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YMMV / Star Trek Deep Space Nine S05E16 "Dr. Bashir, I Presume"

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  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • In light of The Reveal of Bashir being an augment, his Dogged Nice Guy behavior toward Jadzia in the early seasons takes on an entirely different light, leaving the question open as to whether his behavior was genuine and the genetic enhancements just hadn't done anything to help his social skills, or if he knew that Jadzia's multiple lifetimes of experience meant she was the crewmember most likely to see through his facade, and so piled on the Obfuscating Stupidity to throw off any suspicions she may have had.
    • For that matter, Bashir's pre-established broad array of general knowledge and lifelong pattern of self-sabotage fits very well with the interpretation that he was simultaneously trying to avoid being discovered and feeling deeply insecure about and unworthy of talents he did not see as his own.
  • Friendship Moment: When Doctor Zimmerman interviews Bashir's friends to help fill out the Long-term Medical Hologram's personality, O'Brien asks Zimmerman if Bashir would ever hear any of what O'Brien is about to say about Bashir. When Zimmerman informs O'Brien that Julian will never know, O'Brien immediately describes Bashin in universally positive terms, once again underscoring that they've become great friends and that O'Brien values and appreciates Bashir to a high degree.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Richard and Amsha Bashir. They subjected their son to an illegal procedure and seem either oblivious to or unconcerned about the lifetime of stress he's suffered because of it. It can also strike audience members with various learning disabilities as demeaning for them to have considered Julian to need "fixing" in the first place. While they are not supposed to be seen as correct in either case, the episode can still come across as too soft on them, especially when Bashir does reconcile with them to some extent.
  • Values Resonance:
    • Trekkies with autism, and Trekkies who have kids with autism, usually have some pretty strong feelings about this episode, and it only made Bashir fans love him more.
    • It also resonates really hard with viewers who have suffered parental abuse in the past, particularly abuse that parents don't acknowledge is abusive at all and is "for your own good", especially as time goes on and the dynamics of abuse are better understood by the public.
    • To a lesser degree, Julian calling himself "unnatural" and a freak, especially considering that he renamed himself from "Jules" to "Julian", resonates with Queer Trekkies, especially trans and nonbinary ones.

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