Or, The Not-So-Petite Sirah
"You don't lose by saying, 'no.'"
-Varis
At various points in DS9, the overwhelmingly uninspired debate of "How do you keep a station in a fixed point interesting?" comes up. Aside from the fact that this is a blindly superficial, one-off, knee-jerk critique, "The Storyteller" demonstrates how the Deep Space Nine crew can boldly go while still boldly going nowhere.
The episode weaves together two stories of diplomatic change and uncertainty. Bashir and O'Brien find themselves in a Bajoran village at the death of the local protector, called the Sirah. Meanwhile, back on the station Sisko finds himself hosting a contentious negotiation between two peoples disputing land rights after the shifting of a river. Of greater focus, though, is Varis, the daughter and young leader tasked with the new responsibility of protecting her people's interests.
The Bajor story arc is artfully, if not Star Trek-predictably, done. Bashir and O'Brien, representing the intellectual and mechanical expertise of Starfleet, quickly realize their book-learnin' is ill-equipped to handle the supernatural Dal'Rok that threatens the village. Other series in the franchise, and this series later down the road, spend plenty of time juggling the core quandry of a technological era: What is the role of our anecdotal culture in the face of science's mounting power. After all, let's not forget Dr. Soong's famous androids are named Data and Lore.
While the execution of the arc takes a familiar pattern of Starfleet unintentionally overstepping its boundaries only to find a local deus ex machina, the statement is clear. O'Brien, the whiz of engineering, is never comfortable in his new position of idolation, and long-term implications aside, we never believe this is a permanent solution. The final reveal that the apprentice Sirah was always intended to overcome O'Brien's initial success makes a bold statement. Our newest gadgets and wonders may serve us well at first, but in times of crisis, we will find ourselves falling back on tradition.
In the B-arc, the message of accepting great responsibilities we might not have asked for is amplified. Much like Sisko's command of a far-flung outpost turned into a powerful throne, Varis ascent to lead her people came rapidly and without training wheels. While I never quite accepted that Jake and Nog could gain access so easily to a visiting dignitary, their mischeiviousness is paid off in this episode and we get our first whiffs of the duo's significance in main stories. I really liked that Varis gave Nog a kiss of thanks but not Jake. Was she supposed to kiss the commander's son in front of him? It would have been an easy way to wrap their relationship while sacrificing credibility. And once again, a tip of the hat to young Cirroc Lofton for some really strong work.
My other thoughts:
- Either the amount of DS9 I've seen after the first season or the amount of time since I've seen these episodes has dulled my memory of just how unlikable Bashir initially was. The final scene where Bashir changes his mind about O'Brien calling him by his first name showed that the writers wanted more than cringe-worthy scenes of Bashir's self-importance. These episodes are like when you introduce a friend who kind of rubs people the wrong way. "Look, he might be kind of abrasive at first, but something eventually happens where he mellows or maybe you just get used to it. But I swear, he's not always this bad."
- Bashir and O'Brien's runabout trip down to Bajor smacked of a bad car-trip movie, where eventually the cabin would have piles of spent Big Gulps and beef jerky packages all around. Given the date of the episode, David Spade and Chris Farley might have been initially cast.
- From a pure structure standpoint, this episode had a high degree of difficulty. In the first ten minutes, three different plot arcs are introduced. The A-arc on Bajor feels like it gets full billing, and the B- and C-stories of Varis and Jake and Nog are effectively woven together. This was much harder than they made it seem.
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