No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

Episode 2.20 & 2.21- The Maquis Parts 1 & 2 (Dave’s Review)

I was first introduced to Marvel Comics’ X-Men characters back when I was 8 years old, and one of the most compelling things I found about the franchise was that the team’s archenemy, Magneto, used to be the best friend of the team’s leader, Charles Xavier. Over the years readers were given glimpses into the friendship between Charles and Magneto and it was a very believable friendship. So it’s a powerful, tragic and compelling relationship, and while watching “The Maquis" the relationship between Sisko and Cal Hudson reminded me a lot of the Xavier-Magneto relationship.

Kudos to both Avery Brooks and the great Bernie Casey (who I first remember from Never Say Never Again, the James Bond movie Sean Connery made in the early ‘80s) for their work creating the Sisko-Hudson friendship and then dissolving it.

This was also an episode that gave us more insight into the character of Dukat, and as always it was fascinating. You really get the feeling that Dukat is a man who operates by his own desires and code, and the wishes of others–even Central Command–be damned. To some degree it’s a noble trait, especially in Cardassian culture, but as we’ve seen Dukat is not an especially noble man. When he doesn’t get his own way people will get hurt and killed. So kudos to Marc Alaimo in this episode for furthering the development of a great villain.

I also feel this episode gave me more insight into Cardassian culture and further developed some ideas that we’ve seen in epsidoes where Cardassian characters figure heavily. I feel like whenever experienced military and political figures like Garak and Dukat interact they do so by wearing the mask of a carefully constructed personality. It’s usually pleasant, gracious and a little bit smug. It’s fun to see them when that mask is dropped. In both these episodes you see that with Dukat on a couple of occasions, especially when he’s challenged by Sisko. I love Marc Alaimo’s facial expressions, too, when he realizes Sisko got to him and forced him to act emotionally.

Other thoughts:

It’s here where we first meet the Maquis, and I love the idea of them. It shows that while Starfleet and the Federation aspire to noble goals they’re still forced to engage in realpolitik. It makes the setting more believable and it makes the consequences of realpolitik that more powerful.
At one point in the conversations between Sisko and Hudson their experiences at the New Berlin Festival are brought up and it’s mentioned that Sisko wore lederhosen. We never get to see that fantastic image, but I bet Avery Brooks could pull that off and still be full of gravitas. He’s that cool.
I suspect someone on the DS9writing staff is a fan of the obscure Marvel Comics series Rom Spaceknight, because at one point the planet Galador is mentioned. In Rom, Galador was the home planet of Rom and his fellow spaceknights.
Is this episode the first mention of the Badlands? I know it’s the first mention of the Maquis. Seems like they were really using it to lay the ground work for Voyager.
It was interesting that Sakonna, the Vulcan Maquis member, could not mind meld with Dukat. I loved Dukat’s relishing of that fact, too.
At one point in these episodes Odo goes into action and lassoes a Maquis leader. It was cool to see. I love that he never uses or needs a gun when he goes into battle.
As Mel mentioned, Marc Alaimo and Bernie Casey starred together in the blaxploitation film Doctor Black and Mr. Hyde, which is occasionally called Doctor Black and Mr. White. Here’s one of the movie poster for the film. I love that they hyped the fact that Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars. He basically said it was okay.

Final Verdict: A two part episode full of fun and powerful character moments and exciting action that makes the Star Trek universe a much more interesting place. The only real unfortunate thing is I don’t believe we ever see Cal Hudson again, which is a shame.

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Episode 2.20 & 2.21- The Maquis Parts 1 & 2 (Dave’s Review)

Cock block extraordinaire, Garak [Our Man Bashir, ST:DS9]