165. Badda-bing, Badda-bang

Summary

While Julian and the Chief visit Vic's (and try to convince him to join their next Alamo expedition), the program suddenly changes...the lounge is full of smoke and gangsters, and Vic is booted off the stage by a burlesque review and then fired by the hotel's new owner, a flinty childhood acquaintance of Vic's named Frankie Eyes. Puzzled, Julian consults his friend Felix (who designed Vic's program) and is informed that the twist is a "jack in the box," a surprise feature designed to keep the program interesting. If the crew can eliminate Frankie in an appropriate manner, the program will reset to its normal settings, but if Vic is harmed he'll be deleted. The crew, who consider Vic a friend (and in return for helping Nog and for getting Kira and Odo togther), hatch a plan...assisted by Kasidy Yates, much to Sisko's chagrin, for he considered the entire thing racist and ridiculous. They intend to steal the casino's cash reserve so that when Frankie's boss, Mr. Zeemo, comes to collect his cut he'll find the safe empty...and *he* will dispose of Frankie and things will go back to normal. Their complicated plan is missing only someone to play a rich high roller to distract the casino's patrons...but this problem is solved when Sisko steps in, having been convinced of the program's innocence by Kasidy. Things seem foolproof in their simulations (they only have an eight-minute window to steal the money), but when they set things in motion everything doesn't exactly go according to plan. The crew and Vic's quick thinking salvage the plan, and Frankie gets his. The program resets and Sisko sings a rousing duet of "The Best is Yet to Come" while the crew drinks champagne.

Analysis

Okay, how much fun was this? Tons! I'd put it second only to Trials and Tribble-ations for sheer entertainment value. Now, earlier in the season I was feeling a bit of Vic-overdose, but after the character was used so effectively and charismatically in It's Only a Paper Moon I was left feeling like I'd welcome Vic again, and here he is. And *this* is the best way to use the character, as a means to do a complete ensemble storyline where everyone gets in on the fun (except Worf, but he's no fun anyway).

The caper was over-strategized in the best gangster-movie tradition, and it seemed like *exactly* the sort of plan that these Starfleet types would come up with and then think was infallible, even though you and I could easily see it was probably doomed to fail. Of course they always are doomed to fail, and the fun comes in how they manage *not* to fail. The count-man's *precise* 11:45, eight-minute phone break upon which the entire plot depends is just the sort of unrealistic plot contrivance that has popped up in movies of this genre for decades, and its use here is a sly homage to the suspension-of-disbelief escapism of gangster and caper stories. The plan is a clever fusion of caper staples (the janitor with the security uniform underneath his overalls, the undercover waitress, the poisoned drink) and the unique abilities of our Trek friends, such as Nog's sensitive hearing and Odo's skills (the scene in which he gains the gangsters' confidence by showing them shapeshifting tricks is a hoot). The sequence of scenes and events was so familiar a film noir narrative as to feel as comfy as an old t-shirt: the voiceover run-through of the plan, the montage of the "preparations."

I also enjoyed the character continuity. I like Kasidy a lot, and as she usually is, she was a welcome presence here and the perfect foil for Sisko's stuffiness. While his point about the racism of 1960's Vegas is well taken, geez...lighten up, Ben. I find it ironic that he belabored the civil-rights point to distraction yet had no comments about the same era's attitudes towards women, which was actually more of an issue in the show. The scantily clad burlesque dancers, Ezri's waitress uniform and the fact that both Kasidy and Kira turn on the palpitating feminine wiles to further the plan speak to the fact that while the holosuite program may not be an accurate portrayal of the era's *racism,* it is certainly an accurate portrayal of the era's *sexism.* I felt that if one's going to make a political point out of this lighthearted romp, then the sexism point would be a more relevant one to make.

The relationships were present in full force; Sisko and Kasidy, Odo and Kira, Julian and Miles...and each character's connections to Vic were nice bits of continuity. As for Vic himself, he was unfortunately forced to remain mostly in the background...but since he is, after all, a secondary character that seems appropriate. Sisko's abrupt turnaround seemed a little forced, though his duet with Vic at the end was pure delight. And poor Miles...I think he got the short end of the stick as far as the plan goes. One more thing...they were SO close to being a Worf-Free Episode (tm)! But no, they had to stick in that little unnecessary scene. Overall, a highly enjoyable episode that I grinned all the way through, though I did feel that it dragged a bit in spots and missed the more evident sociological point to make.

One unrelated note: I noted with a grin that one of the gangsters calls Odo "Stretch." In one of my fanfiction stories, that's the nickname given to Odo by one of my original characters. S'pose the writers read my fanfic? :-)

Rating: 8.5

Memorable Quote:

"Uh-oh? What do you mean, uh-oh? We don't have time for uh-oh!" --Odo, to Nog

"Robbing casinos isn't part of any Starfleet training I've ever heard of." --the Chief

Classic Scene:

That final duet is just so great. We'll add it to the compliation of DS9: the Musical, along with the singing scene from "Chrysalis" and Odo's piano-playing.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

Julian: Miles, are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Miles: Depends on what you're thinking.

There's a Pinky and the Brain reference there somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

The O/K Status Report

In this week-after-Chimera episode, DS9's foremost sweeties are just that...sweeties. Early, when they go into Vic's, Odo is mesmerized by the dancing girls and gets some good-natured teasing from his girlfriend for it. But they do have a far sexier scene...during the aforementioned montage of "folks getting ready to go into the holosuite," one of the scenes is Kira getting into her dress. Odo zips her up, taking his sweet time about it, and drops a kiss on her bare shoulder, earning himself a big smile from her. And of course after the plan's worked, they're together at Vic's with the rest of the crew. Oh, the cuteness.

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