had that been the old Kira, Sisko would have had her head! I wasn't bored, but I'm not sure what the point of this episode was, other than to get some action in off the station. Ho hum.