“Waltz”
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Rene Auberjonois
Season 6, Episode 11
Production number 40510-535
Original air date: January 3, 1998
Stardate: 51408.6
Station log: The U.S.S. Honshu is transporting Dukat to a Federation special jury at Starbase 621, and Sisko is aboard as well to testify to that jury. Dukat has recovered from the madness that gripped him after the Federation retook DS9. Sisko visits Dukat in the brig. He won’t tell Dukat what he intends to say on the stand but he does offer his condolences for death of Ziyal. Dukat also is now referring to Sisko as “Benjamin.”
The Honshu is attacked by Cardassian ships and destroyed. A few escape pods and one shuttle do manage to escape and send out distress calls. Starfleet can only spare two ships for the search, one of which is the Defiant—but Worf can only take 52 hours for the search, as the Defiant is needed to protect a troop convoy as it comes out of the Badlands.
Sisko wakes up on a cave floor, his arm bandaged (Dukat couldn’t operate the bone knitter). Dukat tells him that a plasma conduit ruptured and rendered him unconscious. Dukat and Ensign McConnell carried Sisko to the shuttle bay when the call came to abandon ship, but McConnell was killed by shrapnel en route. Dukat managed to crash land, but the shuttle’s engines are toast. He says he’s broadcasting a general distress signal (in fact, the distress beacon is offline). Whoever picks it up, whether Federation or Dominion, will find one prisoner and one comrade-in-arms. Sisko admits that that’s fair. Sisko is also impressed that Dukat found kindling for firewood and is now going to forage for food and water—though they do have plenty of field rations—and just in general that Dukat rescued Sisko.
As Dukat goes off, he’s confronted by a taunting hallucination of Weyoun, who insists that Dukat should kill Sisko, and makes fun of his travails in the hospital, curled up in a ball and crying. Dukat loses it and shoots fake-Weyoun, which only shatters rock. His veneer of sanity is just that: a façade that is in danger of collapsing.
The next morning, Dukat is preparing something like breakfast, after having cleaned up the results of Sisko’s impressive nausea the night before. Sisko is also less than impressed with Dukat’s declaration of hilarity over the fact that they’ve gone from Dukat being a prisoner of the Federation and Sisko being free to move about to Sisko being a prisoner of his battered body while Dukat is free to roam around.
Dukat insists to Sisko that, during the recent occupation of the station, he implemented much fairer policies toward the Bajorans, and that he wanted to rectify the mistakes of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. For his part, Sisko just says that all he heard from Kira and Odo were that Weyoun didn’t give Dukat any choice in that matter.
Dukat also keeps hearing things that Sisko doesn’t. He insists it’s the wind, but he goes to check—and, of course, it’s more voices in his head. This time it’s Damar, who says that Dukat is wasting time. Where fake-Weyoun was abusing Dukat, fake-Damar sucks up to him (just like in real life!) insisting that Sisko will never give Dukat the respect he deserves, and he should just kill the captain and return to Cardassia where he can lead his people once again. By bringing the dead body of the Emissary to Bajor, it will undermine the Federation’s position. Dukat insists to fake-Damar that that can all happen in good time.
Sisko learns that Dukat has faked the distress signal, but doesn’t reveal that to him just yet. When Dukat’s gone, he works on the unit, though it’s slow going with only one working arm and with only a broken tine from a fork as a tool, eventually getting it back online. When Dukat returns, he comes out and bluntly asks Sisko what he thinks of Dukat. Even as he asks, a hallucination of Kira says what the real Kira probably would: that he’s an evil sadistic bastard. But Dukat insists he’s been vilified and slandered by “ignorant small-minded people throughout the quadrant.” Sisko avoids answering by saying he wasn’t there and can’t pass judgment. Fake-Kira says that Sisko’s just being polite because of the situation, and Dukat’s rebuke of the hallucination is Sisko’s first indication that the fives and tens are missing from Dukat’s deck.
So Sisko tells Dukat what he wants to hear: history has misjudged him, not understanding the difficult decisions he had to make. Dukat leaps on that, blaming Central Command for the harsher rulings that he, as a loyal soldier, was forced to carry out. But then fake-Kira laughs hysterically, at which point Dukat yells at her again. Sisko plays along, telling Dukat that they should ignore Kira, pretend like she isn’t even there. Dukat nods his head in relieved assent at the notion. But fake-Kira keeps laughing at him, to the point where he whips out a phaser and shoots at nothing (barely missing Sisko). Dukat then notices the fork with the missing tine and realizes that Sisko has repaired the beacon. So Dukat phasers it and then starts beating Sisko with a stick.
The Defiant has found several Honshu survivors, none of whom are Sisko and Dukat. They’ve run out of time, and Worf contacts Kira asking for a few more hours, as Dax briefly picked up Sisko and Dukat’s distress signal. The connection to DS9 is staticky and hard to understand, but everyone knew Kira’s orders before they left the station.
A badly injured Sisko screams at Dukat, finally telling the truth: He will never give Dukat his approval, even though Dukat still insists that he wanted to rule Bajor with a softer hand. He did abolish child labor, increase food rations, and lower the quotas, dropping the death rate by 20%. In response, the Bajorans blew up an orbital drydock a month after he took command, tried to assassinate him, and so on. Even as he rants, there’s commentary from fake-Kira (the Bajorans didn’t want peace, they wanted Cardassia gone) and fake-Weyoun (the Dominion would’ve been nastier) and fake-Damar (the Bajorans didn’t deserve his generosity). Basically, as far as he’s concerned, it was all the Bajorans’ fault. The Cardassians were the superior race.
Eventually, Sisko gets Dukat to admit that he hates the Bajorans. He hates their pride and their arrogance and their spirituality and their earrings and their noses and he should have killed them all. This gives Sisko the opportunity to club him with the same stick and leave the cave.
Outside there’s a brutal sandstorm, which Sisko braves, trying to get to the shuttle, rightly assuming that Dukat was as dishonest about its damage as he was about the beacon’s operation. Unfortunately, Dukat recovers and jumps him in the shuttle, tossing him out into the sandstorm and then taking the shuttle, swearing that Bajor hasn’t seen nothin’ yet.
Just as the Defiant is about to give up the search due to running out of time, they pick up a signal from Dukat, who alerted the Defiant to Sisko’s whereabouts. They only have time to beam Sisko up, but not enough to go after Dukat, as they have to get to the troop convoy.
In sickbay, Sisko tells Dax that spending time with Dukat has made him realize that there is truly evil in the universe. He also swears he won’t let Dukat destroy Bajor. “From now on, it’s him or me.”
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? Sisko can fix a busted distress beacon with the tine of a fork. Because he’s just that awesome.
The Sisko is of Bajor: Sisko is scheduled to testify at Dukat’s “special jury” hearing, whatever that is. Dukat isn’t scheduled to be actually tried until after the war, so it’s unclear what this was supposed to accomplish.
Don’t ask my opinion next time: Kira is adamant in her insistence that the Defiant not spend a moment longer than necessary to protect the troop convoy. Which proves she’s much better at her job than Bashir and O’Brien.
There is no honor in being pummeled: Worf refuses to disobey Kira’s orders to continue the search beyond the allotted time. When Bashir and O’Brien try to justify disobeying because they couldn’t understand her, Worf cuts through the bullshit, saying it would be dishonorable to disobey. Bashir snidely says that he doesn’t consider Worf’s honor to be more important than Sisko’s life, at which point Worf bluntly says, “You may leave the bridge, Doctor.” Honestly, after that attitude, Bashir’s lucky Worf didn’t toss his self-righteous ass in the brig. It was less about Worf’s honor, than the lives of the 30,000 troops they’re supposed to protect, but hey, they’re not in the opening credits, so it’s not like they’re people who matter or anything…
For Cardassia! When Dukat was a glinn, he was assigned to clean up a room in which some Cardassians had experienced explosive decompression. Kind of surprised that process isn’t automated…
Tough little ship: The Defiant is needed to both search for Sisko (along with the Constellation) and protect a convoy coming out of the Badlands. I get that Starfleet is stretched thin (especially given the losses described at the beginning of the season), but this stretches credulity that there are no other ships in the vicinity of the front lines of the war.
Victory is life: The Honshu is destroyed, ironically, by Cardassian ships. If only they knew who was on board—well, okay, they probably still would’ve blown it up…
Keep your ears open: “The Bajorans understand a clenched fist, not an open hand.”
“Being reasonable only made us bolder.”
“The Dominion would’ve killed every man, woman, and child on Bajor long ago.”
The voices of Damar, Kira, and Weyoun in Dukat’s head explaining the flaw in his alleged “soft rule” strategy of being Prefect of Bajor.
Welcome aboard: Obviously the primary guest is recurring regular Marc Alaimo, who is the focus of the episode as Dukat. Casey Biggs and Jeffrey Combs also appear as Dukat’s hallucinations of Damar and Weyoun.
Trivial matters: This episode picks up on Dukat’s madness from “Sacrifice of Angels,” and refers back regularly to the first six episodes of the season, as well as the earlier Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
In “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night,” we’ll see a bomb placed near Dukat’s quarters, which may be what he was referring to in this episode. However that upcoming episode creates an incongruity with this episode in that Dukat says that he was assigned to be Prefect of Bajor after the occupation had already been going on for 40 years, and so had to be about ten years prior to “Emissary.” But “Wrongs” firmly establishes that Dukat became prefect when the station was built in 2346, which is twenty-two years prior to “Emissary.” (Of course, Dukat’s not exactly of sound mind in this episode, so he can perhaps be forgiven for getting the math wrong, especially since the lie makes his nonsense point to Sisko better.)
The other ship searching for Honshu survivors is the Constellation, which was also the name of Commodore Decker’s ship in “The Doomsday Machine” and the name of the class of ship that Picard’s first command, the Stargazer, was part of. The Honshu itself, which is named after the main island of Japan, also appears in your humble rewatcher’s Starfleet Corps of Engineers tale War Stories (in a flashback story that takes place during the opening arc of the season, and therefore, obviously, before the ship’s destruction in this episode).
This episode was written specifically as a response to fans coming to like Dukat, in some cases actually defending some of his actions during the occupation. Marc Alaimo’s charisma and some excellent scriptwriting had turned him into sufficiently complex a character that the fact that he was an utter bastard was being lost behind Alaimo’s oily charm. So they made sure to bring him all the way over to the dark side here.
The Kornaire, the ship to which Dukat was assigned as a glinn, is seen in the first Terok Nor novel Day of the Vipers by James Swallow, and Dukat’s reign as prefect is seen throughout the other two novels in the series Night of the Wolves and Dawn of the Eagles, both by S.D. Perry & Britta Dennison.
Walk with the Prophets: “What the hell do you want from me?” There are parts of this episode that are brilliant, but ultimately it’s an object lesson in why you shouldn’t let the opinions of fans on the Internet (which was nascent at the time, but quite vocal) influence your writing decisions. Ira Steven Behr and the rest have admitted that this episode’s making of Dukat into “pure evil” was motivated by people who were saying nice things about him online and justifying his behavior.
This is a natural reaction. There is always going to be a subset of a TV show fandom that goes apeshit over a character because he or she is good-looking and/or charming and are willing to forgive a character many transgressions because of that charisma. (I always used to joke that Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans wouldn’t have been interested in redeeming Spike if he was played by Wayne Knight instead of James Marsters.)
But that’s not a good enough reason to do this idiotic story. It breaks DeCandido’s First Rule: Don’t mistake a few fans bitching on the Internet for any kind of trend.
It starts off promising, mind you. I’m weary of stories in which people fool trained therapists into thinking they’re cured of their madness because a) people don’t get cured via therapy, they get helped and b) professional therapists generally aren’t that stupid or incompetent. I’m willing to let it go here for two reasons: 1) It was clear from the way Dukat was talking in the brig that he was still undergoing treatment, not that it was finished, and 2) it’s been long established (most directly in “The Maquis, Part II”) that high-ranking Central Command officers are trained in resisting sophisticated interrogation techniques.
So in this particular case I’m willing to forgive the use of the tired trope, but that doesn’t make the trope any less tired. And then using Weyoun, Kira, and Damar as the Greek chorus in Dukat’s head was brilliant. I love that each hallucination was an exaggerated version of the real thing: Weyoun being dismissive, Kira being contemptuous, and Damar being a total suck-up, but in each case it’s turned up to eleven.
And we’ve seen this side of Dukat many times before: he doesn’t just want to win, he wants to be loved. He doesn’t just want to oppress, he wants the people he’s oppressing to adore and understand him. He doesn’t just want acknowledgment, he wants approval. He spent the six episodes of the Dominion occupation of Terok Nor trying to get it from Kira, and he spends the whole of this episode trying to get it from Sisko.
But it just blows the ending. Dukat loses it, explodes, admits that he hated the Bajorans all along and he should just have wiped them out and that would show him, and it’s like Ronald D. Moore and Behr and the rest are hanging a big sign saying, “See? He’s a bad guy! Really! You can stop liking him now!”
It’s never a good idea when you can see the puppeteer. It kills the illusion.
