| SEASON
ONE |
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|
 |
Duet |
A Cardassian named Marritza arrives on DS9 and attracts
Kira’s attention due to suffering from an illness that only former
inhabitants of labour camps are afflicted with. Could this man be mass murderer
Gul Dar’heel?
One of the earliest high points of
Deep Space Nine, and a veritable jewel of the rather drab Season One,
Duet is a flawlessly executed piece of allegorical
television. Not only does it make its point about genocide simply yet subtly,
it features some superb acting from Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin, who plays
Marritza. It also sets up the future development of Major Kira, as this is the
point where she finally begins to come to terms with her and her people’s
past and starts to see through the blind hatred.
|
| SEASON
TWO |
 |
|
|
Necessary
Evil |
An assault on Quark re-opens a case that Odo had believed
closed five years previously, back when Terok Nor was in Cardassian hands. The
main suspect back then was Kira, but Odo cleared her. Could he have been
wrong?
The Terok Nor flashback would be
used in various ways to a greater or lesser degree of success later in the
series, and Necessary Evil is a straightforward
police investigation episode. It’s also a chance to show the dark side of
one of the regular cast. Throughout the seven years, most of the crew are
revealed to have some kind of skeleton in the cupboard, and after airing
Dax’s dirty laundry last season, this time it’s Kira’s turn.
It’s also worth noting the abilities of the set designers to create a very
different DS9 through set dressing to give the station a darker, more
unpleasant feel. |
| SEASON THREE |
 |
|
 |
The House of Quark
|
When a drunk
Klingon falls on his knife in a bar fight, Quark takes the credit and business
soars. However, when the Klingon’s widow, Grilka, arrives on board the
station, Quark must do the honourable thing... and marry her.
It was unusual
for DSN to do a Klingon episode before Worf arrived on the station, but
the odd juxtaposition of the disparate cultures of the Ferengi and the Klingons
leads to an enjoyably fun episode. Armin Shimerman plays Quark at his weaselly
best in an episode where the Ferengi truly is out of his depth. When confronted
with a potential bat’leth fight, it is only by luck he survives. The fact
that it is Quark’s business acumen and not violence that saves the day is
a clever twist, and leads to the wonderful image of Gowron staring in
puzzlement at pages of figures. |
| SEASON FOUR |
 |
|
 |
Our Man
Bashir |
The transporter patterns of several of the senior staff have to be
downloaded into a holosuite after an accident. The holosuite in question is
taken up by Julian playing a secret agent game, in which he must keep the
characters alive to save his comrades.
A far less complex set-up
than it sounds, the idea enables the DSN cast to let their hair down and
spend some time playing James Bond-style characters, from the enticingly-named
Honey Bare (Dax) to the sinister Dr Noah (Sisko). Along for the ride with
Julian is Garak, neatly tailored (naturally) and trying to learn just how
humans see spies, and maybe pick up some tips. The rapport between Andrew
Robinson and Alexander Siddig has never been bettered |
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