“Apocalypse Rising” is meant to kick off season 5 of Deep Space Nine in grand fashion. It certainly has the feel of an episode trying to be epic and dramatic in nature. But it never quite lives up to its own expectations. This is, primarily, a plot-based vehicle with one overriding purpose: To put an end to the war which was about to erupt as season 4 drew to a close. There are some nice character moments, and surprising plot twists, thrown into the mix. But it’s not enough to make the overcome the sense that this is an episode that is just going through the motions.

The war with the Klingons is not going particularly well for the Federation. So they turn to Sisko to expose Gowron as a changeling. To that end, Gowron recruits Worf (obviously), O’Brien, and Odo (who is brooding over the his transformation into a “solid”). In fact, Odo’s depression is the central character focus of the story. Sisko finds Odo in Quark’s (of all places) waxing poetic about … the bubbles in a glass of synthahol. Odo seems to think he’s no longer special, no that he can no longer change form. But Sisko insists that Odo is just as vital as before. The episode then becomes something of a journey as Odo must confront, and overcome, his self-doubt.

Unfortunately, Odo’s character story isn’t given much prominence. That is reserved for The Mission. We get plenty of scenes which elaborate on the hows and whys, on the dangers and pitfalls, of what Sisko is proposing to do: namely to infiltrate a heavily guarded Klingon command center, deep inside Klingon territory, and set up transmitters that will emit radiation that *should* reveal Gowron to be a changeling. It’s not a bad setup, but the problem is that most of the episode is just that: set up.

We do get some fun scenes with Gul Dukat, who uses his captured Klingon Bird of Prey to help shuttle Sisko & co. to the Klingon station. Dukat is amusingly ruthless as always. Also during this time we get the inevitable “training” sequences in which Worf tries to teach his fellow DS9 officers how to act like Klingons (as if they’d be able to pick up on enough nuance in so short a time as to be thoroughly convincing). There’s also a nice interlude on board DS9 where Bashir and Kira talk about Kira’s pregnancy. It’s actually a bit of an in-joke for the show, since Siddig just so happens to be the father of Visitor’s child. It’s fun, as far as it goes, but let’s hope the series doesn’t make a habit out of this kind of self-referential humor.

Once our heroes do arrive at the station, we’re treated to … more waiting. They have to try and blend in during a celebration and hope that their identities will not be revealed before the following morning, when Gowron was scheduled to arrive. This begs another question: How the heck can they succeed, especially when their training showed them (Odo and O’Brien in particular) to be so bloody incompetent at imitating Klingon behavior. And did they all, somehow, manage to speak with thoroughly convincing Klingon accents?

I guess it’s up to the audience to allow some narrative license here. But it’s too much of a stretch, at least in terms of considering how strong the episode is overall. More problematic is that the incessant waiting saps the episode of any real drama or tension. A lot of *nothing* takes place, and outside of perhaps two or three small scenes involving Odo, none of these scenes have any relevance to the characters.

Once Gowron does finally arrive, there’s some clumsy storytelling that keeps Sisko from activating the transmitters. First a drunken Klingon gets in Odo’s way. Then once everything is in place, Gowron calls the name of Sisko’s Klingon persona to receive an award. Instead of simply activating the device right then and there, Sisko puts it away waits to receive his award, and then, afterwards, *still* doesn’t press the damn button, even after getting knocked to the floor.

It’s just silly.

All this is done to get around the fact that Gowron is not, in fact, a changeling — his top general, Martok, is the imposter. As twists go, it’s certainly unexpected and exciting. But it does undercut the reasons for why Gowron seemed so out of character in the previous season. Add to this the rather perfunctory way the Klingon war subsequently ends and the episode’s finale is just too rushed and hollow to really drive home any legitimate satisfaction for everything that transpired beforehand.

“Apocalypse Rising” almost turns out to be much ado about nothing. What little there is, though, hardly seems to justify forty-five minutes of storytelling. It’s a rather inauspicious beginning to the season.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine