DS9 S02E22 & S02E23

In this installment:
(viewed Friday & Saturday, August 8-9)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E22 - "The Wire"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E23 - "Crossover"

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"The Wire"

• I definitely recall this really being a standout episode of DS9's second season (mostly because it's pretty much 100% pure Elim Garak), but I haven't watched it in several years.  We'll see how it holds up.
• Galipotans:  How can a culture not acknowledge the concept of time?  This is one of those throw-away lines they put into Trek from time to time in order to spice up the dialog, and if you think too much about it you'll get a headache :P
• The Never Ending Sacrifice:  A celebrated Cardassian novel about seven generations who all give their lives to the state.  That sounds pretty Cardassian, alright.
• "There's more to life than duty to the state."
  
  "A Federation viewpoint, if ever I heard one."
• "Try not to yell at any more admirals for a while."
  
  "I didn't yell, I was just expressing my feelings...loudly."
• "I routinely monitor all of Quark's subspace communications."
  
  "Is that legal?"
• Constable Odo tells Dr. Bashir to meet him in the Security Office around 0200 hours, saying that Quark "always makes his clandestine calls after the bar closes".  So apparently Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade closes at or before two o'clock in the morning--not very rock 'n' roll, if you ask me.  Even bars here in sleepy Indianapolis are open until three o'clock ;)
• I believe this episode is the first time we hear of the Obsidian Order, the feared Cardassian intelligence and security organization. 
  
  
  
  (insignia of the Obsidian Order)
  
  Somewhat analogous (I would say even more sinister, though) to the Romulan Tal'Shiar (with whom they'll have dealings within a couple of seasons).
  
  Both organizations are clearly fictional Trek counterparts of feared agencies in 20th Century human societies:  The Schutzstaffel in Nazi Germany, the NKVD/KGB in the Soviet Union and the Stasi in Communist East Germany.
  
  Some might say that America's own National Security Agency is reaching Obsidian Order-like levels of sinister reputation, although I don't personally tend to think they're quite there just yet ;)
  
  (And I'm totally not just saying that because I'm afraid they're recording everything that I write on the Internet.  I love you NSA!  Keep up the good work!)
• This episode is also the first mention of Enabran Tain, although--much like the rest of Garak's life--the full extent of Tain's identity and the role he played in Garak's story will only come to light in drips and drops over the course of the next 2-3 seasons.
• "Living on this station is torture for me, Doctor.  The temperature is always too cold, the lights always too bright.  Every Bajoran on the station looks at me with loathing and contempt.  So one day, I decided I couldn't live with it anymore, and I took the pain away."
  
  "You activated the implant."
  
  "I created a device which allowed me to trigger the implant whenever I wanted it.  At first, I only used it a few minutes a day.  But then I began relying on it more and more, until finally I just turned it on and never shut it off."
  
  "How long has it been on?"
  
  "Two years."
• "Doctor, did anyone ever tell you that you're an infuriating pest?!?"
  
  "Chief O'Brien, all the time, and I don't pay any attention to him either!"
• This episode is such a finely-crafted story about Garak's past, and it's the penultimate moment in the relationship between Garak and Dr. Bashir.  The fact that he tells a story about an atrocity he committed during the Occupation, killing his aid "Elim" in the process (and Elim is, of course, one and the same with Garak), is just a fantastic piece of storytelling by the writers.
• Odo's insistence on being able to interrogate Garak about unsolved crimes that he believes involved the Obsidian Order meets with Dr. Bashir's stern insistence that--no matter what Odo might suspect of Garak--he's Bashir's patient and he won't be harmed while he's under medical care.  Odo kind of nods and marches away, in what seems to be a professional acknowledgement of the other man's rigid adherence to his professional obligations--something Odo can no doubt appreciate.
  
  I often say that one of the reasons I like DS9 so much is because, unlike previous incarnations of Trek, its characters were allowed to be edgier, darker and more flawed--and thus, more realistic and interesting.  While that's certainly true, I think that DS9's characters are also--in some ways, at least--some of the most principled characters in all of Trek canon.
• Don't tangle with a detoxing Cardassian, Julian O_o
• "Why are you telling me this, Garak?"
  
  "So that you can forgive me, why else?  I need to know that someone...forgives me."
• Oh!  I forgot that we actually get to meet Tain in this episode.
• Enabran Tain knows Dr. Bashir's middle name:  "Subatoi"
• "Everyone has reason to fear the Order."
• "Don't thank me.  I'm not doing Garak any favors.  He doesn't deserve a quick death.  On the contrary, I want him to live a long, miserable life.  I want him to grow old on that station, surrounded by people who hate him, knowing he'll never come home again."
  
