173. Extreme Measures

Summary

Odo, Kira and Garak arrive on DS9 and the Chief sets to examining the Breen weapon they've brought. Bashir informs Odo that he has perhaps a week to live. Odo asks to see Kira and urges her to leave...he doesn't want her to be there when he dies. She finally agrees, reluctantly, then kisses him and tells him she loves him. Julian and Miles inform Captain Sisko of their very-illegal plan to lure a Section 31 agent to the station with news of a cure for Odo's disease then get the real cure from his mind with a Romulan mind probe. Sisko agrees, though feels it's a long shot. Bashir awakens to find Sloan in his room. He stuns him and brings him to the science lab, but when Sloan realizes what they intend he tries to commit suicide by disrupting his own brain signals. Bashir stabilizes him for one hour, then concocts a plan by which he and the Chief can mentally interface with Sloan's brain and find the cure themselves. They make the connection and end up in a replica of DS9, where they meet a much friendlier version of Sloan who seems to want them to have the cure. He is the embodiment of the part of Sloan that regrets his sinister actions and wishes for a more normal life, but when he tries to speak the cure it comes out garbled...some part of him doesn't want them to find the cure. Eventually the "good" Sloan is shot by the "evil" Sloan, who leads Bashir and O'Brien into a maze of corridors. They're both phasered but are determined to find the cure...just as Miles opens one last door they wake up in the science lab, revived by Sisko. Sloan dies and they don't have the cure. Bashir informs Odo that there is no cure and they try to resume their lives...until Bashir realizes that they're still inside Sloan's mind, he's tricking them into staying under until he dies, taking them with him. The find themselves back in the same corridor. They enter the room they were about to before "waking up"...Sloan is there amongst a disarray of papers and PADDs...all of Section 31's secrets for the taking. The Chief finds the cure, but Julian is tempted to stay and read all of Sloan's secrets. The Chief reminds him that if Sloan dies while they're inside there, they'll both die and so will Odo. They wake up with the cure to find Sloan dead. Bashir cures Odo, and life moves on.

Analysis

I think that, though far from bad, this is the weakest episode of the final arc so far. First, it's a shift in tone...all the episodes till now have been multiple-plot episodes, and I was used to that. This one focuses on a single thread and in a sense concludes it, as well as being rather ostentatiously Bashir and O'Brien's last hurrah. The premise of entering Sloan's mind and rummaging about in a virtual-reality construction is quite a sci-fi cliche, and one that's been handled better by other Trek series (TNG's "Future Imperfect" and "Phantoms" and DS9's own "Distant Voices" for example). Being something of a Section 31 fan I'm not in favor of the organization descending into this kind of villainy but I accept it as part of the plotline.

The actual execution of Bashir and O'Brien's plan was rather...anticlimactic. The episode was pretty talky, and their journey through Sloan's mind was not especially suspenseful or surprising. That whole scene of "good" Sloan apologizing to his family and friends was really out of place and just left me going "huh?" The whole wake-up-fake-out was no surprise at all, I know *I* saw it coming a mile away. Sloan didn't have that same aura of sinister pragmatism that he's exuded in the past, I found him much less compelling than in his two earlier appearances.

On the bright side, the episode did boast some clever dialogue and good performances from Sid and Colm. In addition, it was an unexpected wrapup to the whole Bashir and O'Brien friendship...the writers seemed to be deliberately giving in to the slashy subtexts, even reveling in them. In addition, the teaser scene between Odo and Kira was, in a word, wrenching. See "The O/K Status Report" below for more about this.

To sum up, I did enjoy this episode, but it lacked the punch of its predecessors and seemed relatively uninspired.

Rating: 6.5

Memorable Quote:

O'Brien: Maybe we should just let him [Sloan] die in peace.
Bashir: Miles, I need a multitronic engramatic interpreter.
O'Brien: Or maybe I could find you a multitronic engramatic interpreter.

Bashir: You may feel some discomfort.
Odo: If you mean it's going to be painful, just say so.
Bashir: It's going to be painful.

Classic Scene:

For purely emotional reasons, the aforementioned Odo/Kira scene in the teaser sticks out right away. Also notable, however, is the scene which finds Bashir and O'Brien sitting in a corridor in Sloan's mind, shot, with Julian trying to get Miles to admit that while he loves his wife, he likes Julian a little more. Oh, the slashiness.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"I'm disappointed in you, Sloan. You don't usually wield such a blunt instrument." --Bashir

The O/K Status Report

That teaser scene is, I think, my favorite ever O/K scene. It deserves complete preservation, so here it is, verbatim:

[Odo is lying in a special biobed. Kira enters and sits by the bedside, taking his hand.]
K: How do you feel?
O: Better. This contraption of Julian's seems to alleviate the pain.
K: Good.
O: You should be going soon.
K: I'm not going anywhere. Damar and Garak will just have to lead the rebellion without me.
O: Damar needs someone who's actually fought in a resistance movement. That's you, not Garak.
K: I'm not leaving until I'm sure you're...
O: I *want* you to go, Nerys.
K: Why?
O: You...watched Bareil die in this very room. I know how that's always haunted you. I don't want your last memory of me to be...witnessing my death.
K: Isn't that my choice?
O: Maybe it is. And maybe I'm being selfish by telling you everything that *I* want...but I don't want the last thing *I* see to be...pain in your eyes.
K: You'd be surprised how well I can hide my feelings...when I need to.
O: Not from me.
K: [pause] All right. [she puts a hand on his cheek and leans towards him as a tear falls down her cheek]
O: [pulls away] I...can't be a very pleasant sight.
K: I don't care how you look.
[They kiss...Odo's hand rises to grasp hers where it rests on his cheek]
K: There's so many things I want to say I don't know where to begin.
O: Just say you love me. That's all I've ever cared about.
K: I love you, Odo.
O: I love you, Nerys.

*Sob.* And so she leaves and is, presumably, unaware that he's been cured. It's a landmark scene...most notably because it was the first time (in our hearing, anyway) that Kira has told Odo she loves him to his face. I must say at this point that even if there's nothing more (which there is sure to be) we'll have been well-served by the treatment of the O/K thread that's run through the finale thus far. They're portrayed, as we've always been promised, as a mature, egalitarian parntership...and quite selfless in their devotion to and love for each other. I oughta be buying stock in Kleenex by now.

Special Alerts

1