Star Trek Deep Space Nine: What You Leave Behind

It's hard to say goodbye.

Six of our writers wanted to participate in our farewell review to Deep Space Nine, and I loved every piece they wrote. So without further ado...

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Dogs of War

Sisko: "Hello, ship."

By nature I love brevity: A few more shifts in the power structure, and a few more key transformations, have to take place for our characters to move them into place for the grand finale coming up. This may not be the most spectacular of the finale parts, but I love it for a few wonderful moments that it has going for it.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Changing Face of Evil

Solbor: "There is an old saying: 'He who studies evil is studied by evil.'"

By nature I love brevity: I'm inclined to say 'this is where it really gets good.' But, well, I keep thinking that after every single part of this unthinkably massive finale, and you know what? I keep being right.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Bashir: "Then I shall endeavor to become more cynical with each passing day, look gift horses square in the mouth, and find clouds in every silver lining."
Garak: "If only you meant it."

By nature I love brevity: Before we swing into the big grand finale, the writers of DS9 take us on one last deviously plotted and devastating trip down the rabbit hole of Section 31 with our hero Julian Bashir. It's careful, clever, and a really solid way to solidify the journey Bashir has been on throughout the series.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Prodigal Daughter

"To my sister. A shining angel in a dark sky."

By nature I love brevity: There's a good episode in here and some of it is quite moving and well-observed. In the end, though, it's either too understated for the dramatic nature of the material or too dramatic for the understated tone. Nice to see some more Ezri background, though.

The Afterparty: Season One Review

"Imma live forever, I ain't never gonna die!" - The murder victim

By nature I love brevity: Simply put, the best new traditional murder mystery I've seen in a very long time. And before you ask, no, Knives Out doesn't count as 'traditional.' But even if it did... I honestly don't know. They're very different.

CoramDeo's Best of 2022

2022 was an excellent year for film, and I've enjoyed the TV I've seen. The year was a Trekkie's dream as far as I'm concerned, I got some more of the Superman content I've always dreamed of, cinephile catnip was consistently delivered both on television and on the big screen, and Survivor put out one of my all-time favorite seasons. Even Star Wars managed to hold my interest for pretty much the first time since The Clone Wars ended. I don't keep up with very much TV lately, but I do enjoy a few shows that I'm still pretty attached to. This is gonna be a fun list, so let's get into it, shall we?

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Once More Unto the Breach

'The only real question is whether you believe in the legend of Davy Crockett or not. If you do, then there should be no doubt in your mind that he died a hero's death. If you do not believe in the legend, then he was just a man, and it does not matter how he died.'

By nature I love brevity: A fitting and rousing send-off to a great legacy character, as well as an interesting, if a tad underbaked, musing on the nature of heroism, legend, and legacy.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Afterimage

'Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hem some pants.'

By nature I love brevity: A solid and much-needed introduction/adjustment episode for the final season's new (old?) character, Ezri Dax. Thanks to a good performance by Nicole DeBoer and some solid work from the rest of the cast, we have a fine outing that signals to both the crew and the audience exactly what we can expect from Ezri.

Star Trek Discovery: Coming Home

'Some people never find their purpose in life, you know? I'm grateful I found mine.'

By nature I love brevity: I certainly wouldn't call this episode 'bad', and there wasn't that much that was wrong with it, but it really didn't take a lot of risks with its storytelling. It just wrapped up the threads and then got right out of the way. None of those threads wrapped up in a way that surprised me at all, but there were only a couple of turns that bothered me, so... that's a win, I guess?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The Agents of Doux started discussing what we thought of this latest MCU movie, and it got a bit long and intense. So we decided that in lieu of a formal review, we'd post that discussion.

This post includes many spoilers. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to bail out now.

Star Trek Discovery: Species Ten-C

"How do we convey the concept of 'us'?"

By nature I love brevity: A really good episode, with some great stakes, and a great mystery for the crew to solve that we could actually follow. Is it kind of just discount Arrival? Yeah. But I love Arrival, so that's not necessarily a bad thing.

This Week: Happy Pride from the Agents of Doux!

This week: The Agents of Doux get their Pride on.

Star Trek Discovery: Rosetta

'I have to be right. I have to.'

By nature I love brevity: Some good concepts, but they're not realized as well as I would prefer. The B storyline is good though.

Star Trek Discovery: The Galactic Barrier

"You are the Federation now."

By nature I love brevity: One of those transitional episodes where we move a bunch of the pieces around the board so they're in place for what's to come. This one succeeds by focusing on a key player that's been underdeveloped so far, although I wanted even more.

Star Trek Discovery: Rubicon

Stamets: "Is there an acceptable answer other than yes?"
Burnham: "No."
Stamets: "Then yes."

By nature I love brevity: A pretty basic, average return to form. Only the average for this show has risen considerably; this one's pretty good.

Star Trek Discovery: All In

"I have missed you like a Cardassian misses cake!"

By nature I love brevity: Not much of consequence here, just a bit of light, harmless fun. I'm not convinced this was really the right moment for that, but light, harmless fun is something Discovery's struggled to do in the past, so I'll take it.

Star Trek Discovery: ...But to Connect

Burnham, trying to justify the title: "For generations, the Federation has sought out new life, new civilizations, not to destroy, but to connect, even in the face of uncertainty."

By nature I love brevity: Really strong stuff top to bottom. It's episodes like this that remind me why I'll still watch anything Star Trek.

Star Trek Discovery: Stormy Weather

Stamets: "I suppose now is as good a time as any to learn to delegate."

By nature I love brevity: Not my favorite episode this season. But Frakes had some fun at the helm, and nothing really stood out as bad per se.

Star Trek Discovery: The Examples

'You don't know me.'
'No, but I know anger. It's a wonderfully productive emotion.'

By nature I love brevity: A tight, solid episode. Some sure direction, a good script, and some excellent guest stars carry 'The Examples' to success.