‘IF WISHES WERE HORSES’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is quite a mind-boggling ‘DS9’ episode to sit through. But it’s very entertaining and quite thought-provoking. Even though I don’t understand the aliens and their motives, there’s food for thought here.
The episode begins with Quark suggesting to Odo that he should lighten up, perhaps entertain himself in a holosuite. Odo tells Quark he’s ‘disgusting’, even when the Ferengi’s expanding holosuite horizons.
Julian Bashir meanwhile tries to start a romantic relationship with Jadzia Dax. Jadzia however politely refuses as she’s noticed that Julian’s eyed other women. Julian’s quite dismayed once Jadiza’s left him.
Returning to ops, Dax discovers some elevated emissions in the nearby Denorius Belt. She, Sisko and Kira theorise what’s going on whilst keeping an eye on the emissions. They can’t be that serious, right?
Meanwhile, Chief O’Brien reads the story of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ to his daughter Molly before he tucks her into bed. After leaving her, Molly runs out and tells her parents that Rumpelstiltskin is in her room.
O’Brien and his wife Rosalind Chao as Keiko try to reassure Hana Hatae as Molly that Rumpelstiltskin’s not in her room. But when O’Brien goes with Molly into her room, they do find Rumpelstiltskin there. 😮
But that’s not the only weird thing that happens. Sisko and Jake find that their 21st century baseball player hero, Keone Young as Buck Bokai, is out of the holosuite and following them. This is most strange!
Bashir also finds Jadzia in his quarters, seducing him and making love to him. But it’s not the real Jadzia. It happens to be a figment of Bashir’s imagination. So, there are two Jadzias in this episode. 😀
I like this concept of imaginary characters coming to life when we think them up in our heads. I personally wouldn’t mind having the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa from ‘Doctor Who’ come to life to play in my stories.
The imaginary characters of Rumpelstiltskin, Buck Bokai and Bashir’s Jadzia disappear when they get rejected or ignored. The imagination doesn’t stop when Odo reports in it’s snowing on the Promenade.
Other imaginary characters and things appear such as a Gunji jackdaw running loose on the promenade. Quark also gets two beautiful, adoring women in skimpy outfits – or to say…not much on.
Ugh! How is it that Quark’s perverted mind puts me off him sometimes? Don’t get me wrong. The girls are nice enough, but I don’t want to see them dressed up as Princess Leia from ‘Return of the Jedi’. 😀
It was funny when Quark sees that many of his customers are winning at the Dabo table. Quark tells them to lose, but it doesn’t work. Fortunately, Quark has those ‘sex fantasy’ girls to keep him occupied.
So that’s Sisko, Jake, Bashir, O’Brien and Quark covered in terms of imagination. What about Kira? Well, she imagines lower pylon one getting caught on fire and seeing a burning man when down there.
What about Odo? Well, he returns to his office and sees Quark in a holding cell. Apparently he put him there, according to Quark. Odo’s really pleased with himself. I found that very funny to watch here.
As the imagination outbreak continues, Sisko and the DS9 see that a void has been created near the space station. They believe it is part of this imagination outbreak and they try to find a way to close it.
But in the attempt of trying to close the void, things only get worse. They run out of options and it seems that Rumpelstiltskin might be the one to save them only if O’Brien gives up his daughter to him.
Fortunately, it doesn’t happen as Sisko deduces the void is part of Jadzia’s imagination during initial scans of the Denorius Belt emissions. Sisko tells everyone to not believe the void exists and they all do.
I did like it when Bashir attended to his fantasy version of Jadzia who gets injured during the void crisis. Even though she’s not real, he still considers her alive and truly cares for her. I found that rather sweet.
The episode ends with Sisko visited by Buck Bokai in his office. Apparently ‘Buck’ and his kind are on a mission of exploration like our heroes are. They wanted to understand what imagination is all about.
‘If Wishes Were Horses’ is a mind-boggling episode and I admit I don’t quite fully get it towards the end. But it does provide some thought-provoking questions and entertainment values in a ‘DS9’ show.
‘If Wishes Were Horses’ (DS9) – 7/10
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