Before reviewing “Our Man Bashir,” we need to get a few things straight. I still do not care for Bashir. He has not risen above being an over exuberant man-child yet. In fact, ’Our Man Bashir” indulges his man-child demeanor. Two, holodeck malfunction stories are consistently my least favorite Trek episodes. They are right down there with the mirror universe stories. These people are in space, for crying out loud! Why do you need a holodeck in order to create stories? Finally, I am not a particular fan of James Bond. This episode is not my martini, shaken or stirred.
I do believe I have seen all the Bond movies regardless of my ambivalence for them, so I recognize a umber of homage to the series throughout the episode. I am certain I missed a few. Perhaps I would enjoy the episode if I knew them all. I even sat through Our Man Flint once about a decade ago, so I am aware of the title’s significances. But I just could not get into the humorous spirit of thins. I am not a big Austin Powrrs guy, either, so it is definitely the genre and its parodies I cannot penetrate.
One part I did enjoy is the extension of the logrunner debate between Bashir and Garak over Earth v. Cardassian literature. Neither meet eye to eye on the issue, each feeling his own people’s is far superior. Garak is more interesting in his literature being realistic and straightforward. Here, the debate is taken to another level when garak joins Bashir in his spy game. It is no loger just a matter of taste. Bashir is playing spy with Garak, who really was one. Garak’s irritation with the foolishness of the fiction genre of espionage versus what it is really like is a joy to behold. Maybe I like it because I agree with him on how silly this all is.
Silly it is, too. The episode manages to combine a transporter accident with a holodeck story. How much thought was put into that? The crew’s lost transporter patterns are placed in the holodeck, so they become character’s in Bashir’s spy fantasy. It is not all amusing. I dig Nana Visitor’s awful ’plotting doom of moose and squirrel” Russian accent. Then again, I dig her in general. The adventure is amusing, if not over the top, and Bashir destroying the Earth in order to buy Rom more time to save them was an unsuspected twist.
I appreciate that Rom is becoming moreof a pivotal character, but I have a hard time buying that he is a mechanical genius. Or that Leeta is eventually going to fall for him. Deep Space Nine might be the most realistic Trek, but it does ask us to swallow a lot of implausible stuff just because it says we should.
I have ragged on the episode, but it has a few bright spots. At least it will not become as obnoxious running gag as Dixon Hill for Picard, prune juice for Worf, coffee for Janeway, or darts for O’Brien. Running such things count as character development in Trek.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
