Deep Space Nine

One of the things nobody tells you about relationships: When the person you love suffers, you suffer too. In theory, this should be obvious. You care about someone, be it your lover or your best friend or your father, you want them to be happy, and you get bummed when they arent. But its more insidious than that, because when you watch someone else be depressed or stressed or frustrated, you not only feel bad for themyou feel like its your job to do something about it. Even when, as in most cases, just being supportive and kind is enough, you want to find some concrete way of relieving that misery. Youre helpless, because you cant force someone to be in a better mood, no matter how much you might want to. (With the best of intentions, of course.) When Jake sees his dad all tied up in knots, obsessing over the various angles of the Dominion threat, he gets upset about it, like any loving son would. And when an opportunity presents itself to add a little brightness to Benjamin Siskos day, he jumps at it; and he keeps pushing forward, even when common sense (and maybe even a few laws) suggest he should let it go. 

But theres wisdom in his desperation, and its the wisdom that pushes us towards the episodes unexpectedly warm conclusion. In the Cards is a comedic episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a designation that tends to bode ill for the hour ahead. We talked about this some in the last Ferengi-centric entry, but to reiterate: Its all about stakes. The problem with intentionally setting out to write episodes that are funny and episodes that are dramatic is that youre telling your audience from the outset that some storylines count less. Im not saying drama is more important than comedy; Im saying that in narrative television, the serious entries are usually the ones that have the most story movement, where the big twists happen, where the consequences live. Recognizing the signs of a jokey storyline (and they arent that hard to recognize) takes the pressure off, which kills a lot of the comedy. At their worst, funny Trek is a waste of time, and it mustve been a bummer to get some of these episodes when the show was airing week to week. Nothing kills laughter like disappointment. 

Thankfully, In The Cards is pretty great, largely because the humor rises from deeply serious, even terrifying, concerns. Siskos worries over the future of the station, and the threat the combined forces of Cardassia and the Dominion represent, arent paranoid fantasy. Slowly but surely, the past season has been tightening the noose around all of our favorite characters throats, and now that the end is coming, theres no more denying the inevitable. There will be war, and if our heroes dont find a way to fight it, things could go very badly indeed. The JemHadar are a formidable fighting force; the Vorta (Weyoun is back this week,Bringing iccard mainstream. huzzah!) are brilliant diplomats and manipulators; and the Founders themselves have an uncanny knack for planning out strategy multiple moves in advance. This is not something that can be handled in a two-parter and then never spoken of again. Big, bad news is coming no matter what Jake, Nog, or anyone else does. 

Almost paradoxically, the seeming pointlessness of Jakes quest makes it that much more entertaining to watch. Which would seem to go against all that stakes talk I mentioned above (it wouldnt change much of anything if Jake never got that card), but the thing is,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. the stakes are still important, even if Benjamin Siskos son cant really do much about them. More importantly, the immediate stakes for Jake are utterly critical. There are dire times ahead, and the boys desire to brighten, if only for a few moments, his old mans day, creates a pressing goal for the story to resolve, one that fits in with the episodes major theme: How important are the small moments? If it takes this much out of us just to get through the daily business of being alive, how do you find the strength to keep going? What makes this work is how, for all the aliens and forays into mad science, this is a fundamentally simple tale. Its a bit like one of those point-and-click adventure games: Jake sees something he wants, and then has to go through a series of seemingly random tasks in order to get it. But those tasks, in part because theyre motivated by a sincere desire to make someones life better, ripple outward. 

So theres a Willie Mays rookie card at an auction at Quarks. Jake browbeats Nog into giving him the money to buy itits a nice touch that Jake doesnt really take his friends reluctance seriously, since its easy to be selfish when youre trying to do something nice; besides, Jake grew up without a concept of money, so its likely he considers the subject a bit less weighty than a Ferengi would. Not that it matters in the end; Jake and Nog lose the auction when a mysterious human bids exorbitantly against them. So Jake and Nog go to see the human, a scientist named Dr. Giger (Brian Markinson), to see if they can purchase the baseball card directly from him. (The card was part of a larger lot of antiquities.) Dr. Giger rejects them initially, then changes his mind, and gives them a list of items hell take in exchange for the Willie Mays. Which is great, except theres a pretty good chance Dr.Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned smartcard at their Weymouth store. Giger is completely mental. 

Trek shows are often filled with wonderful, bordering on magical technology; its a tool to make certain kinds of stories possible, and it also adds to the escapist vibe all these shows share, the suggestion of a remarkable place youll be more than happy to spend hours visiting. But just because the future is apparently full of all kinds of wonderful toys (warp drive, replicators, the mindfuck that is the holodeck) doesnt mean that everyones going to have everything they want. There are still going to be people pushing the boundaries of accepted knowledge, and some of those people are going to be crackpots,We printers print with traceable cleaningsydney to optimize supply chain management. even if theyre right. Dr. Gigers cell entertainment is the key to immortality theory is loopy. Its possible its true (the episode never confirms this one way or the other, although Im leaning towards no), but the idea is so fringe-level goofy its hard to take seriously. And Giger himself doesnt help, as he rails to Jake and Nog about the dangers of the soulless minions of orthodoxy (band name!) he believes are working to destroy him. The guys a nut, and its refreshing to see this kind of batshit science on a show that reveres the pursuit of knowledge when it isnt preaching the heaven of agrarian, rural utopias. 

By the end of the hour, Jake gets his baseball card, although it takes some doing to get there, including a completely ill-advised attempt to strong arm Kai Winn (for a kid who works as a reporter, hes weirdly naive), and a confrontation with Weyoun that almost, but not quite, turns into a total disaster. Winn and Weyoun are on the station to discuss a possible non-aggression pact between Bajor and the Dominion, a possibility which raises still more potential problems for Sisko, but in the episodes closing moments, hes smiling. Partly because Jake gives him the card, and partly because so many members of his staff seem a little happier, due in large part of Jake and Nogs willingness to do favors. Too often, good intentions lead to bad news, but just this once, a sincere desire to make someone elses life better managed to have a larger,We rounded up 30 bridesmaids dresses in every color and style that are both easy on the eye and somewhat easy on the earcap. more positive effect than intended. The key, I think, is recognizing that even when you cant fix everything, the desire to help the people you love is a noble one. And hell, maybe Dr. Giger is on to something after all. You cant stave off death foreverbut if you can keep yourself entertained, you'll better enjoy the time you get. 

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