‘SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Sometimes, I find some Klingon episodes in ‘DS9’ to be exciting like ‘The Way of the Warrior’. I wish I could say the same thing about ‘Soldiers of the Empire’. That’s not to say this is a pretty dreadful episode.
This episode was directed by ‘TNG’ veteran LeVar Burton who played Geordi and he does a fine job directing this one. I just wish there was more action in the story and we had an exciting space battle.
You see, in the episode, after J. G. Hertzler as General Martok gets medical attention by Dr. Bashir, he receives a message from the Klingon government. He’s been assigned to recover a missing vessel.
That missing vessel happens to be a Klingon ship called the B’Moth. Sounds like ‘Behemoth’, but whatever. Martok gets his own Klingon Bird of Prey, the Rotarran, in order to accomplish his mission.
He appoints Worf to be his newly appointed first officer aboard the Rotarran. Jadzia Dax comes along too, much to Worf’s surprise. Very soon, the Rotarran vessel departs DS9 to go on the mission.
There are also other Klingons aboard the ship like David Graf as Leskit, Rick Worthy as Kornan, Sandra Nelson as Tavana and Scott Leva as Ortakin. They seem a pretty unsavoury bunch of Klingons.
Incidentally, Aron Eisenberg makes a brief appearance as Nog in the episode when he’s helping Worf aboard the Defiant. I found it really funny when Nog got annoyed by Worf’s request to make repairs.
The Rotarran ship happens to be Martok’s first command since his escape from the Dominion prison camp in ‘By Purgatory’s Shadow’/’By Inferno’s Light’. This should be a really exciting endeavour here.
Now, I would’ve liked it if this episode had Martok, Worf and Jadzia leading the Klingons aboard the Bird of Prey in a fight against a Jem’Hadar ship to rescue the B’Moth and its crew. Sadly it’s not that.
Instead, the Klingons aboard Martok’s ship are intensely bitter since their morale has been destroyed by a series of punishing losses at the hands of the Jem’Hadar. Martok doesn’t help either.
Apparently he becomes overcautious and unwilling to go into battle, missing a chance for an easy victory with the Jem’Hadar. It’s something that Worf and Dax notice and they are easily troubled by.
Jadzia, acting as a Klingon would, challenges Worf about Martok’s behaviour. Worf does his best to defend Martok’s actions. As the story progresses though, he can’t defend the General much longer.
I like seeing Worf dressed in full Klingon gear, despite not wearing the sash he usually wears, when he’s Martok’s first officer. He was in full Klingon gear in ‘Apocalypse Rising’, but here it’s so deserved.
In the mess hall, Dax becomes forced to stun a Klingon officer with her phaser when a pair of Klingons get into a violent argument. One of those Klingons could’ve easily been killed in the fight. 😐
Dax angrily confronts Worf and tells him that he needs to deal with Martok by challenging him for a command. This Worf does once Martok does something that is really uncharacteristic of a Klingon. 😐
You see; the Klingon ship B’Moth gets found across the Cardassian border. Martok fears the Jem’Hadar left the ship behind as a trap, so he refuses to enter Cardassian territory to save the ship.
Now a missed opportunity is made here as we could’ve had an epic Klingon-Jem’Hadar battle here. I appreciate Martok’s finding confidence journey here, but it does seem to be really dragged out here.
This leads to Worf realising that Martok is paralysed by fear, so he reluctantly challenges the General for control of the ship. A knife fight ensues to which Worf soon discovers that Martok’s fear is gone.
As Worf allows Martok to win the fight, sustaining a nasty wound in the process but survives, the General goes into a battle frenzy just as a Jem’Hadar ship arrives. Soon the B’Moth ship gets saved. 🙂
Upon returning to DS9, the Rotarran ship’s crew becomes revitalised. Martok is grateful to Worf for reminding him of his duty as a Klingon warrior, soon offering Worf a place in the House of Martok. 🙂
Worf accepts of course. I wish I could say ‘Soldiers of the Empire’ was inspiring, but I think it could’ve done with more action. There could’ve had some exciting Klingon-Jem’Hadar battle scenes in space.
‘Soldiers of the Empire’ (DS9) rating – 7/10
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