Overview – O’Brien and Bashir travel to Bajor for a medical emergency.
The good doctor tries to get on O’Brien’s good side while the chief would
rather not have anything to do with him. Upon arriving at the village Chief
O’Brien suddenly finds himself as the spiritual leader, replacing the Sirah. In
addition to being the spiritual leader, O’Brien is also supposed to protect the
village from the Dal’Rok, a mysterious energy being. Meanwhile, back on the
station, Jake and Nog befriend a young Bajoran girl who was made the political
leader of her village after Cardassians killed her father. As she tries to put
forward a strong persona during the negotiations with a rival village, a
lovestruck Nog tries to connect with her.
Score: 6/10 – For some people, “The Storyteller” is a
great episode, for others it is pointless filler and boring. I find myself
somewhere in between the two viewpoints, leaning a little on the good side. The
two stories being told are mildly entertaining, and the Dal’Rok is a cool idea.
It turns out that it was created by a previous Sirrah of the village as a means
to bring about unification and harmony among the citizens. It is a secret
passed down from Sirah to Sirah, and the current successor is unprepared to
take the mantle upon himself. An unlikely and unwilling Chief O’Brien is chosen
instead. It is interesting side-note that O’Brien says he was not sent by the
Prophets, but when we learn about Sisko’s Prophet connection throughout the
series, it turns out that O’Brien was indeed sent by the prophets. O’Brien is a
true fish-out-of-water here, with Bashir cheering him on. On the other side of the
episode we have another Jake and Nog adventure to help give the other
characters some screen time. This story is a bit less compelling than the main
story, although there are some great moments in it. Nog continues to get the
people around him in trouble, and the prank with the oatmeal in Odo’s bucket is
quite funny.
Relevance – 2 points. This is also the first time
that legendary baseball player Buck Bokai is mentioned, so that also gets a
point. Most importantly, this episode begins the fun and interesting journey of
O’Brien and Bashir on their unlikely friendship. To be honest, at the time of
its original airing, I was very much like Miles with respect to Bashir. I found
the young doctor to be annoying and self-absorbed. As their relationship
developed, I continued to mirror the engineer and his feelings towards Julian.
This is the episode where one of Trek’s best friendships starts, and at the
time it was difficult to imagine them becoming anything remotely close to
friends.
Continuity - 3 points. Story continuity is good.
Things flow along nicely, and nothing stands out as contradictory. I also found
the character continuity to be good here. O’Brien really disliked Bashir here,
and it’s perfectly understandable. I also found his reluctance to be the Sirah
to be appropriate. Bashir, of course, finds a way to be oblivious to the
Chief’s annoyance and starts to worm his way into O’Brien’s good graces. Universe
continuity also works here, though it is a little odd that this one village on
Bajor has not drawn any attention with the Dal’Rok over the many years.
Character Development – 3 points. We are definitely going to
score points for the beginning of the development between Bashir and O’Brien. As
will be said in “The Explorers”, this is the start of when O”Brien starts to
not hate Bashir anymore. If for no other reason, this episode should be viewed
to see how this 24th Century bromance began. There is also some good
development for Jake here. It is minor in comparison to Nog’s, but as is often
the case for these two, Jake becomes the voice of balance and reason for Nog’s
excitement.
Social Commentary – 2 points. There are a few things here that
could be drawn upon. There is the meaning behind the Dal’Rok, which is that
nothing unites a bickering group of people like a struggle against a common
foe. That message is very much on the direct side of things. There is also the
idea of leadership, which goes a little deeper than previous example. In the
case of O’Brien, leadership is thrust upon him to inspire the Sirah’s
apprentice to rise up to the challenge. In the case of Jake and Nog’s friend
Varis Sul, it’s about how to learn to be a leader. Both stories have some
distinct parallels. Both involve a leader who feels unprepared for their role.
Both are required to step up and find confidence in themselves. In the case of
the former apprentice Hovath, his role as Sirah is given to another, while
Varis Sul has to emerge from her father’s shadow on her own (with a little
guidance from Commander Sisko and encouragement from Jake and Nog). She then
comes to terms with the fact that she can compromise and still be seen as a
strong leader. Both give us some good insights on what it means to become a
leader.
Cool Stuff – 1 point. The Dal’Rok and its story is
interesting. While the effects are not necessarily state of the art, they do
work and are effective. The idea behind it, as a way of the Bajoran Sirah years
ago to unite the village and in doing so eliminating the hatred and distrust
that divided them. While the series would eventually outgrow this type of
story, it is still a cool one.
Rank – Captain (17 points). While this episode is in the mediocre-at-best
category by itself, it is still a good story due largely to the beginning of
really nice friendship. Of all the relationships that the various characters
find themselves in, the one between O’Brien and Bashir is cited as being one of
the most authentic. These two seem to be polar opposites, and they have a
really rough start of it, but this is the episode where it really all starts.
For that reason alone, I would suggest you give this episode a viewing.
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