“The Abandoned”
Written by D. Thomas Maio & Steve Warnek
Directed by Avery Brooks
Season 3, Episode 6
Production episode 40512-452
Original air date: October 31, 1994
Stardate: unknown
Station log: In Quark’s, Mardah gets a high roller to play one more round of dabo before walking away with his winnings—only to have him lose it all on that next turn. She then takes a break to tell Jake how happy she is that she’s coming to dinner with him and his father—something Jake didn’t realize was happening. He’d kinda hoped Sisko had forgotten about agreeing to have Mardah over for dinner way back in “Playing God.”
Rionoj approaches Quark, wanting to sell him salvage—perfectly legal, for a change, from a ship that crashed in the Gamma Quadrant. It’s mostly junk, but amidst the wreckage, inside a sealed container, he finds a crying infant. Quark immediately brings him to the infirmary, where Bashir declares him healthy, though he’s not sure which species he is, and the baby has a phenomenally developed metabolism.
Sisko is taken with the infant, and he confides to Dax that he misses taking care of Jake when he was a baby. When he goes home, Jake is sullen, mildly cranky that Sisko invited Mardah to dinner without warning him first, but he gets over it eventually. (What Sisko doesn’t tell Jake is that he’s not at all happy about his 16-year-old son dating a 20-year-old dabo girl, and he’s invited her to dinner so he can “see what I’m up against.”)
The next day, the infant is a pre-adolescent. Bashir is stunned by the rapid growth. The boy can talk, and says he needs food, and that he wants to learn. His intellect indicates that he may be part of an experiment in genetic engineering. His cognitive abilities are increasing without any significant external stimulus.
O’Brien reports that the chamber Quark found the infant in is a damaged stasis chamber—probably the boy wasn’t supposed to mature until the ship reached its destination. The rest of the wreckage appears to be junk.
Bashir discusses the boy with Dax: he’s definitely genetically engineered, but he’s also missing an isogenic enzyme that he can’t survive without. Bashir finds it an odd thing to program into someone, and he still doesn’t know if this is normal for his species or if he’s a special experiment.
The answer to that last question comes when the boy breaks out of the infirmary, his face having developed into that of a Jem’Hadar. He runs wild until Odo changes shape in front of him, at which point he defers to the changeling.
Sisko has been ordered to ready the Jem’Hadar for transport to a starbase where he’ll be studied. Dax and Kira are on board with this notion—Bashir and Odo, not so much. The former says this isn’t a biological sample, it’s a life form, and Odo has definite opinions about strange lifeforms being studied by scientists. The constable offers to take responsibility for the boy and try to learn more about him, using the deference for changelings that has apparently been programmed into him, and hoping to undo some of the damage the Founders have done to him.
Odo gets the boy to agree to let Bashir run more tests on him so he can manufacture the enzyme the boy needs to survive. All the boy wishes to do is fight, but he doesn’t know who or why.
O’Brien finds a case that contains what may be the enzyme the boy needs. There’s a tube that fits right into his carotid artery, and the enzyme is fed directly into his blood. It’s the perfect way to control your super-soldiers. Bashir finds the right dosage, and the boy insists on staying with Odo.
The boy insists that Odo is a changeling, and is therefore superior to all. He also insists that he’s inferior to Odo—but superior to everyone else. Odo counter-insists that everyone is equal, and that he’s not infallible, both concepts the boy has trouble with. He also wants to know more about his people, so Odo shows him footage of the Jem’Hadar boarding the Defiant at the end of “The Search, Part I.” The boy is very taken with the combat he sees, so Odo takes him to the holosuite to let out his aggression against a holographic foe.
Kira cautions Odo that he’s on a fool’s errand, and his attempts to show the boy that there’s more to life than killing fall on deaf ears. When Sisko explains that Starfleet is sending the Constellation to take him to a lab, the boy decloaks in Sisko’s office and takes Odo with him to a runabout pad so he can go to the Gamma Quadrant and be with his people. Sisko lets them go on foot, but he beams to the pad with a security detail. However, Odo convinces him to let the boy go. If he boards the Constellation he’ll either kill everyone or be killed himself. Odo takes him to the GQ, with Sisko’s blessing. The boy is gleeful at the fear he saw in Sisko’s eyes.
When he returns, Odo admits to Kira that she was right about the boy.
The Sisko is of Bajor: Sisko has Mardah over to dinner with the express purpose of, as O’Brien puts it, lowering the boom on her relationship with Jake, but as dinner progresses he learns quite a bit. As expected, he learns more about Mardah—that she’s an orphan, that she’s a budding writer—and she also has some pointed remarks about people who judge her solely on the basis of her job. (Sisko briefly looks chastised when she says that.) As not expected, Sisko also learns many things about Jake, including that he writes poetry and that he hustles dom-jot.
Preservation of mass and energy is for wimps: After his experiences on the Founder homeworld in “The Search, Part II,” Odo has decided to take quarters on the station and has abandoned his bucket. Now when he regenerates, he explores his new cabin (filled with monkey-bars-like accessories) in his gelatinous form, trying the lessons he learned from the other shapechangers.
He also learned what bastards his people are, so he spends the episode trying and failing to undo their genetic programming of the Jem’Hadar.
Rules of Acquisition: Sisko angrily asks Quark if there’s a Rule about inspecting the merchandise before you buy it, and Quark admits that there is and that he usually follows it.
Victory is life: The Jem’Hadar are bred to have an absurdly fast metabolism, growing to full size in a matter of days, and with spectacular cognitive ability. They also are born knowing how to fight—without ever having held a weapon in his short life, the boy is able to make short work of a holographic opponent—and have an addiction-like dependeny on an isogenic enzyme (which will be identified in “Hippocratic Oath” in the fourth season as ketracel-white).
What happens on the holosuite stays on the holosuite: Odo apparently has a program very similar to the one Yar demonstrated way back in TNG’s “Code of Honor” where you can face a single holographic opponent.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet: Kira brings Odo a plant to decorate his new quarters. He puts it in his no-longer-in-use bucket, which she deems perfect. It’s an adorable, but very friendly and mature scene.
Meanwhile, Jake and Mardah are totally smitten with each other, and it’s even more adorable. Considerably less adorable is how easily Quark gets taken in by Rionoj when she plays with his ears, selling him junk for three bars of latinum, which he winds up just giving to Starfleet. He insists it was worth it at first—she really was playing with his ears a lot.
Keep your ears open: “Actually, I got to know Jake a little better. Have you ever played dom-jot with him?”
“Nope”
“Don’t.”
Sisko telling O’Brien what he’s learned about his son.
Welcome aboard: Leslie Bevis returns for her annual appearance as Rionoj, having previously appeared in the second season’s “The Homecoming”; she’ll be back in the fourth season’s “Broken Link.” After being discussed in “Sanctuary” and “Playing God,” Jake’s love interest Mardah actually appears, played by Jill Sayre in her only onscreen appearance. Hassan Nichols and Bumper Robinson play the Jem’Hadar boy at various ages.
Trivial matters: Sisko finally fulfills his promise to Jake made back in “Playing God” to have Mardah over for dinner. This is the only time we see her onscreen. She’ll be mentioned again in “Fascination,” which is when the relationship will end.
It’s not clear when Mardah attended Keiko’s school, since Keiko said in “The House of Quark” that Jake and Nog were her only students because all the other kids left the station—but Mardah’s obviously still there, so why didn’t she get listed?
The role of Mardah was originally going to go to Chase Masterson, but it was decided that she was too old to play Jake’s girlfriend (Masterson is 15 years older than Cirroc Lofton, where Jill Sayre is only two years older). Masterson will get cast later this season in “Explorers” as a different dabo girl, Leeta, which will become a recurring role.
This is the first episode to indicate that Jake has any interest in being a writer, which will be his eventual career path. It’s also the first indication that he plays dom-jot, the pool/pinball mashup that we first saw in TNG’s “Tapestry.”
This is the first of three episodes that star Avery Brooks will direct this season. He’ll also direct “Fascination” and “Improbable Cause.”
Although Natalija Nogulich doesn’t appear, Admiral Nechayev is name checked by Sisko toward the end of the episode.
Walk with the Prophets: “Tell me more about my poet-hustler son.” This is one of those episodes that is perfect to use if you want to show the difference between TNG and DS9. When TNG did this story in “I, Borg,” there was a message of hope embedded in it. Picard and Guinan’s insistence that this was a Borg and nothing could change that was wrong, and the lesson learned in the episode was that nurture could trump nature.
