Let He Who Is Without Sin...

"Let He Who is without Sin..." is the 105th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the seventh episode of the fifth season. The title comes from the teaching of the adulterous Woman in the Gospel of John. The episode's premiere had 6.78 million viewers.[1]

"Let He Who is without Sin..."
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 7
Directed byRené Auberjonois
Written byIra Steven Behr
Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Featured musicPaul Baillargeon
Production code505
Original air dateNovember 11, 1996 (1996-11-11)
Guest appearance(s)

Vanessa L. Williams guest stars as Arandis, and Chase Masterson returns as Leeta. Worf, Dax, Bashir, Leeta, and Quark (played by Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell, Alexander Siddig, Chase Masterson and Armin Shimerman respectively) go to Risa, a popular vacation planet in the Star Trek universe.

Background

Visits to the fictional planet Risa are a reoccurring plot device in the Star Trek franchise.[2] Risa is a Federation planet that is a popular place for space vacations.[2] It is famous for being a pleasure planet, with an open attitude to sexuality. The planet also has a sophisticated weather control system that ensures near-ideal weather every day; without it, the climate would be extremely rainy. The fictional planet was previously introduced in the show Star Trek: The Next Generation. This was during the episode "Captain's Holiday", aired on April 2nd 1990. In the Trek history, however, Risa is first introduced in the Enterprise episode "Two Days and Two Nights".

Casting

The episode has extensive amount of guest actors that play the role of the various characters on Risa.[3] This includes Monte Markham as Fullerton, Frank Kopyc as a Bolian, and Blake Valk and Zora Dehorter as Risians.[3] The episode also includes Vanessa L. Williams as Arandis.

The re-occurring character Chase Masterson as Leeta is also in the episode.[3] The character of Leeta is noted as one of the most interesting and best supporting characters of Star Trek.[4][5]

Plot

Worf's relationship with Jadzia Dax hits a rough spot, and he plans to discuss his feelings during their vacation on Risa. They arrive — along with Bashir, Quark, and Leeta — at the beautiful, climate controlled "Pleasure Planet", and Worf meets Arandis, the social director of the Tembiti Lagoon resort. He is dismayed to learn that Arandis is a former lover of Curzon Dax, one of Dax's previous lives.

Worf is approached by Pascal Fullerton, leader of the New Essentialists, a group bent on "restoring the moral and cultural traditions of the Federation". Worf immerses himself in New Essentialist literature and attends the group's rally. Fullerton warns that Risa's focus on pleasure indicates that the citizens of the Federation have become weak, and will be defenseless if an enemy attacks. Later that night, a group of Essentialists vandalize the Risian Solarium. Dax realizes that the attack is just a stunt to convince vacationers that they are vulnerable.

That evening, Worf accuses Dax of not taking their relationship seriously. The next day, Worf sees Dax with Arandis and is overcome with jealousy. He tells Fullerton that he knows how to drive the guests from Risa.

Soon afterwards, a powerful storm rocks Risa, putting an end to the resort's outdoor activities. Fullerton and Worf reveal that Worf has rigged an uplink device to sabotage the planetary weather grid; Risa will experience a rainy climate for the next few days. Many guests are furious, and some leave the resort. Worf is satisfied, but Fullerton decides to go one step further.

Dax accuses Worf of destroying Risa because he does not trust her. He reluctantly reveals that his restrained attitude results from a childhood incident during a school soccer game, in which he accidentally killed a human schoolmate. Ever since, Worf has felt obligated to hold back his emotions for fear that he might hurt someone else. Dax begins to understand, but the moment is interrupted when a powerful earthquake shakes Risa. They rush to Fullerton's headquarters and Worf takes back the uplink and ends the shaking. He reminds Fullerton that trust is also a traditional Federation value. After the weather grid restores the resort's pleasant climate, Worf is ready to enjoy what is left of their vacation, now that he has learned to trust Dax.

In a side plot, Bashir and Leeta end their romantic relationship because Leeta is in love with Quark's brother Rom.

Reception

A 2015 binge-watching guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by W.I.R.E.D. recommended skipping this episode.[6] The criticism of this episode they offer is that the episode "doubles down with the revelation that, hey, did you know that events in your childhood can shape the person you become as an adult? It's true!".

In December 2018, CBR included this episode in a list of Star Trek episodes which are "so bad they must be seen". They say that "The potential was there for comedy with Worf trying to handle being on vacation and Dax cutting loose." However they criticise it for the set, which they say "looks like a cheap resort". They say that Worf is out of character in this episode and that the fights between him and Jadzia are terrible. Overall, they criticise it for "the bad writing and dumb plot".[7]

In 2018, CBR ranked Leeta one of the character's featured in this episode, as the 9th best recurring character of all Star Trek. However, the article does not reference this episode as a reason as to why her character is enjoyable.[5]

In 2018, SyFy included this episode on their Jadzia Dax binge-watching guide. They praise the episode as "Most of the episode revolves around Jadzia trying to get Worf to loosen up and enjoy his time off, which she sort of succeeds at toward the end."[8]

In 2019, ScreenRant ranked this episode worst of the ten worst episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[2] They note that at that time it had a rating of 5.6/10 based on user rankings on the site IMDB.[2] Their criticism of the episode is that "Worf, who has become increasingly abusive, supports them while also treating Dax horrifically. Fans hate that Dax and Worf make up at the end." Worf is incredibly controlling and aggressive in this episode, and he treats Jadzia with little respect, hence the article's reference to Worf being increasingly abusive. In 2019, they ranked it the 3rd worst episode of the franchise based on IMDB rankings, including other series made up to that time. Here, the episode is criticised for having "a jarring storyline amidst such an exotic locale."[9]

gollark: Hydrogen fluoride? Higgs field? Hair fabric? Heavy falcon? Who knows.
gollark: Ooookay then.
gollark: At least it's fixed now, or something.
gollark: So that was a lot of fuss over apparently a misunderstood configuration issue.
gollark: Suspicious.

See also

References
  2. "Star Trek: The 10 Worst Episodes Of DS9 Ever, According To IMDb". ScreenRant. 2019-09-02. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  3. Okuda, Michael; Okuda, Denise; Mirek, Debbie (2011-05-17). The Star Trek Encyclopedia. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-4688-7.
  4. Granshaw, Lisa (2015-05-08). "The 21 most interesting Star Trek supporting characters". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  5. "Star Trek: Ranking the 20 Best Recurring Characters". CBR. 2018-12-28. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  6. McMillan, Graeme (2015-05-13). "WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  7. "Star Trek: 20 Episodes So Bad They Must Be Seen". CBR. 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
  8. Lane, Carly (2018-02-05). "A binge-watching guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Jadzia Dax". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  9. "The 10 Worst Star Trek Episodes Ever According To IMDb". ScreenRant. 2019-06-30. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
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