Star Trek Randomized Rewatch: Accession

DS9 "Accession"

"It's not easy getting used to being a religious icon." - Benjamin Sisko

We finally dock at Deep Space Nine in this randomized rewatch, finding a story with a level of complexity typical for that show. A Bajoran poet, displaced in time after 200 years in the Wormhole, is hailed as the true Emissary of the Prophets, over Captain Sisko. (That sentence will seem bonkers to anyone who doesn't know the show.) The poet, Akorem Laan, at first seems to Sisko like an ideal choice to take the mantle of Emissary, a role that Sisko and his Starfleet superiors are naturally somewhat leery of. But Akorem's agenda threatens to throw the status quo upside down.

Sisko doesn't bother to ask Akorem what message he intends to spread with his position, so Akorem blindsides everybody by running a hard-line conservative platform. He proposes a return to a strict caste system for Bajorans, one that lifts some families over others and determines pre-determined career paths for each family. This was a caste system that was flattened out, along with most everything else, during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, and now Major Kira faces the prospect of resigning her military commission for a life as an artist, with aptitude for it or not.

The story creates rich conflict for the characters, as Sisko has seller's remorse with the role of Emissary, and Kira must try to balance her faith with her career. In their respective roles, Avery Brooks and Nana Visitor do fine work, highlighting the strength of this ensemble. Brooks, sometimes so big and over-the-top in the show, gives a performance that benefits from restrained anxiety.

The development of the story from major plot point to plot point is fairly juddery, and puts part of the quick resolution off screen, but the textures brought out by the story redeem these flaws. There's also a sweet B-plot where Keiko finally returns to the station, reveals to Miles O'Brien she's pregnant in a slightly awkward scene, and plays "friend matchmaker" to make sure her husband spends time with Doctor Bashir.

Stray observations:
- Director Les Landau employs a nifty oner in Quark's bar, tracking O'Brien's drink order. It's not exactly Goodfellas, but it's nicely done.
- Molly has a doll with Bajoran ridges.
- In a wonderful nod to continuity, Worf reacts with abject fear when he learns Keiko is pregnant again. He delivered her first child under duress in The Next Generation episode "Disaster"!

An engaging religious and sociopolitical conflict for Bajor services Kira and Sisko's stories. 7/10.