Star Trek DS9 - Season 6 - Episode 02
Star Trek DS9 - 6x02 - Rocks and Shoals
Originally Aired: 1997-10-6
Synopsis:
Sisko and his beleaguered crew are captured by the Jem'Hadar. [DVD]
Filler Quotient:
0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode is a candidate for my "Best Episode of DS9 Award."
Remarkable Scenes
- The teaser. Thrown right into the action!
- Seeing the Jem'Hadar ship sinking into the ocean background.
- O'Brien lamenting about tearing his pants, then laughing as he realizes that it's the least of his problems.
- Nog to Garak: "You tied me up and threatened to kill me." Good connection with DS9: Empok Nor.
- Sisko to Remata'Klan regarding his proposal: "Would you make a deal like that?" Remata'Klan: "No." Sisko: "Then why should I?" Remata'Klan: "You shouldn't."
- I like how when Nog and Garak are released, Nog walks ahead of Garak. ;)
- Yassim committing suicide.
- Keevan betraying his men.
- Everyone debating the morality of slaughtering the Jem'Hadar in this manner. Sisko: "Given the choice between us and them there is no choice!"
- Kira, lamenting about becoming a collaborator: "Half the Alpha Quadrant is out there right now fighting for my freedom, but not me."
- Sisko to Remata'Klan regarding his "decisive advantage": "To fight a battle under these circumstances would serve no purpose."
- Sisko: "Do you really want to give up your life for the 'order of things'?" Remata'Klan: "It is not my life to give up, captain. And it it never was."
- O'Brien: "What'd he say?" Sisko: "All the wrong things."
- The slaughter.
- Keevan showing up just after the slaughter, very pleased with himself.
My Review
An episode exploring the morality of conduct during war. On the station, the monotony of Kira's daily routine is depicted and we begin to see her slowly realize she's becoming a collaborator. In the end, she decides to go against Sisko's advice and form a new resistance after Vedek Yassim kills herself publicly to protest the Dominion occupation. More interesting though is Sisko and crew's situation stranded on the planet they crashed on. The Vorta leader, Keevan, decided to betray his own men by giving Sisko and crew his exact plan of attack so that instead of being stranded on the planet, he could surrender as a prisoner of war and spend the war resting comfortably in a Federation prison. Sisko is left with the choice of whether or not to go through with Keevan's plan. He doesn't like the shady morality of it, but he realizes that "given the choice between us and them there is no choice." He tries one last time to appeal to the Jem'Hadar's wits, informing them that Keevan betrayed them and that they'll surely all die if they decide to fight this battle. But instead of surrendering, we're shown instead just how insanely loyal Jem'Hadar soldiers are. They knew Keevan betrayed them and they walked into their own deaths knowingly, and proudly. Because obeying the command structure and the "order of things" means more to them than their own lives. A fantastic episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I don't really get it - how did the Dominion ship get there? We saw two jem'hadar fighters chasing our heroes and attacking them - then we saw the ship with the heroes crashing towards the planet in the nebula - but... ? Just before we saw the two enemy fighters breaking off, and no shot was fired against them...
A fantastic exploration of the poignant relationship between the Jem Hadar and their Vorta. The Jem Hadar's blind and doomed loyalty to 'the order of things' was somehow noble, akin to the Samurai ethic.
Kira's situation as a frustrated civil servant to a bureaucracy she despises was interesting too.
Lots of moral complexity here.
I like the dual storyline here depicting people wrestling with the morality of what they are doing. At the same time Kira is questioning whether she is a collaborator with evil, Ramata'Klan is being asked to question his own loyalty to the Vorta. Kira ultimately decides that she is playing the very role she fought against during the Cardassian occupation. Meanwhile, Ramata'Klan is well aware of the flaws of the Dominion command structure and the treacherous ways of the Vorta, but has resigned himself to his own role within that system. He chooses obedience-the overarching Jem'Hadar value-over his own freedom and self-determination.
This episode has lots of great scenes and dialogue: Garak and Nog's conversation just before being captured; Jakes interview with Kira and Odo; Ramata'Klan standing up to Keevan and insisting that only he should be able to discipline his men; and of course, Yassim's chilling suicide on the Promenade. Overall, a really well done episode and some fantastic acting by the guest stars who played Remata'Klan, Keevan, and Vedek Yassim.
Ummm, couldn’t sisko have just stunned all of them at the end?