“In Purgatory’s Shadow”
Written by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe
Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont
Season 5, Episode 14
Production episode 40510-512
Original air date: February 10, 1997
Stardate: unknown
Station log: A Gamma Quadrant listening post has picked up a coded Cardassian message. Neither Odo nor Kira are able to decode it, and they’ve sent it along to Bajoran intelligence, but Odo suggests they ask Garak to take a whack at it.
However, Garak disappoints them by telling them that it’s an old planetary survey from five years ago. He excuses himself from lunch with Bashir and Ziyal to allegedly work in his shop. Instead, he packs a bag and tries to steal a runabout—only to find Bashir in the runabout aiming a phaser at him and pointedly asking him, “Going somewhere?”
It wasn’t a five-year-old planetary survey. (Shock of shocks, Garak lied!) It’s from Enabran Tain, asking for help, meaning that Tain survived the massacre of the joint Obisidian Order/Tal Shiar fleet. Garak tries to convince Bashir to go with him on his little adventure to the Gamma Quadrant to trace the signal; Bashir instead leads him at phaserpoint to Sisko’s office. Garak is sure it’s genuinely from Tain, as it’s in a code that Tain and Garak developed together and that only the two of them know how to decode. Sisko is willing to let Garak chase the message into the GQ, but not alone and not with Bashir—he sends Worf along with him. Dax isn’t thrilled about it, and she’s even less thrilled that Worf didn’t even tell her, but she had to hear it from Sisko.
Ziyal is even less thrilled at Garak going than Dax is at Worf going. She finds Garak kind and intelligent; Garak, in turn, finds her young and a poor judge of character. But she enjoys his company and he hers, at least in part because she makes his exile a bit more bearable.
They’re interrupted by Dukat who tells her to get his hands off his daughter, punctuating the point by dangling Garak over the railing of Quark’s upper level. Ziyal tries to get him to let go by pleading, Garak tries to get him to let go by reminding Dukat that Ziyal will never forgive his killing Garak in front of her, and Quark tries to get him to let go by threatening to call Odo, who’d just love to put Dukat in a cell. Realizing public opinion is against him, Dukat lets the tailor go. Garak cheerfully says that he thinks that was good for his back and takes his leave.
Sisko reminds Worf that it’s a recon mission—he’s to avoid the Dominion and get home in one piece. En route, Garak spins a delightful piece of bullshit by trying to convince Worf to sponsor his application to Starfleet Academy. It doesn’t take long for Worf to see through it, and Garak explains that lying is like any other skill: you have to practice to stay good at it. Worf angrily requests that Garak practice on someone else, prompting Garak to declare that Worf is no fun at all. “Good,” Worf says, and he even almost smiles.
Dukat angrily confronts Kira about Ziyal’s association with Garak. He accuses her of setting the two of them up on purpose to piss Dukat off, which gives Kira way too much credit for giving an airborne intercourse what Dukat thinks. When Kira dismisses his threat as the pathetic thing that it is, Dukat ominously laments that Bajorans used to take Cardassian threats seriously.
Worf and Garak soon learn that the signal came from within Dominion space. If they go any further, they risk encountering the Jem’Hadar, and Sisko explicitly ordered Worf not to risk that. Garak is all for avoiding unnecessary risks, but they’ve come this far, and there’s no sign of Jem’Hadar activity. Garak convinces Worf to set a course for a nearby nebula, where they can hide from the Jem’Hadar and scan for Tain’s signal. Instead, they find a huge-ass Jem’Hadar fleet who already thought of the hiding-in-the-nebula trick. Oops. They are immediately fired upon, tractored, boarded, and taken prisoner. Worf manages to get a distress call out before they’re taken, though it’s garbled by the nebula. However, Dax and O’Brien are able to clean it up enough to get the gist: a Jem’Hadar invasion force is en route.
Sisko puts the station on yellow alert, tells Dax to notify Starfleet, and sends Kira with the Defiant to try to find Worf in the GQ. Several listening posts in the GQ go dead, and Kira confirms the existence of the huge-ass Jem’Hadar fleet.
Dukat meets Ziyal after she goes to services. (He’s actually okay with her learning about Bajor’s “backwards superstitions” as she’s half Bajoran and that’s part of her heritage. He’s so enlightened…) He wants her to pack a bag and get on a transport to Cardassia. She’s not thrilled—she wasn’t exactly welcome on Cardassia last time she was there—and refuses to leave the station. Dukat insists that things will change on Cardassia, but Ziyal is equally insistent on staying. Garak also promised he’d return, and she promised to wait for him. Livid that she puts a promise to an enemy of their family over an order from her father, Dukat angrily tells her to stay and be damned.
Meanwhile, Garak and Worf are brought to Interment Camp 371, from which there is no hope of parole or pardon. The only escape, according to Ikat’ika, the Jem’Hadar in charge, is death. There’s a ring where General Martok—the real one, as opposed to the changeling they killed in “Apocalypse Rising”; this one is missing his left eye—is fighting a Jem’Hadar. Ikat’ika assures Worf that he’ll get his turn in the ring, too. Martok realizes that if Worf is here, that the Cardassian with him must be Garak.
It turns out that Barracks 6, where Worf and Garak are assigned, is also where Martok is bunking, along with a Breen, a Romulan—and Tain. According to Martok, Tain was convinced that Garak would come. Tain is very ill, and he’s disappointed that all Garak was able to do was get himself captured.
Sisko calls a meeting in the wardroom. All they have to defend the station are the Defiant and Dukat’s ship. Starfleet is stretched thin between the ongoing Klingon conflict and the Borg invasion. The only option is to seal the wormhole. There’s a method of doing so that won’t harm the wormhole aliens, though Kira’s still not thrilled with the notion. But the alternative is worse, so O’Brien and Dax implement it.
Martok explains that each barracks has its own life support system from when this asteroid was a mine, and Tain converted it to a subspace transmitter. Another prisoner is released from isolation: Bashir, who’s still wearing his old uniform, meaning the Bashir that’s been on DS9 for the past few weeks is a changeling. (Dun dun dun!)
Tain is dying. Garak goes to sit with him. He’s a bit delirious, asking Garak about things that happened years ago. Tain also asks that Garak live and survive and escape to get revenge. Garak agrees to do so but only if Tain acknowledges Garak as his son. (This revelation rather gobsmacks Bashir.) The best he can do is remembering a day when Garak was five and Tain was proud of him.
And then Tain dies.
Worf and Martok enter, then. Garak says that his task here is done, and Worf says that now’s the time to break out of this jernt.
The fleet is near the mouth of the wormhole. O’Brien activates the emitters that will seal the wormhole—but then they blow out. O’Brien realizes that someone sabotaged it. (In an amusing touch, the changeling disguised as Bashir, who’s the one who committed the sabotage in question, said, “Here goes nothing,” right before O’Brien activated it.)
The fleet comes pouring through the wormhole. Sisko calls for battle stations.
To be continued…
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? The plan is to use the deflector emitters to seal a terminus of the wormhole without doing harm to the aliens/Prophets living inside. The theory is never tested, but it’s still better than the last method of sealing the wormhole that was proposed, back in “The Search, Part II,” which involves explosions and stuff.
The Sisko is of Bajor: Sisko is on the defensive throughout the episode, being purely reactive to what’s happening, but his defenses are good ones, trying to fortify the station, and doing everything he can to get as much information as he can.
Don’t ask my opinion next time: Kira tells Dukat that her only interest is in Ziyal’s welfare because she cares about her. Dukat tries to make it like she betrayed him, but she could give a good goddamn about him, and she makes it very clear that her interest in what matters to Dukat is nil.
There is no honor in being pummeled: Worf assures Sisko that he will kill Garak at the first sign of trouble, but he will leave his body intact. When Sisko says he assumes that that’s a joke, Worf just says, “We will see.”
The slug in your belly: As Worf is prepping for his mission, Dax borrows his opera recordings. When Worf reluctantly reminds her that she tends to lose things, she smiles and says he’d better get his ass back fast if he wants to keep his collection intact. And then they smooch.
Preservation of mass and energy is for wimps: Odo is moving his jungle gym and such back into his quarters, since he’s a changeling again and can shapeshift around his cabin. He’s also getting rid of the bed, as even if he tries to fall asleep in it, he’ll revert to a gelatinous state and wind up a puddle on the floor.
For Cardassia! Cardassia’s fleet is in sufficient shambles that the only ship that can defend DS9 against a Dominion invasion, according to Dukat, is his stolen Bird-of-Prey. While Dukat’s statement is believable on the face of it—as seen particularly in “Rules of Engagement” and “Return to Grace,” Cardassia’s in bad shape—we’ll soon find out that there’s more to it than that.
Plain, simple: We find out that Garak is actually Tain’s son. Tain’s version of sentiment is to lament that he didn’t kill Garak’s mother before he was born, something he apparently said more than once to Garak in the past. Garak has continued to forgive Tain over the years for no obvious reason, and now we find out why: it’s filial devotion. While Tain doesn’t openly acknowledge his paternity—because he’s just not wired for anything other than obfuscation, as Odo snidely pointed out in “The Die is Cast”—he does recall the closest the two of them have to a happy child-parent moment before he dies.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet: Kira discovers that some of Odo’s light reading includes Finding and Winning Your Perfect Mate by Dr. Jennings Rain. Odo says that he was reading it because he thought he’d be a solid for the rest of his life, and might want to pursue a romance some day. He thinks such a thing is a lost cause now, though Kira assures him that that isn’t the case. This, by the way, is all some serious foreshadowing…
Meanwhile, Worf and Dax seem to have settled into their relationship nicely, and Ziyal’s crush on Garak is kinda adorable, and Garak’s honesty with her is refreshing, thus reducing the creep factor of their spectacular age difference.
Victory is life: The Dominion apparently likes to take prisoners for no given reason. Seriously, this is a prison camp with a huge infrastructure, and while I’m sure the fights in the ring are entertaining, I don’t see how it’s worth maintaining the prison. It does make sense to keep alive people who’ve been replaced by changelings like Bashir and Martok, as they can be used for reference by the shapeshifters, but that’s never explicitly stated.
Keep your ears open: “Elim, remember that day in the country? You must have been almost five.”
“How can I forget it? It was the only day.”
“I can still see you, on the back of that riding hound. You must’ve fallen off a dozen times. But you never gave up.”
“I remember limping home. You held my hand.”
“I was very proud of you, that day.”
Tain and Garak’s final conversation.
Welcome aboard: J.G. Hertzler is back for what turns out to be his first true appearance as Martok. Melanie Smith becomes the third and final person to play Ziyal (following Cyia Batten and Tracy Middendorf last season). James Horan—having previously appeared in TNG’s “Suspicions” and “Descent Part II” and Voyager’s “Fair Trade”—plays Ikat’ika. Cathy DeBuono and Carrie Stauber play the Breen and Romulan prisoners, respectively. And recurring regulars Marc Alaimo (Dukat), Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), and Paul Dooley (Tain) are here, as well. All save Dooley will return for “By Inferno’s Light.”
Trivial matters: This episode is dedicated to the memory of Derek Garth, a grip who was killed in a car accident during the filming of this episode.
We now get the reveal that the Bashir we’ve seen since (at least) “Rapture” is a changeling. We also get confirmation that Martok was not only a changeling in “Apocalypse Rising,” but also in “The Way of the Warrior,” since he does not recognize Worf.
This is the second time Bashir’s been replaced by a changeling. The first time happened in “The Adversary.”
The method of sealing the wormhole was developed by Dr. Lenara Kahn, last seen in “Rejoined.” Dax at one point comments when she and O’Brien are struggling with refitting the emitters that Kahn was always better on theory than execution, perhaps remembering the not-entirely-successful implementation of her plan in that episode.
Garak at one point makes disparaging remarks about Earl Grey tea, a cute dig at the drink that is the favorite of TNG’s Captain Picard.
Worf and Garak encounter toh-maire gas in the nebula, the same gas that Odo and Croden encountered in a GQ nebula in “Vortex.”
J.G. Hertzler is actually blind in his left eye, so having Martok lose that eye was not a hardship for the actor.
The notion of Tain being Garak’s father was part of a pitch by Judy Klass, a Trek novelist. While Klass received no credit, she was paid for the use of her idea in the episode.
Garak references the colony of New Bajor, which was destroyed by the Dominion in “The Jem’Hadar,” as well as multiple references to the massacre in the Omarian Nebula in “The Die is Cast.” He also mentions several Starfleet ships that have gone missing in the GQ, though this is the first time anyone has ever mentioned that.