Speaking of tired tropes, I’m also disgusted with the Defiant plot. There are 30,000 troops who need the Defiant’s protection, but Bashir and O’Brien are contriving feeble excuses to leave them hanging in the breeze to save one person (since I’m assuming that the chief and the doctor don’t give a rat’s patoot about Dukat), and Worf and Dax are right behind them. Worse, when O’Brien beams two Honshu survivors up, he looks disappointed because Sisko isn’t one of them.
So basically, our theoretical heroes are annoyed that they just saved two people’s lives. And are willing to put tens of thousands of lives at risk for Sisko. The only people behaving like compassionate beings—never mind professional military personnel—are Worf and Kira, and Worf loses points for his reluctance (though he gains them back for kicking Bashir off the bridge). Kira is the one who rightly insists that they not desert the convoy, and she’s the one who considers Sisko a religious figure.
Finally, the cherry on top of this nonsense is that it gives us Eeeeeeeeeevil! Dukat, who will continue to be a blight on the series, notably in “Tears of the Prophets” and the series-concluding arc. (He’s used well in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night” and “Covenant,” at least.) This is a considerably less interesting character than Gul Dukat, and he will be missed.
Warp factor rating: 3
Keith R.A. DeCandido will be a guest at RocCon in Rochester, New York this weekend, along with actors Brent Spiner, Billy West, Vic Mignogna, Alaina Huffman, and Bonnie Piesse; authors Lois Gresh, Nathan Squires, and Megan J. Parker; artists Rick Stromoski, Alex Saviuk, Ray McCarthy, Matt Keenan, and Salvatore Otero; wrestler Brimstone; and tons more. Keith will have a booth where he’ll be selling and signing books (including his latest Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution and Star Trek: The Klingon Art of War), and will also be doing a presentation Friday night and a Star Trek panel on Saturday.
“DeCandido’s First Rule: Don’t mistake a few fans bitching on the Internet for any kind of trend.”
What’s your Second Rule?
— Michael A. Burstein
^ Never get involved in a land-war in Asia.
—KRAD
Well said. Really, keeping Dukat around might not have been a terrible thing, they could even have left him broken and unstable. But turning him into such an utterly eeeeevil caricature was a disservice to the character and would do lasting harm to the series.
You know, you pretty much described Richard Nixon there.
Keith,
You know I love you man, but a 3?!?!?!?!?! The acting alone in this should push it to a 5. I sat totaly rapt when I first saw it, the verbal dance between Sisko and Dukat was so good. Maybe I am not as harsh as you, but this is far better than a 3. Just my $.02
NickM: I seriously struggled with the rating on this one. I went back and forth from 2 to 5 to 4 to 3 back to 2 back to 4 and on and on.
I finally settled on 3, but I’m not really married to it. It’s not a 5, though — 4 at best. 5 is for an episode that’s basically average, and this episode was too offensive on too many levels for that.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Starbase 621 might as well have been called Starbase McGuffin in this episode as it really isn’t clear why a) Dukat hadn’t been transported much deeper into Federation Space already and b) why it was unescorted and flying close to the battle lines given the hgih value of the prisoner on baord. It’s also not clear if the USS Honshu was targeted because it was flying close to the battle lines or because they knew that Dukat was onboard. Heck, I’m not even sure how it is that USS Honshu was attacked in the first place given that they would have been traveling at Warp when the “wing of Cardassian destroyers” (a term we’ve never hear before or since) attacked them, then apparently dropped out of warp to fight the Cardassians near some random planet which resulted in everything being destroyed, since I presume that the Cardassians would probably try to capture anyone who abandoned ship. Either that or the Cardassians somehow forced the Honshu out of Warp, but I’m not entirely sure how an interception happened since presumably the Honshu would be traveling at a high speed (Warp 9 being something like 729 times the speed of light). Either the Cardassians knew they were coming or this was one hell of a coincidence. Bottom line- the entirety of the plot is based upon a whole lot of bad planning, execution and coincidence.
I give Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo credit for playing off each other very well here, doing their best to make the episode interesting despite the fact that not much is going on. I think though that this episode goes and chucks a lot of the previous seasons efforts out the window though. A lot of good writing had been done to infuse Dukat with shades of gray only for us to found out that Dukat really fooled everyone. Which means that our main characers- Sisko and Kira- who had a mixed bag of interactions with Dukat were just saps who should never have given him the time of day. Dukat goes from the guy who was the hero of his own story to total posteriorhat in the span of about 2 minutes, which was unecessary. It is this episode and the season 7 ac that really makes it clear that Dukat should probably have been killed during Sacrafice of Angels or executed by the Dominion.
Lastly, I see that this plot followed the sci-fi rule of time keeping, which states that the plot must be wrapped up at literally the last nano-second available, because godforbid there not be some measure of drama- as if our star character was going be left on planet sandstorm for the next season and a half.
A rare dud in an otherwise good season.
Every single person that Dukat kills from now on is on Sisko as far as I am concerned. Sisko took a man in the middle of a psychotic break, and then completely refocused his psychosis onto acts of violence against the Bajorans. Dukat, I’ll admit was an awful man, was not the caricture that he was turned into in the later seasons before this little incident, and his later character was entirely based on Sisko’s goadings. I’m all for punishing criminals, but we’re back to conflating evil with mentally ill. Right now, and based on hallucinations alone, Dukat is mentally ill. Anything he rants there can in no way be taken to be his true personality, mental illnesses do not work that way.
I dunno KRAD, sometimes that “few fans bitching on the internet” is a trend, like when people saw Mass Effect 3’s original ending and Stargate Universe’s incompetent writing caused a lot of backlash. I think the difference between those two and the stuff that Behr and Moore saw is where it was located. The discontent with SGU and ME3 could be found all over the place, not just forums dedicated to those franchises. Anything you find on a forum dedicated specifically to one topic is probably going to be skewed heavily to the most extreme outliers of fandom, especially back then, when the internet was just starting up.
As for the whole “let’s make Dukat obviously evil, even if it ruins the character” thing, I think everyone these days thinks it was a horrible misstep. The problem is that sometimes you need to remind the viewers and even the creative staff about that. It’s weird how many shows/franchises do this thing where the writers downplay the atrocities done by the villains and make the protagonists behave in ways contrary to common sense and their situation (and believe me, I could go on and on with examples). So I could’ve forgiven Behr and Moore for doing that here, if they had killed Dukat off here instead of doing what they did. It might not have made the Pah’wraith stuff any better, but it would’ve avoided souring it all as it ruined a once great character.
What always irritated me about this episode was that with a little more foresight, “Waltz” could have been the opening volley of the pah-wraith storyline – all it needed was a reveal that Kira, Weyoun and Damar were wormhole aliens. And if Dukat needed motivation beyond genocidal hatred, all they needed to do was offer to pluck Ziyal out of the past the way the Prophets did with Akorem Laam.
There are parts of this episode that are brilliant, but ultimately it’s an object lesson in why you shouldn’t let the opinions of fans on the Internet (which was nascent at the time, but quite vocal) influence your writing decisions.
Thank you!!! Sometimes, in this age of internet and widespread social networking, it feels as if writers are slaves to the whims of fans, since they’re so vocal, which gives the mistaken impression they compose the majority of the web’s landscape.
Rule number of 1 of writing. Always have faith in the story you’re telling, and always trust your instincts. Yes, there can be rewrites and improvements along the way, but you should never alter a story to satisfy someone else.
Of course, Ron Moore and Ira Behr still made a grievous mistake with this choice. Rather simplistic of them to alter Dukat’s path with a blunt hand, simply because a few hardcore fans decided to forgive his past sins. I don’t believe a writer ought to apply moral decisions upon his characters, especially as a knee-jerk reaction. To me, that betrays your creative integrity.
I could write a sympathetic Hitler story if I wanted to, take all the criticism that would come with this choice, and still not make a single concession, unless it improved the story.
As for the Defiant plot, this is pretty much The Galileo Seven’s B plot, version 2.0. Seriously, that one felt manipulative, contrived and tacked on, even back in the original series. That feeling hasn’t changed one bit. At least, it makes good use of Worf and Kira in a way that feels consistent and plausible.
I think a 3 is a bit harsh though. A 5 would be mine. Despite its shortcomings, and the rather anti-Trek theme, this episode still manages to deliver some intense scenes. I actually think this is René Auberjonois’ best directing work on DS9. Atmospheric, scary and seething with rage. Alaimo still delivers an impressive and passionate performance, even when the writers don’t.
It kind of seems like you rated this one low because of the actions of Eeeeeeeevil Dukat later in the series instead of rating it on its own merits. I’d say its worth a 5 just for the acting. But you’re right, Eeeeeeeeevil Dukat kind of sucks.
The only thing about this review I disagree with is the statement that Dukat was used well in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night.” The whole premise of that episode was awful. But that’s another show (as Alton Brown would say).
In principle, putting Sisko and Dukat alone together for a climactic confrontation was a good idea. But I wish this really had been the climax of their interaction once and for all, so that we would’ve been spared the ridiculous ending it was given in “What You Leave Behind.”
Some thoughts and rationalizations:
1) I’m still baffled at Kira’s position in the command structure. I thought Bajor was still neutral/non-aggressive. Her position in issuing commands to Worf and the Defiant seems out of place.
2) As you point out, how is it that the Defiant is the only ship available for both S&R and escort duty? Are there no other ships in the sector? Dukat isn’t just an ordinary POW. Being that high value, SF should have sent another team to relieve the Defiant or to take the escort role.
3) Why would you transfer a high value prisoner during the conflict, along battle lines. Nothing was shown that explains why the hearing couldn’t be conducted remotely. They could have even used the holo-communicator that we forgot about.
4) As others have mentioned, even after this, I don’t think Dukat was evil. I think he was pushed over the edge. His frayed rope finally snapped. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I think he truly saw himself as a father to Bajor, and his reaction here was just too much after losing his daughter.
5) Dukat died in that cave. What was left was a soulless shell. Maybe was already pah’wraith infested or in preparation or something.
6) I was glad to see that the crew didn’t just all decide to go for Sisko, and blame Bashir/Worf exchange on bad writing. At the very least, I expected a, “we will return for the Captain and Dukat after we escort the troops,” from Worf as soon as the Kira communique was completed.
I would have said 4. I can make the episode work for me, but I have to work too hard.
As a fan that had no idea those forums existed, I didn’t see the puppetry as you put it. I know I have a different perspective on a lot of Wheel of Time stuff because I lurked on forums and occasionally posited theories than my friends that didn’t participate at all in the fandom.
To me this episode was a natural progression for Dukat. The escape was incredibly contrived, but I’ll forgive it under the maxim that it’s ok to use coincidence to get the heroes into bad situations, just not out of them. But for the mental breakdown, I found it very believable and I never thought he was gone for good.
Usually the 2-person play episodes from Star Trek are some of the strongest, and I’m surprised this was rated as low as it was. I think if we had done this rewatch before the ending arc that many on here hated it would be much higher.
I love reading all the posts. Everyone is making valid points.
I’ve decided not to throw my two cents in. I’ve reread my post and don’t like the wording – it would likely offend someone. So it’s not getting posted.
Have a good day.
TGBH: After I upload my rewatches, only then do I go and read Zack Handlen’s reviews on The AV Club and Jamahl Epsicockhan’s reviews on Jammer’s Reviews. Zack watched the shows recently, while Jammer did them while they aired, but in both cases, their (excellent, insightful) reviews were written without foreknowledge of what was coming.
So it shouldn’t be surprising, pursuant to your point, that both of them loved this episode a lot more than I did. :)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@16 KRAD, it might also be worth checking out SF-Debris’s review of the episode and his character review of Dukat.
While I agree that one should not let the crazies of fandom dictate your writing (Oh gods do I wish Supernatural would learn that lesson) it’s also a good idea to at least watch what they’re saying, to see if ‘what you intended to say’ and ‘what the audience hears’ are in any way the same thing.
There are still fans out there that will defend Dukat. Even after the series concluded and it was shown he was a complete megalomaniac nutcase. For me as a fan, at least, this episode was a huge relief; the complexity of Dukat was fascinating but I was one of those who stood with Kira (and still do); he’s a snake, and just because he smiles it doesn’t mean he’s not a snake. The problem was nobody else seemed to be listening or able to see it, and it was really frustrating to feel like I was shouting “HE’S A BAD GUY. HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE HE’S A VERY BAD GUY” at a bunch of deaf people.
I enjoyed the rest of the series with Dukat; the motivations he reveals here still drive him (that he wants to oppress, but wants to be loved for it) and to the fans that thought – and still think – he wasn’t that bad of a guy, I have Waltz to point to and go “Look, just once he threw the mask away because he was too crazed to hold on to it. Pretty and charming is not the same as good.”
But the Dukat/Kira shippers make me cringe.
The only thing I disagree with in this review is this…
“Worf loses points for his reluctance”
Worf is a military officer. He has a duty and he does his duty. But doing his duty means leaving a friend to die. And anyone who can do that without showing the slightest hint of reluctance is simply not human.
(I know Worf isn’t human, but the point still stands!)
I remember enjoying this for Alaimo’s performance, but yeah, I can’t disagree with your review. This is where the Dukat character went off the rails into mustache twisting territory.
