You know usually knowing Quark's history you would think this would come in a different order? I mean he married a Klingon, And he had a Warrior race baby but no it's in a completely different order granted it's also a different order of warrior race baby but my bigger question is did he know he was buying a warrior baby? And if so what was his brilliant money making scheme? Let's hope this will never turn out to get rid of its version of parody
Tbf, Bajor seems to take *really good care* of their orphans. The Cardassian kid is treated _far better_ than you'd expect, and Quark is always raising money for them.
DS9 is one of my favorite series. But I took the ending differently: The Kid was allowed to make a choice. His choice was also respected and allowed to be implemented. That would have never have been allowed in the Dominion and it gave him a little taste of freedom and independent he would never have again. I don't see that as only tragic. I liked how over the course of series, we get to learn more about different species and I feel this episode and the other Jem-Hadar ones work well to flesh out how horrific the Dominion and the founders are.
One of the best things about this episode is that it makes 'Treachery, Faith and the Great River' even better, because it sets up the ground-work. Showing how hard it is to remove the Dominion programming in this one makes Weyoun-VI's breaking of his programming mean even more.
For the A plot moral, I think it's more about 'you can't convince everyone', but it also show that it's not totally unfeasible to actually reach out to them, just that they have to rethink their strategy on how they go about reaching out to them. The kid serves to show how dangerous the Dominion is.
A friend of mine went to a parent-school thing for his son and saw Neil sitting off to the side. No one would sit near him because he looked disreputable, but my friend recognized him, sat with him, and they talked about each other's kids. My friend was laughing at all the stuck-up Bay Area parents who would have tripped over themselves to talk to The Neil Young if they had only known.
I always like the tiny glimpses you see of Tuvok's relationship with his children. It only cone up a couple of times but Tim Russ does a great job of showing he loves his children in the restrained Vulkan way.
I like this episode - is doesn't go with the easy 'the kid will overcome his genetically engineered programming' ending and shows that level of programming would be extremely hard to break - and that reflects the difficultly of breaking people out of real world programming. Plus the B-plot is pretty good.
In the Star Trek Online MMO video game (set about 40 years after this episode), the waffle iron kid comes back, played by the same actor, as the leader of Odo's fleet. The game gives him the name Dukan'Rex, and he plays a large part in the story of the DS9 expansion story Arc where he's torn between loyalty to Odo and to the other founders who are keeping secrets from him.
Thank you for sharing this! I never play MMOs or consume content from them (I have an addictive personality and try to avoid skinner-box games haha) but I love hearing about this one.
He lives to be 40? Most Jem'Hadar don't live past 20. They are considered honored elders at that point. Dukan'Rex must be like Merlin to other Jem'Hadar.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the Jem'Hadar youth in this episode being compelled to fulfil his pre-ordained fate as a soldier for the Dominion and the episode "Hippocratic Oath" where we see a Jem'Hadar (Goran'Agar) being free from the addiction to the White as well as wanting to be free from the Dominion. Also a really good episode that I've seen many former drug addicts take particular appreciation for
I feel the episode is less about conditioning or deprogramming - as those are both psychological processes - but more strictly about the concept of nature versus nurture. Sometimes nature (yes, in this case "nature" is unnatural, but it's genetically coded into the Jem 'Hadar's being) is just too powerful to overcome but it's always worth the struggle to try to be better.
I think they could easily have set up the salvage purchase and discovery of the kid as a Quark scheme uncovered by Odo. The confiscated wreckage should have been brought back in once they realized the kid was Jem'Hadar because it's basically recovered enemy tech. O'Brien could have learned a lot that could have helped them in later episodes like The Ship. I always thought it was a shame we never ran into Waffles again during the war.
My personal read on the episode in context of much of Star Trek up to that point is that it is helping define the Dominion as being something different than what the Federation has dealt with before. It’s like the inverse of “I, Borg” in that it presents opponents that aren’t mindless cybernetic organisms but aren’t going to be defeated by Good Ol Starfleet Speechifying and learning what “friend” means
This episode has a couple of clunky moments but is overall fantastic. Sisko's change of tune regarding Jake and Marta is sweet and realistic, and the sorrow of Odo being unable to help the kid break his programming is palpable.
Bumper Robinson also played the semi-reoccurring character of Leon on Night Court. Leon was an orphan that ultimately broke Harry Stone's heart. A type indeed.
Damn, I didn't expect to get hit so hard by the ending of this analysis. I know I've mentioned it a little bit in the Dr Mora episodes on your streams, but growing up with an abusive parent and having to re-learn how the world works as an adult is something I've gone through. For a long time, I was annoyed that Odo stayed in touch with Dr Mora by the end of the show. Now, I can understand it. But somehow I never thought of the Kid as being similar to my first couple of years trying to move out. Though if anything, I think that gives me more hope for the Kid in this episode than I ever had before. It took me a few goes before I learned how to navigate even the basic social mechanisms of independent life, I was (as you said here) "exhibiting negative behaviours after growing up in a damaging environment". I gave up a few times before it stuck. But eventually, it did. Now, I don't know how much can be back-projected from that metaphor really. Like you said, it has a bunch of sci-fi justifications that possibly change some of the implications. For one, it took me a good 6-8 years to eventually "re-parent myself" (as they call it). That's a good innings for a Jem'hadar lifespan. Is he going to have enough time to get anywhere? Is he even going to have another chance to escape, considering the Dominion's proverbial-cult will send him to his death rather than just keep him around? But on the other hand, maybe he'll find himself on a planet much like Bashir and O'Brien found other stranded Jem'hadar. The Dominion seems pretty big, and there's plenty of intelligent people who want to avoid it. Maybe another doctor somewhere found another Jem'hadar with a mutation against needing ketracel white infusions, but he was able to provide it as gene therapy to other Jem'hadar. Maybe there is a (slight) chance for any Jem'hadar to escape somewhere, and live a fairly pleasant 6-10 years. Anyway, yeah. Props for how you handled the subject matter here. From all angles.
@@alanpennie absolutely. I hope my comment didn’t give you the impression that I wanted anything more definitive. I clearly enjoy talking about the episode as well!
The actor playing the jem'hadar is Bumper Robinson. He reprised this role in Star Trek Online when the HurQ were re-awakened and attacked the founders homeworld.
I hope there will be an Orphans II batch. I'd really like to hear Steve's take on TOS's "And the Children Shall Lead", TNG's "Hero Worship", VGR's "Innocence" and DS9's "The Begotten". Trek had sooooo many orphan episodes.
I like what this episode says about DS9 and the Jem'Hadar. Were this a TNG episode Odo's attempt probably would've been successful; the Jem'Hadar can change they can move beyond their genetic engineering. But DS9 says 'Nope! Kid's fucked. Jem'Hadar are just like that and will always be like that.'
Wait, that actor played Zamis from Enemy Mine?!?! That's so cool! Had no idea about that while looking at him, but I LOVE that movie! I'd love to see a breakdown of that film's story. It's such a good one.
I was not expecting a whole slew of Neil Young references in a video about a DS9 episode, and I am not complaining one bit! Keep on Rockin' in Deep Space, Steve!
I always thought Odo tried to move a little too fast with the kid. "I'm not infallible, and also you should listen to me and go against your genetic programming" is kind of a lot to throw at someone who's less than a week old. If there was a chance of overcoming the preconditioning, it probably involved a lot of accumulated experiences, so he'd have something else to base ideas on.
Despite the failure of Odo's efforts in this episode, the series ultimately leans in the more optimistic direction when it comes to the question of whether the Jem'Hadar can escape their programming. Episodes like "Hippocratic Oath" and "Rocks and Shoals" repeatedly show us that they are more than soulless killing machines motivated by blind obedience. Even the very existence of Ketracel White proves that that conditioning isn't failsafe: in Weyoun's own words, "The Founders' ability to control the Jem'Hadar has been somewhat...overstated. Otherwise, we never would have had to addict them to the White."
Your reading of this episode is more charitable than mine. I always perceived the ending of as Odo essentially saying, "Failed -- shouldn't have tried -- won't make same mistake again." Worse, you could read the whole episode as a cynical attempt to establish that while mildly sympathetic, the Jem'Hadar are unrepentant murderers ("super-predators," to borrow a then-contemporary, racist discourse) predestined to violence and beyond rescue. Thus, our characters have a greenlight to kill them without moral compunctions.
I recently took in a homless person in his early 20s, fresh out of prison and still on probation. I put a roof over his head, gave him my bicycal so he had transportation, gave him a TV, gave him power and water. in the end myself and the friend who asked me to take him in found him passed out after taking somthing he thought was cocain and sold my bike and TV to pay for it. He threw my kindness back in my face, tried to take advantage of me from day one asking me to 'lend' him money without any intention of paying it back. but at least I tried and I'm not going to stop being kind because of it. he's not the first person to take advantage of my kindness and because I'm a gullible schmuck it'll probably happen again but I'm not going to compromise my morals because of it, jsut become a little more cynical I guess.
I'm sorry that happened to you but thank you for proactively trying to help someone in front of you. I am not in the position financially to be able to do so myself, and I admittedly have a fair amount of probably sexist stranger-danger as an AFAB person; so I'm rather envious of those who are readily able to be so comfortable and trust as you did. Obviously, be careful about it in the future, but I think it was a very brave and personable way to support someone. Kindnesses are often taken advantage of but I think it's never wasted if that makes sense? It's better to try. I hope you and yours will be well!
Yeah, I can understand the drive to keep trying. Because every once in a while that story actually has a happy ending, where that person was genuinely down on their luck and just needed a bit of help.
Seems to me that the solution to Odo suddenly becoming the focus is pretty simple: move the scene where his quarters are introduced to earlier, maybe right after the first commercial break.
I would also have Odo in that first infirmary scene where Sisko holds the baby. It makes sense for him to at least take an interest, Odo being head of security and all.
I can see an argument (several, actually) about whether this episode delivers a good or bad message about cults, drug addiction, or even transgenderism, as many here have been saying. I'm conflicted about it myself whenever I watch this episode. Hell, I'm not even sure there was an effort to make a 'good or bad' point in the episode at all. However, one thing is clear to me: René Auberjonois was an absolute gem of an actor. His acting in this episode is so... earnest and believable. Even his regret at failing to 'deprogram' the waffle-iron kid (LOL) is delicately balanced with his stoic defiance that he did the right thing. Gods, I love watching that man act. The world is a much lesser place without him.
@@alanpennie Agreed, but that's what makes this episode so interesting to me. What, exactly, IS the right thing to do? And that question is never definitively answered.
It's interesting to compare this early season 3 episode with the early season 4 episode Hippocratic Oath, where Bashir and O'Brian get captured by Jem'hadar who want to be free of Dominion control and order Bashir to assist them in being able to live without the white. I think maybe the writers realized they had limited themselves too much in what they could do with how firmly they established that the Jem'hadar were hardwired to serve the Dominion and be murder machines in this ep. So they made the pin-prick sized loophole of a Jem'hadar not needing the white, and maybe being able to learn new ways of thinking and living in the later ep.
I remember watching this when it aired and my only take away was the creators were trying to establish that the Jem''Hadar were different from other Starfleet enemies they had encountered, specifically the Klingons. The JemHadar were built to be soldiers and nothing else. We were never going to get see a peace treaty or inter marrying with humans and other species. It didn't occur to me until I watched your video that they enjoyed waffles. That piece of information would have seriously changed my view of the JemHadar.
My father instilled in me a great love for Neil young. The callback to needle and the damage done at the end brought a warmth to my heart. Keep up the amazing work. This episode being about fatherhood is no coincidence. If there is anything out there watching our moves I’m sure they are smiling on you. I’m happy that you have only grown stronger as time passes. I don’t leave many comments as I’m sure is evident in this one, but you made me very happy with this one.
I hate to bring this up, but he Jem Hadar kid would be considered "spoiled" by his contact with Starfleet and he would either be killed, or live his life out in a laboratory as subject of study. And then killed.
"Everything you know is wrong. Black is white, up is down, and short is long. And everything that you thought was just so important doesn't matter." Makes me wonder if "Weird Al" was watching this episode when he thought up those lyrics. You really feel sorry for the Jem'hadar kid. He's been programmed to see the universe in a certain way, and the person he was programmed to see as a god is telling him that the programming is wrong. The whole thing is confusing for him, so he decides to find his people. He won't try to see past the programming because the programming simplifies things. Accepting Odo's view of things would complicate his life, and he doesn't want complicated. Odo has been dealing with complicated his whole life, so he doesn't understand how to help the kid with this. He HAD to accept the complications in order to make it on Bajor. The Jem'hadar knows how to return to his people, so he doesn't HAVE to stay at the station. He can choose to give in to his fear of the complications of living in the Federation and accept the simplistic view of the universe the genetic programming provides.
This seems to be DS9's variation on TNG's "I, Borg," and VGR's "Drone." In each case the show encounters an immature/brainwashed being from an antagonist of Starfleet. In TNG and VGR, of course, it was the Borg, here the Jem Hadar. For both Hugh in "I, Borg" and One in "Drone," the crew were able to help them see the value of lifeforms unlike themselves, leading in both cases to acts of self-sacrifice: for Hugh, returning to the Borg collective to spread the concept of individuality through shared consciousness, for One, choosing to die so that the Borg wouldn't assimilate his 29-century technology. Unsurprisingly, DS9 takes the most melancholy view, with the Kid embracing his Jem Hadar heritage. Nevertheless, the outcome here is not that divergent from the other shows in that the lost being does not have his right to choose his own destiny taken away from him. We may not agree with his choice,e but he, like Hugh and One, was given the agency to make a choice.
I like the aspect of the Jake story of Sisco overcoming his prejudice about her profession. However, I still don't care for the age gap here. 20 year olds should not be dating 16 year olds, period.
I always thought that too. Sisko was being completely unreasonable by having a problem with her being a dabo girl, but he should have had a problem with his high school son dating a grown adult.
THIS. I know in fiction it's safe to explore all kinds of relationships so I don't have much of an issue with age-gaps in that regard. I feel like too many folks, including my past self, hold rather harsh and puritanical views when it cones to such things. But I agree 16 and 20 is sketchy as hell. Like, I know in the real world, at our present, ages of consent vary wildly by country, let alone individual States, but I still can't help but feel and state the obvious of how if it were a 16 year-old female-presenting character and a 20 year-old man it would have been clocked immediately as predatory by most folks these days. In some places it would even be considered statutory rape should a pairing with that gap consummate that relationship as minors cannot consent. It's a complex issue for sure. So in that way, May-December Romances involving teenagers do squick me out, but it's the gendered double-standard that really leaves me feeling angry, since the abuse of power in cases like this often leave male victims with less-to-zero support within the current system and broader understandings of sexuality! Fortunately, I do not think this episode would have been written like this today, and I wonder how such things will be viewed further in the future. Additionally, while I can't speak from a place of authority on the subject, as a white person, I am aware of how black folks are often thought of as older than they are and wonder how much this plays into the perceptions of the pairing and writing at the time. It's upsetting to think about. Let alone how that view still exists today and leads to real harm. I am kinda surprised this wasn't touched on and honestly it felt very glossed over in the review as well. Overall thank you for bringing this up as I feel it wasn't given the serious consideration it deserves.
@@alanpennie If thinking that 20 year olds shouldn't be dating 16 year olds is a 'prejudice' then sure. I guess I'm prejudiced. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ When you get older and into proper adulthood, age gaps matter less and less. But when it comes to minors, it's a lot more of a concern.
I didn't take any RL analogue for the jem'hadar's situation, but rather that it was a commentary on how deeply evil the Dominion was willing to go. Their level of slavery was beyond Odo's imagination.
Interesting. I must admit I never saw parallels to real life issues in this episodes. To me this was always a showcase of how scary the Jem Hadar are. The Federation is proud to find solutions through peaceful negotiations and diplomacy. Yet, in this case they can‘t even convince a child they raised, that fighting them is not a good idea. We and the characters learn that their favorite instrument in their toolbox is completely useless against this opponent. No matter what they try, the Jem Hadar WILL fight.
On its own the portrayal of the Jem'hadar here is problematic. As a longer arc, with other episodes showing that the programing and addiction doesn't mean these people are hopeless, it makes this portrayal stronger. It sets up how hard it is to expect more from the Jem'hadar. Later reveals that Jem'hadar can rise over their genetic destiny are made better by it. You also see people like Bashir who still think of the Jem'hadar as beings who deserve understanding and compassion in spite of what he has seen here, framing his idealism in stronger terms.
Not mentioned here, but Sisko's method of serving food is as genius as it is effortless: serve your own bowl, give that bowl to the guest, and swap for their empty bowl and serve yourself again. No messing around moving the cooking pot. That's how we serve our dinners in this household.
One big thing this does is cement just how terrifyingly complete the Dominion servitude programming is. Despite Odo being one of the Godlike pantheon to the Jem'Hadar, he's not subscribed to the indoctrinated perspective. The Dominion conquer, rule, and are beyond such concepts as comprise and dissenting opinions. Even the Borg have the possibility of individuality if freed from the hive mind. If you are a part of the Dominion, you aren't subjugated against your will, you are designed at birth to WANT to serve the Founders, and they are never wrong.
I really appreciate your review of this episode. I know exactly who I'm going to share it with. Thank you, Steve. Stay strong out there, bud. Don't let the crazy people get to you.
Oh, forgot to mention. I can see this episode as a "nature VS nature" discussion. Can you make a Jem'Hadar go against his preprogrammed instincts? Are we really the product of our parents? Also, Steve, you should totally do comment reactions! Your bluntness is very entertaining!
Excellent work. I was always a big fan of this show and this episode but I never thought of it from the cult angle. Having been actually raised in a religious cult I have to say, your assessment is pretty accurate
As a trans person I'm going to take the position that there really are parts of people that are fundamental and that we cannot simply be reasoned out of. We may have free will, we can reframe and reinterpret these parts, to decide how we want to act on them, but we can't abandon them.
I know you tried for Neil Young references, but when you got to the bit about Odo trying to tell the waffle iron kid that everything he knows is wrong, I had Weird Al in my head, instead!
This episode is really heartbreaking to me. But, that being said, I really wish there had been a later follow up episode featuring waffle-iron kid playing some kind of role in the Dominion War. I always wondered what ultimately became of him. Just a missed storytelling opportunity. Like, having him attempt to defect to the Federation alliance, or used by the Dominion in an attempt to manipulate Odo later on.
I kind of wish we had seen the kid again. Like during the Dominion occupation of DS9 he could reappear as a low ranked soldier...6th or something, and gotten into trouble for his familiarity with Odo. Might have made for a good episode.
So, I think the Waffle Iron Kid Idea was most direct in that they were trying to establish how evil the Dominion are, like they seem to leave they citizens alone, yet they rule through fear and a lack of choice for those they choose. The Cardassians could be empithized with, heck most villians can be empithized with. They wanted to show the depths of the baddies badness. A child without a choice.
Saucer Guy's species DOES seem to have a thing for orphan episodes, though. Kinda weird. I'm sure there's a beta canon novel all about how they use their saucers to draw power from child tears or something.
I'm not very good with episode titles, so with your description I thought this was going to be the one where Odo raises or attempts to raise the infant shapeshifter. I guess this plot happens more than once in ds9.
I’m not currently a patron so unfortunately I cannot properly suggest this But an idea for trek actually I’d love to see someone bring forward is “Can the Jem’Hadar actually break out of their programming” there’s so many different depictions and some episodes even seem to be contradictory. I often debate my own perspective on it, now I don’t know if there’s enough material as there was for the debate on if data had emotions the whole time, but I bet there’s at least some there
I am becoming more convinced that a lot of people's behavior is genetic, but not all of it, of course. People do have the ability, generally, to change their behavior. Separately, an unresolved issue in the story is Sisko is going to have problems with Star Fleet for not sending them the kid.
I really miss this kind of low key character building in TV. The 8-10 episode format of modern streaming really keeps this kind of character portraiture from happening.
I'm still not comfortable with an adult dating a teenager, I don't think Sisko is unreasonable for wanting to break off a 20 year old from his 16 year old kid. If the genders were reversed everyone would think it's creepy. Maybe if she was 18 instead of 20 it would be less creepy.
It seems like they wanted the Jem Hadar thing to be a big reveal, so they took their time getting there. This revelation is the reason Odo gets involved.
They could have worked Odo into the episode a little bit earlier, obviously no one on the station would have more interest in examining Quark's junk than him.
Is the secret message of this episode "The Jem'Hadar are actually the scariest most bad ass villains yet, and there will be absolutely no negotiations, no diplomatic solutions. These guys are straight up cold blooded killers all the way through!"
That I how I took it when I first watched it. They wanted to make sure we knew that the Jem Hadar were not Klingons. There would be no peace treaties or half human, half Jem Hadar waffle iron kids running around. They were engineered to be soldiers and nothing else. We take it for granted now but the whole Dominion structure was so refreshing back in the day.
I know that this was never the writers' intention, but the fact that the conditioning is coming from genetic engineering, something that DS9 would establish with Dr. Bashir as being a metaphor for neurodivergence and mental disability, makes the episode read much worse for me. It says that once you get diagnosed as a Jem'Hadar, all your hope is lost and you'll never be able to live a "normal" life.
A quietly melancholy episode. Even if Odo had managed to persuade The Kid there would have been the possibility that it was the result of programmed servility to Founders. Also if they didn't return him to his people what were they to do with him? Looked at coldly he was an unexploded bomb.
Another example of Trek characters possessing skills and knowledge they'd have no realistic way of attaining. I mean, when would Bashir, of all people, have been able to see accelerated growth rates inside a laboratory?
0:13 When I heard you say that, my thoughts IMMEDIATELY went to the opening scene of Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. In the scene, Quasimoto’s mother, holding him wrapped in a blanket, flees from Judge Claude Frollo; on the cathedral’s steps, when Frollo pulls the blanket from her arms, she strikes her head & dies. Frollo, upon unwrapping the blanket & seeing the baby, calls him a Monster & is prepared to drop him down a well, when Frollo is stopped by the cathedral’s arch-deacon. Steve, considering your low opinion of the Christian church, I'm surprised you didn't make this parallel yourself.
This review reminds me of one of the very few things that bothers me (albeit only slightly) about DS9. Is Ketracel White an enzyme that the jamhadar can't make themselves? Is it an enzyme that is *like* a drug they are addicted to? Or is it just a drug they're addicted to? It basically changes depending on the episode. And someone dying from an enzyme deficiency and someone dying from a drug withdrawal are quite different things. I wonder if someone along the chain of production was worried the average joe wouldn't know what an enzyme was, and wrote in a drug withdrawal simile that ended up talking over the concept half the time. (That being said, I could see the same thing happening in universe. Bashir getting blank looks from other officers when he talks about enzyme deficiencies, explaining it as being like a drug addiction, and then facepalming a year later when he reads a memo from an admiral calling KW a drug.)
I happened to be listening to this episode on speaker because my earbuds were out of batteries. While I was downstairs, getting something out of the shed, the UPS driver stopped by. He very excitedly asked me if I was listening to Focus on the Family. And, no... No I'm not. I felt bad for him. He was an older man, with a hopeful expression on his face. A bit puppy-dog eyed as he looked at me from the bottom of the steps. Maybe, just maybe, some of the younger kids are getting into conservative thought. Sorry, guy. But, no. No I'm not.
No kinder, gentler, JemHadar man?
Keep on rocking in the worm hole
Keep on rocking in the worm hole!
I been through the desert with a JemHadar with no name...
From now on, I'm not going to be able to think of this episode as anything other than "That time a baby came out of Quark's junk."
Thanks Steve.
A baby supersoldier, at that. Quite impressive from our little orange friend.
You know usually knowing Quark's history you would think this would come in a different order? I mean he married a Klingon, And he had a Warrior race baby but no it's in a completely different order granted it's also a different order of warrior race baby but my bigger question is did he know he was buying a warrior baby? And if so what was his brilliant money making scheme? Let's hope this will never turn out to get rid of its version of parody
3:15 I love that Sisko is always holding babies whenever he gets a chance.
Tbf, Bajor seems to take *really good care* of their orphans. The Cardassian kid is treated _far better_ than you'd expect, and Quark is always raising money for them.
Knowing Gene Roddenberry's ideas for the Ferengi it makes sense that going over Quark's junk needs time
😂I see what you did there...
Take my upvote and get out!
@@SECONDQUEST Just one. But the words "not unlike a horse" were involved.😖
I wanted to upvote this comment but you have 69 up votes rn
DS9 is one of my favorite series. But I took the ending differently: The Kid was allowed to make a choice. His choice was also respected and allowed to be implemented. That would have never have been allowed in the Dominion and it gave him a little taste of freedom and independent he would never have again. I don't see that as only tragic.
I liked how over the course of series, we get to learn more about different species and I feel this episode and the other Jem-Hadar ones work well to flesh out how horrific the Dominion and the founders are.
Exactly.
If you respect the autonomy of others you have to respect choices they make that you consider *wrong*.
The strangest thing about the Jake/Mardah relationship is how casual she is about BEING INVITED TO DINNER BY THE EMISSARY.
LOL that's a good point. Maybe she's not very religious? I don't really remember if she was ever shown being very devout or not.
Appreciate the Young lyrics. But my god that line "but every junkies like a setting sun" gives me chills. 9 yrs clean.
One of the best things about this episode is that it makes 'Treachery, Faith and the Great River' even better, because it sets up the ground-work. Showing how hard it is to remove the Dominion programming in this one makes Weyoun-VI's breaking of his programming mean even more.
For the A plot moral, I think it's more about 'you can't convince everyone', but it also show that it's not totally unfeasible to actually reach out to them, just that they have to rethink their strategy on how they go about reaching out to them. The kid serves to show how dangerous the Dominion is.
A friend of mine went to a parent-school thing for his son and saw Neil sitting off to the side. No one would sit near him because he looked disreputable, but my friend recognized him, sat with him, and they talked about each other's kids. My friend was laughing at all the stuck-up Bay Area parents who would have tripped over themselves to talk to The Neil Young if they had only known.
I always like the tiny glimpses you see of Tuvok's relationship with his children. It only cone up a couple of times but Tim Russ does a great job of showing he loves his children in the restrained Vulkan way.
It's a shame Worf wasn't in this episode, he'd ship the kid to Earth as soon as he was out of the waffle iron
He'd prolly be a better dad to the genetically engineered killing machine than to Alexander.
I like this episode - is doesn't go with the easy 'the kid will overcome his genetically engineered programming' ending and shows that level of programming would be extremely hard to break - and that reflects the difficultly of breaking people out of real world programming. Plus the B-plot is pretty good.
In the Star Trek Online MMO video game (set about 40 years after this episode), the waffle iron kid comes back, played by the same actor, as the leader of Odo's fleet. The game gives him the name Dukan'Rex, and he plays a large part in the story of the DS9 expansion story Arc where he's torn between loyalty to Odo and to the other founders who are keeping secrets from him.
Thank you for sharing this! I never play MMOs or consume content from them (I have an addictive personality and try to avoid skinner-box games haha) but I love hearing about this one.
@@silversugar2140
The Kid's story is left unresolved in the show so it's great to learn more about him.
Jem’hadar only live into their 20s.
He lives to be 40? Most Jem'Hadar don't live past 20. They are considered honored elders at that point. Dukan'Rex must be like Merlin to other Jem'Hadar.
@@chickensandwich3398 Could be that with Odo's influence they've started taking better care of the Vorta and Jem haddar given his experiences.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the Jem'Hadar youth in this episode being compelled to fulfil his pre-ordained fate as a soldier for the Dominion and the episode "Hippocratic Oath" where we see a Jem'Hadar (Goran'Agar) being free from the addiction to the White as well as wanting to be free from the Dominion. Also a really good episode that I've seen many former drug addicts take particular appreciation for
I feel the episode is less about conditioning or deprogramming - as those are both psychological processes - but more strictly about the concept of nature versus nurture. Sometimes nature (yes, in this case "nature" is unnatural, but it's genetically coded into the Jem 'Hadar's being) is just too powerful to overcome but it's always worth the struggle to try to be better.
Better to be wrong with Odo than right with Kira.
I think they could easily have set up the salvage purchase and discovery of the kid as a Quark scheme uncovered by Odo.
The confiscated wreckage should have been brought back in once they realized the kid was Jem'Hadar because it's basically recovered enemy tech. O'Brien could have learned a lot that could have helped them in later episodes like The Ship.
I always thought it was a shame we never ran into Waffles again during the war.
Agreed
My personal read on the episode in context of much of Star Trek up to that point is that it is helping define the Dominion as being something different than what the Federation has dealt with before. It’s like the inverse of “I, Borg” in that it presents opponents that aren’t mindless cybernetic organisms but aren’t going to be defeated by Good Ol Starfleet Speechifying and learning what “friend” means
This episode has a couple of clunky moments but is overall fantastic. Sisko's change of tune regarding Jake and Marta is sweet and realistic, and the sorrow of Odo being unable to help the kid break his programming is palpable.
It was good of the writers to give us the Jake and Marta subplot so that the episode wasn't completely bleak.
Bumper Robinson also played the semi-reoccurring character of Leon on Night Court. Leon was an orphan that ultimately broke Harry Stone's heart. A type indeed.
Damn, I didn't expect to get hit so hard by the ending of this analysis.
I know I've mentioned it a little bit in the Dr Mora episodes on your streams, but growing up with an abusive parent and having to re-learn how the world works as an adult is something I've gone through. For a long time, I was annoyed that Odo stayed in touch with Dr Mora by the end of the show. Now, I can understand it. But somehow I never thought of the Kid as being similar to my first couple of years trying to move out.
Though if anything, I think that gives me more hope for the Kid in this episode than I ever had before. It took me a few goes before I learned how to navigate even the basic social mechanisms of independent life, I was (as you said here) "exhibiting negative behaviours after growing up in a damaging environment". I gave up a few times before it stuck. But eventually, it did.
Now, I don't know how much can be back-projected from that metaphor really.
Like you said, it has a bunch of sci-fi justifications that possibly change some of the implications. For one, it took me a good 6-8 years to eventually "re-parent myself" (as they call it). That's a good innings for a Jem'hadar lifespan. Is he going to have enough time to get anywhere? Is he even going to have another chance to escape, considering the Dominion's proverbial-cult will send him to his death rather than just keep him around?
But on the other hand, maybe he'll find himself on a planet much like Bashir and O'Brien found other stranded Jem'hadar. The Dominion seems pretty big, and there's plenty of intelligent people who want to avoid it. Maybe another doctor somewhere found another Jem'hadar with a mutation against needing ketracel white infusions, but he was able to provide it as gene therapy to other Jem'hadar. Maybe there is a (slight) chance for any Jem'hadar to escape somewhere, and live a fairly pleasant 6-10 years.
Anyway, yeah. Props for how you handled the subject matter here. From all angles.
I'm happy they left the ending open.
As Steve says it makes it an interesting episode to talk about.
@@alanpennie absolutely. I hope my comment didn’t give you the impression that I wanted anything more definitive. I clearly enjoy talking about the episode as well!
The actor playing the jem'hadar is Bumper Robinson. He reprised this role in Star Trek Online when the HurQ were re-awakened and attacked the founders homeworld.
I hope there will be an Orphans II batch. I'd really like to hear Steve's take on TOS's "And the Children Shall Lead", TNG's "Hero Worship", VGR's "Innocence" and DS9's "The Begotten". Trek had sooooo many orphan episodes.
I'm not sure Innocence qualifies as orphans considering the ultimate reveal, but you're right. There are plenty more orphans to go around, lol.
Gawd you do a great job enabling these episodes to have a new life for me... beyond just having enjoyed them, in the 90s...
I like what this episode says about DS9 and the Jem'Hadar. Were this a TNG episode Odo's attempt probably would've been successful; the Jem'Hadar can change they can move beyond their genetic engineering.
But DS9 says 'Nope! Kid's fucked. Jem'Hadar are just like that and will always be like that.'
It also really sells the evil of the Dominion.
Wait, that actor played Zamis from Enemy Mine?!?! That's so cool! Had no idea about that while looking at him, but I LOVE that movie! I'd love to see a breakdown of that film's story. It's such a good one.
I was not expecting a whole slew of Neil Young references in a video about a DS9 episode, and I am not complaining one bit!
Keep on Rockin' in Deep Space, Steve!
I always thought Odo tried to move a little too fast with the kid. "I'm not infallible, and also you should listen to me and go against your genetic programming" is kind of a lot to throw at someone who's less than a week old. If there was a chance of overcoming the preconditioning, it probably involved a lot of accumulated experiences, so he'd have something else to base ideas on.
Despite the failure of Odo's efforts in this episode, the series ultimately leans in the more optimistic direction when it comes to the question of whether the Jem'Hadar can escape their programming. Episodes like "Hippocratic Oath" and "Rocks and Shoals" repeatedly show us that they are more than soulless killing machines motivated by blind obedience. Even the very existence of Ketracel White proves that that conditioning isn't failsafe: in Weyoun's own words, "The Founders' ability to control the Jem'Hadar has been somewhat...overstated. Otherwise, we never would have had to addict them to the White."
Your reading of this episode is more charitable than mine. I always perceived the ending of as Odo essentially saying, "Failed -- shouldn't have tried -- won't make same mistake again." Worse, you could read the whole episode as a cynical attempt to establish that while mildly sympathetic, the Jem'Hadar are unrepentant murderers ("super-predators," to borrow a then-contemporary, racist discourse) predestined to violence and beyond rescue. Thus, our characters have a greenlight to kill them without moral compunctions.
I recently took in a homless person in his early 20s, fresh out of prison and still on probation. I put a roof over his head, gave him my bicycal so he had transportation, gave him a TV, gave him power and water. in the end myself and the friend who asked me to take him in found him passed out after taking somthing he thought was cocain and sold my bike and TV to pay for it. He threw my kindness back in my face, tried to take advantage of me from day one asking me to 'lend' him money without any intention of paying it back. but at least I tried and I'm not going to stop being kind because of it. he's not the first person to take advantage of my kindness and because I'm a gullible schmuck it'll probably happen again but I'm not going to compromise my morals because of it, jsut become a little more cynical I guess.
I'm sorry that happened to you but thank you for proactively trying to help someone in front of you. I am not in the position financially to be able to do so myself, and I admittedly have a fair amount of probably sexist stranger-danger as an AFAB person; so I'm rather envious of those who are readily able to be so comfortable and trust as you did. Obviously, be careful about it in the future, but I think it was a very brave and personable way to support someone. Kindnesses are often taken advantage of but I think it's never wasted if that makes sense? It's better to try. I hope you and yours will be well!
@@silversugar2140
I agree.
It was admirable behaviour.
Yeah, I can understand the drive to keep trying. Because every once in a while that story actually has a happy ending, where that person was genuinely down on their luck and just needed a bit of help.
Seems to me that the solution to Odo suddenly becoming the focus is pretty simple:
move the scene where his quarters are introduced to earlier, maybe right after the first commercial break.
I would also have Odo in that first infirmary scene where Sisko holds the baby. It makes sense for him to at least take an interest, Odo being head of security and all.
@@SteveShives
Good call. The quarters scene can end with him being called to the infirmary.
I can see an argument (several, actually) about whether this episode delivers a good or bad message about cults, drug addiction, or even transgenderism, as many here have been saying. I'm conflicted about it myself whenever I watch this episode. Hell, I'm not even sure there was an effort to make a 'good or bad' point in the episode at all. However, one thing is clear to me: René Auberjonois was an absolute gem of an actor. His acting in this episode is so... earnest and believable. Even his regret at failing to 'deprogram' the waffle-iron kid (LOL) is delicately balanced with his stoic defiance that he did the right thing. Gods, I love watching that man act. The world is a much lesser place without him.
It's still important to do the right thing even if there's no immediate pay off.
@@alanpennie Agreed, but that's what makes this episode so interesting to me. What, exactly, IS the right thing to do? And that question is never definitively answered.
It's interesting to compare this early season 3 episode with the early season 4 episode Hippocratic Oath, where Bashir and O'Brian get captured by Jem'hadar who want to be free of Dominion control and order Bashir to assist them in being able to live without the white.
I think maybe the writers realized they had limited themselves too much in what they could do with how firmly they established that the Jem'hadar were hardwired to serve the Dominion and be murder machines in this ep. So they made the pin-prick sized loophole of a Jem'hadar not needing the white, and maybe being able to learn new ways of thinking and living in the later ep.
I remember watching this when it aired and my only take away was the creators were trying to establish that the Jem''Hadar were different from other Starfleet enemies they had encountered, specifically the Klingons. The JemHadar were built to be soldiers and nothing else. We were never going to get see a peace treaty or inter marrying with humans and other species. It didn't occur to me until I watched your video that they enjoyed waffles. That piece of information would have seriously changed my view of the JemHadar.
My father instilled in me a great love for Neil young. The callback to needle and the damage done at the end brought a warmth to my heart. Keep up the amazing work. This episode being about fatherhood is no coincidence. If there is anything out there watching our moves I’m sure they are smiling on you. I’m happy that you have only grown stronger as time passes. I don’t leave many comments as I’m sure is evident in this one, but you made me very happy with this one.
I hate to bring this up, but he Jem Hadar kid would be considered "spoiled" by his contact with Starfleet and he would either be killed, or live his life out in a laboratory as subject of study. And then killed.
Always love an Enemy Mine reference! That movie deserves to be better known than it is.
"Everything you know is wrong. Black is white, up is down, and short is long. And everything that you thought was just so important doesn't matter." Makes me wonder if "Weird Al" was watching this episode when he thought up those lyrics. You really feel sorry for the Jem'hadar kid. He's been programmed to see the universe in a certain way, and the person he was programmed to see as a god is telling him that the programming is wrong. The whole thing is confusing for him, so he decides to find his people. He won't try to see past the programming because the programming simplifies things. Accepting Odo's view of things would complicate his life, and he doesn't want complicated. Odo has been dealing with complicated his whole life, so he doesn't understand how to help the kid with this. He HAD to accept the complications in order to make it on Bajor. The Jem'hadar knows how to return to his people, so he doesn't HAVE to stay at the station. He can choose to give in to his fear of the complications of living in the Federation and accept the simplistic view of the universe the genetic programming provides.
