From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: DS9 Grade Report: "A Man Alone"
Date: 24 Jan 93 23:58:34 GMT
Reply-To: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Dept., Madison, WI

Spoilers for the DS9 episode "A Man Alone"...

There's one concept which Star Trek: The Next Generation seems yet to be able
to pick up on after five-plus years: Get a story with some real tension in it,
dialogue it well, and make the story flow smoothly and you can overcome a lot
of deficiencies.  After just three episodes, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seems,
well, if not to have mastered the idea, to be aware that it exists and be
giving it a try!

Hence, in TNG we end up with clunky morality plays like "The Quality Of Life"
and "True Q", feebly-dialogued tales like "Rascals", and atmospheric-but-
unsatisfying pieces like "Schisms".  But DS9 serves up "Past Prologue", which
lacks a gosh-wow premise but has several cutting lines, a powerful exchange
between Kira and Odo, and a rousing climax.  It also gives us "A Man Alone",
which, while not the bang-up episode that "Past Prologue" was, had several
nice scenes, kept me chuckling at the dialogue much of the way through, and,
despite the disparate subplot of Keiko's school, seemed very much "of a
piece".

(Now just _why_ TNG has been unable to learn this lesson while DS9 has,
despite the fact that the two shows are being overseen by many of the same
people is a verrry interesting question.)

Certainly, "A Man Alone" had its problems.  For instance, the cloning premise
ran afoul of the usual problems that SF TV has with clones - why would they be
created fully-grown, and why would they have any memories or personality when
created?  (Ibudan's murdered clone didn't look like a gibbering idiot, after
all.)  The climax was also extremely rushed, leaving me feel a bit
unsatisfied.

On the other hand, there was a lot to like here.  Paramount, perhaps, was the
exchange between Odo and Quark, as well as Quark's defense of Odo at the bar.
Nice to see that there's still honor among thieves - or something. :-)

Another plus was Dr. Bashir not acting like quite so much of a weenie.
Certainly, he's still out of his league with Dax, but he isn't acting like a
bumbling fool anymore.  In fact, he continues to behave competently in his
job, all of which is good:  The "greenie just out of the academy" was getting
mighty tiresome.

Odo's problems here were well-portrayed.  Odo somehow manages to be a
sympathetic character despite his gruff exterior, perhaps in part because when
the mob was after him, he didn't fight:  He ran to his quarters.  Clearly he's
not as powerful - in some sense - as we might have thought.  Odo continues to
be the most intriguing character among the cast.

Hmm... it's starting to look like DS9 might end up being a successful
"ensemble cast" series (where TNG has pretty decisively failed at portraying a
large, balanced group of interesting and dynamic personalities).  Sisko, Kira
and Odo all seemed interesting last week, and this week we have Dr. Bashir
climbing up that ladder, bit by bit, and Dax finally coming into her own
through some exploration of Trill nature, and Quark becoming so well-defined
here in relation to Odo.  I think that I would have preferred a teaser
involving the main story, rather than the throwaway scene with Bashir and Dax,
though.  More effective storytelling that way.

"A Man Alone"s major theme was that of justice in relation to law, as seen in
Odo's desire to kick Ibudan off the station, and, later, the mob's desire to
kill Odo (which was a very good scene).  The last echo of the theme - "Killing
your own clone is still murder" - was a bit weak, since the concept of cloning
was not satisfactorily explored here.  But it's certainly nice to see them
paying attention to such issues as theme.

The thread involving Keiko was of course not at all related to the main story,
but it seemed to get integrated into it well enough.  I'm still not too
impressed with Rosalind Chao's acting, and I hope that the school doesn't
become more than a minor point of DS9 episodes  We'll see.

On the whole, this was another entertaining installment of the series.  The
show is clearly still suffering some growing pains, but having gotten past the
obligatory !Big!Two!Hour!Premiere! episode, it seems to be on the right track.

Grade: B

DS9 SEASON ONE AT A GLANCE:
Emissary: C-
Past Prologue: A
A Man Alone: B
---
Total Points: 8 2/3
Season Average: 2.889 (B)
(Rise of 0.056 from previous episode)

Next Week:

Oh, no!  Another Star Trek plague episode!  Will DS9's progress be derailed
so soon?  Stay tuned, true believers...

-- 
Michael Rawdon				  rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department,  Madison, WI

"Can this world not do better than you for a champion?"
"Probably.  I just do the best I can."
					- The Brigadier
					  Doctor Who, "Battlefield"