Season 7 Episode 7
Plot Summary: Kor, that old Klingon from The Original Series, as well as two other episodes of DS9, comes to Worf seeking a command of one of Martok's ships. He wants to be heroic in his last years of life, so that he dies in battle. He needs Worf's help since he has lost a lot of the power and prestige he used to have in the Klingon Empire. After some persuading Martok (who holds a grudge against Kor for not approving his application into the Klingon command ranks) agrees to let Martok have a position as third officer on his ship. He wants Worf to watch the old man really carefully. Kor, though disgruntled at not being a leader, accepts the position. Martok's fleet then leaves for a hit and run mission on a Cardassian/Dominion outpost. Instantly the crew is taken aback by Kor's presence, they look up to him more than Martok. Obviously this makes Martok angry. The attack on the outpost proceeds but the fleet is heavily damaged and will not be able to outrun the Jem'Hadar Ships chasing them back toDS9. Also during the attack, Kor starts to hallucinate and lose his mind: symptoms of old age. Martok takes the opportunity to get revenge on Kor by ramming his failure down his throat. But after a short round of "Taunt the Fool", Martok realizes how useless revenge is. Back to the problem at hand: The enemy ships are catching up, and Worf plans to take one ship back on a suicide run to delay them long enough to allow Martok and the rest of his fleet escape. Kor, in deep depression, is then advised by Martok's aide to not take the taunts of the crew seriously, for they are young and inexperienced. He then tells Kor of Worf's plan, and suggests that someone with experience take Worf's place on that important mission. Needless to say Kor knocks Worf out, takes the ship back, delays the Jem'Hadar ships, and saves the rest of them. It is assumed that Kor was killed, and Martok and the crew pay homage to the wise old man.
Sub-Plot: Not really a plot, but more like a collection of enjoyable character moments back on the station. In my humble opinion, this is what every Klingon episode needs! It also helps unoriginally plotted episodes.
My Opinion: While the plot of this episode was far from original it did a better job of hiding the fact than most other unoriginal episodes. First off, it's amazing how similar this episode is to last year's "Sons and Daughters". An outcast comes aboard a Klingon ship, is made fun of in the mess hall, and then saves the day. Luckily, this episode corrected many of the mistakes that "Sons and Daughters" made. Where Kor was genuinely suffering from memory loss, Alexander was, well, he was an idiot. Where Kor was made to see the light by another character, and proceeded to heroically save the ship, Alexander got stuck in an engineering hatch and was then loved by the crew. Kor's story seemed a lot more realistic than Alexander's. The plot's twists and character changes made sense and fit together seamlessly. While Kor was the main focus of the story, I enjoyed Martok's bit even more than Kor's. Martok's emotions of hate were understandable, and when he finally got the chance to see the mighty Kor vulnerable, you could see the vengeance in his eyes. But then, when he is able to jab Kor's failure up his throat, he realizes he didn't enjoy a moment of it. Revenge truly is this way. As usual, the visuals were great, but I still have a few complaints about the battles. Whenever the "powers that be" want a ship to explode they launch one or to torpedoes into it and boom. Yet look how many times the Defiant or, in this case, Martok's ship get hit! Over and over, blam, blam, and they never blow up. It seems they could at least hit the doomed ships a few more times to make all this seem less contrived. Note: this is not something I hold against this episode, since it is a series problem. Overall I found the episode well-acted and enjoyable. The plot was shaky but tolerable thanks to the new character adaptation added to it. And the fun sub-plot helped a lot. I'd say the only disappointment here was that Worf didn't get to do much besides catch Martok's knife in mid-air. (Though that was pretty cool!)
Wrap-Up: Although "Once More Unto The Breach" wasn't the most original of episodes, good character interaction, in both the main plot and the sub-plot helped a lot. I give it three stars.
Review by -William Phillips
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