Sanctuary

*** (3 stars out of 5)

Kira's shouting at her government gets in the way of her work, but shouting at Quark gets classical musician Varani a bar gig. Since Varani's tootling mesmerizes crowds (even Morn his human date!) they aren't spending. Quark was hoping for more of a Cantina Band like Figrin Dan and The Modal Nodes, I'd imagine. Or even Joh Yowsa.

The station has a sudden influx of the great unwashed. The flaky Skrreea (by which I mean their skin and their belief system) are hard to understand, with a Gamma Quadrant tongue less universal than the universal translator can manage at first gabble.

Sisko passes out the Slim Jims but their needs are a little greater: three million refugees seeking the paradise planet Kentanna. They've escaped 800 years of enslavement to T-Rogoran masters recently conquered by the Dominion. (There's that name again. Probably nothing...)

DS9 seats 7000 people tops, but Sisko finds the crowding worth it to give the aliens their first taste of freedom. He's not in the majority. Ferengi don't have much use for poor people, and Skrreean religion is incompatible with Bajor's. Skrreean leader Haneek has decreed Kentanna... IS Bajor. Bajor can overlook the polyamorous matriarchy but let's not get weird about church.

The Kira/Haneek Ginger Mutual Appreciation Society is pre-doomed. The Provisional Government doesn't want 3 million more mouths to feed, even if, as skilled farmers, they'd feed themselves. (Plus if Haneek's hair is any indication, they'd also be successful fast-foot franchise mascots.) Sisko pipes up how Draylon II is nice, but this does not help Haneek forgive Kira. Nor does it stop her belligerent son Tumak getting shot down while trying to land his unarmed jalopy.

While it's very true that Bajor made a big bag of bad decisions today, the bigger picture is, of course, what the hell is going on in the Gamma Quadrant?

"Sanctuary" has some good points about immigrant discrimination, and nothing much to do with the Amanda Tapping adventure series where she collects cryptids.