1x09 Cupid's Dagger

[4.6/10] This one was tough to watch, and not in the “it’s just too real” sort of way.” As someone on record as hating the Mercer/Grayson relationship drama crap, this plot was a real chore for me. The return of Darulio, the blue guy whom Grayson cheated on Mercer with, was just cause for both of them to dredge the whole thing up over again and get into the same tired, painful arguments the show has been circulating since the very first episode.

I will say that it’s a boon to get Rob Lowe as a guest star, and he’s good at exuding that “charming nice guy on the surface, bad guy underneath” vibe that Darulio requires here. But god do I not need Grayson and Mercer going back and forth on this shit again, and I especially don’t need both of them becoming romantic rivals for Darulio’s affections.

It’s not only a stupid plot, with a dumbed down version of “The Naked Time” from Star Trek: The Original Series and its sequel, “The Naked Now” in The Next Generation, but the show uses it as an excuse to turn Grayson and Mercer into giddy schoolgirls, which is neither convincing nor funny. Again, at times I wonder if the people writing this show have experienced these feelings and emotions, because their depictions of them scan like those of a teenager imagining what passion and infatuation must feel like rather than the genuine article.

Don’t get me started on the business with Dr. Finn and Yaphit. It’s gross in both concept and execution. More than anything, the episode just spends way too much time both on various members of the crew acting like ninnies when infected by Darulio’s pheromones and on ferreting out what the mystery is when it seems pretty obvious to anyone watching the show with half a brain cell.

I do like the conflict between warring peoples over a planet as the plot obstacle of the week. The notion of the senior staff being too distracted by their love infection to do their vital jobs is a solid one that could be done well in other hands. Darulio’s solution of making opposition leaders fall in love is a cheap one, but there’s some poetry to it. Similarly, while the discovery that two groups’ key sacred artifact has the DNA of a common ancestor on it, such that they have to share the planet, is a fine if predictable solution, it’s just kind of spit out at the last minute rather than given the time and space to land.

This is just a badly-written episode all around. There’s some decent idea, but they’re handled poorly, and the balance between what’s given focus and what deserves focus is out of whack. It’d be a dull hour even apart from the larger implications for the series continuing weaknesses.

Here’s the worst part though -- I hate the suggestion that Darulio may have been emitting that pheromone when Grayson cheated on Mercer, and I hate the fact that the script plays coy about it even more. The twist is a terrible one, but if you’re going to go with it, then just commit to it rather than being all cheeky and mysterious about it. In some ways it’s worse to make the suggestion and muddy the water rather than just picking a path and forcing the characters to deal with the fallout.

But it’s a terrible idea to write off Grayson’s infidelity as chemical-based manipulation. As cliché as the cheating spouse angle is, and as exhausted as I am by the Mercer/Grayson drama, there is at least the germ of something real if Grayson chose to be with someone else because she felt Mercer was neglecting her. Making it all the result of Darulio’s chemical excretions robs Grayson of any agency and the choice of any dramatic weight. It prevents the characters from having to actually work through their history and issues, allowing them to hand wave them as something that basically happened because of evil magic that’s no one’s fault. It weakens the story by neutralizing the character choices that led to the falling out.

About the only thing this one has going for it is some nice moments for Kitan and Bortus acting as senior officers while the Captain and Commander are basically incapacitated. Kitan solving the mystery is a good look, and Bortus dealing with the warring factions and almost singing “My Heart Will Go On” is an enjoyable bit from him too.

Overall, this is the worst episode of the show so far, focusing on the show’s least compelling continuing element, and making a hash of it both in this episode specifically, and in the larger arc overall.