Day of the Dove II

"Let He Who Is Without Sin" Plot Summary:

Worf, Dax, Bashir, and Leeta travel to Risa together, where a depressed Worf falls under the sway of a terrorist group determined to destroy the pleasure planet for environmental reasons, and where Leeta dumps Bashir out of love for Rom.

Analysis:

When I first heard the title, I was anticipating an overblown episode in which the allusion was so wasted as to be embarrassing--it's very difficult to come up with plots that rival the Bible for emotional intensity or moralizing value. I was right, of course, but this episode was so much worse than I feared that I can only be grateful for the fact that most of my favorite characters--Sisko, Kira, Odo, etc.--were not involved in the proceedings. I didn't think DS9 could come up with a sexploitation episode more annoying than "Fascination," but I was wrong.

The Dax/Worf storyline is quite possibly the most repugnant ongoing thread in Trek history. I hope they get married really quickly so that the novelty wears off and we can have the real Dax back. Couples who nearly kill each other like Dax and Worf need professional help--mutual kinky sex is one thing, but broken body parts are a different story, and it scares the hell out of me that the audience is supposed to accept violence as a sign of affection. Considering that DS9's target audience is young males, I hope parents are stopping their sons from watching episodes like this--for that matter, I hope someone is topping Cirroc Lofton from watching.

How is it possible that Dax has lived nearly ten lifetimes and has little enough self-esteem that she chooses men like Worf? How can she not know that jealousy and possessiveness can get people--particularly women--killed, especially during so-called consensual rough sex? Someone send her some murder trial transcripts from 20th century Earth, fast. She wants it rough--fine, as long as she stays out of the infirmary. But she needs to take her doctor on vacations--that's not a good sign. Worf's fear is making sense to me; he should marry a Vulcan in pon farr.

I feel almost as sorry for Bashir, I thought we'd finally gotten rid of the desperate-to-get-some caricature of the first season, and I never thought of him as stupid...before now. What are they doing to him this season? And Leeta, whose relationship with Rom has been really interesting and NOT exploitative although her initial interactions with Bashir made her out to be queen of the bimbos, is suddenly reduced to a typical Bad Girl giggling her way through cuckoldry (were we ever certain that they were dating? I don't remember them doing anything other than light flirting before). Rom deserves better than someone like this, no matter how she looks in a bathing suit.

I suppose I liked the brief moment where we learned about Worf's miserable childhood and the reason for his asceticism...though Dax's teariness seemed way out of proportion, considering that she still has reason to be angry. But then the wrap-up of what plot there was seemed ludicrous. There's more than just trust between two people at stake when one of those people sabotages an entire planet! This episode is the worst sort of trash: irresponsible personal behavior coupled with a violation of everything Trek and Starfleet are supposed to represent. I'd rather my kids watch The Playboy Channel; it might be exploitative of bodies, but at least no one gets battered, and nobody gets their politics in a knot because their sex lives suck.