They already had a Big Bad in the Dominion. Snidley Whiplash wasn’t needed.
I always loved Gul Dukat. He was a bastard but there was just something about him…
Then they changed him. Ugh.
@18 What a person says and does during a psychotic break is not throwing the mask away because they are crazed. It is the opposite. It is a crazed mask they are being forced to wear through an illness affecting their mind. Dukat, after this, is no longer evil merely ill. Worse, we’re tapping into the old trope, discredited even before this aired, that evil and mental illness are synonymous.
Dukat was complicated and compelling, and he did things that were both very evil and yet still possibily better than the alternative (when you look at some of the other Cardassians Commandants on the show Dukat is practically cuddles in comparison). Even the kindest demons in hell are still demons, of course, but if you were stuck with a demon which would you want the kind one or the others? That is all what made him such a great character, and that is what this episode stripped from him and replaced with the narrative of insane and evil.
.
Exactly what I would say, except that I would swap in “Covenant,” which I find to be even more ridiculous.
The Duakt/Pah-Wraith turn was basically terrible from start to finish.
One more irksome thing about the episode is that the title “Waltz” implies that it’s trying to evoke “Duet,” one of the series’s finest episodes. And realizing that just highlights how much it pales in comparison.
Its such a shame Duet came so early in DS9’s run. So often the show kept trying to out do it, or to retread the same ground in the hopes of getting some of the same glory (even if it made no narrative sense or failed to mesh with the evolving characterization). Duet feels like it ought to have been season 5 or 6, when every Trek show was consistently pumping out the greats. For all that Duet was great television, period, it cast a long shadow and Dukat was no Marritza (of course he was no Darheel either).
Agreed on the futility of trying to appease internet fans (even if they do sometimes make too many allowances for a villanious character). The creator of Veronica Mars did a similar thing with Don Lamb because he was sick of hearing fans talk about how cute he was.
Anyway, not knowing much about the future episodes, I’d say at this point, it doesn’t really show that Dukat is totally evil or that he always was this way (except for maybe the underlying feelings of superiority/entitlement), but rather he’s just gone totally ax-crazy.
I also enjoyed a more nuanced character (although I think the Kira-Dukat shipping is gross) and while I tend to prefer redemption arcs, even if that hadn’t happened, I’m okay with that not happening either. Sometimes people, even if they may have a few redeeming qualities, still aren’t ‘good’ and those things don’t cancel out the bad things they’ve done.
I liked this episode!
I had no idea about internet fans and their cacaphony of voices forcing DS9 to turn Dukat into a more obvious evil character. I liked when he had some redeemable features and you weren’t sure if you might like him.
Of course to me, it was hard to like him he abandoned Ziyal. I couldn’t really understand why Ziyal wasn’t more obviously bitter to her deadbeat Dukat during the occupation of DS9.
To me, this isn’t the same Dukat that you kind of sort of want to like. This is watched your daughter die-watch all your plans go up in smoke-watch your rival get the better of you-flip your lid-insane Dukat. And given all he has been through, I can see insanity and complete denial as avenues for his character to devolve to.
I liked the Dukat-Sisko dialoge and I liked knowing Dukat was seeing things/going insane.
So many others have already said it, but I’ll add my voice: I wish that “Sacrifice of Angels” had been the last we saw of Dukat. This episode turns a compelling, nuanced villain into someone that just made me groan every time he showed up.
-Andy
I strongly feel the need to chime in here. For me, this is one of my favorite episodes of the sixth season. Okay, granted, it’s not quite up to the level of Rocks and Shoals, Far Beyond the Stars or In The Pale Moonlight, but I still think it’s a great episode.
And granted, the B-story about the Defiant‘s rescue of the Honshu survivors is kind of lame. Although yeah, I also love Worf’s “You may leave the bridge, Doctor.” An admirable act of restraint considering that if Worf were commanding a Klingon ship he would be well within his rights to kill Bashir where he stood for his insubordination. A very nicely delivered, understated way of saying “I sympathize with your position, Doctor, and we all want to get Sisko back. But he have a more important job to do, and the last thing I need to do is trade barbs with you. So get the **** off my bridge. Pronto!“
And granted, the story goes all the way toward making Dukat into the show’s ultimate supervillain in a way that’s admittedly less than subtle.
But I think we’re all missing the point here. While admittedly, Sisko’s speech to Dax at the end of the episode is rather on the nose, he’s got a very strong point: While it’s certainly true that life is as much about shades of gray moral complexity – and understanding even the most unsympathetic person’s point of view – as it is about distinctions of good and evil, right and wrong, at the end of the day it’s a person’s actions that speak the loudest. As Kira herself says to Ziyal in last season’s By Inferno’s Light, “You can’t judge a person by what they say, or even by what they think, but by what they do.” And by this particular criterion, Dukat qualifies as a very, very bad man indeed.
Personally, I believe Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore were absolutely justified to take such an unequivocal moral stance with the character of Gul Dukat. I also think that it was a necessary way to counterbalance the way that Marc Alaimo had performed Dukat in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I think Alaimo is brilliant in the role, and I think it’s very correct that Alaimo should have attempted to make Dukat a subtle and complex character – to be Dukat’s advocate, if you will. But just because a person is “complicated” does not let them off the hook for the crimes of the past. Dukat was a despot. He condemned innocent people to their deaths.
Yes, redemption is always possible, even for someone like Dukat. But that requires a certain level of realization or awareness that Dukat simply just doesn’t have. And that is ultimately what brings him down. (One could argue the same thing about Kai Winn, quite honestly.)
(BTW, as a fan of the show Under The Dome – looking forward to next week’s season finale! – I kind of wish they’d stop pussyfooting around with the character of Big Jim Rennie. Here’s another example of a complex villain. He’s a self-absorbed narcissist and killer who’s always making these little political power plays, and yet the writers and producers don’t seem entirely sure whether or not he’s beyond redemption. I hope they make a decision about that and don’t string his arc along any more than necessary. Because right now, after having thrown the egg over the cliff, I’m starting to wonder why someone doesn’t just shoot the guy! Ha, ha. ha…)
Rant over.
Like I said, Waltz may not be the best episode of the sixth season, but I personally believe it’s Marc Alaimo’s finest hour. He’ll probably never get a chance to sink his teeth into something so juicy again! And the final confrontation between Sisko and Dukat absolutely crackles. Rene Auberjonois’ direction is probably his best on the entire show. Very theatrically inspired. Also, Nana Visitor does a wonderful job of coming up with a “not-Kira” character that’s gleefully sadistic in her goading of Dukat while not slipping into “Indendant” mode.
The use of Weyoun, Kira and Damar as figments or facets of Dukat’s imagination was an inspired touch. And it’s introduced in a very subtle way: When Weyoun first showed up, I had absolutely no clue whatsoever that he wasn’t real – until he starts taunting Dukat about his time in the mental hospital and laughing at him, and then you definitely know that something’s not quite right!
I remember this episode well, even from when it first aired. It’s weird the things that stick with you for years. For me, I just remember how ridiculous Alaimo looked “rocking” in the brig when the Honshu was attacked in the opener. It was hilarious to me then and even now.
@6.MikeKelm
Lastly, I see that this plot followed the sci-fi rule of time keeping, which states that the plot must be wrapped up at literally the last nano-second available…
Modern Trek is the absolute worst when it comes to this. During TNG my brothers & I coined the phrase ‘Star Trek Ending’ and still use it to this day on any show/movie that pulls this stunt.
I believe Rick Berman was also a strong proponent of the notion that viewers had to be reminded that Dukat was in fact a villain.
The idea that people need to be reminded that a character is a villain is just horrible on so many levels.
First of all, writing complex villains who are awful while simultaneously being comprehensible and even (in limited ways) admirable is a sign of great writing. The reason Dukat is such an interesting character is that you can really get inside his mental world. It’s an icky place and you feel icky once you realize that you understand his perspective. But that’s part of what makes his stories so compelling. Trust your audience to encounter those facts and learn something from them. Don’t try and pull away the rug to oversimply a complex character.
Beyond that, the effort to ‘prove’ his evilness is just so poorly wrought. This episode doesn’t show him to be genuinely evil. It just shows him to be nuts. It always felt very odd to me that Sisko closed the episode by saying that Dukat is pure evil because it felt completely unearned. Even dishonest.
Now that I know the backstory it makes sense. And it just shows what happens when you try to write a ‘message’ story of this sort. You end up with sloppy characterization that can only be walked back by talking rather than showing.
There is a potentially interesting way that seasons 6 and 7 could have done a version of this plot. So I don’t think the concept of this episode was unsalvageable. There clearly is some excellent stuff between Dukat and Sisko. I’m not precisely sure how to capitalize on that in a better way. But I think it could have been done. Instead we got the Pah-Wraiths. Bleh.
@33 CharlesO
It’s disturbing, but it’s been going on since the late 70s. Americans seem to keep falling in love with the bad guys in their entertainment and forgetting they’re supposed to be bad. Dukat is just one in a list that includes JR Ewing, Gordon Gecko, Hannibal Lecter, and I suppose now Francis Underwood.
@33 CharlesO
@34 DemetriosX
This isn’t something that’s confined to Americans. Audiences all over the world tend to fall in love with bad guys that are well written and/or compelling to watch.
This episode would have worked better without Dukat’s chorus and with a different final act, but I think the episode itself was needed. Dukat was too popular a character to completely drop for the last season and a half, but they had to make sure that future notes from the network or ideas in the writers’ room didn’t downplay his villainy.
Unfortunately Gul Dukat Anti-Christ Superstar rarely worked and once that concept was introduced there was no good way to walk it back.
@36
As one of the few that enjoyed the final arc I just thought I’d let you know even I chuckled at “Gul Dukat Anti-Christ Superstar.”
So much I agree with here. I’m a little late to the party here, but I’ve always hated this episode, and I feared coming in that I’d end up reading about how much everyone loved the acting and the character-turn.
It’s also interesting to hear that this episode was a knee-jerk reaction to unintended internet opinion. Having watched this episode when it first aired, I recall basically being appalled at the direction they were trying to shoehorn Dukat’s character.
I agree with the humble reviewer’s assessment completely, and love how CB brought up the fact that the writers clearly believed this episode was the bookend to some storyline that began in the masterful “Duet”. That always bothered me as well.
As I stated last episode, I’ve always thought Visitor’s acting over-the-top. Though he’s another favorite, Combs’ Weyoun always seems to be “acting” so hard that it is difficult for me to care about his character. So watching two of them “dial it up to 11” actually felt to me as though they were breaking the dial altogether.
@38: I didn’t think it was meant as a bookend to the story of “Duet,” just an attempt to recapture the same kind of intense one-on-one character drama, and to evoke that past success through a similar title.
If there was a spiritual bookend to Duet, it was last season in Ties of Blood and Water.
I knew this was one where I wasn’t going to agree with KRAD, based on past comments.
Personally, having no idea about interwebz-fanboys’ complaints or the directors’ overreaction to them, I didn’t think the villainization of Dukat in this episode went too far. Yet. (He does become a much less interesting, one-dimensional, unbelievable character in future appearances. But that shouldn’t hurt enjoyment of this episode in its own right.)
Nicely conflicted characters that really *could* end up as good guys or bad guys are relatively rare in stories. (Not just those who are morally gray and will clearly always stay that way; but those who have strong “white hat” and “dark hat” directions in their personality simultaneously.) And when those characters DO exist, it’s even rarer for them to convincingly drift in the “bad guy” direction at the end of their arc. No Han Solo here.
Dukat in Season 3 or so had a lot of blood on his hands from his past, but he had some genuine good intentions mixed in there too. It seemed like he really could be up for a redemptive character arc, if it was done very well. And instead, starting from the moment he declares a one-ship war on the Klingons, he goes the other way … and this episode, rather than Sacrifice of Angels or those still in the future, felt like the conclusion of that arc to me.
I didn’t mind that Dukat’s moral “point of no return” was helped along by a total mental breakdown. Not when it was so convincingly acted, and caused such interesting interactions between him and Sisko all through this episode.
I had forgotten about Worf being awesome kicking Bashir off the bridge. That’s even more bonus points from me. :)
@37: I’ll take “Gul Dukat Anti-Christ Superstar” over what we got in “Wrongs…”, which was pretty much “Gul Dukat: Second-Rate Internet Troll”.
But both are still pretty bad.
I remember watching this episode back in January ’98 and thinking after it ended, “Wait, what just happened?” Yes, it was entertaining as always thanks to Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo, but I was very confused by it. Five years we invested in Dukat as a character, complex and nuanced, and all along was a regular boring villain twirling his moustache planning world domination? I couldn’t believe this was where they were going with Dukat. I felt cheated.
And of course it only gets worse from here.
We get a peek at the old Dukat in flashback in “Wrongs…”, but that’s it. Something that made DS9 stand out had been taken away, and for what? To show a few trolls on the still-new Internet what was already clear or should have been clear: that Dukat wasn’t a good person? Knowing that was the reasoning after all these years makes this episode worse.
Ah, but the worst is yet to come.
Personally I did like this episode if just for the scenes on the planet between Dukat and Sisko. Great acting there.
This day and age of internet fans complaining till things get changed, sometimes the creator give in, and sometimes they don’t. One commenter mentioned Mass Effect 3’s ending, what I liked in how the creators of that game handled that was instead of remaking the entire ending, or going back and making some kind of expansion patch that’d change the last 20 or so minutes of game, they expanded the ending and then stood by their artistic choices, and yes that made alot of complainers absolutely furious, but they held their ground.
Same here, fans were absolutely loving Dukat for charisma and what not, and the show creators had made him a bad guy, albeit a very charismatic and likeable bad guy-They made Dukat a sociopath-and did such a good job with writing him and Marc Alaimo was so good at portraying him that people loved him. Some of history’s most famous dictators are just like Dukat, evil but so charismatic and/or good looking that people forgive him and love him (or her) until it’s too late.
I’d give this ep a 5.5 honestly, but then I liked the ending to Mass Effect 3.
When I was watching this episode, I got a very clear vision in my head of a motorcycle jumping over a shark tank. That made me sad. Up until now, I always got the feeling that the characters on the show were progressing naturally, for good or ill. This episode felt like everyone had someone behind them poking them with a stick, making them do or say things that they wouldn’t normally do. After the brilliance of the last two episodes, I was left a bit afraid as to what is to come….
The irony is, the reason I’ve always liked the show is that the characters were all flawed, yet capable of moments of compassion and grace. Even Dukat. No one is truly good or really truly bad, except here of course it appears that the writers decided to Dukat needed to be truly bad. So from now on, he’s merely boring.
Not understanding why Avery Brooks decided that portraying intense emotion needs to be accompanied by physical trembling. Very distracting.
I’m usually not a fan of 2-person plays, and this episode is a good example of why. They always drag on just a bit too long.
Sisko reverts to being Macho Man at the end with his “it’s either him or me” bluster. Just as he did with Eddington, when The Sisko character is supposed to be enraged with moral indignation, he merely looks constipated and ridiculous. Wasn’t buying it at all. This is a facet of Avery Brooks acting repertoire that is sorely lacking.
And for God’s sake, couldn’t the episode have been written some way so that after Sisko whacked Dukat in the back of the head, there was some reason other than stupidity that he didn’t just finish him off then? Was there any doubt that Dukat who was going to reappear and roll around in the dirt with Sisko before the end? >sigh <
Dukat was always completely evil from the start, no matter how many shades of grey they decided to add to him later.
I like this episode for the acting alone. I’m sad that they took Dukat in the all or nothing evil direction. Alaimo himself said he struggled with it because he always felt Dukat should have some redemption possibilities (and that probably came across in the earlier episodes when fans liked the Dukat character). It’s just frustrating that such a complex villain that kept you guessing and interested was tossed out the door. But that story has been hashed out.
I always thought that if there was going to be a big mono y mono with Dukat, it should be between Dukat and Kira, not Sisko. That would have been amazing to watch. There was already the weird tension between Dukat and Kira because he was attracted to her and wanted to be loved by his subjects, and she was a Bajoran and a symbol of the ultimate Bajoran resistance and resilience while Dukat was Prefect. She grew up with knowing him in power. He wanted understanding and forgiveness from her, and she would never be able to give it. Her wanting to kill him when he admitted selling out to the Dominion seemed to have much more reality behind it with their individual and societal history than Sisko turning it into ‘him or me’ at the end of this episode. (I’m probably sensing the puppet strings in writing that other more education writers have mentioned here. Selling out to the Dominion was another ‘wow he went there but I sort of see this character’s motivation’ interesting twist without making retroactively making him twirling mustache for all previous seasons like how this episode felt). Sisko, while the Emissary and an adversary as head of DS9, came on the scene after the occupation though. I always felt the tension between Dukat and Kira would be much more, and I would have watched the (*$%& out of that showdown because Kira can hold her own.
19: In Change Of Heart, Worf decides to ignore duty and follow his heart to save Dax. But I do agree that Bashir’s behaviour in Waltz is wildly out of character. Sisko is only one man, compared to a convoy of 30,000 troops needed to help win this war, and as a Doctor, he should know better than anyone that the majority greatly outweigh the needs of the minority. The annoying, self-righteous Bashir from Statistical Probabilities rearing his ugly head again. 29: Dukat and Kai Winn both believe themselves heroes, even when they’re not. It’s not surprising they’re paths (paghs?) crossed at the end.
“Waltz” had started out on such an interesting note. It’s a pity that Ronald Moore had to end it on that ridiculous note with Sisko declaring Dukat as “eviiil”. I already knew that Dukat had the moral compass of a tepid pool. But it’s obvious that for once, the loss of his daughter had driven him insane. Why in the hell couldn’t Moore just simply end the episode with this acknowledgement?
Lockdown rewatch.. this isn’t as bad as people are making out, I fully understand the frustration of the turn of Dukat to full blown madness, even Marc Alaimo didn’t like it.. but to me it is still played very well here… all Dukat’s demons are acted to perfection… when it really turns to nonsense for Dukat is a few episodes down the line when the damm Pah Wraiths get involved and that really does drag the character and the final arc story down.
It’s a shame that Colm Meaney couldn’t have played the scene where they recover the Lieutenant and the Ensign as a mixture of disappointment that it isn’t Sisko, but still relief they’ve rescued two innocent people. And when I first saw Waltz, I was wondering if it was going to be another Duet that focused on Sisko talking to Dukat in that brig for the whole episode, toying with us to see if Dukat really is a changed man… for better or worse?
I’ve encountered far too many online trolls extolling Dukat, with more than a whiff of actual real-world far-right/fascism in their words, to view this episode as anything but a necessary corrective. The problem with “complex Dukat” was always that he (and his occupation) were very clearly analogs to real-world dictators and atrocities. When you start suggesting that such a man might be redeemed, that he might even have “done nothing wrong” as the popular meme goes, you inadvertently nudge certain viewers down some very dark real-world roads. If I had been in that writers’ room and hearing that the fans were having that reaction, I couldn’t have written this episode fast enough.
@53/Jono: I see your point, but I can’t entirely agree. “Complex” and “redeemable” are two entirely different things. There’s a wealth of fiction out there portraying mobsters, assassins, tyrants, and other unambiguously evil people as complex, relatable human beings. The intent is not to suggest that they’re good after all, but to make them interesting as fictional characters, since one-note villains are boring to write, act, or watch. And, perhaps, to remind us that we all have dark sides we could succumb to if we’re not careful. Plus, of course, many great fictional villains do have redemption arcs, which is not meant to legitimize their evil actions, but to show that people can change and seek to make amends for past evils.
