2.11 "Rivals"
An El-Aurian named Martus shows up on the station looking to con some unsuspecting victims, but gets more than he bargained for when he comes into possession of a device that warps the "laws of probability," affecting his fortunes and those of the whole station.
This is one of those eps that is hard to rate because it has a lot of fun and interesting aspects, but they all add up to a steaming pile of nonsense. We'll split the difference and call it an average ep.
Luck as a scientific concept is interesting in theory. Scientists themselves don't agree on whether the universe is deterministic or not, so addressing luck from a scientific view is not what makes this ep so unscientific. The issues arise from the fact that, if there is a nondeterministic quality to the universe, it is either due to interference form an transuniversal deity (we'll ignore this idea for now since it's outside the scope of this review), and/or it is an emergent property of the seemingly random fluctuations of subatomic particles, particularly in the case of quantum tunneling. If we assume the device must therefore affect the ability of quantum particles to tunnel, it would actually lead to events happening at a frequency way outside their probability distribution curve.
Based on that, it seems that the ep isn't totally outside the bounds of science; however there are several issues that I can think of.
The first issue is that the ability of particles to tunnel is a crucial building block of reality. If they could tunnel with greater or lesser ease than normal, it would likely lead to matter ceasing to exist, or taking on a form we wouldn't even recognize. Either way it would almost certainly be lethal for any lifeforms caught in such an effect.
The second issue is that quantum tunneling happens at such a small scale that any emergent effects it could have on the probability of events on a macro scale would be minor and take time to manifest. If you throw a stone into the middle of the North Atlantic, the ripples it sends in opposite directions might become violent waves crashing into the shores of Ireland and Newfoundland, but only after a long time and combining with many other forces. The idea that more or less quantum tunneling would immediately cause people to trip and fall, or neutrinos being generated by a distant wormhole to all start to spin the same direction, or (even worse) change the decision making of an elderly couple lightyears away, is unbelievably absurd. Given enough time and combined with enough other forces, physical manifestations of the quantum realm could appear, but not even remotely in the way this ep portrays them.
The third issue I see is that most of physics, both quantum and Newtonian, IS deterministic. Changing the seemingly random movement of some quantum particles would NOT cause a racquetball to blatantly defy Newtonian physics. Each action still has to have an equal and opposite reaction, so the ball's final destination would absolutely change when the force and direction it is thrown is changed. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING probabilistic about the way a ball bounces around a room on a macro scale. It is a purely deterministic chain reaction as far as our perceptions go. The scene in the racquetball court where they keep throwing the ball and it keeps ending up in O'Brien's hand is where the ep loses me completely. It shows that the writers understand absolutely nothing about physics and that I probably wasted a lot of time and brain power on parsing the potential scientific viability of this entire episode.
THE GOOD
-Chris Sarandon is predictably great as Martus. He does as much as physically possible with this bad script, saving all of his scenes from mediocrity, and lifting the ep out of what would have otherwise been below "Run Along Home" levels of silliness. El-Aurians have a flawless track record in Trek (a flawless Trek record, if you will) when it comes to the actors who play them. Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Malcolm McDowell are all fantastic at their jobs, and every time an El-Aurian appears it's a treat for me (yes I am one of those in the minority who loves Generations).
-While the B plot is just as dumb as the A plot, it does have the fortunate aspect of featuring lots of Colm Meaney. He is great, as always, but my favorite is his impression of Bashir's stuffy English accent, "I suppose you prefer the old style rules." Had me cracking up.
-I love Martus' annoyance when his "listening" powers affect people he doesn't want to affect, like with Rom.
-Great reversal at the end with the con man getting conned. The first time I saw the ep I definitely did not see that coming
THE BAD
-Nothing makes sense. The "science" is below pseudo and dwells in the realms of full-on fantasy. Continuity is broken (the Bajoran temple disappearing for this ep). There's absolutely no exploration of how the devices work, either as games of chance or as Infinity Stone-esque reality-warping machines. There's no real tension or stakes. Terrarium ep. It just sort of fills up time and manages to be moderately entertaining mostly due to the high levels of acting talent featured.
THE UGLY
-Rules of Acquisition quoted: 47 - "Don't trust a man wearing a better suit than your own."109 - "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack."
-Bashir retcon watch (WARNING: this section contains major spoilers for a future story arc): Bashir reveals that he is a champion racquetball player, even beating a Vulcan. Of all the sports to exploit your genetically-enhanced superior hand-eye coordination, this is one of the better ones he could have chosen. Being exceptionally great at one or two sports is probably not enough to raise suspicions about his enhanced nature, so he must have chosen this as one he liked enough to really compete in to his full potential.
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