Dukat... too many plot twists?

And because of that, I thought Dukat was wasted as a character. I honestly thought that the bastard would've been a great anti-hero. Where over the years he would've gone through a "redeeming" where he would've helped the Federation but still be the seriously flawed, megalomaniac man he always was.

Besides, Dukat as a Freedom Fighter against Dominion occupied Cardassia would've been a nice symmetry with Kira and Bajor.

 

Not mentioning the irony and "revenge" of the fate Kura could have enjoyed rubbing it into his nose

 

Oh, that was just a nice nod to fans of TOS, channeling the Kirk-Gary Mitchell fight in the second pilot.

 

All in all Dukat wasn't nearly as evil as Kai Winn. Remember that he took the chalice from her hands confidently drank from it, with all his cunningness he never thought that she would have poisoned him. I mean even in the end, I disliked Kai Winn a great deal more than I did Dukat and when she was finally vaporized it seemed like poetic justice.

Plus there was a genuine love of Dukat for his daughter. There's no evidence that Winn ever loved anyone but herself.

 

From the bbs sister site trektoday.com:

 

Oh, to have had him talk to the camera--House of Cardassian style. With three you get Androzani.

 

I wasn't really a fan of the whole Pah wraith story line but I think the others fit in well and made him a more interesting and well developed character.

 

Kai Winn is (or became) evil but Dukat lead the occupation of Bajor which cost the lives of countless Bajorans, he arranged the deal with the Dominion, which cost the lives of countless Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian lives, plus the eradication of the Maquis, and in the end, he put the effort to release the Pah Wraiths which could have wrecked havoc on the quadrant, if not the galaxy. Kai Winn helped but Dukat's track record was well past evil by that point.

 

Dukat is one of my favorite characters but I found myself enjoying him much less after "Waltz". The Pah-Wraiths plot wasn't a bad idea but the execution was uneven and it became obvious that it was a long shot by writers who had reached the end of the line for the character but had to keep going somehow. If the mysticism had been restrained including the Abrahamic religious dichotomy and it was played off more as a concrete battle between two groups of aliens and better connected to the Dominion War, I think it would have worked out much better. Also, I never much cared for the idea that Sisko was "born of the prophets" like some sort of space Jesus.

 

They should have just skipped the stuff with Kai Winn and had Ducat somehow get into that Volcano for a final confrontation on his own. That episode with the Jim Jones style cult was kind of stupid too. Did Ducat really believe what he was doing or not? It basically just took away all of his redeeming qualities.

 

See, I don't think the writers ever thought of 'redeeming' him. To them Dukat was was a Nazi and always a Nazi.

 

I think it was better how he was descending into madness in front of Sisko. He truly seemed to believe that he was doing right but not getting the credit. If he was a Nazi, then he was Reinhardt Heidrich in Czechoslovakia. I think that's enough complexity. Him turning into some kind of cool-aid cult leader and then into Dr Faustus was too weird and kind of boring, to be honest.

 

Madness is often weird. I found it riveting at every turn, but YMMV (and does)!

 

It also felt really rushed at the end. I feel like they should have wrapped up Dukat ear;ier in the season and given him justice.

 

I definitely agree with that.

 

x2

Even with the weak bits of his storyline, he's by far the most complex villain in Trek. Even when there were weak points in his character arc, they logically flowed from what had been established.

Every time I see him in an ep ,I'm torn between simultaneous repugnance and attraction. I think that's a reflection of the great writing and acting that made Dukat so strong.

 

I loved Dukat.

While he had many evil moments and was so full of himself, the series also showed how he could also be a good guy, doing good things.... hell for a while during his fight with the Klingons, I thought he finally switched completely to a good guy.

Then you get an "M. Night Shyamalan plot twist" of him selling out to the Dominion.

One of my favourite episodes of him was "Civil Defense" walking around the phaser fire while acting all superior.

Then the scene where Kira gives him back the dress and he then gives it to his daughter.

"You're so thoughtful!"
"I know"

 

Whether he was a misunderstood man before, I'm pretty sure aligning with the Dominion will make him a villain for all history from then on.

 

Exactly how I felt and feel.

 

Even in an episode like, "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night" where he just randomly calls Kira to tell her that her mother was essentially a whore and a collaborator, you actually buy into his devious ways. It really isn't until the writers just started buffet-styling his character that it broke down.