Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2 “Tribunal” and “The Jem’Hadar”

What’s going on?




Cardassians kidnap Chief O’Brien from Federation space, put him on a show trial with the outcome already determined, and determine he must be executed. Meanwhile, Odo and others from DS9 scramble to save O’Brien, ultimately digging up information that leads to his release.


I was brief in the synopsis because this episode, while convoluted, is actually rather simple. Also, it is wildly implausible. Just think about this for a second. Imagine if some country today came into the territory of another country with a warship, used that warship to disable one of the ships of that other nation, kidnapped an officer from that ship, and then announced to the world they found that officer guilty of something that they were going to execute her for. I’m pretty sure that, at the very least, there would be some major outcry from the UN and probably war declared. I doubt no shots would be fired. Do you disagree? Fine. Layer on top of that scenario the fact that the two nations already had war(s?) in the past, currently have armed conflict by proxy along their border territories, and have a major dispute over a vastly important economic junction. Then you have the scenario we got in this episode.

Except, in this episode, the Federation doesn’t act like I’d expect them to. Are they mad? Sure. But they aren’t exactly sending massed fleets to the Cardassian-Federation border. There’s actually very little sense of a broader deepening of threats and conflict whatsoever. Sisko is mad as heck, but basically gets no support from Starfleet more broadly. It’s pretty unbelievable.

The court scenes with the Cardassians are kind of cool, and they help show the juxtaposition between how the Federation handles things vs. how Cardassians do. There’s no presumption of innocence at all. Boom, you’re guilty. We’ll show you why. That part of the episode helps build up the lore of the Cardassians and makes the episode more worth watching than it would have been otherwise.

Grade: C- “None of this makes any sense at all.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: B “I thought it was a good story, aside from the glaring plot hole that the Cardassians essentially initiated war against the Federation.”

“The Jem’Hadar”


Sisko decides to take Jake on a camping trip through the wormhole, and his son invites Nog, who then has Quark come along to try to make a deal with Sisko regarding some profit-making venture on the station. During their trip, Sisko and Quark run into an alien woman and the three of them are taken captive by soldiers of the Dominion. These soldiers inform Sisko and people on DS9 that they are angry about alleged incursions from Starfleet and others into their quadrant through the wormhole and threaten escalation of conflict. As the USS Odyssey and Runabouts from DS9 go to Sisko’s rescue, the latter and Quark free the alien woman’s restraining collar to let her use her telekenetic powers to destroy their prison. They escape and are rescued, but the Odyssey is destroyed. Back on station, they discover the alien woman is actually a spy, and she leaves to return to the Dominion, implying that conflicts may broaden.


I think this episode suffers mainly from what I (and I’m sure others) call “middle book syndrome” or “middle movie syndrome.” Namely, it feels almost entirely like a setup for things yet to come, with not as much payoff in the short term. We see Dominion forces for the first time. We get tantalizing glimpses of what may be yet to come. Overwhelming force is displayed by the Dominion, raising worrisome questions about whether Starfleet will be able to compete. But these and many other issues are raised, and nothing is really solved, apart from getting Sisko and group back to DS9. It all feels a bit anticlimactic.

That said, this was still a pretty solid episode. It is exciting, with lots of action shots. Unexpected plot twists hit a couple times. The destruction of the Odyssey is particularly surprising. Yes, it is mostly just an episode to set up later things, but it has its own good moments. In particular, the introductory scenes with Sisko and Quark interacting were great. And Quark on a camping trip? Epic.

Grade: B “An exciting setup episode. But it is a setup episode.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: B- “It was just missing something.”



