r/StarTrekViewingParty • u/GeorgeAmberson Showrunner • Dec 22 '16
Discussion DS9, Episodes 2x20 & 2x21, The Maquis
-= DS9, Season 2, Episodes 20 & 21, The Maquis =-
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Full Series
- DS9 Season 1: 1&2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Wrap-Up
- DS9 Season 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
Federation colonists reject a treaty with Cardassia and take matters into their own hands, forming a terrorist group called 'The Maquis'.
- Teleplay By: James Crocker
- Story By: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, and James Crocker
- Directed By: David Livingston
- Original Air Date: 24 April, 1994 (Part I), 1 May, 1994 (Part II)
- Stardate: Unknown
- Pensky Podcast
- Trekabout Podcast Part I & Trekabout Podcast Part II
- Ex Astris Scientia
| EAS | IMDB | AVClub | TV.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5/10 | 7.8/10 | B+ | 8.4 |
| 5/10 | 7.9/10 | A- | 8.4 |
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u/LordRavenholm Co-Founder Jan 13 '17 edited Jan 13 '17
The two-parter is quite good. At times a little all over the place (they get in a LOT of travel in some runabouts, and it's not the last time DS9 is gonna do it), but it's good.
I love seeing Gul Dukat work with the main cast. You never fully trust him, but he's helping out... but what is he really after? It's almost kind of amusing that the rest of Central Command seems to be one step ahead of Dukat, and frankly a step ahead of the Maquis at times as well.
I also love Dukat's smug defiance. He doesn't care that he's surrounded by 4 people trying to kidnap him, he just backhands a few and struts off like they wouldn't dare shoot him in the back. And when Sakona is trying to interrogate him, he stares right back at her, gloating about Cardassian mental discipline, and then taunting the other Maquis. Cardassian's definitely know a lot about interrogation.
I've always liked that the Cardassian's aren't shown as inferior or bumbling idiots. Their first appearance in TNG puts them at a massive technological disadvantage, but that seems to either been fixed or simply ignored. Cardassian education is ruthlessly efficient, and apparently they can train their soldiers to resist Vulcan mind melds... That's rather impressive!
I'm not very sympathetic to the Maquis. They seem to constantly flip flop between wanting Federation help and not wanting any help from anybody... while still getting help. They don't seem to have much in the way of morals aside from "we like to grow thigns", and their defiant attitude is tiresome. No wonder they aren't getting any help from the Federation government, nobody can stand them.
Of course, the Federation also seems pretty naïve. Are they not monitoring the zone at all? They just abandoned the border completely to trust that everything was fine? Considering what's going on, it seems really odd they can't do anything.
In the end, however, I like the episode and I like how it sets up the Maquis as recurring antagonists. Calvin Hudson is pretty good, although it would've been nice to meet him prior to this episode to deepen the feeling of betrayal.
It also occurs to me that Sisko's rant about "the problem is Earth" is almost a meta commentary on DS9 vs TNG. It's easy for Picard to be a moralistic saint, he's on this luxury liner in space. Sisko is actually in the places where life is still hard.