There are two references to Kang here, one direct—Martok was hunting on Kang’s Summit when he was captured by the Dominion—one indirect—Dukat’s “Stay here and be damned!” is an echo of a similar line Kang uttered to Dax in “Blood Oath.”
Tain’s survival shows that the female changeling was lying when she told Garak in “Broken Link” that nobody survived the Omarian Nebula massacre.
This is the only DS9 episode directed by Gabrielle Beaumont, who was the first woman to direct an episode of Star Trek when she directed TNG’s “Booby Trap.” She went on to direct six more episode of TNG, and will also direct a Voyager episode, “Blink of an Eye.”
Garak’s young life as Tain’s unacknowledged son and acknowledged protégé is chronicled in Andrew J. Robinson’s novel A Stitch in Time.
Walk with the Prophets: “A man shouldn’t allow his enemies to outlive him.” On the one hand, this episode is entirely setup. On the other hand, it’s superb setup, with a truly breathless cliffhanger that is muted now, seventeen years later, knowing the payoff, but when this episode first aired in 1997, I was devastated at where the episode ended, and genuinely unsure of how they would pull off the resolution. Watching it now, the hints are there—but we’ll get to that next time.
For now, we’ve got so many excellent pieces that are moved around the board, setting the future up brilliantly, all the while making great use of what’s come before. In the larger scale of things, we’ve got the Dominion mobilization that’s been lurking as a possibility in the background ever since “The Jem’Hadar,” and the fallout from the ill-fated Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar task force from “The Die is Cast.” On a smaller scale, there’s the ongoing developments among Dukat, Ziyal, Kira, and Garak, a storyline that developed through “Indiscretion,” “Return to Grace,” and “For the Cause,” there’s the mention of toh-maire gas from “Vortex,” and there’s the callback to “Rejoined” in the use of Kahn’s research.
My favorite callback, though, is to, of all things, “Shattered Mirror,” as we get the non-fun-house-mirror version of Worf-Garak interaction, starting with Garak’s entertainingly earnest plea to be sponsored to join Starfleet, and then to Garak more aggressively manipulating Worf into heading into the nebula. It’s especially funny that Garak plays Worf like a two-dollar banjo in a scene that starts with him disparaging Earl Grey tea, as that’s another callback, to Jean-Luc Picard, who so gleefully declared to Worf in “All Good Things…” that he could always use his knowledge of Klingon honor to manipulate Worf, mostly because it always worked—as it works for Garak here. But the scene picks up on the superb chemistry the two actors displayed as their Mirror Universe counterparts to good effect (much more so than the limper interaction they had in “Broken Link”).
And, of course, we have the amazing revelation that Bashir has been a changeling since some time after “The Ascent.” It ups the ante with the Dominion, especially since this Bashir is obviously a perfect impersonator (mostly because Alexander Siddig wasn’t told that he was a changeling infiltrator until the last minute). Well, okay, it either ups the ante or stretches disbelief, but then impersonating a doctor doesn’t seem far-fetched given what else the Dominion has done. They’ve crippled Cardassia and Romulus, they’ve sundered an alliance of seven decades’ standing between the Federation and the Klingons, they’ve done a ton of damage—and it’s only just now that they’re actually engaged in a major military maneuver. Yowza.
Things build expertly here to an explosive climax, but what makes the episode are the character moments: Worf and Dax’s tiff over Worf’s reluctance to tell Dax that he’s going on a dangerous mission, Dukat utterly failing to intimidate Kira because he labors under the delusion that she gives a damn about him, Garak and Ziyal’s scenes together, Garak and Bashir’s scenes together (both the real one and the fake one, both of which work superbly), Ziyal’s rebellion against her father’s wishes, and, most heartbreakingly, the final scene between Tain and Garak where we find out that Tain is Garak’s father, which just explains so much about the crazy-ass relationship these two have.
I haven’t even talked about how wonderful it is to see James Horan as a Jem’Hadar (though his awesomeness won’t be apparent until next time), or to have J.G. Hertzler back as the really-o-truly-o Martok (his presence is just amazing). There’s just so much here—and all of it’s “just” setup for what comes next…
Warp factor rating: 9
Keith R.A. DeCandido has a bunch of things coming out in the forthcoming months, including a Sleepy Hollow novel (based on the FOX TV series) Children of the Revolution; “Merciless,” a module for the Firefly: Echoes of War role-playing game; short stories in the anthologies Stargate: Far Horizons, Out of Tune, With Great Power, and V-Wars Volume 3; an essay in New Worlds and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics; a short story collection entitled Without a License: The Fantastic Worlds of Keith R.A. DeCandido; and Mermaid Precinct, the next book in his series of fantasy police procedurals. Also check out his latest Star Trek book The Klingon Art of War (ordering links on his web site), which he talks about on several podcasts: The Chronic Rift, The G & T Show, “Literary Treks” on TrekFM, TrekRadio, The Sci-Fi Diner, Two Geeks Talking, and Keith’s own Dead Kitchen Radio.
Minor, pebble-in-my-shoe nitpick that probably bothers nobody but me: the title. Especially given the title of the next episode (in which things get worse), Purgatory seems once again to be shorthand for a place that isn’t quite Hell but isn’t Heaven either, when that’s not at all what it is. It’s a place/state of purification for all souls about to enter Heaven that weren’t sufficiently holy enough (or suffered enough) to get there straightaway. Nobody stays in Purgatory, and nobody goes from Purgatory to Hell. There are far, far worse crimes of cultural appropriation but it always irritates me that people can’t bother to look something up in a dictionary before using a cool-sounding word.
Also, if I ran a prison, I wouldn’t put prisoners together. Solitary for everybody!
Oh, and the Kira picture is fantastic…I could definitely use that at times :)
What really makes this episode is the way it sets up three fairly quick shock punches, all of which are entirely plausible given what has gone before. First Martok, who goes on to be one of the best secondary characters on a show that already has a lot of wonderful secondary characters, then the reveal of Tain as Garak’s father (and an interesting contrast of the way Tain treated his bastard and the way Dukat treats his), and then Bashir. And then while we’re reeling from those, we get the Dominion fleet coming through the wormhole with nothing to stop them and “to be continued…” Not quite “Mr. Worf, fire!” and we didn’t have to wait three months for the resolution, but still quite a kick in the pants.
Great episode; and a fun review to read.
One little detail I like is that Garak allows Bashir to be in the room with him during his final conversation with Tain — and reveals his greatest secret in the same moment.
Given what we learned last season, that Cardassians don’t like outsiders to view their dead, it speaks volumes as to just how much Garak trusts Bashir.
@1 If you put several prisoners in a cell, you can bug their conversations.
And of course, you can fit more prisoners in your prison.
Are we sure that Kang’s Summit was named for Michael Ansara’s Kang? I mean, if it’s the name of a mountain on Qo’noS, it was probably named for a much more ancient Kang, perhaps the same one “our” Kang was named after. Then again, if Martok was hunting on some other planet, it could well have been a planet that Kang discovered and/or conquered.
And I actually can’t think of much else to say about this episode, perhaps because it was mostly setup. Mainly I just never quite bought or liked the Garak-Ziyal thing. But then, the main reason that I can think of for that is that it was a mismatched pairing arising solely from the fact that they were the only two Cardassian characters on the station — but then, the writers were clearly aware of that and had the characters acknowledge it, so I guess I can’t complain too much.
I’ll have a good deal more to say about the conclusion, though.
This is probably my second-favorite DS9 two-parter (after “Improbable Cause”/”The Die Is Cast”). And it’s actually one of those very rare occasions on which the second half of a Berman-era “Star Trek” two-parter is actually better than the first! (As strong as “The Die Is Cast” is as a payoff to “Improbable Cause,” you couldn’t quite make the same claim on its behalf, given the rather perfunctory use of the Defiant crew whenever it cuts away from Odo and Garak.)
Speaking of the faux Julian Bashir, knowing that the real doctor’s been absent since before the uniform change definitely puts a humorous spin on at least one scene from a previous episode. Remember the teaser for “The Begotten,” when Odo comes limping into the infirmary with sore joints and “Bashir” amusedly greets him with “Ah, Constable! And what can I do for you…today?” One would almost think the “Bashir” changeling was feeling just a pinch of what the Germans would call “schadenfreude”! (Ha, ha, ha…)
One of my favorite episodes of the series
Lucky me, I was binging on the ‘flix when I got to this ep, so I didn’t have to wait to see how it ended; would’ve driven me nuts!
In most (or at least a lot) of shows, especially in ye olden dayy, Ziyal would’ve been the macguffin that brought Kira and Dukat together as friends. I really liked how Kira still despises him, regardless of either of their relationships with Ziyal. Happens that way in real life all the time, I think it enhances the overall characters and storyline to see it reflected in a tv show.
Also, is “giving an airborne intercourse” copywritten? I’ll be using it from now on in conversations, so let me know if I need to start writing you checks.
Great episode. I’m far too amused by that “airborne intercourse” phrase and Kira meme.
I really enjoyed this episode as well, it’s the intro to the rest of the War.
@10: You can’t copyright a phrase, only an entire created work. A phrase could be trademarked, but I very much doubt this one is.
This two parter is all good stuff. I love it and remember being completely shocked when Martok shows up in the prison and then even more so when Bashir walks in. It was a long week between episodes.
Bobby
@6? Who says prisoners need room? ;) Just stick them in some small square cells with enough room to go to the bathroom and lay down to sleep and you’re good. I’m speaking as if I were an evil overlord, of course. At the very least, prisoners should be randomized!
@15: You need to seriously work on your Evil Overlord mentality – that sounds par for the course as far as decent prison cells are concerned. Now, less than one sqm for a person (who needs to lie down to sleep! or have a bathroom), that’s more like it (and yes, humans have used such “accomodations” in the past).
I love episodes which kick all the tables over.
A minor correction, on the paragraph about Dukat and Ziyal, “Livid that she puts a promise to an enemy of their family over an order from his father,” – should be her father.
The final summary appears to be entirely positive. Is there something lacking which didn’t merit this a 10?
to @6, @15, @16. The term is logistics. having worked in corrections in the federal system it takes 1 officer per shift to run a 175 bed medium unit but 3 to 5 to run a 28 bed solitary. Also each individual cell costs more and requires similar access and individul toilet facilities. Finally, prolonged isolation has an increased level of mental dysfunction. If the prisoners are being kept as base models for the changelings you want to maintain a mental status as near normal as possible.
@15 However tightly they are packed in solitary, you can pack them tighter by abandoning solitary. Especiallywhen you allow for ventilation, food supplies, sanitation and so on. And perhaps space to exercise.
You may say you don’t care about the health of the prisoners,but in that case, why don’t you just kill them? If you want to keep them around for some reason, you are probably going to have to worry about this sort of thing.
And so it begins. The unexpected two parter that forever changed the Trek universe.
Purgatory represents Wolfe and Behr at their absolute best as producers/storytellers. Brilliant character work on all fronts, plus galaxy-changing events. If anything, this only adds to the regret I have over Wolfe’s departure which happens at the end of this season. He, along with Ira, was a vital force behind the franchise. Think about it. Voyager was stuck in the Delta Quadrant, doing standalone stories. That left DS9 with the responsibility to carry on the TNG Picard era (to the point of the war actually influencing parts of Nemesis).
Needless to say, this is one of my all-time favorite hours of Trek. Just Worf’s line about killing Garak is enough to make the episode a must-see without all the rest.
When this first aired, I always assumed the writers would somehow beat the Dominion back through the wormhole, maintaining the status quo. Never had I imagined, they would actually break through and a start a galactic war with the Federation and the other major powers that would last seasons.
At this point, Babylon 5 was firing on all cylinders, with the end of the Shadow War and Sheridan pushing to retake Earth from Clark. I often wonder if Ira and the writers used that show as an inspiration to push DS9’s mythology further beyond the confines of episodic TV.
And yeah, Inferno manages to be even better than this one. That side shot of the wormhole opening unloading Jem’Hadar fighters still gives me the chills to this day. Great CG work.
Quoth Christopher: “Are we sure that Kang’s Summit was named for Michael Ansara’s Kang?”
Why else call it Kang’s Summit if you’re not going to name it after the recurring character in your own franchise?
Quoth Christopher again: “Mainly I just never quite bought or liked the Garak-Ziyal thing. But then, the main reason that I can think of for that is that it was a mismatched pairing arising solely from the fact that they were the only two Cardassian characters on the station — but then, the writers were clearly aware of that and had the characters acknowledge it, so I guess I can’t complain too much.”
Indeed. They’re the only two Cardassians on the station, and both of them are utterly unwelcome in the Cardassian Union. As starting points for a friendship, that’s pretty damn strong.