On DS9, that cuts the other way, and does a tremendous amount to make the Dominion in their own way scarier than the Borg, because Borg implants can be overcome, but the Founders’ genetic programming can’t. Kira takes on the role that Picard and Guinan had in the TNG episode, with Odo in the La Forge role, but the last scene is Odo admitting that Kira was right. The boy can’t possibly be anything other than a Jem’Hadar. (Tellingly, he doesn’t get a cutesy nickname the way Hugh does.)
Still this plot feels irritatingly first-drafty. At first it seems to be about Quark, both in his checking up on Mardah to make sure she properly fleeces the customers and his buying the salvage off Rionoj—but after he hands off the kid to Bashir, we don’t see him again in the episode (too bad, as I’d be curious to see what he thinks about his dabo girl dating the station commander’s son). Sisko gets the big grin on as he holds the infant version of the kid, and he waxes nostalgic about when Jake was a baby—but that proves to be foreshadowing of the B-plot and has nothing to do with the child. Then maybe it’s a Bashir story as he tries to learn more about the kid—but as soon as his face fills out as a Jem’Hadar, it becomes Odo’s story.
The emotional beats for Odo work nicely, especially as it’s coupled with the revelation that he’s abandoned his trusty-wusty bucket for a cabin with a jungle gym. It’s a fascinating evolution for Odo, as he’s taken on a great deal from meeting his people, from joy at what they can accomplish as shapechagers to revulsion at what they’ve done as sentient beings. Even as he embraces being a changeling, he rejects being a Founder. Unfortunately, in the end, so does the Jem’Hadar.
The B-plot is far more compelling, mostly due to the sheer happiness that bursts from the faces of both Cirroc Lofton and Jill Sayre. These are two people who enjoy each other’s company. And Avery Brooks directs himself beautifully, as Sisko’s intentions for the dinner go completely and delightfully sideways.
And what’s nice is that, even as the episode tells us there’s no hope for the Jem’Hadar, it also reminds us that it’s not a universal truth. What you are doesn’t have to be who you are—Odo says that to Kira, and Mardah demonstrates it by being more than the vapid hot chick that everyone assumes her to be because of her job. What makes the Dominion such a threat is that they take away the choice from the Jem’Hadar—the boy can’t do what Kira did when she stopped being a terrorist or what Mardah does when she tries her hand at writing or what Odo does when he tries and fails to undo the work his people have done.
Warp factor rating: 7
Keith R.A. DeCandido will be at Philcon 2013 this weekend in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, doing panels, a reading, an autographing, and a self-defense workshop. His full schedule is here.
The pessimism of this episode is exactly why I hate it. The attitude that any being is an irredeemable savage because of his race is not an attitude that any Star Trek story should ever portray as correct, I don’t care what genetic technobabble you use to justify it. And casting black actors in the role gives it far uglier implications.
It’s a good point that the Mardah subplot helps counter the “prejudice is right” vibe of the A-plot, but it’s not enough. Honestly, I never cared that much about Jake’s romantic life.
In my mind, that was the true horror of the situation, and put the Founders in a category of villains beyond any other; they, more than the Cardassians, the Borg, or any other of the adversary races were the epitome of a perfect fascist culture.
In their genetic manipulation of both the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar, they made war between them and the races of the Alpha Quadrant not only necessary, but correct.
It was, in my mind, a needed corrective to TNG’s ethos that there was no such thing as evil, only greater or lesser levels of misunderstanding.
I’d have more of a problem with this episode if they never showed any variation in the Jem’Hadar’s villainy-factor, but the later episode with the group trying to break free of the founders showed that they are not irredeemable.
First time I saw this, I was 13 and just fascinated by the Jem’Hadar and jealous of Jake. On rewatch, I can see it as not everyone WILL be redeemed as opposed to not everyone CAN be redeemed. Admittedly this is due to context not supposedly yet available, but I think the good Jem’Hadar episode was inevitable for a Trek series and see this as just a dark (and interesting) step on the road.
When I first saw the Jem’Hedar boy talk at full size I thought Zammis how big you’ve grown. Enemy Mine is one of my favorite movies. It is sad that they can’t change the boy but it does emphisize the Federation fear of genetic engineering in a whole new way.
I saw it as a very pointed reminder that a fascist control-freak state is a very dangerous one. The Founders’ State is one that controls its people at a fundamental level. It’s not supposed to be a thing to emulate.
@3: Maybe, but this episode still felt to me like it was saying, “Hey, kids, if you hear someone spewing prejudiced rants about how a certain race of people is evil and should never be trusted, listen to them! They’re probably right!” Whatever the in-story rationalization, it’s the unintended implications that really stick in my craw.
Then, of course, there’s the tiresome sci-fi cliche of the baby growing to adulthood in a couple of days, which is metabolically insane. This is another one of those instances where the show would’ve been better off in today’s more serialized mold. In that case, maybe this storyline could’ve been stretched across three or four episodes as an ongoing subplot. There are some animals that mature to a relatively large size in a matter of weeks, so I could buy that timeframe for a Jem’Hadar infant’s maturation more easily than the span of a couple of days shown here.
I’m with TBGH – I’m ok with the pessimism of the kid unable to overcome his programming only because they show more nuance to the Jem’Hadar in later episodes. Particularly Hippocratic Oath, where it becomes very clear that some of the Jem’Hadar *would* choose a different path if only they lacked the Ketrecel-White addiction.
As for the metabolic growth … you’re talking about a faction that already demonstrates liberally their ability to violate the law of conservation of mass. ;-) When the Founders can do that, why not make their pet-engineered creations have the same ability?
Though it’s worth noting that Odo himself is the more uplifting moral –he isn’t like the other Founders. The “moral” I took from it is that overcoming one’s nature is not easy (it isn’t) and can take a lifetime of struggle (it does), and can only be accomplished by someone wanting to change.
It’s not something that can be done in a few days of talking at someone rather than to them.
This episode also establishes an often-ignored bit of Jem’Hadar nature: their shrouding ability is biological, not a matter of technology (we’ll see this again during the war; when they go through ketracel withdrawal, they lose the ability to shroud).
There’s a lot of world-building in this one, with all sorts of new info about the Jem’Hadar we never knew before, which I’m guessing is mostly the reason it was written.
I’m still unclear on how/why the baby ended up in the wreckage. Did someone else destroy a Jem’Hadar ship? Was it an accident? Do I dare speculate that the Dominion secretly manipulated events so the baby ended up on the station, just as a means of testing Odo?
I also thought the fight choreography in the holosuite was really cool – fast and brutal.
I don’t know. I can’t really warm up to this episode. The A-plot is really just a whole bunch of exposition poorly dressed up as story. Sure, it’s a step up from Female Founder giving an “As you know, Weyoun” speech, but there really isn’t enough there to support an entire A-story.
The B-plot is nice and does offer some good character development. Not just Jake the budding writer, but also Ben realizing that his son is growing up. But it doesn’t really stand on its own very well. Just about everything that makes this plot work comes from our previous knowledge of the Siskos pere et fils. Lofton and Brooks really have great on-screen chemistry, though. Theirs may be the most believable relationship in Trek since the Kirk-Spock friendship and I don’t think there’s been a better one since.
I have to admit, the age difference is still a little weird to me. It never occurred to me that her being a dabo girl meant she was otherwise unsavory, it’s more the age difference that is a bit odd. Maybe 16 year olds are very mature in the Star Trek universe ;)
Agreed on the general bad taste the A-plot leaves (it seems a dumb generalization to make based on their sample size of one). Although it definitely highlights the horribleness of their society that they would consign the Jem’Hadar to this fate genetically, if it truly is so iron-clad.
The non-Jem’Hadar makeup during his early development did serve to throw me off a bit. My first instinct was that the baby was a Jem’Hadar, but then we saw the kid and he wasn’t. Bashir kept talking about the things he’s finding out and I’m like, “Jem’Hadar! Jem’Hadar!” but the kid clearly wasn’t…so then I felt pretty vindicated when he was.
I really liked René Auberjonois in his scene where he’s explaining to Kira about wanting to change into all the shapes in the room. I think it’s a good character development for Odo.
It’s interesting though to think that maybe the characters don’t really believe he is an irredeemable killing machine, or maybe they just can’t overcome their natures…because in the end, they let him go.
Also, I just thought of something too…if ketracel white is something that can’t be replicated and is only manufactured and supplied by the Dominion, how do the Sona have their hands in dealing it?
@12: Insurrection, I believe, was set after Dominion forces had established a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant and been cut off from the Gamma Quadrant. I believe it was shown that the Vorta in the AQ had the means to produce White for their troops. I think the idea was that they’d subcontracted the Son’a to produce it for them, or something like that.
@1: I can see your point viewed from a racial standpoint, but genetics dictate more than just race. I saw this more as an allegory along the lines of a Law and Order: SVU episode I recall (don’t remember the title). The jist was that some people are born with a genetic disposition toward psychopathy. If those traits, behaviors, and markers are discovered in a child, is there anything anyone could do to change what he/she will become?
It is a pessimistic–but “real world”–view, which is a trend in DS9 which I occasionally enjoy.
Again, I’m not discounting your distate based on race; just proposing another way to look at it.
@14: “…some people are born with a genetic disposition toward psychopathy. If those traits, behaviors, and markers are discovered in a child, is there anything anyone could do to change what he/she will become?”
We know for a fact that there is. I don’t remember any specific sources I can cite, but what I’ve read on the subject says that such innate tendencies will be amplified if a child is neglected, abused, or traumatized, but if a child with those tendencies is raised in a loving, stimulating, constructive environment, it can counteract the antisocial leanings and allow the child to grow up healthy. In the same way that someone born with a weakened limb can develop it to normal strength through intensive exercise, or someone with a stutter can learn to speak normally. It takes more work, but it’s doable. Genes only determine what we start with, not what we’re limited to. Whatever traits we’re born with, we can adjust them through exercise, therapy, or other modifications.
So basically this episode was wrong. Saying that someone’s genes place absolute limits on how they will behave as adults is as genetically inept as TNG’s “Genesis” was in its portrayal of mutation. Upbringing does make a difference. If anything, the only problem was that the Jem’Hadar boy matured too fast, so Odo didn’t have enough time. Given more time to nurture and guide the youth, he might’ve succeeded in changing his behavior.
@15: I agree with you about the genetics. In the scope of this episode, however, I think there’s also the fact that he wasn’t just programmed with just genetic tendencies, but also knowledge. He had language programmed into him somehow, and one would also suppose belief systems and other thoughts. And you’re right, he grew up to fast (and didn’t have enough time on the station) to really start to learn to counteract that. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done…I still agree with you. But I think in this case, in the context of the show, it would’ve been so much harder for him, with preprogrammed knowledge in addition to instincts, and no real world experience.
@16: Yes, I can buy that it was harder. What bothered me was the way most of the characters seemed to assume it was impossible, and the way the episode implied that they were right. Usually when Star Trek shows intolerant attitudes conflicting with inclusive and optimistic attitudes, it’s the latter that prevail, and that’s what I like about the franchise. It really made me uncomfortable to see it happen the other way around.
This will go down as the episode where Sisko goes crazy making terrible decisions. Let’s start with the “A” plot. Whereas I accept that Odo has “feelings” about letting the Jem’Hadar become a lab rat like he was, what is at stake here is far more important than the life of one drone. Sorry, but the live of millions hang in the balance. They need to be studied and for Sisco to just wave them off and tell Odo that he will lie to Starfleet…well let’s just say that that pretty much is a court marshal able offence. And then the whole thing with 16 year old Jake and the 20 year old dabo girl….really? The revelation that your son is a hustler poet pimp supersedes the fact that he is involved in a statutory rape relationship (by our standards, anyway) and needs a good boot in the backside.
The Jem’Hadar does know who he wants to fight, KRAD; everyone that’s not a Founder. I think this is the last we hear of Admiral Nechayev, isn’t it? Admiral Ross will come to replace her in time. I wonder why the Jem’Hadar look so different as infants? Naturally, to throw us off the trail until the big reveal at the end of Act 2. 18: How is Jake pimping Mardah? Surely that’s Quark as her employer.
@19/David Sim: The Jem’Hadar look different as infants because there’s no way anyone’s going to subject a real baby to the ordeal of getting tons of elaborate prosthetics glued onto the face, even if the baby would ever sit still for such a thing. And they didn’t have the budget to create a convincing animatronic alien baby.
It’s the same reason Naomi Wildman’s “Ktarian” makeup on Voyager was just a few little horns on the forehead rather than the more elaborate appliance seen in TNG’s “The Game.” The first time we saw Naomi was as a newborn baby, so the makeup had to be simple enough that they could just stick a few tiny, easily removable bits onto the baby’s face and not cause any serious discomfort.
