Liveblog & analysis of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S1:E3.
Spoiler Notice: I have seen every episode of Deep Space Nine, The Original Series, and The Next Generation multiple times, and I have seen most of Voyager and Enterprise at least once.
I will not be holding back late-season knowledge or knowledge from other shows as spoilers, and it is likely that there will be spoilers for both throughout.
Season One: Emissary (E1-E2) | A Man Alone (E3)
A Man Alone: (from Netflix) The adjustment period aboard Deep Space Nine continues as transplants from across the galaxy attempt to come to term with their lives and each other.
Character set ups, character set ups!
A Man Alone is one of those episodes where I always remember bits of it or particular scenes or dialogue, but never the actual plot or arc.
We open on Julian walking in on Jadzia while she’s meditating and him absolutely throwing himself at her and being extremely eager and desperate for her attention and her trying to gently tell him that he’s being too clingy and desperate and it’s so funny to me.
It’s obvious that Jadzia finds him cute from the get-go, but obviously she’s a few hundred years old and isn’t particularly interested in jumping into a relationship with one of her closest coworkers immediately — especially because Julian is charming, and Jadzia is probably the character on the main cast that finds him the least annoying in the beginning, whereas the others have to work up any affection for him as Julian calms down?
And I love that about Jadzia, that she genuinely likes everyone, not because she doesn’t care about their different traits, but because she puts so much focus into understanding where they’re coming from and what makes them tick and never takes it personally — but also never shies away from setting her own boundaries and prioritising what she cares about.
Meanwhile, Julian’s desperate for Jadzia’s attention, and I definitely think that’s partly the appeal of her expertise and her being older than him, undoubtedly that she’s “exotic” because she’s a Trill, but also, like… I think one of the things that Julian struggles with that comes through a lot is his self esteem issues and his sense that he shouldn’t be there — that he’s cheating just by existing, that he hasn’t earned his place like other people have. I think a lot of people see how Julian conducts himself and think that he’s oblivious to how annoying people find him, that he doesn’t know, but like, we know that he does.
Because he relies on his looks and his charm — he knows that his personality is jarring for people, he knows he talks too much and that he’s too arrogant and that he’s annoying and that people don’t like him. I know why people find Julian Bashir so annoying in the first season, and I always know what traits irritate them most, because it’s the same traits people hate in me — it’s the same traits people hate in most ADHD-autistics who pursue demanding or performance careers so that our skill can compensate for our personality defects, because we know from experience that attempting to modulate our personality defects doesn’t make people like us.
I find it interesting when people think of Bashir as self-obsessed, because in many ways, he is! He wants to be a hero, he wants to be people’s saviour, he wants to be impressive and sexy, he wants people to admire him — but he also asks a hundred questions a minute if anyone will let him, and gets excited when people tell him things he doesn’t know.
Julian’s clash with most of the characters in the start of DS9 isn’t so much to do with him not thinking about or caring about other people so much as him being bad at actually showing it and displaying it. He asks questions too eagerly and puts people off; he infodumps or barrages people with information and bores or overwhelms them; he talks about his accomplishments and he brags and he strokes his own ego, and he shows his high opinion of himself constantly. You know, he’s a prick!
And yes, I do think that he exaggerates some of his own flaws or his ignorance, that he purposely shows himself as more hapless than perhaps he really is in the beginning, but I think it’s also an issue of clashing communication styles — Julian is an extremely direct communicator, in that he states explicitly what he needs, asks out loud for what he wants, and often misses subtler or nonverbal cues; for most people, to communicate as directly as Julian is would be rude and embarrassing, and they’d consider it misbehaviour, and the fact that he doesn’t understand nonverbal and indirect social cues is considered to be even more misbehaviour on his part.
Very few characters ever redirect him by talking about their own lives or experiences, because that’s not polite for humans or Bajorans: they respond with irritation, often after being silent for some time, and by asking him to either be quiet, or by redirecting him to a different task or a different room, or making excuses to leave. In contrast, we never see Garak or Quark sit there and listen to Julian if he’s boring them — they’ll change the conversation, they’ll make it about themselves or about something else, even if it means “leading” the conversation or talking too much, or too much about themselves.
I mention this about Julian because it’s something that he shares in common with Odo — Odo is also a direct communicator, and while Odo doesn’t brag about his accomplishments or talk at length, he often strikes people as brisk or unpleasant because he states his opinions extremely matter-of-factly, talks in absolutes, and comes off as gruff and unfriendly.
Odo would tell you that this is a choice, which to an extent it is, but we also know that Odo is an outsider who, like Julian, doesn’t take naturally to the indirect communication that’s expected of him by others — and while Odo will stay quiet when someone is boring him, he will often fidget, grumble, and show his irritation throughout. He knows most of the rules and can glean most of the cues, but he still doesn’t like them and isn’t good at them, and definitely isn’t good at incorporating them naturally into himself or his life.
Miles and Keiko are arguing; Odo is sat at the bar with Quark.
ODO: I’ll never understand the humanoid need to… couple.
QUARK: You’ve never… coupled?
ODO: Choose not to! Too many compromises. You want to watch the Karo-Net tournament, she wants to listen to music. You compromise. You listen to music. You like Earth jazz, she prefers Klingon opera. So, you compromise. You listen to Klingon opera. So, here you were, ready to have a nice night watching the Karo-Net match and you wind up spending an agonizing evening listening to Klingon opera.
I love this interaction and what it reveals about Odo, because like… So, there’s obviously a lot of absorbed misogyny here in Odo’s understanding of power dynamics in a relationship — Odo’s spent a lot of time around Cardassians, Ferengi too, cultures that have particular ideas around women, especially ideas around husbands and wives, right?
All Odo really models is what he observes and what he sees — Odo is extremely rigid and considers himself very logical, and because he doesn’t have a lot of the same needs or urges other people do, he thinks of himself as superior to them or free from bias in ways they aren’t. In fact, of course, Odo is incredibly biased and often prejudiced, and frequently says things that when people respond to negatively, he’s surprised by, because it never occurred to him everyone wouldn’t agree.
I mean, he’s talking about Karo-Net and jazz, as if he’s ever watched a sports match in his life for a purpose other than arresting one of the players, and as if he has the remotest interest in music. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s literally quoting or re-stating specific examples that someone else has used in front of him before.
The nagging wife who controls her spouse in domestic life is a trope he’s taken to heart, even observing the O’Briens talking back and forth and discussing things, he assumes the woman always “gets her way”.
And for Odo, I’m sure that would be true — not just with women, but with anybody he spent intimate time with. His father never gave him a choice about anything, and Odo wasn’t permitted to make his own choices or have his own agency until he and his father were separated; in the meantime, he has formed no other friendships or close relationships at all.
For Odo, he thinks it’s about sex or romance, but he struggles with any friendship and its compromises, because he’s always the one that’s expected to compromise — and how can anyone compromise with him, anyway? When he’s a shapeshifter, and they’re solid? When he’s rigid and aloof, and they’re… more emotional? More fun? When he’s an outsider, and they’re not?
Then we have Sisko and Jadzia talking and it makes me so emotional! I love how excited Sisko is to reconnect with Dax, and tell her stories and hear hers and fall back into the bickering they used to fall into all the time — the way he laughs, and shows so much joy!
SISKO: I’ve missed your steamed azna.
DAX: You must miss Curzon too.
SISKO: He was… You were, are, a mentor, another father to me.
DAX: This happens to Trills, Benjamin. Sometimes, our friendships with other species don’t survive because of the change.
SISKO: It won’t be that way with us. It’s just a little uncomfortable right now.
DAX: I suggest that you allow yourself to feel comfortable with your discomfort. Time will do the rest.
I utterly adore how people respond to Dax — there’s a lot of trans parallels and experiences in Jadzia’s day to day, especially when it comes to talking about gender and how people respond to her now versus in the past, but what I really love is how Sisko is an old friend of Dax and is full of affection, and is honest about being uncomfortable.
He says, point blank, have I told you this before? And he tells her again — he laughs falling into an old argument, and he says how he feels, he softens, but he admits that he’s uncomfortable, and he doesn’t get defensive when she says he should let himself digest that.
This is the case when Jadzia meets old Klingon friends and stuff as well, the way they correct themselves on pronouns and names but still greet her as an old friend, and I really like how Jadzia’s experiences, especially from the perspective of stuff like gender, sex, romance and marriage, are never treated as a cheap transphobic gag, as they would be in so many other series.
