I have been a Star Trek fan for most of my life. From the Original series.. through the movies, TNG, DS9, and VGR. With the exception of Discovery and Lower Decks, which, personally.. I don't consider canon. I won't waste time stating why.
I have yet to watch Picard, but I will save judgement when I do.
But I digress.
My point is.. I consider myself somewhat of a Trek scholar. I've always found that the best episodes are always about the characters. No matter how fantastic the environment.. how interesting the planets.. how complex or entertaining the story.. it's all about how the events and experiences affect the characters we care about and love. How the events and circumstances in the story cause them to learn.. grow.. and evolve. I am currently doing a chronological re-watch. Starting with Enterprise on down through Voyager, and eventually.. Picard. And I just watched " His Way" for the first time ever. Watching Star Trek was always a regular event with my family, and particularly.. my grandmother. In the first three months of 1997, I lost her, my childhood home, and finally.. my mother. I stopped watching both DS9 and Voyager after that. My heart just wasn't in it. So I never saw how either series ended. I had always planned to go back to them.. but never did. Then in 2004, I met my Wife, and she brought me back to life again. I always wanted to go through the franchise with my wife, but I could never bring her into being a fan. Unfortunately, she also passed in 2016. Suffice it to say, I've seen my share of pain.
These two characters, Kira and Odo, have also seen more than their share. Kira.. spending most of her life as a freedom fighter, and a terrorist. Odo has spent most of HIS life alone, and alienated. When this show began, I didn't much like either of them. Kira was impulsive, rude and violent.. and Odo with his grumpy and alienating personality.. even when people tried to be his friend.. he wore always "Haarumph" them away. But over the years, we have watched them grow closer to the people around them.. allow friends inside their self erected protective walls, and we've seen them soften, and through diverse and different circumstances, become comfortable in their own respective skins. I've always meant to review episodes on here. I had planned to start doing it on my next re-watch. But THIS episode, which I've JUST watched for the first time.. brightened my evening so much.. I had to do my first review here and now. First of all.. as a fan of Sinatra and old standards.. I LOVE Vic's character. And as far fetched as some might claim this particular premise is... (HELLO.. It's Star Trek!!)... and being an incurable romantic who won my wife and soulmate by sweeping her off her feet... this episode sucked me in right away. As this series began, I'd venture to guess almost NO ONE watching EVER envisioned these two together. And even though Odo confessed his feelings (to what he THOUGHT was KIra way back in mid-season three.. I don't think many fans thought it was very likely that she would reciprocate . And so we watched as Odo suffered silently with his longing and heartache.. until now. It was joyous to watch! I am surprised , as I read the reviews.. there was little or no mention of this aspect of the episode. I know we live in a clinical and dark time these days.. but are there no romantics amongst fans these days? As I watched their first "date", I lost all awareness that Vic misled Odo. What got me.. above all else.. was how she was looking at him. The real Kira! You could see her falling in love right there. And when he asked her to dance. The confidence. The suave, smooth and GENUINE way he swept her off her feet. It was then the realization hit. I forgot! He thinks she's a hologram. He's gonna ruin it.
But he'd already done it. He'd let her see everything. She fell.
And the final scene on the Promenade.
Who needs dinner?
This scene was the culmination of several seasons of multiple stories and events that led them both.. these two lost souls.. to each other. The first REAL happiness either one had known in their entire lives.
Things like this are the core of why I love Star Trek so much. Yeah, the stories are great. The action, the aliens, the battles.. but when you come right down to it.. the best of Trek brings you into these people's lives. It doesn't matter if it's fiction. It doesn't matter if their words are dialogue written by a pen.. or tapped into someone's computer. You get to know these people. You watch them live, grow, make mistakes. You love them, you hate them, you yell at them... .. and you care about what happens to them. And it makes you smile, it makes you think.. it makes you feel. And it seems to me, if some of the reviewers looked at some of the so-called filler episodes or.. episodes where the writers "dropped the ball".. in this kind of focus.. that they would enjoy the series a lot more. Especially.. if they fall it love. It's all about the characters!
My point is.. I consider myself somewhat of a Trek scholar. I've always found that the best episodes are always about the characters. No matter how fantastic the environment.. how interesting the planets.. how complex or entertaining the story.. it's all about how the events and experiences affect the characters we care about and love. How the events and circumstances in the story cause them to learn.. grow.. and evolve. I am currently doing a chronological re-watch. Starting with Enterprise on down through Voyager, and eventually.. Picard. And I just watched " His Way" for the first time ever. Watching Star Trek was always a regular event with my family, and particularly.. my grandmother. In the first three months of 1997, I lost her, my childhood home, and finally.. my mother. I stopped watching both DS9 and Voyager after that. My heart just wasn't in it. So I never saw how either series ended. I had always planned to go back to them.. but never did. Then in 2004, I met my Wife, and she brought me back to life again. I always wanted to go through the franchise with my wife, but I could never bring her into being a fan. Unfortunately, she also passed in 2016. Suffice it to say, I've seen my share of pain.
These two characters, Kira and Odo, have also seen more than their share. Kira.. spending most of her life as a freedom fighter, and a terrorist. Odo has spent most of HIS life alone, and alienated. When this show began, I didn't much like either of them. Kira was impulsive, rude and violent.. and Odo with his grumpy and alienating personality.. even when people tried to be his friend.. he wore always "Haarumph" them away. But over the years, we have watched them grow closer to the people around them.. allow friends inside their self erected protective walls, and we've seen them soften, and through diverse and different circumstances, become comfortable in their own respective skins. I've always meant to review episodes on here. I had planned to start doing it on my next re-watch. But THIS episode, which I've JUST watched for the first time.. brightened my evening so much.. I had to do my first review here and now. First of all.. as a fan of Sinatra and old standards.. I LOVE Vic's character. And as far fetched as some might claim this particular premise is... (HELLO.. It's Star Trek!!)... and being an incurable romantic who won my wife and soulmate by sweeping her off her feet... this episode sucked me in right away. As this series began, I'd venture to guess almost NO ONE watching EVER envisioned these two together. And even though Odo confessed his feelings (to what he THOUGHT was KIra way back in mid-season three.. I don't think many fans thought it was very likely that she would reciprocate . And so we watched as Odo suffered silently with his longing and heartache.. until now. It was joyous to watch! I am surprised , as I read the reviews.. there was little or no mention of this aspect of the episode. I know we live in a clinical and dark time these days.. but are there no romantics amongst fans these days? As I watched their first "date", I lost all awareness that Vic misled Odo. What got me.. above all else.. was how she was looking at him. The real Kira! You could see her falling in love right there. And when he asked her to dance. The confidence. The suave, smooth and GENUINE way he swept her off her feet. It was then the realization hit. I forgot! He thinks she's a hologram. He's gonna ruin it.
But he'd already done it. He'd let her see everything. She fell.
And the final scene on the Promenade.
Who needs dinner?
This scene was the culmination of several seasons of multiple stories and events that led them both.. these two lost souls.. to each other. The first REAL happiness either one had known in their entire lives.
Things like this are the core of why I love Star Trek so much. Yeah, the stories are great. The action, the aliens, the battles.. but when you come right down to it.. the best of Trek brings you into these people's lives. It doesn't matter if it's fiction. It doesn't matter if their words are dialogue written by a pen.. or tapped into someone's computer. You get to know these people. You watch them live, grow, make mistakes. You love them, you hate them, you yell at them... .. and you care about what happens to them. And it makes you smile, it makes you think.. it makes you feel. And it seems to me, if some of the reviewers looked at some of the so-called filler episodes or.. episodes where the writers "dropped the ball".. in this kind of focus.. that they would enjoy the series a lot more. Especially.. if they fall it love. It's all about the characters!