The Last Duel (2021)

First impression sucked. 

The first impression and truly worst, ironically, is the star studded cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver, playing Jean de Carrouges, Pierre d’Alençon, and Jacques Le Gris respectively.

3 in Dramatis Personae (Deep Space Nine S01-E18)

This is a Bajoran station - Kira

Even with a half-baked plot device the episode, Dramatis Personae, was interesting. The story could mean two things.

Its title, dramatis personae, is Latin for characters in a play. There was a recreation of a past event (the Play) of which the senior crew (the Characters) of Deep Space Nine was caught in its web.

Or, the episode wants to be philosophical. Shakespeare said: “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” 

3 in The Forsaken (Deep Space Nine S01-E17)

You see, Odo, even us non-shape-shifters need to change who we are once in a while.

 

Formerly titled as Only the Lonely, The Forsaken is a literal and figurative deconstruction of Odo.

On the surface, he is the powerful alien shapeshifter; Deep Space Nine’s security chief, incorruptible, just, and a talented investigator. He frowns at imagination and romance. His natural form is liquid and every 16 hours he rests, somewhat undignified, contained inside a bucket in his office. 

Buckets notwithstanding, he’s clearly a being you don’t want to mess with. There is another side to that: Odo really is pretending 16 hours a day at being a solid. 

3 in If Wishes Were Horses (Deep Space Nine S01-E16)

 

From story to title, I always thought The Next Generation episode Where No One Has Gone Before was designed beautifully.  The USS Enterprise was thrown millions of light years away from Federation Space because of the Traveler who was powered only by thought. 

Simply put, to go where you haven't been you must first think. Imagination has always been the cornerstone of many science fiction stories. This episode, If Wishes Were Horses, will only be the latest in that long tradition. 

3 in Progress (Deep Space Nine S01-E15)

All the inhabitants should've been evacuated by now.

Deep Space Nine Episode 15, Progress, takes another shot at Major Kira Nerys. It is thematically closest to Past Prologue, wherein she encountered fellow freedom fighter Tahna Los. That episode created conflict between 2 sides of Kira, the former terrorist and now the government official. 

3 in The Storyteller (Deep Space Nine S01-E14)

I knew the prophets wouldn't fail us

Through the episodes so far it is obvious that Chief O’Brien doesn’t want to be around Doctor Bashir. I don’t understand what his problems are with him. Personally I am not a fan of the Doctor but maybe I'm calling it too early in the series. The Chief has had the choice of avoiding the man until this episode.

Here are the 3 notable things in The Storyteller.

3 in Battle Lines (Deep Space Nine S01-E13)

But it is a glimpse into the Cardassian mind.

It seems that Kira Nerys has more things in common with Tahna Los than what was revealed in Past Prologue. She only mentions broad strokes here in Battle Lines. How hard and dirty the fighting was against the Cardassians, and how she’s feels the utmost shame for it.

Major Kira is as tied as Tahna Los is to the past, albeit only inwardly at this point, and it still burns her. Here are the 3 things that stand out in the episode.

3 in Vortex (Deep Space Nine S01-E12)

Paranoia must run in your species, Odo...maybe that's why no one's ever seen another shape-shifter

First inkling we had of Odo's baggage, so to speak, was in the pilot episode The Emissary. He expressed longing to know who he is and where he came from. Odo even used the term “forced” alluding to passing himself off as human, which tells you a certain level of loneliness. 

3 in The Nagus (Deep Space Nine S01-E11)

Our word can be our bond...until we break it

The Ferengi I remember of Star Trek the Next Generation is a pirate. 

Two that come to mind are DaiMon Bractor and Letek. They both went against the USS Enterprise: Bractor went against the Galaxy-class starship itself as a Commander of a Marauder, and Letek, while part of a landing party, ambushed Commander Riker’s Away Team. Both were profit motivated attacks which were unlike the Romulans or the Klingons.

3 in Move Along Home (Deep Space NIne S01-E10)

We were told you had games..take us to Quark's

Commander Benjamin Sisko finally gets the formal first contact meeting he has desired since the episode Captive Pursuit. He has brought out his dress uniform, imagined himself doing all the expected diplomatic ceremony, and was quite irritated that Doctor Bashir does not share the same enthusiasm. 

3 Things I Hate about Without Remorse (2021)

 

Is there possibility of the new John Clark meeting up with the new Jack Ryan?

There was a time when a trip to the mall wasn’t complete without me digging for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series at a second hand book shop. I was able to collect many including the spin-off novel Without Remorse. For those not in the know John Clark was Jack Ryan’s top field man since Ryan was more into analysis and policy especially when the books made him the President of the United States.

3 in The Passenger (Deep Space Nine S01-E09)

Make...me...live!!

Religion and superstition never asked how to prolong life because the soul is the answer. When the body dies there is an eternal place of rest waiting for the living soul. Now what if the soul has a scientific angle shall we say?

3 in Dax (Deep Space Nine S01-E08)

The fugitive Dax is charged with treason... and the murder of my father.

I like this episode. Dax, in the 90s, for its entire runtime was a compelling story modeled on the Ship of Theseus argument way before Wandavision and its 2 minute scene. It’s only fault is that the episode didn’t draw attention to itself as identity metaphysics.

What I also love of the episode is that it deals with lies: those we tell ourselves, the reputations we value, and the lies a country tells to itself too.

3 in Q-Less (Deep Space Nine S01-E07)

No wonder you're not commanding a Starship.

I forget. Did Captain Picard ever do the jamaharon with Vash?

The onetime entanglement of Captain Picard resurfaces from the wrong side of the wormhole: Lt. Dax found her in the Gamma Quadrant. She said she was stranded for 2 years - probably pre-wormhole - which should have been a warning but getting lost was not a crime. In any case, Vash has dependably brought trouble aboard the station along with her previous ride to the Gamma Quadrant: Q.

This episode is a momentum killer as much as momentum can be in an episodic TV series. We’ve seen glimpses of Bajor, tackled some history of the DS9’s Bajoran crew; Tosk was just the first of what could be beyond the wormhole. 

Well, technically today’s trouble came from the wormhole, but with old faces from The Next Generation it felt more like a bridge than a road to new adventures.

3 in Captive Pursuit (Deep Space Nine S01-E06)

Chief O'Brien and Tosk enjoying common ground: engineering problems

The Gamma Quadrant comes alive for the first time in the episode Captive Pursuit. An unassuming ship came out of the wormhole, damaged; carrying a nervous looking passenger. He is a Tosk, a species bread to be the most formidable prey in an interstellar fox hunt. 

Before you know it, the  visitor that intended to just pass through becomes a friend. Is Tosk a pitiful creature needing Starfleet help? Or should the Federation pity themselves for having holosuites? Let me explain.

Here are 3 notable moments in Captive Pursuit.

3 in Babel (Deep Space Nine S01-E05)

Commander Sisko and Doctor Bashir talking about who could have made the virus

Let’s just call this the pandemic episode, biblical name of Babel notwithstanding. There’s the speaking-in-tongues part but none of it due to the chasing of the divine. It was a biological attack meant for the Occupation but triggered way too late.

3 in A Man Alone (Deep Space Nine S01-E04)

via GIPHY

The introduction tour continues with episode 4 - A Man Alone - with Security Chief Odo, the second non-Starfleet officer under Commander Sisko’s authority, taking point.

Like Major Kira, Odo has history tracing back to the Occupation, but unlike Kira who has taken an aggressive stance against the Cardassians, Odo is that rare animal who is respected by both Cardassians and Bajor. He was security chief then and even up to now in a Deep Space Nine under Bajoran/Federation control. 

And one of the people he put away, a Bajoran named Ibudan, came back to the station to get revenge.

Here are the 3 notable moments in the episode.

3 in Past Prologue (Deep Space Nine S01-E03)

Would you blame Tahna's methods or think it justified because he had suffered?

Past Prologue dives into the adage ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ by reuniting Major Kira Nerys with Tahna Los, a Bajoran and fellow freedom fighter. They fought against the occupation using many of the same methods against the Cardassians. There is no insurmountable difference between them if there is at all. 

And yet when the Cardassians left, Kira accepted a post with the provisional government while Tahna fights that same government under the Kohn-Ma. From 2 freedom fighters it is now a case of former freedom fighter reunites with terrorist.

3 in Emissary (Deep Space Nine S01E01-E02)

Kai Opaka has found the Emissary, a non-Bajoran

This is to start a new writing exercise. Let’s see if I can finish all 7 seasons.

For every Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode I will highlight 3 things, anything of interest good and bad. About month ago, I finished watching the entire series for the first time and I have to say, it is the best spin-off in the franchise. 

3 Things I like in the Superman and Lois Pilot Episode

Would you look at that suit. 

It is different from the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover where I last saw lead stars Tyler Hoechlin (Superman) and Elizabeth Tulloch (Lois) as guests. Without that odd looking lock between shoulder and cape its design is closer to Man of Steel, giving the impression that it wants more distance from the Arrowverse. 

And if you count the cinematography, the music, the special effects, the drama, the social issues and themes introduced: Superman and Lois can compete with Man of Steel. But for me it is the better Superman. A surprising conclusion considering I gave up on Arrowverse. 

One hopes the series will not run out of steam, after all, this is just the pilot. These are the 3 noteworthy points of interest in the new series Superman and Lois.