#without needing to slap a shitton of fawning narrative agreement on it

[elainemorisi]

the DS9 writers really needed a couple hard smacks as to what is and is not a loving act, good lordie gracious me

#ds9 tag #parents AND romantic partners! #my DUDES #the really offensive part is as ever more technical than anything #when you have a stupid plot element or abhorrent moral statement #you do not make it TWICE #(the abhorrent duplicate element here being #'eh fuck those guys I luuurve you so letting other people die is nbd lol luuuuurve' #at least future!odo has the dubious honor of erasing people from existence #rather than straight up abandoning someone and letting who knows how many die in effin' war) #like again! christ jesus people #there are ways to have your characters make bad-yet-understandable moral choices #without needing to slap a shitton of fawning narrative agreement on it #like the narrative need not even DISagree #it is in fact perfectly understandable to prioritized loved ones over others even if objectively wrong in whatever case #this brings us to at least three such instances however #where it'd've been a whole lot less infuriating if the writing itself wasn't saying SEE SEE HOW LOVING AND REASONABLE ISN'T HE GREAT #(the third being as regular tagrant readers can probably guess Hippocratic Oath lol) #and also I am just sayin' the second time Sisko tells Worf dude that was fucked up not okay and not professional #and he's right but #if I liked Worf I'd be maaaaaaad at this show