So far Deep Space 9 is painting a puzzling picture of Bajoran society. So far we’ve seen terrorists, farmers and priests. Not exactly the kind of rounded picture you’d expect from a society being considered for admission into the Federation.
Anyway, this week we have the ex-terrorist (Kira) facing off against the stubborn farmer who won’t leave their land. It’s an old archetype, but it didn’t work for me because we haven’t been given this sense of conflict in Bajoran society so far – we’ve *only* seen the farmers really, so where are all these people who want the progress that this old man is standing in the way of?
Kira was a bit quick to drop everything, but it speaks to the depth of her unresolved conflicts from the occupation. And Sisko is once again just a bit too eager to ignore the violations of the rules and let people get away with anything. Bottom line, another episode that misses out on great because it just didn’t try hard enough.
(I did enjoy the brief Jake/Nog as traders subplot, though. Nog continues to be the character getting the most development in the show).
270 down, 467 to go.