And! Miles and Keiko! Miles and Keiko probably have one of my favourite TV marriages of any show — I completely understand why people find Miles annoying and overbearing at times, and I don’t at all understand or respect people that find Keiko annoying but people have the right to their wrong opinions, I suppose: either way, what I love about their dynamic is the fact that they regularly have arguments and disagreements caused by clashing goals and desires and careers, and then they… Discuss them. They weigh pros and cons.
Miles frequently says, I’ll give up this promotion; I’ll build you this; I’ll get you this; I want you to prioritise your career because I don’t want you to feel like I’m the only one that matters. Keiko frequently says, I’ll go where your career takes you; I’ll get hold of these for you; I’ll do this together with you; I want you to prioritise your career because I don’t want you to feel like I’m the only one that matters. They regularly make compromises and they sacrifice things for one another, but it’s never a dramatic one-sided sacrifice where one is constantly doing the other a good turn — although Keiko gives up more to move over to Deep Space Nine from the Enterprise, later on Miles ensures that she has more opportunities to go back to working as a botanist once the school closes and Keiko becomes listless.
I love the way that the show treats them as husband and wife, and as parents of their children, but they do not exist only as husband and wife. TNG is particularly guilty of this as far as Keiko is concerned, where she’s only brought up because of a conflict she’s having with Miles or to hang off his arm and contrast with another romantic relationship, whereas in Deep Space Nine the show actually lets her be her own character with her own aspirations and values that do clash with Miles’ sometimes, and it’s not just treated as a lovers’ quarrel, but two people committed to a life together that want to ensure their treatment of one another is balanced.
In this episode, Miles has been given a promotion and assigned to Deep Space Nine, and Keiko is understandably frustrated by it — she’s frustrated that Starfleet has put thought to Miles’ career as an officer, but despite serving as a botanist on the Enterprise, there’s no need for her skills on Deep Space Nine, and while it’s nice that Miles wants to make sure that she gets the opportunity to pursue botany in the Gamma Quadrant, if Miles has to ask for it for her it feels more like a favour than Starfleet really respecting her expertise or previous service; she’s uncertain and conflicted about raising Molly somewhere they don’t know anybody, and in a place that’s full of such political conflict, with constant randomers coming through the station when it isn’t strictly a Federation space; and most of all, she’s frustrated with the fact that as much as she doesn’t want to be on Deep Space Nine, she also doesn’t want to leave, because Miles has finally had a really significant promotion after years of service and a lot of hardship, and the both of them have seen their fair share of dangerous situations on the Enterprise themselves — I think one of the last “adventures” Keiko is a part of on TNG before they move to Deep Space Nine is when she gets turned into a child and her own daughter doesn’t even recognise her.
I just… I love Keiko, I love her to pieces, and I care so much about how she prioritises stuff as a person, as a botanist and a scientist and an educator, as a mother, as a human, as someone who’s kind and loving and genuinely wants to improve things for other people by embracing community and connecting with others. She does so much in a very everyday way — it’s not that what she does is mundane, so much as that it’s small acts of community but in a constant stream? That add up to so much more — like the school!
And I love the first meet-up between Nog and Jake. Jake is so eager and naive and not yet the cooler and sometimes cynical artist he becomes later on, and Nog is such a grumpy and defensive little guy who wants to keep everyone at arm’s length, and later he becomes such a passionate believer in service to others!
Odo’s main introduction being his hatred of a Bajoran guy on the station is wonderful, I think, and sets up so much of his commitment to justice and order over anything else. I love that Odo mentions his killing someone by inaction, withholding assistance — because Odo considers that just as unethical and unacceptable as actively attacking someone — but also that he’s angry about a Cardassian being murdered and this guy being let off by the provisional government because it was a Cardassian.
Odo has his many biases, but he has a commitment to treating the law equally where everyone is concerned regardless, and for him, it’s unthinkable to let off murder for one species over another, regardless of whether the “law” is on his side or not.
More Julian and Jadzia!
I love how Jadzia tries to tell Julian that Trill don’t pursue romance the same way humans do, and says that Trill “try to rise above” those kinds of feelings, when it’s like… You’ve been married like, a lot of times.
Keiko sees Jake and Nog wandering around and causing chaos, and she’s obviously irritated that they’re wandering, but I really like that her concern is the difference between the station and the Enterprise, and the fact that them wandering is far more of a safety worry as well as anything else. And immediately Keiko offers to step up and offer the kids structured schooling — because she knows how hard it must be for them to work alone and study on their lonesome instead of connecting with other kids!
And guh, the way that Sisko immediately latches onto Nog as a Ferengi and his insistence that he’s a bad influence — especially because Sisko has already used Nog as a bargaining chip against Quark in the beginning, and so easily sees him as a problem and a corrupting force, despite the fact that he and Jake are about the same age, and share a lot in common!
The way Keiko works so hard to sell the school to Rom is wonderful: Keiko is such a great debater and has such a wonderful way of pressuring people and recontextualising information and ideas in order to make her case — we see her do it a lot with the Bajoran faith leaders later on too — and it’s so great to see her working to include Nog and make sure he has the opportunity to attend the school.
She has no reason to! It would be super easy for her to brush off Nog as none of her business, being that he’s neither from a Federation planet or a planet that’s under Federation protection like Bajor, and that so many people find the Ferengi distasteful — including Sisko himself! — but she works really hard against the resistance to include it anyway.
Sure, because she knows Jake and Nog get on, but she does it because she cares about Nog, and she thinks it will be good and refreshing and important for him to be with other kids and get to learn new things, and in doing that she sets the whole wheels in motion for him joining Starfleet way down the line!
And speaking of finding Ferengi annoying, I love how Quark and Odo are in love. Disgusting.
After the Bajoran guy has been murdered, Ibudan, Odo is a suspect, and these Bajorans are talking about how Odo was the Chief of Security when the Cardassians were still in control of the station.
QUARK: (interrupting their conversation) Nobody knows him like I know him. Let me tell you something: he’s an ill-tempered, overbearing crosspatch. But he was no Cardassian collaborator, and he’s no killer.
BAJORAN: I can’t believe you’re defending him, Quark. You’re his worst enemy.
QUARK: Guess that’s the closest thing he has in this world to a friend.
Quodo until I die. I love them, they’re horrible.
Hate crime against Odo for being a shifter: 🙁
Quark appearing from nowhere to say he’ll help him get them back: 🙂
They’re so Javert and Valjean, and I’m obsessed with how Odo is like, “You want to hire me?” and Quark is like, MMM, I’M NOT FALLING FOR THAT, but also Odo does kind of wish he wanted to, and you can see it in his face.
The way that Sisko starts telling Julian about him and Curzon trying to fuck some women together and the way that Julian looks utterly consumed with joy and delight — I really like how Sisko and Julian talk and make guesses about what the differences must be in Dax as Jadzia rather than Curzon, especially as far as gender goes but not age!
The way the mob forms around Odo is a scene that’s so utterly thick with tension and fear — the way the one guy smirks about getting a rope around his neck is so horrifying, but the way that Sisko shuts everyone down and addresses so blatantly that it’s not truly a call for justice, but a fixation on Odo being different to them, being a shapeshifter.
I have so many feelings about the way that Deep Space Nine approaches prejudice from different angles, shows it both their villains and their heroes, show different responses to it and different expressions of it, and A Man Alone shows just…
So many subtle ways that prejudice and bias manifests whilst also showing what it looks like when it’s allowed to be expressed further and further and then come to a head, especially given that Odo is repeatedly a subject of and a focus for that kind of prejudice the more the series goes on.
And! Keiko has kids at her school and she’s so happy and excited!
I love Keiko.
As I said at the beginning, I always think of this episode in moments rather than as having a main plot, and to be fair, that’s because it doesn’t have the typical A- and B- plot structure that many Star Trek episodes take, but instead has the Jadzia+Sisko reunion and Bashir’s attempts at seduction, the Odo investigation and Ibudan’s murder and Quark’s relationship with Odo, and Keiko’s setting up the school with the beginning of Nog and Jake’s friendship. Even though the Odo and Ibudan plot is arguably the A-plot and is the one that shows up most in episode descriptions, because it’s unique to the episode rather than an ongoing development, it’s really just a part of everything else.
The next episode up is Past Prologue which, of course, I’m… Feral with excitement about.
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