S4E3 - Hippocratic Oath

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dnaphil
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S4E3 - Hippocratic Oath

Post by dnaphil »

I selected this episode because it expands on Ketracel White and is a great Miles and Julian story.

Having caught our breath with The Visitor, we are back into the Dominion storyline with this episode.

The Jem'Hadar are an interesting species, and this episode adds depth to them. We learn that while they are biological programmed killing machines there is more to them.

There is a lot going on in this episode but here are some of the things I think worked well:

There is a great conflict between the Academic Bashir, who sees a medical problem to solve, as well as his Hippocratic Oath to help anyone, vs O'Brien's solider who sees them captured by the enemy and is working to escape and survive.

But I think that this episode is about loyalty and duty.

Julian's duty to the Hippocratic Oath, Mile's loyalty to saving Julian, Goran'Agar loyalty to his men, and then finally Goran'Agar's duty to kill them when it's clear there is no cure.

Miles and Julian have a pretty significant conflict and are angry with each other as the episode ends, but we also see the strength of their friendship, that in a few days they will move past this, and move on.
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GMGERRYMANDER
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Re: S4E3 - Hippocratic Oath

Post by GMGERRYMANDER »

Great plot and subplot.

Worf is not the best investigator and Odo is a master detective.

But the story of Julian and Miles was amazing. (I think this was an even better Episode than The Visitor) Julian has morals and a strong sense of duty and is a decent negotiator.

And I like how they are angry but still friends.
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RobAbrazado
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Re: S4E3 - Hippocratic Oath

Post by RobAbrazado »

This series of course has had (and will have) no shortage of Bashir/O'Brien storylines, but I like these ones the best where they explore the differences in their philosophies. In particular, I especially like it when the differences between them are born of their very different experiences. O'Brien's "soldier" nature was almost never explored in TNG, and I'm glad we get a chance to see it more in DS9 (even if it means O'Brien get shit on all the time. :D ), but episodes like this where O'Brien is thrust into "soldiery" situations really are my favorite O'Brien stories. And this one, as a Bashir/O'Brien story, reminds me of a Season 2 episode, "Armageddon Game," which I don't think was on the primary list for Watch Club, but was a bonus episode. In brief, Bashir and O'Brien are betrayed and hunted by some aliens whom they were initially there to help, and O'Brien gets infected with some bioweapon disease. At first, O'Brien is the one that has to keep the both of them alive by using his soldier skills, and then eventually his engineer skills to repair a comm unit or somesuch. As he succumbs to the disease, though, Bashir has to be the one to take point. I'm not super-sure, but it might have been one of their first big bonding experiences. Anyway...this episode is another one of Bashir and O'Brien being thrust into a life-or-death situation together and needing to rely on each other. I'm certain O'Brien kept thinking about the events of "Armageddon Game" during the events of "Hippocratic Oath," and every time Julian wasn't cooperating, I bet O'Brien was thinking, "What the actual fuck, man." But at the same time, I'm sure for Bashir it was a totally different experience than the previous one; he had a different focus this time, and I don't think he ever really felt in danger the way O'Brien did. This is all secondary stuff, though...I do still believe the main thrust of the episode was the relationship between the two men. I'm just musing on the, like...surrounding situation.

I didn't like the b-plot on this one. I just felt like Worf was being extra-dickish and also extra-clumsy, and I didn't think his character deserved it, especially after such a strong initial showing on the DS9 series! That said, though, I did like seeing Worf and Odo butt heads. In the way that Odo is the noir detective character, Worf is kind of...the heavy? The muscle? I like that they have basically the same goal, but wildly different philosophies and techniques. Also, though, I think that part of what I enjoy about their dynamic is the tension between how Odo feels about Worf and how we, the audience, feel about both Worf and Odo. Like...in seeing Odo's resistance to working together with Worf, I (as audience member) kind of get this feeling like, "Hey, come on, man...it's Worf! He's cool!" But to Odo, Worf is just yet another Starfleet yahoo trying to butt in on station security...I guess like when Eddington came on board...that kind of thing. I don't think Odo minds that Worf is a Klingon (as in...things are tense with the Klingons right now); Odo of anyone knows what it's like to be an exile from (and work against!) your own people and how that sucks when others judge you too quickly. But I definitely think he resents Starfleet folks coming in and thinking they can do his job better than him. That's been made explicit as an attitude of Odo's, but I think it's also commentary on Starfleet and how people outside the Federation might view the Federation itself.
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dnaphil
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:10 pm

Re: S4E3 - Hippocratic Oath

Post by dnaphil »

I was not a fan of the B-plot either. I think the writers were trying to show that Worf was having trouble going from Security to Command, but they do it better in other episodes.

There was something fun about Worf being, well quite Worf about the whole thing, only to find out that Odo is playing a much more subtle game.
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