Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Deep Space Nine--"Blaze of Glory"

“Blaze of Glory” is the final part of the unofficial Michael Eddington Joins the Maquis story arc. The episodes feels thrown together and highly rushed. It is as if the writers felt obligated to wrap up loose ends in a hurry to get them all out of the way. Considering the two year long Dominion War is about to begin, that may very well be true. It still does not make for the cleanest conclusion.

The first big problem is the Maquis have been destroyed off camera by the Jem Ha’dar after Cardassia joined the Dominion. The Maquis were never supposed to be a big part of DS9. They were introduced solely to save time for when Maquis members become a big part of the VOY cast. It did not take long for the Maquis ties of VOY crewmembers to become irrelevant , so I suppose it is not too much of a stretch they would fall to the wayside on DS9, too. I narrative terms, the quick end dismisses an important element of a handful of good episodes of DS9, so the Maquis deserved better.

The second problem is the treatment of Eddington. What is he? A hero? A villain/ a martyr? It is difficult to tell because he changes every episode. When he first betrays Starfleet, he actually has a point in his rationale. The Federation has abandoned its colonies near the Cardassian border while trying to force its ideals on others. His belief does not justify his betrayal, but that does not mean his belief is wrong.

But in his second appearance, Eddington is eaten up by the fantasy that he has become a folk hero battling against long odds in a righteous cause. Whatever logical reasons he may have had for his actions are lost in his delusions of grandeur. His actions are furthered skewed by Sisko deliberately taking on the villai role in order to catch him.

Which brings us to “Blaze of Glory.’ We need to clearly identify the status of both characters for closure. I am not sure we get that.

Word leaks out the Maquis set up a doomsday scenario of missile attacks on Cardassia. Sisko opts to find the misslies before they launch and start a devastating war with the Dominion which is about to begin anyway. To do that, he gets Eddington released from prison and into his custody so he can lead him to the missile battery.

Eddington does not care at this point. Everything he ever loved has been destroyed. If the Federation burns, too, so much the better. But Sisko drags him into a life or death situation which prompts Eddington’s cooperation, but also festers the deep animosity between the two of them.

There isacontinuation of the ambiguous hero/villain relationship from “For the Uniform.” Sisko taunts Eddington about the Maquis are a victim of his success. He is right. I Eddington’s haste to become a savior, he made them such a formidable villain, the Cardassians had to destroy them even though that rag tag band of reels could never actually defeat the Cardassians. Eddington taunts right back that Sisko is making this a personal vendetta in which he has ignored the same Federation principles he is angry at him for betraying. They are both right, but too far along to do anything but barrel towards the end.

The end is that Eddigton triced Sisko. There were no missiles. Just a handful of surviving Maquis, including Eddigton’s family, whom he wanted Sisko to save. When they are attacked by the Jem Ha’Dar, Eddington sacrifices himself unnecessarily asa cover for their escape. With minimal effort, he could have been saved, too, but arguably, Sisko let him die in order to be rid of the whole mess.

It is left up to the audience to decide what it all means for the characters. I do not condone Eddington’s betrayal, even though I uderstand his personal feelings, and I think his martyr complex resulted in the destruction of his cause. He was never the hero he wanted to be. Conversely, I am skeptical Sisko is right to uphold his personal moral code even when he swears it is far superior to the Federation to which he has pledged loyalty. In a lot of ways, the two mean were such bitter enemies because they were the same. Their personal character flaws were obvious when they looked at each other. Nothing hurts quite asbad as looking into that kind of mirror.

The B-story involves Nog trying to enforce the rules against the Klingons on DS9. They do not respect him. Of course, when he stands up to them for loitering--yes, loitering--they finally do. I could have done without that silliness.

The episode as a whole is entertaining even if it does wrap up the Edddigton/Maquis story a little too quickly without ever coming to a real sense of closure.

Rating: *** (out of 5)