Quoth JackofMidworld: “Also, is ‘giving an airborne intercourse’ copywritten? I’ll be using it from now on in conversations, so let me know if I need to start writing you checks.”
Would that it were so, as I could use the money, but alas, Christopher is correct, you can’t copyright a phrase. Besides, I stole it from my father. *cheeky grin*
Quoth Ross: “The final summary appears to be entirely positive. Is there something lacking which didn’t merit this a 10?”
A few things. For starters, it really is all setup. Also, our heroes don’t really do all that much in this episode, they just react to things that happen, and not always well. And there’s one other issue that carries over into “By Inferno’s Light,” and which I’ll discuss on Friday. (And thanks for catching my bout of pronoun trouble. Will fix….)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Quoth Eduardo: “At this point, Babylon 5 was firing on all cylinders, with the end of the Shadow War and Sheridan pushing to retake Earth from Clark. I often wonder if Ira and the writers used that show as an inspiration to push DS9’s mythology further beyond the confines of episodic TV.”
I guarantee that they weren’t. The staff of DS9 was going out of their way to avoid B5, mainly because they were constantly being accused of plagiarism and thievery by B5 fans (and occasionally by B5’s creator).
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Ahh, Keith, I seriously think you under-rate this 10 of an episode. In fact, I think it’s perfect because it transcends its “set up” nature to be something that transforms the Star Trek universe (Voyager excepted) into something more amazing that anyone could have possibly imagined. I’d give it a 10 alone for setting up the greatest jaw-dropping moment in Star Trek history…and for me, it was literal. When Bashir appeared, in dirty old uniform, I lived something I thought was only be a TV & literary cliche: my jaw actually dropped!
Still, I do enjoy differing critiques and opinions…life would be boring if we all thought the same. Except for “In the Pale Moonlight”, of course…looking forward to your review of that titan… :)
MARTOK. :D
In regards to Garak mentioning Starfleet ships that went missing in the GQ, back in the episode “The Jem’Hadar” the Jem Hadar commander gave Kira a list of Alpha Quadrant vessels the Dominion had destroyed for violating their territory. Presumably the ships Garak mentions here were those vessels.
You are right, I would actually make a horrible Evil Overlord.
I actually was thinking that there was no point to prisoners for the most part anyway, and if the Dominion was really that ruthless, they’d just kill them (except for maybe the ones they want to fight, and maybe the Cardassians if they’ve already started negotations with them and know they will presumably be returned). But then I started thinking they might want changeling templates…although you’d think that once they master the form a few times, they wouldn’t need them.
Anyway, I was thinking kind of beehive like cells if there was a reason to keep prisoners for some reason…but, if for some reason you do need to bunk people together, I do think a party captured together should at least be split up. Even the Elvenking in the Hobbit knew that much ;)
Lisamarie’s complaints mirror my own, but I will go into more depth on that on Friday in my discussion of “By Inferno’s Light,” where the prison part of the story is front and center.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@7 – I think Garak and Ziyal fall so flat as a romantic pairing that it wasn’t until my second watch of the series that I even realized it was intended to be a romance. I first read it as a quasi-“odd couple” friendship. They were thrown together because they were two Cardassians in exile among Bajorans. Ziyal liked Garak because he was Cardassian, he was interesting, and her father hated him. Garak found himself fond of Ziyal despite himself because he was desperately lonely and she was a friendly face when he needed one. I read somewhere that the executives wanted to write in a straight romance for Garak to make everyone forget about how he threw himself at Bashir at the beginning of the series, but I can’t remember where I read that so it could be wrong. I do think they work well as friends, but I anything more than that would be one-sided on Ziyal’s side.
The Garak-Ziyal relationship was never much more than awkward, but there were a lot of reasons for that. The age difference made the whole thing a little squicky, particularly given Ziyal’s apparent crush on Garak. The constant changing of the actor playing Ziyal prevented any real chemistry from developing and also kept the role from settling into something consistent.
If they had really wanted to do something interesting with their relationship, they should have had Garak make Ziyal into his protege, much as he did with Bashir. Julian only ever played at spycraft, but Ziyal could have embraced it wholeheartedly. Now that would have cheesed off Dukat no end.
KRAD, wonderful review of a wonderful episode! It is amazing how much of this hour depends on non-starring recurring and guest cast – Garak, Dukat, Tain, Ziyal and Martok. In relation to the starring cast, of course – Worf, Kira and Bashir in principal – but still, something that really adds to these episodes.
I’d totally add The Never-Ending Sacrifice by McCormack to the Trivial Matters for both these episodes – partly for exploring Ziyal’s and Dukat’s rejection by Cardassia (and set-up to their scenes here with G & in the past) and showing how (self-consciously) desperate Cardassia was in this period – but more so for the next episode following what happens on Cardassia after the coup d’etat. I remember you hadn’t read it in the past, but I hope sometime you get to – it’s beautiful. Actually, it would be lovely to have a relaunch re-read here after the series finishes… (even if you couldn’t be an objective reviewer it would be lovely to hear your thoughts in recollection as well as analysis).
@29: What a great idea! Garak adopting Ziyal as his protégée, becoming a replacement father figure to compete with Dukat, would’ve worked so much better than the forced romance. And I’m always glad to see TV and movies remember that it’s possible for men and women to relate to each other in multiple different ways, not only through romance.
DemetriosX: I don’t see the actor changing as an issue, since the actual friendship was really only portrayed with Melanie Smith in the role. Garak wasn’t in either of Cyia Batten’s episodes, and while the two started talking to each other in “For the Cause” with Tracy Middendorf in the role, that was the beginnings of it. The actual relationship, such as it was, was only with Smith.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
“which gives Kira way too much credit for giving an airborne intercourse what Dukat thinks.”
I have to second all of the commentators who have said this is one of the best, as Spock would say, “colorful metaphors” I’ve run across in a while.
I love the little turns of phrase you use in this blog. I still like to use, “Calling this dumber than a box of hammers is an insult to encased construction tools everywhere.”
I have a slightly different interpretation of the Kira-Dukat scene. While I agree that Kira utterly doesn’t care about Dukat’s opinion or feelings, she is still affected by him.
The whole time they’re talking, Kira is a brick wall. She will not give an inch to Dukat, will not show weakness, will not allow herself to seem rattled. But as soon as Dukat has gone, she visibly has to recover her nerves. She has to take a deep breath, steady herself, let the mask slip for just a second. She may not care about Dukat, but she is still rattled by him.