Yes, sometimes people in the audience will miss the point and mistake the villain for a hero, but that doesn’t mean the writers should twist themselves into knots trying to respond to those misunderstandings even if it hurts the storytelling. After all, if those audience members didn’t get it the first time, they’re not going to get the correction anyway. People like the right-wing trolls you mention will twist anything to fit their ideology, so there’s no point even trying to get through to them. All you can do is tell the most authentic stories you can and trust that receptive audience members will understand what you intended, instead of compromising the work in a kneejerk response to the fear of misinterpetation. All the greatest works of fiction are misunderstood by many, because they’re complex and require thought and insight.
More basically, even if the intent behind the episode was justified, that doesn’t mean the result worked. Reminding people of Dukat’s villainy could have been done in a more subtle way than turning him into a cartoonish mad supervillain.
Part 1/2: I think the writers, like so many other Star Trek writers, cut a lot of corners with the legal system with this episode.
From a classic criminal justice perspective (not one of war crimes), Gul Dukat may not be competent to stand trial. For those of you uninformed readers, competency mean as that you can meaningfully assist in their defense and participate in legal proceedings. Any defense attorney worth their salt would doubt Dukat’s competency, given what we’ve seen. And if Dukat is not competent, the case should not proceed.
“Special jury” could be any number of things. Perhaps it’s the 24th century version of the Grand Jury. Some jurisdictions do allow the defendant to participate in the Grand Jury. Or it’s a probable cause hearing-i.e., should Dukat be held pending a trial?
So that’s what may be going on here.
Stand by for Part 2.
Part 2. I was not aware of the Internet fanbase apparently driving the writing of this episode. But, 25 years later, I think this episode withstands scrutiny and I will always watch it when it is on-as it was just now (Dec. 21). More to the point, I think the writers were on to something to remind everyone that Gul Dukat is indeed unstable and dangerous and the depths of that danger rival an oceanic trench, particularly without the constraints we have seen. More on that in Part 3.
Part 3. Consider Gul Dukat’s arc. He was the Prefect of Bajor. Conditions there and at Terek Nor, were, well, put mildly, brutal. But Gul Dukat was part of a much bigger Cardassian puzzle-he was not the only one driving the brutality. In life after Terek Nor, Gul Dukat keeps tabs on DS9. He has worked with Captain Sisko a few times as a fellow soldier. See and compare “Defiant.” But Gul Dukat is flawed and has Icarus like hubris See and compare “Indiscretion.” And, similarly, Gul Dukat desperately craves approval for his actions.
So that leads us naturally to Gul Dukat’s deal with the Dominion devil. And Gul Dukat is on the verge of the approval and domination he wants. But Gul Dukat still has constraints-like Weyoun and the Dominion overseers. And he loses it all-and his daughter Ziyal-in very short order all at once.
So we see (or we think we see) a diminished Dukat to start with here. But..there is still evil and danger, even as he and Captain Sisko fight to stay alive….
Part 4.The grim reality of who Gul Dukat is leads us to one of the most compelling moments in all of Star Trek is when Captain Sisko cross-examines Gul Dukat.
Captain Sisko: “You were Prefect of Bajor during the occupation, true or false?”
Gul Dukat: “True.”
Captain Sisko: “And you were responsible for everything that happened under your command, true or false?”
Gul Dukat: “True.”
Captain Sisko: “So that makes you responsible for the murder of five million Bajorans on your watch, true or false?!”
Gul Dukat: “False! I tried to save lives during my administration!”
Captain Sisko: “EVIDENCE?!”
Gul Dukat: “Evidence? He wants evidence? By the time I became Prefect, the occupation had been going on for almost forty years, but the planet still wasn’t ready for full scale colonisation. Central Command wanted the situation resolved and they didn’t care how it was done. I was convinced that a gentler hand was required to deal with the Bajorans. So, in my first official act as Prefect, I ordered all labour camp commanders to reduce their output quotas by fifty percent. Then I reorganised the camps themselves. Child labour was abolished. Medical care was improved. Food rations were increased. At the end of one month of my administration, the death rate had dropped by twenty percent. Now how did the Bajorans react to all this? On my one month anniversary, they blew up an orbital dry-dock, killing over two hundred Cardassian soldiers and workers. So I had to order a response. But even then, it was a carefully tempered one. I ordered two hundred suspected members of the Resistance rounded up and executed. Two hundred lives for two hundred lives. That’s justice, not malevolence. Justice. But did I give up my efforts to reach out to the Bajorans? No. I tried again. And what did I get for my troubles? An assassination attempt on my own station! Another round of executions followed once again, courtesy of the Bajoran resistance. On and on it went, year after blood-soaked year. Time and again I would reach out with the open hand of friendship, and time and again they would slap it away.”
Captain Sisko is the best person to reveal the depth of Gul Dukat’s menace because of their unique relationship. Kira does not have that relationship with Gul Dukat-Gul Dukat wants to dominate her-but she always stands up to him. Weyoun and Damar represent constraints. Odo was part of Gul Dukat’s system, as we’ve seen before. Nobody else on the station crew has engaged with Gul Dukat. And, given where we went from here, this episode was the logical foundation to transform Gul Dukat from an (apparently) duty bound soldier with profound hubris into a man bent on genocidal domination-and not above committing cold-blooded murder to attain that domination. See and compare Tears of the Prophets.
So, although this episode may have factious or imperfect underpinnings, I believe this episode is excellent, especially as part of the larger Star Trek DS9 canon. More on that in Part 5.
Part 5/Conclusion. I also admire this episode as an important precedent in the grander body of the DS9. One thing that annoys the hell out of me is that current Star Trek does not have someone else who makes sure that Star Trek is, well, Star Trek. That was on full display in the 2009 reboot-there were cherrypicked elements of Star Trek but not its essence. By contrast, Harve Bennett actually watched all 79 original episodes BEFORE he wrote Wrath of Khan. The writers here took what was said and developed it into something new. And I appreciate that.
And, as I suggested with another episode, this episode has the operatic qualities that make Star Trek great-or at least, operatic qualities I admire.
So, once again, Jeremiad over, and I respectfully dissent.
“One thing that annoys the hell out of me is that current Star Trek does not have someone else who makes sure that Star Trek is, well, Star Trek.”
Of course they do. Alex Kurtzman himself is a Trek fan, as is Akiva Goldsman, who works on many of the shows. My friend Kirsten Beyer, who was on Discovery‘s staff and co-created Picard, was the resident Trek expert on Discovery, because she knows the continuity as well as any of us. And it’s obvious that Mike McMahan and much of the Lower Decks staff are hardcore Trek experts, as were (are?) plenty of the Prodigy staff and the Strange New Worlds staff. On the Bad Robot movies, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof were the biggest Trek nerds.