308. The HomecomingFORMULA: A Man Alone + Past Prologue + Hollow Pursuits
WHY WE LIKE IT: Frank Langella. O'Brien's loyalty. The baseball.
WHY WE DON'T: Dax's big hair.
REVIEW: DS9 starts its second season with Trek's first triple-parter and it's a great Bajoran story in the making. The animosity brewing between the Federation and the more isolationist parts of Bajor sometimes seen in the previous season makes the Circle inevitable, but at the same time, the crew on the station have learned to trust each other, and here we have Sisko giving Kira leeway despite her ruining his day, and O'Brien accepting an order from her to go on a suicide run. The scene where it becomes obvious that Kira told everyone of her plans is priceless. Sisko's here to stay, and the symbol of that, the baseball in his office, makes its first appearance. It's unassuming here, but if you've seen the series before, you understand its importance.
The beauty of this three-parter is that while there's a bigger political story going on, each episode has its own fairly complete A-plot. In The Homecoming, it's the rescue of the heroic Li Nalas from a Cardassian labor camp. It turns out he's not so heroic after all, but he's not bad at addressing those insipid Bajoran crowds. Unfortunately, like most Bajoran males on the show, he's rather dull, and indeed it may be a proper cliffhanger to have him replace Kira on DS9. Minister Jaro redeems that image of Bajoran men somewhat. Those slightly effete like the rest, Frank Langella has a commanding screen presence. I mean, that's 1979's Dracula right there. Also of note is the return of Dukat who last appeared in Duet, as the head Cardassian spin doctor.
Subplots center on Jake's first date and the unequal partnership over at the Brothers Quark, both of which will pay off in small ways through the arc. It's interesting that when Doctor Who goes to a quarry, it's cheap, but Star Trek does so so infrequently, that it raises the production value of the episode to have the escape played there. Not a bad action scene either.
LESSON: Cardassians have something to hide. They bathe in their underwear.
REWATCHABILITY - High: It's the start of something good. The Bajorans are in turmoil, the Cardassians are up to no good, and the cast is finally acting like a family.
Comments
Odd that Langella didn't want screen credit for these episodes. I guess he was still feeling the sting of playing Skeletor in Masters of the Universe.
I don't understand the Langella thing either.