To have any Cardassian, but most especially this Cardassian, looming over her and issuing threats can’t possibly not be a difficult thing for her, given her history. She would never show it, not to his face, but once he’s gone, you can see that the feelings are there. And that’s not in the script – that’s all Nana Visitor.
Besides the age difference, my main complaint with the Garak/Ziyal relationship was that it was seemingly introduced (like Crunchy says) only to make Garak appear straight. Right from the start Garak had a strong gay vibe to him (and I think Andrew Robinson has said he played Garak as if he were gay, or at least bisexual), so using a contrived hetero romance to “straighten” him felt like a dumb and conservative move, yet another example of Star Trek writers refusing to accept that sexuality in a future society with different races and cultures coexisting would probably be quite polymorphous and queer. Even if the censors wouldn’t have accepted Garak to be openly gay (which doesn’t seem likely, since they did allow Dax to have a female lover), they could’ve at least kept the subtext, which had been quite obvious any time he appeared.
Also, since we never actually found out what Garak’s supposed betrayal was that made Tain disown him, my personal theory has always been that Tain found out his son is gay. Maybe Garak even tried to come out of the closet? Since Cardassian society is shown to emphasize conservative and family-centric values, one could theorize that homosexuality is still a bit of a taboo there. So it would unacceptable for someone in Garak’s position to be openly gay, and Tain could presumably view this as “betrayal”.
The Garak/Ziyal romance never bothered me because it played as rather one-sided. She crushes on him, and while he clearly cares about her, it never felt to me like they were romantic feelings on his part. She was a fellow (half) Cardassian, the first he’s been able to spend a considerable amount of time with in years, and her heritage makes her a fellow outcast, so they have a lot in common, but I don’t think he ever viewed it as a deep friendship, perhaps along the lines of the “friends and more” Worf and Ezri later decide on when they realize they’re not going to be a romantic couple.
As for the episode, it’s easily one of my favorites in the season and series, even with the logical inconsistencies. I was freaking out the first time I watched it so many years ago.
@36: Just because American conservatives have a problem with homosexuality, that doesn’t mean another culture’s conservatives would. The ancient Greeks considered it normative behavior, at least in some contexts. I can easily imagine (and have, in some of my unsold SF) cultures that consider it proper to have same-sex relationships recreationally and save heterosexual relationships only for procreative unions. I mean, that would certainly be an effective form of birth control and would ensure that people didn’t have illegitimate children — so it would fit pretty neatly into a conservatively family-oriented worldview.
That’s what’s cool about aliens — they can be whatever you want. So having their definitions of what’s conservative or permissive being exactly aligned with American ones seems like a missed opportunity.
@CLB You’re 100% correct that other cultures’ values and mores could be totally different from our own. However, given that Star Trek has, (especially on screen) generally failed to branch out from our societal framework with the “big” species, I think @36’s point about homosexuality in Cardassian culture might still be valid. I would love if we could see in ST a species totally different from “human” (read:American) values, but I don’t think the Cardassians are that species. As you say, that’s a missed opportunity, but I still love @36’s theory, and think it can help explain the distance between Tain and Garak.
Incidentally, I have yet to read “A Stitch in Time”, but for those who have read it: was Garak’s last name originally Tain? Do we know his real name?
@39: According to A Stitch in Time, Garak was Tain’s illegitimate son, the product of an affair between Tain and his housekeeper Mila. Elim was raised as the son of Mila’s husband, who presumably was named Garak.
@35 – Andrew Robinson describes Garak as omnisexual and has confirmed that he was absolutely hitting on Bashir during their early interactions. Wasn’t just me reading into it too much, which was was I suspected at first.
@38 – The ancient Greeks are the go-to example for this discussion, and I get why but I’ve read a lot about it and it gets under my skin. I won’t go into detail since this is a family blog, but what it boils down to is: most records of ancient Greek “homosexuality” were pederasty by the modern definition. Modern homosexuality is defined as attraction to same-sex adults, not prepubescent children. A relationship between two adult men functioning as equals was unheard of. I’m not going to try to pass moral judgment on a society long turned to dust, but let’s call a spade a spade.
My personal beef with the ancient Greek thing aside, I think 36’s point stands when talking about the Cardassians (the Klingons, on the other hand…). They don’t seem too keen on birth control. The criminalization of homosexuality in Nazi Germany was based on the rationale that gay people weren’t making babies, and the Fatherland needed more babies. Even without taking into account that this is fiction and Cardassia was based at least in part on Nazi Germany, a society that’s both getting lots of people killed while trying to build an empire needs to keep its population up.
41. Yah, they discuss it in the DS9 companion interviews for that episode.
Also in the recent novel, The Crimson Shadow, there is a (subtextual) relationship between the now-older Garak and his doctor (the same Parmak discussed by Tain and Garak in ‘The Die is Cast’ and seen at last in Robinson’s own A Stitch in Time). It’s not in any way overt, not saying ‘look at this’. Instead it’s these everyday scenes of two people gardening, playing, eating and talking, their tactility, their emotional honesty & their ability to forgive one another. In other words, it’s a normal relationship. And because of this subtlety, it’s stunningly emotive (and somewhat easy to miss, perhaps?).
@29 Demetrios I second Christopher Bennett’s declaration of your idea (Garak takes on Ziyal as an apprentice) as far superior to the awkward romance angle – especially since Melanie Smith wound up playing the role for the longest stretch. As I noted in another thread, I thought Tracy Middendorf played Ziyal with an almost Lolita like vibe that gave the two of them some sexual tension. Smith’s performance always seemed to me to have more gee-whiz Jimmy Olsen enthusiasm.
@41: I’m aware of the nature of Greek same-sex relationships, and I concede that it was a poor example, but it was all I could think of on short notice. My point was not to equate pederasty to adult homosexuality, but to point out that different cultures can have radically different standards of what is sexually “conventional,” so that a foreign or alien culture’s conservatives could be entirely accepting of behaviors that would be shocking to American conservatives.
@43: “Jeepers, Mister Garak!”
@43: I’m curious what you mean by this: ”
“I thought Tracy Middendorf played Ziyal with an almost Lolita like vibe that gave the two of them some sexual tension”
Lolita is one of my favorite books and I feel like it is often misrepresented, especially when it comes to the use of ‘Lolita’ to describe a sexually precocious young girl, or, worse, a girl who enjoys tempting older men. In the book she is actually quite inexperienced (possibly had some fumbling encounters at her summer camp, and she does have an obvious crush on him at first and flirts a little without really realizing what that means – but she’s far from the brazen temptress some people seem to think this word means), and the narrator was grooming her (and planning to drug/assault her) for the first part of the book…and then kidnaps her and takes her across the country while doing various things to silence her (beating her, threatening her with the idea that authorities will take her away/punish her, stealing money from her, etc) and keep her dependent on him.
Now, if you just meant that she kind of has a child-like crush on him without really realizing that means, I can give you that. But I see a lot of people use the term in a different way, including to justify cases of statutory rape and assault of chidlren who ‘appear older than their age’, etc. When I read the book I was quite blown away by what it was actually about.
@39… We did see a very non-American conservative societal framework with the Denobulans in Enterprise. Each husband has three wives who have 3 husbands (I can only imagine the family trees there) and there doesn’t seem to be any sort of restriction on out of marriage relationships either with Phlox’s second wife Feezal, pursuing Commander Tucker.
@36 I always figured that Garak’s betrayal of Tain was professionally based (even if it was a personal issue between the two), not anything having to do outside of the Obsidian Order. As supposedly ruthless as Tain was, I could imagine him taking umbrage at a choice Garak made -not killing someone who Tain wanted dead but instead using him some other way- and exiling him for that.
@30 I agree whole heartedly that this episode (and so many others) was made possible because DS9 developed a very strong supporting cast that the core stars could play off of. One of TNGs weaknesses was that the one off guest stars made relationships feel very rushed and awkward- every single main cast character had a relationship that lasted for 42 minutes and was almost never heard or spoken of again. Geordi had Leah Brahms (yes, I know she appeared twice but once was as a hologram), Picard had Nella Daren, Crusher had Odan, etc. Non-romantic relationships were almost as bad with re-occurring characters appearing once a season at most. DS9 the non-core cast had a lot more screentime and relationships were more nuanced and developed than what had previously been possible, so a character like Martok (the real one), Ziyal, Kai Winn, Admiral Ross, and of course Dukat were much more integral and there were many more avenues of interaction because they didn’t have to be introduced each and every time. Martok was on the show 24 times, Ross 14 Times, Winn 14 times- which means that the audience had a good handle on them after a while. That is very important especially as the switch to arc-driven storytelling was made. I don’t know how the Dominion arc would have played out if it was ONLY the credited cast each and every time that had to deal with it. We saw Garak a total of 33 times in the series (out of 173 episodes, so right around 1 out of 6 episodes) but he was able to do and say things that the credited cast could not- the darker, shadier side of the war. I can’t imagine one of the Starfleet or Bajoran crew assasinating a Romulan senator, but for an intelligence operative like Garak, it makes perfect sense because he’s been trained to think that the ends justify the means, which a more rule oriented Starfleet person would not.
Bottom line, the large supporting cast was vital to DS9 not only because of the interactions that were possible but because of the nuances and shading that it let happen.
@44 – I didn’t think you were trying to equate adult homosexuality with pederasty (though plenty of lesser men have), and I did figure that you’d done your homework. My frustration largely comes from the fact that it’s a common example without the reality of the situation being common knowledge. You’re correct that different cultures have different ideas of what is or is not acceptable sexual behavior and for better or worse the Greek example does illustrate that. We don’t see a lot of cultures in Star Trek that seem genuinely alien in their attitude toward sex and relationships, but that’s more a function of the medium than anything else, I think.
@45 – Whether intentional or not, that’s a really good comparison. Ziyal certainly has a crush on Garak, but unlike Humbert, Garak doesn’t convey any intention of acting on that, much less using it to justify anything unsavory.
@45 – I’ve only seen the Kubrick film so yes I was using “Lolita” as pop cultural shorthand for a younger woman coming on to an older man. But really I just meant that in “For The Cause” I felt that Middendorf (who was 26 at the time of shooting) brought some sensuality to the role and there was definitely some sexual chemistry between Ziyal and Garak in the holosuite scene.
You’re correct that different cultures have different ideas of what is or is not acceptable sexual behavior and for better or worse the Greek example does illustrate that.
@47
Definitely for the better. Creatively, at least.
As a writer, I find it important to never shy away from what others might perceive as taboo. There’s probably a good story in there, just waiting to be told. There’s nothing more juicy than a flawed character.
It’s one of the reasons I adored the Garak/Ziyal friendship/romance. Despite the age gap (which for whatever reason, some people perceive to be creepy; hate that word BTW), you can tell both are lonely souls, dreaming of a home they were never able to call it theirs. Add Dukat for the conflict, and you have a full dish waiting to be devoured by any interested viewer. Behr and Wolfe knew that the minute they paired them.
@49 – Some things are easier to sell than others. It’s entirely possible they could have somehow sold me on a Garak/Ziyal romance, but they didn’t. From where I’m sitting it works as a friendship but fails as a romance not because of the age gap but because of the writing and acting. For all of our discussion of ancient Greece and Lolita (which, as Lisamarie has brought up, is nothing like most people expect), it’s worth remembering that Ziyal was 21. Behr and Wolfe weren’t about to try to sell us on adults having sex with middle school aged children.
Just joined the group but love these rewatch posts. This is one of my favorite episodes. It has so many great pairings, for good or bad. Worf’s interaction with Sisko about Garak has to be one of the subtly funniest I’ve seen, Kira is amazing in holding her own against Dukat (still always wish those two had been the final pro/ant battle with the incredible dance they were always doing and the history of the characters), Dax and Worf have the greatest confident yet disagreeing relationship scene (I love how Dax just owns it about misplacing things), and wow to getting Dukat and Garak together to word spar it out. So many great lines, touching moments, and surprises.
@43 I totally agree with your interpretation of the Garak/Ziyal (Tracy) relationship. In a previous episode where they meet at the holosuite, Garak wasn’t even sure if Ziyal would try to kill him or not. Her dad is his enemy, and after all she’s been in a labor/prison camp since she was 13. Who knows what happened to her and she’s probably developed some major defenses -manipulative or physical abilities. Also, she’s going to be majorly socially awkward in regular day to day interactions from all her
teenage years being spent where they were. With the issues she may have (father figure, trust, etc), combined with the fact that she is most probably highly intelligent (given Dukat’s cleverness), it makes for a recipe of naive yet strong, untrusting but looking for support. All of those things seemed to just be starting to come across the way Tracy M played the character.
