1.19 "In the Hands of the Prophets"
A Bajoran religious leader named Winn shows up on the station and begins to stir up trouble over the fact that Keiko O'Brien is not teaching Bajoran religious doctrines in her school. She incites protests, which turn into violence, and a web of conspiracy behind these event is revealed to be both deep and sinister--and Winn is at the center of it all.
With real stakes, relevant social commentary, a tight and gripping story, and incredible acting and writing across the board, this is a near-perfect episode. There are only a couple of flaws keeping it from getting a perfect score, but overall this is the best so far of the series. Great way to close out the season.
This episode marks the first time in ST where religion is treated with real seriousness. Normally religious beliefs are used as flimsy cardboard props for the story (in all secular film these days, not just Star Trek), with no consideration given to the depth of conviction that people of faith can have. But here, when Jake tries to condemn the Bajorans' beliefs as "stupid," Sisko defends them and explains how their faith means everything to them and that they have very valid reasons for believing what they believe. That is a conversation Gene Roddenberry would never have allowed to happen if he were still alive, but it is a refreshing change of tone from the usual treatment of religion as foolish superstition.
Sisko makes a couple of comments in this ep that bear deeper discussion. The first is when he says that his philosophy is that there is room for all philosophies. While this sounds noble, it is actually a completely incoherent position to take. When faced with intolerance, the philosophy of "tolerance for all" must choose to either allow intolerance to exist (in violation of itself), or to suppress intolerance, also in violation of itself. This paradox is why, even though tolerance can be a good thing in many situations, it cannot be central to any coherent worldview. If you allow room for all philosophies, it means you must allow room for racism, fascism, authoritarianism, and any other -ism that is clearly and objectively evil. And if you try to draw a line between which -isms are allowed which ones aren't--and use tolerance as your primary guiding principle in drawing that line--you end up drawing it completely arbitrarily. I hope that Sisko has some deeper philosophy that guides him other than simply "tolerance," though no indication of that is given here.
The second comment is when he defends what happened to Galileo by pointing out that we can not look back and judge people from centuries ago based on our current values. This is actually an extremely important point, and one that is often overlooked. There is even a term for this type of bias--presentism--and it is a dangerous bias to fall into, because if we don't understand the values that led to mistakes in the past (like condemning Galileo), then we can't really learn from them. It's not helpful--in fact it's actively damaging--to look back and judge people as stupid or evil based on our present values and understanding of the world. And if you can't put yourself in the shoes of people from that time, then you shouldn't try to judge them. Ideally you should never try to judge them, but especially not when your perspective is warped by a bias such as presentism.
THE GOOD
-Winn is a great villain. Louise Fletcher played a similar role in her Oscar-winning performance alongside Jack Nicholson in the legendary One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and she does an excellent job of portraying a character with a saccharine and righteous exterior, and a heart of rotten, pure evil. If it were not for what a great character Gul Dukat becomes, I would say she is the best villain in all of Star Trek.
-I really like Bareil's character. The actor reminds me a lot of Charleton Heston. I hate the direction that they take his story over the course of the next couple of seasons, but in this episode at least he is really good.
-The acting, writing, directing, and dialogue are all incredible in this ep. Guest stars and main cast alike hit it out of the park with their performances (with one exception noted below).
-Real stakes and powerful social commentary. This ep gets mega points for being brave enough to address religion with a bit of honesty, rather than the usual Hollywood tendency to give it a shallow and disdainful treatment.
THE BAD
-Apparently something went wrong with the casting or writing and Neela was supposed to be set up as a character in the previous few eps, but never was. Thus her sudden importance in this ep is abrupt, and her betrayal is not as emotionally powerful as it should have been. We are given zero indication for why a seemingly nice and well-adjusted person like her would throw her life away for someone like Winn. The actress who plays her is also just not good. If it weren't for the mishandling of her character, this would probably be a perfect ep.
THE UGLY
-Runabout used: unknown, but one is seen on the viewscreen in the classroom and the hatch of another is shown at the landing pad airlock.
-Different classroom set from previous eps
-Rules of Acquisition quoted: 7th -- "Keep your ears open." 4 rules quoted for the series.
-Other count totals from the first season: 2 Kira Hulk-outs, 9 on-screen Odo shifts, and 2 runabouts still operational (Rio Grande and Ganges).
-As we close the first season of the show, I am overall impressed by how high the quality of the writing has been. The show has a number of flaws, but the rich and likable characters really keep it interesting and enjoyable. My biggest complaints of the season are 1) the claustrophobia setting-wise, and 2) Dax is massively underutilized as a character. Both of those problems go away as the series progresses, but for now they are pretty frustrating, particularly the lack of Jadzia. For the most part, though, the show has lived up to its promise of showing a setting where adventure comes and has real and lasting consequences. The restriction of locating the show on an unmoving station has bred some amazing creativity, particularly in terms of the characters and their continual growth. Overall, this season is miles ahead of TNG season 1, and nearly on par with TOS's first season. On to season 2!
