“A Time To Stand” is a powerhouse of an episode, kicking off the sixth season of Deep Space Nine in riveting fashion. There’s not a whole lot of thematic or character depth to the story, but what it lacks on those fronts it more than compensates for in the form a purely visceral experience. In a word, the episode is epic. And it sets in motion a new reality for the series, one that is dark, grim, and balanced on a knife’s edge.

The opening paces of the episode are meant to acquaint viewers to the reality of the Federation war against the Dominion. And for the Federation, that reality is increasingly desperate (Bashir puts the Federation’s chances of success at roughly 37%). Federation forces are suffering defeat after defeat. And while Sisko’s minefield has reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant at bay, the fact remains that the Federation is teetering on the edge of being overrun.

Against this backdrop, we’re quickly reacquainted with familiar faces. Worf and Martok appear, briefly. After settling a minor wedding detail, Worf and Dax head off to share a rare moment alone together. O’Brien and Rom are on station on the Defiant. Sisko contacts his father to report on Jake. Back on Terok Nor (DS9), Odo and Kira try to adapt to the reality that Gul Dukat and Weyoun continue to hold sway over station policy.

It’s a grand tapestry that goes more for breadth than depth. But it works. The short vignettes are presented well enough that the episode maintains a brisk (if not breakneck) pace. And through it all, there’s a running refrain that “things could be a lot worse.” One suspects that, before too long, that’s exactly how the situation is going to become — which, in a way, is breathtaking because this episode is dark, grim, and certainly intended to showcase how war can begin to affect those who fight it.

What’s interesting in the episode is that most of the war takes place offscreen. In that sense, Deep Space Nine is taking a page from the Foundation novels from Isaac Asimov. Like those books, Deep Space Nine is more content to focus on the personal and political effects of war than on the whiz-bang popcorn spectacle of war. This allows the episode to focus on how the characters are dealing with the new realities of conflict.

And while there isn’t a great deal of depth to these explorations, they are constructed well enough to allow viewers to get a real sense of what the characters are feeling. This is how the the episode becomes visceral. Whether it is Sisko breaking glass after hearing that 14 of 112 ships survived a fight with the Dominion, or Odo and Kira leaning (heavily) on one another for inspiration, or Dukat happily spinning Sisko’s baseball, these scenes are perfectly written to give the audience a clear image of where these characters are in the Deep Space Nine universe — and within themselves.

There is a story to be told in this episode, though. Sisko and crew are reassigned off of the Defiant and onto the Jem’Hadar ship that Sisko retrieved, at great cost, in season five’s “The Ship.” They have intelligence that reveals the location of a large supply of the drug the Dominion uses to control the Jem’Hadar. Destroying it will be a huge setback for the Dominion, especially with Sisko’s minefield still in place.

To that end, they head off into Cardassian space with the intent of sabotaging the installation. Surprisingly little time is spent on this thread, though it is used for some necessary humor (the crew jokes about the lack of chairs, food, or medical facilities on a Jem’Hadar ship of war). But once the mission gets underway, all pretense at humor ends and it’s back into the dark depths of war. The crew has to fend off an attack from a Federation ship (unaware of the mission, for obvious intelligence reasons) and when they carry out their orders, not everything goes as planned. The installation is destroyed, but their ship is left without warp speed — effectively trapping them within Cardassian space until they find somehow to repair it … or acquire a new ship.

“A Time To Stand” is a thoroughly compelling and engrossing episode. It’s tightly paced, riveting and a fantastic way to begin the season.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine