'Field of Fire' is a truly bad episode of 'Star Trek: Deep Space 9' and it's one I hope never to see again. It begins with a senseless murder on DS9 and no one knows who did it.
I want to clarify that I don't mean to be unnecessarily negative. I like most of Star Trek.
(Why else would I watch it?) But this episode has genuinely aroused my hate. I can understand how some of these complaints might seem somewhat nitpicky or may apply to much of Star Trek, but it's the sheer number and quality of these flaws in the episode that make me react so.A quick glance around the internet tells me that DS9 - Field of Fire is widely appreciated:What the F^(K?
How?!?!?!?Firstly, is Ezri the only one investigating the murders? Wtf is starfleet security doing? The station isn't that big - search the cabins if you need to. Scan the whole station bit by bit. Surely there's something they can do. Why is Ezri involved?
I can forgive that for plot purposes, but why does the episode act as though she's the only one who can catch him?More importantly, wtf is up with that ritual?Magic chanting is always a downer for me. I enjoy fantasy, but not in my Star Trek, goddammit. I'm fine with mind melds and telepathy, that's just a feature of early scifi, but please keep tf away from this type of mumbo-jumbo.The effect of the ritual contradicts previous canon. See the episode 'Facets': Why make your friends go through all that if you can just do the same F^(king thing with a quick chant and no body-stealing?Can she actually see Joran? He's always present, and that seems quite off to me. I'd personally avoid anything that might make me hallucinate - a person's perceptions are screwed up enough already.And the way she talks to him only proves my point.
What kind of psychotic dumbass do you have to be to talk OUT LOUD, IN PUBLIC, TO SOMEONE NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE or knows about? On the promenade, in the elevator. Quark and the vulcan both hear her and comment on it. Dax, what the f^(k is WRONG WITH YOU?I really need the story to be a little clearer about how much of the previous lives the host knows - if Ezri has all of Joran's memories already, why does she need to see him? What does that gain her?
She IS Joran!Also, this very much reminds me that Joran is, in a very meaningful sense, still alive and free. If he murdered people while being Dax, isn't Dax also a murderer? Should Dax be free to roam the world? The fact that Ezri is unprepared for symbiosis and at risk of losing her personality should make this even more of an issue.The gun is cool. I can forgive the fact that it will never be referenced again. (I'm guessing.) This is Star Trek, after all. I cannot, however, forgive the ridiculous privacy violation that is her looking into people's quarters without their knowledge or consent.
If DS9 had a different rating, we might have had an interesting scene or two. (Don't put me in charge of Star Trek, or you'll wind up with a series exclusive to P.#nhub. How about 'DS 69'?)The ending is horrifying too.Ezri's logic in determining the killer is:. All 3 of the victims had photographs in which they were smiling. (Is this supposed to be rare? Maybe the federation is secretly a dystopia after all.).
Therefore, the killer hates smiling people. (Wut?). Only a vulcan could possibly hate smiling people. (And they say Code of Honor is racist. Also, wut?). This vulcan looks guilty (.).
Sad things happened to him. (This proves.
What?). He's looking at my personnel file. (Could it be because you were talking to yourself in front of him and he wants to make sure you're not an escaped mental patient? Could he be preparing to.choke the monkey.? Could it be.?)And then she turns out to be right!?!?!? Don't try this at home, kids!What is the moral of this story, anyway?
'Listen to the serial killer inside of you'?Sidenote: According to Ex Astris Scientia, '.the remote duel, in which Ezri and Chu'lak, the evil Vulcan, target one another, is the most thrilling thing in the series for a while.' Is Ezri in danger here? She has the gun loaded and aimed before the vulcan does. She can easily shoot the gun out of his hands, or shoot him in the leg,. Where is this supposed thrill coming from? Do you think she might kill him? It's self defense, isn't it?Please, God, tell me I'm not alone in this.
The station is huge. In the very first episode, you see the Enterprise docked at one of the pylons and it's dwarfed by DS9. Thousands of people live on the station. Heck, the Bajorans were able to conduct terrorist operations on the stations even under the draconian rule of the Cardassians. If the Cardassians weren't able to find bombs hidden by Bajoran terrorists, what makes you think the Starfleet would be able to find hidden weapons under a system that respects personal freedom where they need evidence and warrants before being allowed to conduct searches of personal quarters?The ritual does not contradict previous canon. The zhian'tara in 'Facets' removes the memories of a previous hosts so that the current host can communicate with them as a separate person.
The ritual in 'Field of Fire' brings a previous host out more into the conscious. Ezri needed it because both her and Jadzi had been intentionally suppressing the Joran personality.As for what the current host knows about the previous hosts, this was already explored in previous episodes. Having memories of the past does not mean instant and constant access to those memories.
'Equilibrium,' the episode that introduced Joran, showed that a previous host's memories can be completely suppressed. 'Facets' showed that previous hosts can hide or suppress knowledge and emotions they don't want the current host to have. Then you have all the previous Ezri episodes where they show many instances of her mixing up her own memories and habits with those of the hosts.The point of the episode is that the war is so stressful and traumatic that it broke a Vulcan's mind.
The killer didn't have a motive that made sense. According to ds9 has a crew of 300-2000. Even if it were 10 or 100 times larger, bring in 1000 starfleet people from earth for a few days and the work will be done in no time.Starfleet's need for warrants isn't much of an issue, there's a murderer on the loose. Put it to a vote. Nobody without a death wish is going to give themselves a X in 300-2000 chance of death, where X is the number of times the killer will kill again before being caught.Also, privacy considerations don't stop Ezri from looking into people's quarters without their consent.My point was more that Ezri isn't the only hope of catching him.
No need to take the drastic step of employing Hannibal Lecter over here.The zhian'tara in 'Facets' removes the memories of a previous hosts so that the current host can communicate with them as a separate person. The ritual in 'Field of Fire' brings a previous host out more into the conscious.I don't understand the distinction you're trying to make between the rituals. Joran and Ezri seem to have quite a few conversations in this episode. If he didn't have an actual visual representation, and Dax just acted differently, it might have been cool. According to ds9 has a crew of 300-2000.
Even if it were 10 or 100 times larger, bring in 1000 starfleet people from earth for a few days and the work will be done in no time.Earth is days away from DS9 at max warp. Taking the time to bring in more people would mean more time for the murderer to kill people. They're also at war with the Dominion. They can't just spare an extra 1,000 people.Starfleet's need for warrants isn't much of an issue, there's a murderer on the loose.
Put it to a vote. Nobody without a death wish is going to give themselves a X in 300-2000 chance of death, where X is the number of times the killer will kill again before being caught.That's not how it works.Also, privacy considerations don't stop Ezri from looking into people's quarters without their consent.Yes, and she did it illegally. It likely would have been brought up during the trial and would have gotten Chu'lak a much lighter sentence.My point was more that Ezri isn't the only hope of catching him.
No need to take the drastic step of employing Hannibal Lecter over here.No one said Ezri was the only hope of catching him. Odo was investigating the murders.
He would have caught him eventually. Ezri just happened to catch the murderer first.I don't understand the distinction you're trying to make between the rituals. Joran and Ezri seem to have quite a few conversations in this episode. If he didn't have an actual visual representation, and Dax just acted differently, it might have been cool.During the zhin'tara, the current host does not have access to the memories of the previous hosts at all. It's basically two completely different people talking to each other.The ritual in 'Field of Fire' brings a personality more to the surface. Ezri was still talking to herself.
Earth - Some starbase or starship, or something.They can't spare 1000 people for 2 days? Out of a population of billions or trillions? Bring in enough goons to search the whole station at once. (By the way, I don't know why we're arguing this point - can we agree this doesn't really matter? I just brought it up as an example of something they could do without involving Jack the Ripper.)I'm not a lawyer, but why would Chu'lak get a lighter sentence for something Ezri did?No one said Ezri was the only hope of catching him.If he'll be caught soon anyway, Ezri wouldn't need to go to such a length to find him as involving Joran.I'll give a couple of examples that shows how important it is that Ezri keep investigating: 1) She doesn't tell Sisko that she involved Joran because he'll pull her off the case.
2) This line from Joran (I'n the 3rd victim's quarters): ' What happens if we don't catch him? Will he keep shooting Starfleet officers till there are none left on the station?'
Note that 'we' refers to him and Ezri, as he's encouraging her to keep investigating, after she almost ended the ritual. (I have the advantage of having just seen the episode.
It's quite fresh in my mind.)The ritual in 'Field of Fire' brings a personality more to the surface. Ezri was still talking to herself.That's my point - Joran is way too present to feel like a part of Ezri.
He talks to her, encourages her, makes observations, speaks of his own emotions. They can't spare 1000 people for 2 days? Out of a population of billions or trillions?
Bring in enough goons to search the whole station at once. (By the way, I don't know why we're arguing this point - can we agree this doesn't really matter? I just brought it up as an example of something they could do without involving Jack the Ripper.)You're talking about things that are illegal and not feasible. Ezri using Joran was a terrible idea. Taking troops away from the war effort to conduct illegal searches is even worse.
You're basically suggesting that instead of Ezri doing something stupid and eventually doing something illegal, that Starfleet send in 1,000 people to all do illegal stuff.I'm not a lawyer, but why would Chu'lak get a lighter sentence for something Ezri did?It's called the exclusionary rule, which prohibits illegally obtained evidence from being used in a trial. It's in the US constitution. It's there to protect privacy and personal freedoms and deter police misconduct.The Federation likely has similar laws. It's possible that Chu'lak cannot be tried at all.If he'll be caught soon anyway, Ezri wouldn't need to go to such a length to find him as involving Joran.I'll give a couple of examples that shows how important it is that Ezri keep investigating: 1) She doesn't tell Sisko that she involved Joran because he'll pull her off the case. 2) This line from Joran (I'n the 3rd victim's quarters): ' What happens if we don't catch him?
Will he keep shooting Starfleet officers till there are none left on the station?' Note that 'we' refers to him and Ezri, as he's encouraging her to keep investigating, after she almost ended the ritual. (I have the advantage of having just seen the episode. It's quite fresh in my mind.)Why are you taking Joran's words as fact? He's a serial killer who doesn't want to be locked away in Dax's subconscious. Of course he's going to say things to goad Ezri into using him more.That's my point - Joran is way too present to feel like a part of Ezri. He talks to her, encourages her, makes observations, speaks of his own emotions.That's the point of the ritual.Let's say that Ezri's brain is a computer and the Dax symbiote is a storage drive.
The previous hosts are programs and files that are accessed and used frequently. Joran is a program that's almost never run and the files are intentionally hidden somewhere hard to find. With the ritual, Ezri did something really dumb, she started running the Joran program in the foreground and gave it administrative permission. The zhin'tara is different in that they're removing all the programs and files from the Dax drive and putting them in other 'computers.' Out of a population of billions, 1000 people is a statistical non-entity. They can spare them.My point is that surely starfleet can do something.I didn't know about the exclusionary rule.
It's all very interesting. I was able to find this: So it might be legal after all. At this point, our expertise comes to an end.
Any lawyers in the house?I used Joran's words to illustrate a theme of the episode - that Ezri is solving the case. At every point, the episode underlines the importance of Ezri's investigation.The point of the zhin'tara was supposedly so that the past lives could interact with her as separate entities. If Joran can do that here, what is the point of having them in separate 'computers'? She could have just done this ritual with each of them and interacted with them. Out of a population of billions, 1000 people is a statistical non-entity.
They can spare them.My point is that surely starfleet can do something.Do what? As I pointed out, there are laws that they have to follow. They can't just get 10,000 people and have them search every corner of the station.I didn't know about the exclusionary rule. It's all very interesting.
I was able to find this: So it might be legal after all. At this point, our expertise comes to an end. Any lawyers in the house?No, it would still be illegal. For one, it applies to police officers. Ezri was not a police officer.
She was serving in a consulting capacity at best. She had no authority to make any arrests.Second, it requires reasonable belief on the part of the officer that there will be an imminent emergency circumstance like if the police officer is pursuing a suspect and the suspect was about to escape or if an officer has to break into a home to save someone from dying of a heart attack. Ezri spied on and shot Chu'lak based on a hunch by a previous host with no real evidence.I used Joran's words to illustrate a theme of the episode - that Ezri is solving the case. At every point, the episode underlines the importance of Ezri's investigation.And as I pointed out earlier, the only reason why Ezri was able to solve the case was because she broke a bunch of laws and did some really stupid stuff. She mainly got lucky. If the police are allowed to ignore the law and spy on everyone any time they want, they'd catch a lot more criminals.
But we don't let the police do that because we have personal freedoms, right to privacy, and people are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty.The point of the zhin'tara was supposedly so that the past lives could interact with her as separate entities. If Joran can do that here, what is the point of having them in separate 'computers'? She could have just done this ritual with each of them and interacted with them.Joran wasn't a completely separate entity. Ezri still had access to his memories. The whole episode was Joran trying to get Ezri to use more and more of his knowledge and experiences and integrate him more strongly with her own personality.
What always got me was that in 'Equilibrium', Joran was a slightly unbalanced guy who couldn't cope with the symbiote and ended up killing a doctor under unclear circumstances as he became more volatile after the joining.But now, in 'Field of Fire', he's Hannibal goddamned Lecter! He's suddenly got three murders under his belt, and he's a calculating sociopath! But, you know, the movie kind of sociopath who's really good at getting inside people's heads despite having no sense of empathy! Because obviously Ezri, a trained psychologist, wouldn't have any skill in that area - no, better rely on the murderer for that!.