@ChristopherLBennett: Just watched this episode and didn’t see an intolerant message in it. I thought the message was meant to comment on the old cliché: “you can’t change human nature.” Although it is a trite saying, there is a lot of truth to it as the traits of Shakespeare’s characters — Macbeth, Hamlet, Iago, Othello, Kate, Romeo, and Juliet — are all instantly understandable centuries later. There seems to be persistence of behavior amongst people despite how much the culture and technology have changed over that time.
I am not trying to say that environment does not also shape people; it clearly does. But there are fundamental qualities that people do possess that do not go away despite changing circumstances.
The nature vs. nurture debate in analyzing human behavior has largely been resolved: it’s BOTH that equally shape who we are, not one or the other.
@21/RMS81: I’ve already explained my concerns above. I’m not saying the message was intended; on the contrary, if they’d realized they were implicitly saying “Prejudice is right, guys!,” they would’ve changed it. This was a misfire, not malice. And I explained in comment #15 why I don’t accept the pretense that innate tendencies are impossible to overcome.
Thank goodness this show ended up having reruns on television again. I missed a lot of episodes when it originally aired. I forgotten how this one ended.
Keep in mind though, these are aliens we are talking about, not humans. It is not beyond the realm on possibility that there are other species in the universe whose behavior is strongly determined by biological makeup alone. In fact, it is implied the major difference between the Jem’Hadar and humans is their genetic tendencies are too strong to overcome.
@24/RMS81: Yes, to an extent, there are species whose behavior is genetically determined, and we call them plants and animals. Sentient beings, by definition, have more complex behaviors that are shaped by more than just instinct or biological programming. Intelligence cannot exist without complexity, and where there is complexity, there is individual variation and room for change.
Indeed, even purely genetic factors are subject to variation in response to the environment. Science has moved beyond the simplistic myth that genes are the sole, absolute determinant of all aspects of an organism. They’re just one piece of the puzzle that also includes epigenetic and environmental factors. Different individuals with the same genetic potentials will express them differently, or not express certain ones at all, depending on how they develop.
I have a different view of Odo’s failure to change the boy. I don’t think it would have been impossible. Very difficult, because he grew up so fast and had all those shitty pre-programmed instincts and responses, but not impossible. The way I see it, Odo failed because he chose the wrong approach. Instead of telling the boy unpleasant truths about his people and teaching him in a purely intellectual manner about equality and freedom, he should have shown him examples of people treating each other respectfully, maybe create everyday situations where he and the boy could interact with some of the others, provided he could have found people who didn’t fear the boy. Not have him fight opponents on the holodeck. And above all, give him a name!
This isn’t a criticism of the episode, on the contrary. Odo couldn’t have done any of those things because he’s Odo – he’s an outsider himself, he’s rational, he’s rigid, he works in security. He wasn’t the right person for the task. At the same time, he was the only person, not just because he was a Founder, but also because he was the only one who cared enough to try. I loved it that he set himself this task even though he was unsuited for it.
I also loved it that Bashir and Sisko supported Odo, whereas Kira and Dax argued against it. Everyone was acting in character, there was no gender stereotyping, and altogether, the main characters came across as nice, caring people. Great episode. So far I’ve watched one third of season 3 and liked this one best.
I suppose you needed two of the main cast to be against it, but I don’t know how in character it was for Dax to behave like this.
@27/MaGnUs: You know her better than I do, since I’m currently watching DS9 for the first time. But I found it believable that she would be a sceptic. After both Odo and Bashir had argued in favour of the boy out of moral considerations, she presented objective arguments supporting the opposite position. She didn’t say that it was a bad idea like Kira did, she merely pointed out possible problems. I thought that was in character.
All the comments miss one critical factor.
Whether the boy is raised by Odo or taken by Starfleet, one thing remains – he would very soon die from the lack of the White. The Jem’Hadar in “Hippocratic Oath” were weaning themselves off of it; this J’H had never had any at any point in his life since leaving his stasis pod. He was much more aggressive than he would normally be (J’H are very good soldiers taking orders, not mindless berserker warriors) because of the lack of the Ketracell White.
It was also because of the lack of training.
