Kai Winn Strikes Again – Sokorra Lewis

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Episode: 2.1 Homecoming (September 27, 1993) 2.2 The Circle (October 10, 1993), and 2.3 The Seige (October 10, 1993) Season Premiere (plus 2).
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 1/1/3.5

Notable Guest Stars:

Frank Langella (Minister Jaro)– Langella is known for multiple mediums, winning 4 Tony Awards, and getting an Academy Award nomination. One of my favorite roles of his is in Dave, where he plays unscrupulous Bob Alexander, a character not unlike Jaro.

Richard Beymer (Li Nalas) – Beymer was a popular actor in the studio era, he also works as a photographer and documentary maker.

Stephen Macht (General Krim)- Stephen Macht was actually Gene Roddonberry’s first choice to play Picard. I can’t imagine it being anyone besides Patrick Stewart. He has appeared on several soap operas. More recently he appeared in Suits, a show produced (and starring) by his son Gabriel Macht. He is also an ordained chaplain.

Bruce Gray (Admiral Chekote) – Gray played several times on Star Trek, most notably Surak on Enterprise. He also appeared on Babylon 5 (often compared to DS9)

Mike Genovese (Zef’no)- Genovese is known to me mostly as Al Grabarsky, a police officer wooing nurse Lydia on ER.

Steven Weber (Colonel Day)- Weber is known for his role as Brian Hackeet on Wings, though I know him better for his role as Mayor Hamilton on NCIS: New Orleans. He currently plays Dr. Archer on Chicago Med.

Leslie Bevis (Rionoj) – She’ll appear 3 times as Rionoj over the years. She has also appeared on such shows as Night Court, MacGyver, and Murder, She Wrote.

Honorable mentions to our reoccuring characters: Rosalind Chao (Keiko O’Brien), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Max Grodenchik (Rom), Phillip Anglim (Vedek Bareil), Louise Fletcher (Vedek Winn), and Marc Alamo (Gul Dukot)

Review:

I am reviewing these three episodes together because they are all connected, and I don’t like reviewing multi-arc episodes apart from one another. This might change if I ever catch up with currently airing Star Trek because I literally won’t be able to, but since we are still in binge-capable era we shall do these three together.

So we start Homecoming with Rionoj, a trader, handing Quark a Bajoran ear piece. We already know that ear jewelry is important within the Bajoran culture. If you had missed that memo, you would have gotten it by how Kira reacts when Quark hands it to her.

The earring belongs to resistance leader Li Nalas. Kira is eager to find out if he’s still alive and if so bring him back to Bajor to lead the people. She’s afraid the planet will implode without him. Which given the signs of fractional group that wants to “Keep Bajor for the Bajorans” known as the Circle, she’s not really far off.

I used to ask myself why there was always these groups that were so hateful but then I turn on my TV now and…well, yeah. Its happening right now.

Episode 1 of the trilogy, Homecoming, deals with the rescue of Li Nalas. He has a celebrated return despite his reluctance to be celebrated. Episode 2, The Circle, deals with Kira having to deal with Li Naas replacing her at the station. To be honest most of the “action” takes place in parts one and three. Part two is mostly filler it seems.

Part three has the crew doing what amounts to pacifist gorilla warfare. They know the station, the Bajoran military does not. And for the most part this actually works as Kira & Dax manage their side of the mission to bring the evidence of outside foul play by the Cardassians.

The most stupid part of the episode however was Li Nalas’s death scene. Even if I hadn’t read the backstory on why they made that decision it seems very “We don’t know what to do, lets kill him off.” He wasn’t a particularly intriguing character. He does seem to fit the theme of legend outliving the reality.

I wish I had more commentary on these episodes.

Interesting Notes:

Part One (Homecoming)

Story by Jeri Taylor and Ira Steven Behr
Teleplay by Ira Steven Behr
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Scenes were filmed at Soledad Canyon, which caused some…interesting filming conditions. Not a favorite to shoot but the appearance on film pleased the production so it was used several times across DS9.
No Morn Today.

Part Two (The Circle)

Written by Peter Allen Fields
Directed by Corey Allen
The scene where Kira says goodbye is filmed in one continuous take, with close ups edited into the scene later.

Part Three (The Siege)

Written by Michael Piller
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
This episode was the most challenging of the three in visual effects. This included a spider that was a prop bought at a yard sale and enhanced by the Visual Effects department. Personally, I could do without spiders.

All

This was the first multi-part arc on the show that was more then 2 episodes. Enterprise would make good use of this style in its fourth season (11 years later).
Frank Langella is uncredited for his role on the show. This was by his request as he was doing it for his children, and not to advance professionally.

Pros

Bajorian backstory
A very good Kira set of episodes (minus a bit of the prophecy…see below)

Cons:

Why is Kira always sexualized? This episode didn’t do it as badly as the Mirror episodes but I find it out of place or the orb to basically tell her she needs to go jump Bariel. I’m sure they see it as misdirection because its really about appearing in front of the ministers.

Screencap via CygnusX1.net

Series: Star Trek: DS9
Episode: 1.20 In the Hands of the Prophets (Season 1 Finale; June 21, 1993)
Rating: 5/5
Redshirt Status: 1/3.5

Content/Trigger Warning: Religious violence.

Notable Guest Stars:
Louise Fletcher ( Vedek Winn Adami) – Louise Fletcher plays the rule of Winn for several seasons on this show, and is one of the most rememberable side characters on the show. She is also known for playing the role of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (A movie I dislike, but she did an awesome job) for which she won an award for Best Actress in 1975. Her last role was on the Netflix series Girlboss (which means I need to watch it now). She died late last year at 88 years old.

Philip Anglim (Vedek Bareil Antos) – Anglim is known more for his theater work then his work in television, but he will be a reoccuring actor on this series, playing Bareil. He is also known (television wise) for playing the son of Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward in The Thorn Birds

Robin Christopher (Neela) – This is Christopher’s second (and last episode) as Neela.

Rosalind Chao (Keiko O’Brien) – While I usually don’t mention reoccurring characters much, I feel I should bring up Rosalind again. She does such an excellent job in this episode. Some other roles she is known for include Soon-Lee Klinger in M*A*S*H. She is Rose Hsu Jordan in the Joy Luck Club which I have yet to see but seems to be quite popular. More recently she appeared in the 2020 Mulan as Hua Li

Review:

In the Hands of the Prophet is a bit too relatable. It could have been a ripped from the headlines episode. A small (but Vocal) group of radical religious people have decided to commit violence to either get rid of the opposition or to remove what they see as “Unholy”.

As we know, the Bajoran religion is very much a part of their social and political structure. They have a provisional government but a great amount of power lies in the hand of the Kai, the head of their church. Kai Opaka “died” a few episodes ago, so Bajor is left without a leader, and so the next tier of their religion -the Vedeks – are vying for the position.

One of these Vedeks is Vedek Winn, a woman who belongs to a more conservative and strict order then others. Her main competition is Vedek Boreil, who has been found to be much more charismatic and frankly kinder then she is. So she concocts a plan to get Boreil out of the way.

Onboard DS9 is a school. Keiko O’Brien has become a school teacher and for the most part is loved by her students and their parents. However Winn is not quite a fan. You see, Winn wants schooling that fits the religion of the Bajorans, rather then the science-based and “Leave the religion to the parents” type schooling. She starts convincing Bajoran parents to take their children out of the school if Keiko doesn’t start teaching Bajoran beliefs.

Remind you of current events?

It causes problems in the station as Bajorans are starting to believe, as is Winn’s intent, that the Federation doesn’t respect anyone’s beliefs. This is made worse by the fact that a member of O’Brien’s team has been killed and it seems it might be related to the issues. Then the school is bombed. Thankfully no one is at school as Keiko had dismissed them early that day.

Needless to say everyone is quite concerned. Winn pretends to offer sympathy then claims perhaps it was a result of their blasphemy against the prophets.

Vedek Bareil then comes to visit the station, deciding that staying neutral is no longer an option. He manages to gather the Bajorans and with kind words and good leadership, he tries to heal the wounds from what has happened.

But then Neela shoots at him. And this causes havoc. Everyone is convinced that she was working for Winn, which we know from earlier scenes, but those in the universe didn’t see that conversation. Winn gets to go free despite planning the assassination of her coworker, the bombing of a school and basically causing havoc wherever she goes.

Given our current events this episode was harder to watch because I could see the similarities to reading on the news people restricting books, and changing laws to better fit their religious views vs. the neutral space school was. In Florida, the governor has made it basically so if the school doesn’t fit his agenda he can revoke their ability to be a school.

But back to Star Trek based analysis. This is a good Kira episode. Kira has a lot to think about after this episode. She’s not as conservative as Winn by any means but she has a high respect for her as a member of her clergy. After the events of this episode she is forced to reexamine her beliefs and how much power she puts in those who lead her religion in how she believes.

Its also a good Keiko episode. The nice thing about DS9 is that both Keiko and Miles are fleshed out, having been only minor reoccurring characters on TNG.

Interesting notes:

Written by Robert Hewitt Wolf
Directed David Livingston
Some of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Fern Dell, which had also been a location for TNG’s Encounter at Farpoint
Originally the plan was for Anara, a character in the episode The Foresaken to be the assasin, but that fell threw, causing them to create Neela. Some elements of the original plan remain in the script.

Pros:

Winn is an iconic character for the series, so its good to see her arrive, though in general I would dislike her in real life.
This is an excellent episode for Kira Nerys.
This episode explores more of the Bajoran culture, in particular their religion.

Cons:

Too similar to current events where people are attempting to control schools to promote their religious or intolerant agenda.

Tag: Kai Winn Strikes Again

The Rewatch 231: The Homecoming Trilogy

The Rewatch 229: In the Hands of the Prophets