This seems to be DS9's variation on TNG's "I, Borg," and VGR's "Drone." In each case the show encounters an immature/brainwashed being from an antagonist of Starfleet. In TNG and VGR, of course, it was the Borg, here the Jem Hadar. For both Hugh in "I, Borg" and One in "Drone," the crew were able to help them see the value of lifeforms unlike themselves, leading in both cases to acts of self-sacrifice: for Hugh, returning to the Borg collective to spread the concept of individuality through shared consciousness, for One, choosing to die so that the Borg wouldn't assimilate his 29-century technology. Unsurprisingly, DS9 takes the most melancholy view, with the Kid embracing his Jem Hadar heritage. Nevertheless, the outcome here is not that divergent from the other shows in that the lost being does not have his right to choose his own destiny taken away from him. We may not agree with his choice,e but he, like Hugh and One, was given the agency to make a choice.
I imagion being hugged by sisko is not unsimiler to being attacked by a polar bear. Terrifying, brutal and smelling vagule of fish
I like the aspect of the Jake story of Sisco overcoming his prejudice about her profession. However, I still don't care for the age gap here. 20 year olds should not be dating 16 year olds, period.
I always thought that too. Sisko was being completely unreasonable by having a problem with her being a dabo girl, but he should have had a problem with his high school son dating a grown adult.
THIS. I know in fiction it's safe to explore all kinds of relationships so I don't have much of an issue with age-gaps in that regard. I feel like too many folks, including my past self, hold rather harsh and puritanical views when it cones to such things. But I agree 16 and 20 is sketchy as hell. Like, I know in the real world, at our present, ages of consent vary wildly by country, let alone individual States, but I still can't help but feel and state the obvious of how if it were a 16 year-old female-presenting character and a 20 year-old man it would have been clocked immediately as predatory by most folks these days. In some places it would even be considered statutory rape should a pairing with that gap consummate that relationship as minors cannot consent. It's a complex issue for sure. So in that way, May-December Romances involving teenagers do squick me out, but it's the gendered double-standard that really leaves me feeling angry, since the abuse of power in cases like this often leave male victims with less-to-zero support within the current system and broader understandings of sexuality! Fortunately, I do not think this episode would have been written like this today, and I wonder how such things will be viewed further in the future. Additionally, while I can't speak from a place of authority on the subject, as a white person, I am aware of how black folks are often thought of as older than they are and wonder how much this plays into the perceptions of the pairing and writing at the time. It's upsetting to think about. Let alone how that view still exists today and leads to real harm. I am kinda surprised this wasn't touched on and honestly it felt very glossed over in the review as well. Overall thank you for bringing this up as I feel it wasn't given the serious consideration it deserves.
Mad agree
You like to see Cisko overcoming his prejudice but you're really happy with your own.
@@alanpennie If thinking that 20 year olds shouldn't be dating 16 year olds is a 'prejudice' then sure. I guess I'm prejudiced.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When you get older and into proper adulthood, age gaps matter less and less. But when it comes to minors, it's a lot more of a concern.
I didn't take any RL analogue for the jem'hadar's situation, but rather that it was a commentary on how deeply evil the Dominion was willing to go. Their level of slavery was beyond Odo's imagination.
Interesting. I must admit I never saw parallels to real life issues in this episodes. To me this was always a showcase of how scary the Jem Hadar are. The Federation is proud to find solutions through peaceful negotiations and diplomacy. Yet, in this case they can‘t even convince a child they raised, that fighting them is not a good idea. We and the characters learn that their favorite instrument in their toolbox is completely useless against this opponent. No matter what they try, the Jem Hadar WILL fight.
you keep on rockin', buddy. it's a free world, after all
The Quark's junk examination was primo 🙂
On its own the portrayal of the Jem'hadar here is problematic. As a longer arc, with other episodes showing that the programing and addiction doesn't mean these people are hopeless, it makes this portrayal stronger. It sets up how hard it is to expect more from the Jem'hadar. Later reveals that Jem'hadar can rise over their genetic destiny are made better by it. You also see people like Bashir who still think of the Jem'hadar as beings who deserve understanding and compassion in spite of what he has seen here, framing his idealism in stronger terms.
I just finished this episode on my rewatch of DS9! Excellent timing on this upload
Not mentioned here, but Sisko's method of serving food is as genius as it is effortless: serve your own bowl, give that bowl to the guest, and swap for their empty bowl and serve yourself again. No messing around moving the cooking pot. That's how we serve our dinners in this household.
One big thing this does is cement just how terrifyingly complete the Dominion servitude programming is. Despite Odo being one of the Godlike pantheon to the Jem'Hadar, he's not subscribed to the indoctrinated perspective. The Dominion conquer, rule, and are beyond such concepts as comprise and dissenting opinions. Even the Borg have the possibility of individuality if freed from the hive mind. If you are a part of the Dominion, you aren't subjugated against your will, you are designed at birth to WANT to serve the Founders, and they are never wrong.
I really appreciate your review of this episode. I know exactly who I'm going to share it with. Thank you, Steve. Stay strong out there, bud. Don't let the crazy people get to you.
Oh, forgot to mention. I can see this episode as a "nature VS nature" discussion. Can you make a Jem'Hadar go against his preprogrammed instincts? Are we really the product of our parents?
Also, Steve, you should totally do comment reactions! Your bluntness is very entertaining!
I picture Ferengi junk now as just another ear with multiple lobes...the "you don't have the lobes for business" line makes a lot more sense now.
Oh god
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
I again assert that Sisko's Greatest Nemesis is himself
Excellent work. I was always a big fan of this show and this episode but I never thought of it from the cult angle. Having been actually raised in a religious cult I have to say, your assessment is pretty accurate
Worked that Young joke in, finally. Lol Good stuff.
Amen to Odo not letting the kid be turned over to Starfleet; Section 31 would have gotten ahold of him and tore him a new one!
Exactly.
It's important to Odo to protect innocent people.
13:04 - "....And don't call me Shirley!!"
As a trans person I'm going to take the position that there really are parts of people that are fundamental and that we cannot simply be reasoned out of. We may have free will, we can reframe and reinterpret these parts, to decide how we want to act on them, but we can't abandon them.
23:23 Bumper also voices Lucius Fox in Caped Crusader.
Wonderful perspective, Steve.
Got a Kai of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got dil (ithium) to burn,
got ship to fly!
I know you tried for Neil Young references, but when you got to the bit about Odo trying to tell the waffle iron kid that everything he knows is wrong, I had Weird Al in my head, instead!
He was ZAMIS???? Now I gotta rewatch this AND Enemy Mine!
This episode is really heartbreaking to me. But, that being said, I really wish there had been a later follow up episode featuring waffle-iron kid playing some kind of role in the Dominion War. I always wondered what ultimately became of him. Just a missed storytelling opportunity. Like, having him attempt to defect to the Federation alliance, or used by the Dominion in an attempt to manipulate Odo later on.
