Day 75: DS9, Indiscretion

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S4EP4, “Indiscretion”

 Summary: Kira receives a message from a Bajoran smuggler (Roy Brocksmith) that he’s found evidence of the whereabouts of the Ravinok, a Cardassian ship carrying Bajoran prisoners of war. The man who brought Kira into the resistance was on that ship, so Kira is determined to find it and rescue him, if possible. To her surprise and displeasure, the Cardassians also hear about this and send a representative to assist her; Gul Dukat. They butt heads initially, but manage to work together surprisingly well, although a revelation about why Dukat went on this mission might have something to do with that. Back on the station, Kasidy Yates tells Sisko that she’s thinking of taking a permanent job for the Bajorans, which will allow her to spend more time with him. It all sounds like a good idea, but Sisko is hesitant about it, which gets him in hot water. Fortunately for him, his crew is there to help him sort everything out.

Standalone Thoughts: Unlike previous seasons, which started fairly strong and then took a slight drop in quality, Season Four’s been doing pretty well so far. I might not have been over the moon about “The Visitor” personally, but it obviously clicked with a lot of other fans, and my only issues were with the ending. Besides that, “The Way of the Warrior” and “Hippocratic Oath” were both good, and this episode is just as good. I think my hopes that we’ve entered the really good period of DS9 are well-founded.

What’s really interesting about this episode is how much it humanizes (for lack of a better word) Dukat. Up till now, he’d mostly been a thorn in DS9’s side, playing an arrogant politician or an ambiguous ally. Here, though, he really turns on the charm, and while you can see why he’d get on Kira’s nerves, you actually wind up kind of liking him in this episode. He winds up providing both humor and sympathetic moments, and he plays well off of Kira, both as a reluctant ally and as a teammate. While he’s not on the same level as Garak, he makes you want to see more of him, especially like this. Fortunately, we get our wish.

As for the subplot, it works fairly well. We can understand both Sisko’s reluctance and Kasidy’s irritation, though ultimately I come down on Kasidy’s side. But we can see Sisko’s opinion change gradually, so the final discussion between them is believable (and with a great “punchline”). There’s also a great scene with Jake that reveals that both Jake and Nog (though Nog himself doesn’t appear in this episode) are maturing very nicely. Sure, the parts with Kira and Dukat are the ones you’ll remember, but there’s not a lot to complain about with this plot, either.

That’s about all I can think to say on the subject, really. The episode is solid, and besides Dukat’s character, there wasn’t anything that jumped out at me, for good or for bad. But as I said, we seem to be on a good trend lately, so I’ll happily be left with little to say if it means we keep getting episodes of this quality.

How it Relates to the Whole: We are introduced to Zyial (Cyia Batten), who will become a recurring character later on, though it’ll take the DS9 Companion to tell me if they had any plans for her to become a recurring character when they first created her. While that’s the big takeaway from this episode, there are also smaller things, like the progression of Sisko’s relationship with Kasidy, and interestingly, the first appearance of a species called the Breen. In this episode, they’re nothing more than a random alien species (albeit ones that look like they’re wearing the outfit Leia used to rescue Han in Return of the Jedi), but somehow, they’re going to eventually have more of a role to play in the show. Unassuming beginnings, indeed.

Other: *Dukat has an awkward conversation with Kira where he insists that Bajor became stronger thanks in part to what the Cardassians did to them. Obviously, his reasons for saying this aren’t exactly what Kira wants to hear, but from an audience’s perspective (or at least my perspective)…he’s not entirely wrong. The occupation was terrible, but as the saying goes “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. It’s always weird to agree with Dukat, but at least I only agree with the spirit of what he’s saying.

*After offending Kasidy, Sisko talks it over with Dax and, more bizarrely, Bashir. Dax I can understand—she’s both his friend and has a lot of experience dealing with relationships—but Bashir is currently single and has been implied several times to be a bit of a playboy. What possible advice can he offer in this situation? The best I can come up with is that he’s had a lot of experience with saying the wrong thing in a relationship, and therefore may have ways of figuring out how to remove his foot from his mouth. Well, that’s the in-universe explanation; the out-of-universe explanation is to give Alexander Siddig a scene. Which is fine, but I wish they’d have figured out something that made a little more sense.

Best Line/Exchange: While the interactions between Dukat and Kira are excellent this episode, the bit that really jumped out at me was between Kira and someone very different;

Kira: I may have a lead on the Ravinok. (Odo rolls his eyes) I know what you’re going to say; it’s been six years since the Ravinok disappeared, odds are everyone on board is dead…

Odo: That all may be true, but that is not what I was going to say. I was going to say “Good luck.”

Kira (confused): Good luck?

Odo: You had a friend aboard the Ravinok, correct?

Kira (nods): Lorit Akrem.

Odo: Which means, it doesn’t matter if I think there are any survivors, or even if you think there are any survivors, you’re going to go looking for that ship. And all I can say is good luck, and I hope you find them.

(Kira smiles faintly)

I just really like the dynamic here. It’s a sweet interaction between friends, and shows that Odo really understands Kira’s motivations and is supportive of her even if he doesn’t personally agree with her. Those are the sorts of relationships you want, and I really love seeing things like it on this show. Happily, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting plenty of opportunities to do so.

After the Fact Update: No direct word on whether or not Zyial was meant to be a recurring character. We’ll see if they say anything in the entry for whenever she next appears.