GregRoar: fair point.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
To be honest, the fact that they weren’t able to turn the Jem’hadar into a model Federation citizen was, for me, a point in the episode’s favour, as it really highlights just how monstrous the Dominion and the Founders are. Aside from the Great Link itself, nothing and no one has any inherent value in the Dominion; you play the role the Founders give you, and by God, you will conform to it, even if they have to mangle your genetics to keep you in your place. To have the Jem’hadar’s issues be solved either with a TOS-style speech about the innate goodness of humanity or a TNG technobabble solution would undermine that threat, and turn the Dominion into just another Problem of the Week instead of the major arc villain that defined so much of the series. Odo’s failure here isn’t supposed to be a mark of cynicism, but of tragedy, that despite all his sincere and genuine efforts, he’s unable to undo the damage his people have wrought upon the Jem’hadar, and a further reminder that the people he’s longed to rejoin for as long as he can remember are the antithesis of everything he believes in.
The thing I found amusing in this episode was Odo showing the Jem’Hadar kid the fight on the Defiant’s bridge from The Search. Basically this kid watches Sisko beating the crap out of the Jem’Hadar boarding party and he’s impressed with his people?! Every time Sisko knocks a Jem’Hadar down the kid’s smile seems to grow. It all just felt weird to me.
@35/thierafhal: We see what we want to see. I’ve seen enough bizarre fan interpretations of TV shows and movies to know how easy it is for people to fixate on the parts that support their preconceptions and ignore the parts that contradict them. There are people who read/watch superhero stories and don’t understand that they’re supposed to be about fighting for social justice. There are people who watch Fight Club and think it’s endorsing and encouraging the toxic masculine behavior it’s condemning. So I can buy that someone who was predisposed to celebrate Jem’Hadar fighting prowess could selectively ignore the fact that they were losing the fight. Heck, at least he has the excuse of being genetically programmed to think that way.
I think a lot of the unfortunate messages that can be construed from this episode are the result of the writers being too single-minded in their purpose: to make the anti- “I, Borg,” to show the audience “We’re not going to wimp out with the Jem’ Hadar and make them nice guys once you get to know them a little.” When it came to the larger implications, I don’t think they could see the forest for the trees.
Probably not he wisest decision for Odo to introduce holographic blood sports to the young lad right after he watched his people in action. There are other sports! Or how about martial arts? You know, something where victory isn’t determined by impaling your opponent with a bladed weapon.
Really playing with fire there, Odo.
@38/Piglet: Yep. See my comment #26.
Lockdown Rewatch, Could never make my mind up about this episode originally and still can’t after the rewatch, as has been stated it’s clearly the DS9 attempt to reverse the i Borg episode from TNG but I am not convinced it works.René Auberjonois as always put his absolute utmost into it but I don’t think there was any way of producing an emotional connection between the young Jem Hadar and the audience. Maybe that’s what the show runners wanted, to show that the Jem Hadar are the toughest opponents the Federation has faced, but I think we got that any way from the Season two finale. The Jake subplot is good, but gets the legs chopped from under it later in the series when Jake and Mardah break up off screen!! at least show us a break up episode if you have gone to the trouble of establishing the relationship we see here.
Like House of Quark, this episode contained another laugh out loud moment when Odo demonstrated how to smile to the boy and gave us his best grin.
I think 26 nailed it up above – I was dumbfounded that Odo thought showing him other Jem’hadar fighting and then turning him loose in a holo fight was a good planning. Maybe it was a way to reach him, but Odo didn’t have any follow up planned. The kid needed Worf – a warrior he could be made to respect who could then try to temper the boy’s warrior lust with honor and discipline.
Whichever way one leans with their feelings about the ultimate message this episode proposes, I loved the final scene with Odo and Kira. Odo thinks Kira was right, but the look of compassion and understanding in Kira’s face is played perfectly by Nana Visitor at how agonizing it was for Odo to come to terms with that conclusion within the context of the episode.
I realize that they’re trying to make an anti-“I, Borg” with this one, but in that episode, Picard actually had legitimate reason to believe that the Borg were irredeemable by nature. Here, the crew barely knows anything at all about the Jem’Hadar at this point, and yet most of them are already willing to assume that they can never be anything more than soulless killing machines. Even if they happen to be “right”, it still seems a strange thing to assume on the information that they have available at this point.