I kind of wish we had seen the kid again. Like during the Dominion occupation of DS9 he could reappear as a low ranked soldier...6th or something, and gotten into trouble for his familiarity with Odo. Might have made for a good episode.
I'll never hear "waffle iron" in a conversation and not immediately think of a Jem'Hadar now. Thanks 😅
So, I think the Waffle Iron Kid Idea was most direct in that they were trying to establish how evil the Dominion are, like they seem to leave they citizens alone, yet they rule through fear and a lack of choice for those they choose. The Cardassians could be empithized with, heck most villians can be empithized with. They wanted to show the depths of the baddies badness. A child without a choice.
Saucer Guy's species DOES seem to have a thing for orphan episodes, though. Kinda weird. I'm sure there's a beta canon novel all about how they use their saucers to draw power from child tears or something.
I'm not very good with episode titles, so with your description I thought this was going to be the one where Odo raises or attempts to raise the infant shapeshifter. I guess this plot happens more than once in ds9.
Nice Neil Young now work "King" into a review!
In my opinion, letting captive Jem'Hadar soldier escape is a huge fiasco and if it happens IRL, Sisko would be court marshaled for this.
"Waffle iron kid", that's awesome!
"That sounds like liberal horseshit" 😂😂
I’m not currently a patron so unfortunately I cannot properly suggest this
But an idea for trek actually I’d love to see someone bring forward is “Can the Jem’Hadar actually break out of their programming” there’s so many different depictions and some episodes even seem to be contradictory.
I often debate my own perspective on it, now I don’t know if there’s enough material as there was for the debate on if data had emotions the whole time, but I bet there’s at least some there
I am becoming more convinced that a lot of people's behavior is genetic, but not all of it, of course. People do have the ability, generally, to change their behavior. Separately, an unresolved issue in the story is Sisko is going to have problems with Star Fleet for not sending them the kid.
Given how Jem'Hadar names usually work, I'd say call him Waffle'klahn
I really miss this kind of low key character building in TV. The 8-10 episode format of modern streaming really keeps this kind of character portraiture from happening.
If only an alien with a PowderFinger would show up.
Enjoyed this episode my only gripe is we didn't get a follow up I feel like the Jem'Hadar kid could've been used in later episodes.
Bravo! Thanks for another great review. Where do you get those shirts and hats?
I'm still not comfortable with an adult dating a teenager, I don't think Sisko is unreasonable for wanting to break off a 20 year old from his 16 year old kid. If the genders were reversed everyone would think it's creepy. Maybe if she was 18 instead of 20 it would be less creepy.
If she was 18, the relationship would fall within the half your age plus seven that seems to be a workable benchmark.
It seems like they wanted the Jem Hadar thing to be a big reveal, so they took their time getting there. This revelation is the reason Odo gets involved.
You could have made the Neil Young references work Steve, I Believe In You....
They could have worked Odo into the episode a little bit earlier, obviously no one on the station would have more interest in examining Quark's junk than him.
*sigh*. Now I really want waffles…
Is the secret message of this episode "The Jem'Hadar are actually the scariest most bad ass villains yet, and there will be absolutely no negotiations, no diplomatic solutions. These guys are straight up cold blooded killers all the way through!"
I wouldn't call that a secret message, more like the whole entire point.
@@KayleighBourquin
It's a extremely superficial reading imo.
That I how I took it when I first watched it. They wanted to make sure we knew that the Jem Hadar were not Klingons. There would be no peace treaties or half human, half Jem Hadar waffle iron kids running around. They were engineered to be soldiers and nothing else. We take it for granted now but the whole Dominion structure was so refreshing back in the day.
I know that this was never the writers' intention, but the fact that the conditioning is coming from genetic engineering, something that DS9 would establish with Dr. Bashir as being a metaphor for neurodivergence and mental disability, makes the episode read much worse for me. It says that once you get diagnosed as a Jem'Hadar, all your hope is lost and you'll never be able to live a "normal" life.
I didn’t even notice the guy had saucers attached to his head. I don’t see species.
Well I am okay with Neil Young references
A quietly melancholy episode.
Even if Odo had managed to persuade The Kid there would have been the possibility that it was the result of programmed servility to Founders.
Also if they didn't return him to his people what were they to do with him?
Looked at coldly he was an unexploded bomb.
more Singing Steve!!
Another example of Trek characters possessing skills and knowledge they'd have no realistic way of attaining. I mean, when would Bashir, of all people, have been able to see accelerated growth rates inside a laboratory?
_The Waffle Iron Kid_ is still my favorite Robert Redford movie.
0:13 When I heard you say that, my thoughts IMMEDIATELY went to the opening scene of Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. In the scene, Quasimoto’s mother, holding him wrapped in a blanket, flees from Judge Claude Frollo; on the cathedral’s steps, when Frollo pulls the blanket from her arms, she strikes her head & dies. Frollo, upon unwrapping the blanket & seeing the baby, calls him a Monster & is prepared to drop him down a well, when Frollo is stopped by the cathedral’s arch-deacon. Steve, considering your low opinion of the Christian church, I'm surprised you didn't make this parallel yourself.
They spent a lot of time going over Quark's junk. He might need to get checked.
O'Brien was very thorough. He's a good man.
This review reminds me of one of the very few things that bothers me (albeit only slightly) about DS9. Is Ketracel White an enzyme that the jamhadar can't make themselves? Is it an enzyme that is *like* a drug they are addicted to? Or is it just a drug they're addicted to? It basically changes depending on the episode. And someone dying from an enzyme deficiency and someone dying from a drug withdrawal are quite different things. I wonder if someone along the chain of production was worried the average joe wouldn't know what an enzyme was, and wrote in a drug withdrawal simile that ended up talking over the concept half the time.
(That being said, I could see the same thing happening in universe. Bashir getting blank looks from other officers when he talks about enzyme deficiencies, explaining it as being like a drug addiction, and then facepalming a year later when he reads a memo from an admiral calling KW a drug.)
I happened to be listening to this episode on speaker because my earbuds were out of batteries. While I was downstairs, getting something out of the shed, the UPS driver stopped by. He very excitedly asked me if I was listening to Focus on the Family. And, no... No I'm not.
I felt bad for him. He was an older man, with a hopeful expression on his face. A bit puppy-dog eyed as he looked at me from the bottom of the steps. Maybe, just maybe, some of the younger kids are getting into conservative thought.
Sorry, guy. But, no. No I'm not.
Why do you pick the hilarious ones first lol