She was definitely played as a younger character in that earlier episode (which I read is why the writers looked for an actress to play her a bit older), but she is only like 20. The Garak relationship made perfect sense. She had a rough enough past that they had some things in common, yet she was probably really looking for a father figure. From the way Ziyal was later played, it seemed more that she was a well adjusted super social college girl. I liked the actress fine, I just saw an oddity in the way the character was portrayed.
I never thought that they actually had a real romantic relationship (I haven’t read any of the books though). I saw it more as Garak was lonely and enjoyed a beautiful young woman’s company with someone who was at least part of his own species. She had a huge crush on him. Not uncommon at all given the situation. He did have feelings for her as much as he could as a friend who trusts no one, but to me Robinson always played their interactions as though he was slightly embarrassed and not quite sure what to do about it. Just like any 50 year old guy might be who had a 20 year old hit on him. Internally he is like “this is the best thing ever” but then his other side is like “hmm, I shouldn’t take advantage.” (“American Beauty” comes to mind). I like the suggestions about how it could have played out if Garak took her on more as a protege, and annoyed Dukat endlessly. The characters had great onscreen chemistry and that would have been a fun subplot. The classic ‘my daughter is hanging with the wrong crowd.’ I did like how they developed her as becoming a young artist who was trying to heal the huge gap she saw within her own heritage, Kira and Dukat, and Bajor and Cardassia. That had nice subplot about how two peple can really dislike each other but still come together to care about someone else.
Love this episode for all the characters and writing!
I wasn’t going to comment on this… but all the amateur historians labeling all greek homosexuality as pederasty is embarrassing. I was actually trained as a historian and I have years of academic research into these subjects.
There was a definite structure to sexual relationships in greek society primary based on power and prestige. Yes, it was frequent for young men to be ‘partners’ to older men.
Yet that ignores FREQUENT cases of adult-male to male and even FEMALE homosexuality. In truth we can’t comment upon this subject in ANY detail other than acknowledging that a variety of relationships happened. We have a few examples of adult homosexual relationships coming with no negative associations for the relationship itself, other then actively disparaging the ‘passive’ partner.
The majority of negative associations to homosexuality are in fact additions to the record by historians AFTER the time. Contemporary commentary is vastly limited, and what little we have can be regarded with the same veracity as any historical records from this time – as in, it isn’t proven true at all because we have a record of one person saying it. (Just look at the varied accounts of ANY major conflict and all the discrepancies therein, hell numbers in battles go from hundreds to hundreds of thousands depending on the author)
The same goes for the diatribe on the usage of the name purgatory. How very western of you to assume that one definition of purgatory is the only one we can use.
In the end I see a bunch of holier-than-thou attitudes here with a lack of actual information or education. Not surprising the internet has made everyone a historian. Sigh.
(That said this episode was faaaaaaaaantastic)
Oh yes, because your comment isn’t holier than thou AT ALL. ;)
We’re in the western speaking world, and this was intended for a western audience, so if you are going to use a word that has imagery/concepts in the western world (and is also frequently misused and misinterpreted in that sense), then, yeah, that’s what people are going to assume, unless you go out of your way to redefine it. But given the fact that the next episode continues the play on words, their intent probably was to invoke the ‘western’ and religious (or rather literary, since it seems to be riffing off of Dante) connotation.
I’m not even sure what other ‘non-Western’ definition you’d be talking about because the word itself is derived from Latin and even the secular definition has to do with purifying and cleansing. I’m sure other non-Western concepts exist for something like that but they would have their own word for it.
Although come to think about it, the title could refer in some way to Tain/Garak’s relationship. But it seems to me it’s meant to play on the next episode’s title.
5: Dukat may have just said that to Kira to keep the truth of his mission from her. 7: I’m pretty sure it’s the same Kang from Blood Oath and when Kira says she thinks Ziyal’s relationship with Garak is a mistake, it might also be because of the age-difference and not just because, well…it’s Garak. But the relationship was always doomed and not just because of…well, Garak. 40: I haven’t read A Stitch In Time but is it believable that Mila is Garak’s mother? I doubt the scriptwriters ever envisioned that and did they ever take umbrage with Robinson’s own interpretations?
I really enjoyed the scene where Dukat tries to intimidate Kira and she doesn’t give a damn thing about him. THIS is the badass Kira I missed (partly because she was pregnant).
The setup sure was worth watching, let’s see how it works out…
Anyone think that the final conversation between Garak and Tain felt… Double-talky?
I would brush it aside, accept for the fact that they changed tones rather dramatically at the start of it, and it was being said in front of Bashir/Worf/Martok/and a “probably” unconscious Breen.
I wonder if the conversation didn’t mean something completely different to Garak and Tain, and was perfectly disguised, as humans and klingons have a predisposition towards parental affections. Especially in regards to deathbed words.
@56 Tain and Garak’s conversation felt kind of ritualized to me. Tain knew he was dying and made a big issue of not letting his enemies outlive him. It felt a bit like a ritual confirmation that all had been put in order.
Lockdown rewatch. I always prefer to give my thoughts on these two parters more after part two, so briefly I will say this is magnificent, classic scene after classic scene… superb performances from absolutely everyone involved the best cliff hanger since The Best of Both Worlds. Oh and Andrew Robinson is a genius. Easily a 10 out of 10.
Sorry if I missed this, but do we ever get an explanation for why the Bashir changeling stopped Garak in the first place? What was he trying to stop or induce? It seemed like it just gave Sisko et al more advance knowledge that something was up.
Also, is Garak ever called out for totally failing to pick up on the fact that his friend ha been replaced?
@59/kalyarn: “…is Garak ever called out for totally failing to pick up on the fact that his friend ha been replaced?”
I guess the Founders are just really really good at what they do. Chief O’Brien didn’t realize either as is mentioned at the end of “By Inferno’s Light.” Although O’Brien does admit that the clues were right infront of him for whatever that’s worth
Aside from the fact that Dukat and Damar decked out in bits and pieces of Klingon armor looked absolutely ridiculous (although I have to admit, kind of hilariously awesome), I’ve found myself wondering why they ditched their trophies between “Apocalypse Rising” and this episode. Whatever the actual behind the scenes answer is, I wonder if it might have been a subtle foreshadowing to Dukat’s alliance with the Dominion. Since he’d been conducting secret negotiations with them, it stands to reason that he’d want to look his best. I’m probably reading waaaaay too much into it, but it was just something that occurred to me.