  "What a lovely sentiment."
  
  "And it's from the heart, I assure you."
• "Out of all the stories you've told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
  
  "My dear doctor, they're all true."
  
  "Even the lies?"
  
  "Especially the lies."
  
  
  

---

"Crossover"

• The Bajorans have established their first colony on the Gamma Quadrant side of the Bajoran Wormhole, as is their right as the possessors of the space where the Alpha Quadrant opening is located.
  
  Its name?  New Bajor.  Not very original, if you ask me :P
• Dr. Bashir becomes a better character as he develops into a seasoned Starfleet officer (and less of the irritating boyish fop) over the course of the series, but his little annoyance of Major Kira while she's trying to meditate in the runabout on their way back from New Bajor proves that he's still got a long way to go at this point in the character's development :)
• Ooh!  Ooh!  OOOH!  THIS IS OUR FIRST TRIP TO THE MIRROR UNIVERSE!
  
  (On DS9, at least...which easily had the best Mirror Universe episodes--and the most of them, I think.)
• Upon exiting the wormhole, Bashir and Kira discover that the station is no longer at the mouth of the Alpha Quadrant side of the wormhole...but still orbiting Bajor.
  
  They're also greeted by a rather unfriendly (and over-sized) Vor'cha-class attack cruiser.
  
  ...and then boarded by some even less friendly Klingon warriors, brandishing disruptors.
  
  All in all?  Not a good day.
• Except that the Klingons seem to think that Kira is someone important.  So that's good.
• This episode introduces us to one of the most shamefully fetishized characters in all of Star Trek canon:  The Mirror Universe version of Kira Nerys known as "Intendant".
  
  
  
  How you doin'?
  
  So listen, here's the thing.  I always thought Kira was extremely attractive (although in my defense, that's at least partially about her strength and badass attitude, and only mostly about how crazy, stupid hot she was).  A pleather-wearing, bi-curious version of her with not-so-subtle dominatrix overtones?
  
  It's like they wrote the character with Teenage Sam specifically in mind.  It's not fair, really.
  
  I just can't be held responsible for anything moderately uncouth I might say when discussing this particular character.  Now, I try to keep this blog PG-13.  So you don't need to worry about anything completely inappropriate or gross.
  
  But I may do some modest digital drooling, and it's not going to reflect very well on me as a person.  I'm sorry.  Please just trust that in almost every other context, I'm a very progressive individual and a committed feminist.  Please believe that.
• "Center of authority?  Whose authority?"
  
  "The Alliance, of course."
  
  
  
  Insignia of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance
• Mirror Universe versions of Garak and Odo?  Both jerks.  I mean, moreso than their regular versions.
• The 14th Rule of Obedience:  "No jokes."
• "I'm Kira Nerys."
  
  "That makes two of us."
• The Intendant tells Kira the story of Captain Kirk's incursion into the Mirror Universe and encounter with Mirror Universe Spock (TOS, "Mirror, Mirror"), which resulted in the weakening of the Terran Empire--which was subsequently conquered the Alliance.
• Kira is really, really clever in how she manipulates the Intendant.  And even when the Intendant realizes that's what's happening, she's so thoroughly manipulated that she doesn't care that she's being manipulated.
• "Have you ever heard of a Starfleet captain named James Kirk?"
  
  "Kirk? Of course."
• Mirror Universe Quark?  Kind of a quiet badass.
• Mirror Universe Sisko?  AWESOME SPACE PIRATE WHO GETS TO SLEEP WITH THE INTENDANT.
• Mirror Universe O'Brien?  Kind of a sad-sack, but he has a cool nickname:  "Smiley"
• One of the Klingon officers who frequently accompanies Garak around Terok Nor is "Telok", who is played by John Cothran, Jr.  He played the Klingon captain Nu'Daq in the TNG episode "The Chase".
  
  
  
• "Garak is planning to kill her.  Tonight."
  
  "That's it?  That's your 'valuable information'?  Garak has been trying to kill her since the day he got here."
• Apparently you can asplode a Changeling with a phaser.  Who knew?
• That purple dress.  THAT PURPLE DRESS @_@
• "We've got ships from here to New Bajor out looking for you.  Where have you been?"
  
  "Through the looking glass, Commander."