459. Extreme MeasuresFORMULA: Distant Voices + Inquisition + Ship in a Bottle
WHY WE LIKE IT: The last hurrah for the best friendship in Starfleet.
WHY WE DON'T: Inside somebody's head? Again?
REVIEW: Extreme Measures is an oddity in the final chapter arc because it's really a stand-alone episode. We never cut to other threads, but ever stick with Bashir and O'Brien on their last romp together. It's meant to be a reaffirmation of their friendship. The only other members of the cast with any kind of meaningful rile are Kira and Odo, who get an emotional goodbye scene that may make you wonder if they might never see each other again.
To cure Odo, Bashir and O'Brien must first capture Sloan, in a plan that is ironically more Section 31 than Starfleet. This is pulled off flawlessly, but it doesn't take long for Sloan to wipe that look on his face and commit suicide. Here, the timeline gets hazy (an hour to live turns into a long montage, and then there's still 43 minutes left), but the duo concoct a device that would allow them to walk around Sloan's head. There's definitely a precedent for this kind of "engrammatic interpretation" (Bashir experienced it in Distant Voices), but it's still a silly plot device.
For one thing, there's always the danger of slipping into too much surrealism. While clever, this tends to be boring in the long run. There's thankfully not too much of that here, though meeting the part of Sloan that admires Bashir and Sloan's family does run on a bit long. Is it even genuine, or just another trap for our heroes? It seems like Sloan, though his mind is collapsing, is a conscious figure laying traps and pitfalls for them. It's a bit hard to believe, but you have to go with it in this sort of mindscape scenario. Eventually, he'll try the old "ship in a bottle" Moriarty trick to make them believe they've left his head, and when that doesn't work, the best trap of all - Bashir's own curiosity. It's a well-designed ending that allows both characters to shine. Bashir uses his intellect to work out the first trap, and O'Brien keeps him out of trouble in the second.
The stand-out scene however is a quite talk between the two men after they've been "shot". It's one last talk where Bashir can admit to himself that while he's in love with Ezri, O'Brien is the most important person in his life. O'Brien admits much the same, though without saying it. It's a lovely bit, with some humor despite the dire circumstances. Bashir being disappointed with the tunnel to the afterlife certainly draws a chuckle.
LESSON: You don't want to know what I'm thinking.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Though I would not have denied Bashir and O'Brien one last adventure together, the crazy idea they came up with for it leaves me a little cold.
Comments
I'm actually curious as to how well the actors got on. I remember reading that the DS9 cast were more professional towards each other, compared to the very friendly TNG cast, but Julian and Miles had such chemistry! Surely they watched football matches together in their off-time, or something.
I couldn't wait for it to end.