Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 5x04 — ...Nor the Battle to the Strong

Aired 1996-10-21

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:5.54

Synopsis

Jake Sisko experiences the horrors of war first hand.

Filler rating: good filler

There's no essential plot or exposition in this episode that renders it unskippable, but it's a decent episode, even though it could have been better.

Remarkable scenes

Bashir boring Jake, then Jake getting excited about going into a combat situation.
The Ferengi view of pregnancy.
Jake watching the wounded come in.
Jake running and finding the dying man.
The discussion about the preferred method of death.
Jake's random phaser fire turning him into a hero.

Review

A decent episode. I'm a bit annoyed that the Klingons are still attacking the Federation. But once you get over that, the episode is pretty intense and emotional. Jake has his first battle experience, gets lucky, and becomes a hero. I rather like the way he was completely honest with himself about everything. And as Sisko said, "everyone sees a little of himself in this."

2 reader comments

I thought this was a very gripping episode. The first part was a bit like a good ER disaster episode: you never see the disaster itself, but you see the bodies coming in. You know it's right around the corner. And then Jake got caught in the cross-fire. Without military training, he panics of course, and he feels that makes him a coward. But as we saw in the first part, not even soldiers are able to cope with battle. In the final battle, when running was not an option, Jake fought instinctively. It was not out of some sense of heroism. It was just survival.
I absolutely believe in Jake's assertion that the line between heroism and cowardice is very thin. I hope I never have to find out where I stand.
by Remco | 05/06/2009 at 3:24 pm

This episode may have its moments where the emotions seem a little forced, but overall a rewarding episode. It was nice to see Jake showing some maturity to balance out his naive enthusiasm. One of my favorite themes in narratives is redemption and how we are not defined by our past. We have all done things we regret or even find downright disgusting, but we should always have the chance to redeem ourselves. Jake at first tries to justify his cowardice, but as the soldier Jake meets after the shelling reminds him (and us), life doesn't work that way. It is only in humility and being honest with oneself that redemption can begin its work. The episode leaves us with some hope for Jake and even the soldier who shot himself to avoid fighting.
I love these reviews - they are an excellent companion to the series, especially for someone like me who is experiencing DS9 for the first time.
by Christopher Wright | 12/06/2011 at 12:25 am