“I will do as I please. I am on vacation.”

Oh, where to begin? “Let He Who Is Without Sin” isn’t just a bad episode. It’s an embarrassment. It’s a silly, soapy mess which makes the mistake of also trying to be an important commentary. But the whole misguided nature of the characters, story, script, acting, and so forth make the installment both nonsensical and pretentious — a rather baffling feat, if you think about it. But really, it’s best not to think too much about this episode. There’s little point in doing so.

The episode begins interestingly enough by setting itself up to examine the relationship between Worf and Dax during their vacation to Risa. Certainly their different backgrounds make for what could be an interesting exploration of characters and relationships in general. Sadly, all we get is a very simplistic, clichéd, soapy conflict. Worf is upset by Dax’s free-spirited ways and Dax is stymied by Worf’s inability to lighten up. Worf wants Dax to take the relationship much more seriously. Dax wants Worf to sty trying to run her life … you get the idea.

It’s a bad setup, made all the worse by the execution. Worf spends most of the episode in a tiff, before saying that he never loses self-control (thereby tossing out a great deal of his actions in both previous TNG and DS9 episodes). Dax is relentlessly peppy. And the inclusion of Bashir, Leeta and Quark just smacks of contrivance to generate at least some measure of a subplot.

But as bad as the setup is, everything comes completely apart with the inclusion of the Essentialists — a fundamentalist, conservative group who sees the decadence on Risa as symbolic of the decay of Federation society. Inexplicably, the Essentialist leader, Fullerton, seeks out Worf (why Worf? how did he know Worf was going to be there?) and just as inexplicably, Worf latches onto Fullerton’s message — ostensibly because it mimics the problems he’s having with Dax. Does any of this make any sense? Does it even matter?

Not really, because even if you give the episode some credit for trying to provide a parallel between the Essentialists and Worf’s story, and even if you give the episode some credit for trying to provide some measure of commentary on how decadent societies can self-destruct, you have to take it all away because of how mind-numbingly insipid the portrayal of these stories become. I mean, Worf becoming a saboteur? Without any repercussions whatsoever? Fullerton drawing a parallel between a vacation resort and guns pointed at people’s heads? Just how are we supposed to take this seriously?

Especially when you factor in how the episode kinda sorta wants to be a comedy. But it wants to provide serious commentary. And, I guess, if you’re The Daily Show you can pull it off. But this episode is a long, long way away from such success. I mean, consider the horribly melodramatic “soccer speech” from Worf where he reveals that, as a youth, he inadvertently head-butted a human kid to death during a soccer game — and, thus, has become the stiff, tightwad Worf he is in the episode. Oh, and sharing the story also cures him of his allegiance to the Essentialists.

And what the hell was the point of Vanessa Williams being in this episode?

I don’t know, there just might be something within “Let He Who Is Without Sin …” that is redeemable. But honestly, considering how bad the episode is in nearly every department, I’m not willing to be charitable enough to look for it.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine