Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Circle Rewatch
July 5, 2015 2:56 PM - Season 2, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Kira is recalled to Bajor. Odo goes looking for the truth. Sisko evacuates the station.
I love the scene where everyone shows up in Kira's quarters too, especially the moment where Kira realizes that everyone there (even Quark!) is her friend.
It's also interesting to contrast the reaction to Kira's reassignment here and Odo's resignation at the beginning of Season 3, which sort of demonstrates the differences between them and how they relate to other people. When Kira, the extrovert, is reassigned, everyone goes to her quarters to commiserate, try to get her to fight back, etc. When Odo, the introvert, resigns, it's only Kira who goes to Sisko to try to get Odo back.
The sad part about Bareil is that Philip Anglim can act. He's great as Mirror Bareil in the Season 6 Mirror Universe episode. (Sadly, that episode is otherwise an incredibly dull, pointless exercise. It's too bad we couldn't get a well-written episode with a good performance from him.) It's clearly something about the way that the role was written or directed that makes him so dull.
posted by creepygirl at 10:29 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's also interesting to contrast the reaction to Kira's reassignment here and Odo's resignation at the beginning of Season 3, which sort of demonstrates the differences between them and how they relate to other people. When Kira, the extrovert, is reassigned, everyone goes to her quarters to commiserate, try to get her to fight back, etc. When Odo, the introvert, resigns, it's only Kira who goes to Sisko to try to get Odo back.
The sad part about Bareil is that Philip Anglim can act. He's great as Mirror Bareil in the Season 6 Mirror Universe episode. (Sadly, that episode is otherwise an incredibly dull, pointless exercise. It's too bad we couldn't get a well-written episode with a good performance from him.) It's clearly something about the way that the role was written or directed that makes him so dull.
posted by creepygirl at 10:29 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
I too love the scene in Kira's quarters. The only way it could have been more epic would be if it had been on one long camera shot, but I guess that would have been extremely difficult to do.
Is it just me, or has Dax woken up this season? She's much more animated and awake, rather than standing mutely in the corner.
Watching Kira vanish into the floor when she was leaving the station was so weird. But I do love the green cardigan thing she's wearing a little later on. And the way she pulls herself together when Bashir is shot is great.
"Can you hear them now, child?" was perfectly delivered. So smoothly sinister. I saw her in a film called Big Eden, where she plays a very different character, and it gives me a weird dissonance every time I see her.
Overall, I think everything that happens in this episode could be condensed and added into the previous and the next, but then we'd lose some of my favourite Kira/Dax scenes.
posted by Solomon at 1:22 PM on July 6, 2015
Is it just me, or has Dax woken up this season? She's much more animated and awake, rather than standing mutely in the corner.
Watching Kira vanish into the floor when she was leaving the station was so weird. But I do love the green cardigan thing she's wearing a little later on. And the way she pulls herself together when Bashir is shot is great.
"Can you hear them now, child?" was perfectly delivered. So smoothly sinister. I saw her in a film called Big Eden, where she plays a very different character, and it gives me a weird dissonance every time I see her.
Overall, I think everything that happens in this episode could be condensed and added into the previous and the next, but then we'd lose some of my favourite Kira/Dax scenes.
posted by Solomon at 1:22 PM on July 6, 2015
In a previous rewatch thread I said something about how the writers of this show apparently realized that both Kai Opaka and Bareil were too nice to be interesting and that's why both characters were written out. In Opaka's case they quickly brought in Kai Winn and her smiling villainy was a great addition to the show. In Bareil's case, for some reason, they kept him around for a while and just kept trying to make him work. I don't know why they didn't give him some real flaws and quirks, or kill him off sooner. He was just this nice, kind of boring guy, and he hardly ruined the show but he was just kind of there like a piece of furniture for a while.
According to the Memory Alpha page, the crowd scene in Kira's quarters was an homage to A Night at the Opera and was filmed in one long take, although it was then edited with close-ups and reverse shots.
The Zack Handlen reviews oh yeah! linked to are worth reading. Handlen wrote about this show with a perceptiveness that made me think this was a guy who had lived a real life.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:51 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
According to the Memory Alpha page, the crowd scene in Kira's quarters was an homage to A Night at the Opera and was filmed in one long take, although it was then edited with close-ups and reverse shots.
The Zack Handlen reviews oh yeah! linked to are worth reading. Handlen wrote about this show with a perceptiveness that made me think this was a guy who had lived a real life.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:51 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
In Opaka's case they quickly brought in Kai Winn and her smiling villainy was a great addition to the show.
She's just.... so...... eugh!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:07 PM on July 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
She's just.... so...... eugh!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:07 PM on July 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
Kai Winn's Smarm when she sees Kira and Bareil together ("stay as many days as you want, even a week") makes me angry. God I hate Kai Winn.
posted by marienbad at 3:08 PM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by marienbad at 3:08 PM on October 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have a friend who I introduced to DS9, and she said the scene in Kira’s quarters in this episode was when she fell in love with the show.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:30 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:30 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Loved the scene with everyone showing up in Kira's quarters. I feel like most Trek ensemble scenes have some physical obstacle (conference table, computer console area, etc) that has to be shot around, so while you might get everyone in the same scene you'll only get 2 or 3 people in the same shot at once. This had more of a stage play feel to it, with the camera just getting to stay in one place as each actor made their entrance.
posted by oh yeah! at 7:10 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]