Well-done.

“The Jem’Hadar” is a solid hour of television, beginning with quiet character moments and inexorably escalating to a deadly battle and the brink of war. It’s not a perfect installment of DS9, but it effectively establishes a mortal threat to the DS9 station for the coming seasons. The dialogue is crisp, the plot is serviceable, and the implications of the episode’s final moments are ominous. All-in-all … well-done.

The episode begins with a simple conversation between father and son – between Sisko and Jake. The interactions here are enjoyable and believable. They decide to spend a working vacation together in the Gamma Quadrant but when Jake invites Nog, Sisko’s dream of quality father-son time is dashed. Quark decides he wants to go along (as Nog’s “chaperone”) to curry favor with Sisko. For his part, Sisko handles the adversity with aplomb – making the proceedings enjoyable and entertaining (as opposed to melodramatic).

That being said, these elements also lead to some of the more awkward moments of the episode. The Jake-Nog interaction is acceptable, but there’s little more than juvenile antics afoot. Worse yet is the performance of Quark who often comes off as just too annoying. The performance pushes beyond funny and into downright grating at times. Fortunately, the annoyance is offset by the discussions between Sisko and Quark about human nature – about the brutality of human history, and the tendency for humans to disregard what is different. The exchange is rather poignant.

The vacation is interrupted by a woman, named Eris, who is being chased by a group of soldiers that she calls the Jem’Hadar — an elite squad from The Dominion, a vast political entity which has grown tired of the traffic through the wormhole. The Jem’Hadar want to impress upon the Federation how important it is that they cease trespassing in Dominion territory. To that end, they capture Sisko and destroy a number of ships and settlements, including the New Bajor colony. In terms of design, the Jem’Hadar are just a bit too silly to take entirely seriously. However, their actions more than establish them as ruthless and lethal.

A particularly chilling scene involves a Jem’Hadar representative who appears on DS9 to announce the capture of Sisko. This prompts a rather rigorous response from the Odyssey — a galaxy-class ship – and two of DS9’s runabouts. Sisko is rescued, predictably, but the ensuing battle is frenetically paced and, before you realize it, the Odyssey is destroyed in a kamikaze run from a Jem’Hadar ship. The Jem’Hadar don’t mess around.

“The Jem’Hadar” does a good job of establishing The Dominion as a very real threat. As Sisko says, “If the Dominion comes through the wormhole, the first battle will be fought here. And I intend to be ready for them.” Strong words … and the formal introduction of The Dominion as a threat (they had been alluded to in a few earlier episodes) establishes a much more action-based conflict for the series to explore, in addition to the more political ramifications of Bajor, the Cardassians and the Maquis.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine