I've returned to Deep Space Nine...

[InklingStar]

There's some great duality set up here between sacrifice for the cause and duty for the uniform, which of course continues later in the series. (My choice of phrase is deliberate!) In Hudson we see what Sisko may easily have become, and the first of the many Starfleet officers to leave paradise to join the Maquis. Each officer seems to do it for a different reason - Hudson because he doesn't like what he sees, Riker to be a hero, Chakotay to honor his people, Ro to accept her heritage... there really is something romantic about the dashing rebel, isn't there? Have you ever seen a movie about pirates where the pirates are the villains?

It is ultimately a very tragic tale, if you know the final fate of the Maquis.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

There's some great duality set up here between sacrifice for the cause and duty for the uniform, which of course continues later in the series. (My choice of phrase is deliberate!) In Hudson we see what Sisko may easily have become, and the first of the many Starfleet officers to leave paradise to join the Maquis. Each officer seems to do it for a different reason - Hudson because he doesn't like what he sees, Riker to be a hero, Chakotay to honor his people, Ro to accept her heritage... there really is something romantic about the dashing rebel, isn't there? Have you ever seen a movie about pirates where the pirates are the villains?

It is ultimately a very tragic tale, if you know the final fate of the Maquis.

A real blaze of glory, eh?

There is something romantic about it all. I've always loved the Maquis. I would have gotten behind a Maquis miniseries or something in a heartbeat. Something about them, their exploits. Their triumphs, their mistakes.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Get ready..there might be a big debate or discussion about the Maquis episodes-contradictions, who started what and why..

Then again, that's what I like about these episodes..

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

I'll brace for impact.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I never understood what the Voyager writers were thinking. The Maquis could only work on DS9. I mean they are fighting for their homes along the border. In the Delta Quadrant, their homes are not even there. All they do is cause trouble in the lower decks.

 

[InklingStar]

I never understood what the Voyager writers were thinking. The Maquis could only work on DS9. I mean they are fighting for their homes along the border. In the Delta Quadrant, their homes are not even there. All they do is cause trouble in the lower decks.

Well it was a learning curve for the former crewmen, right?

The Maquis were created for Voyager, that much is clear. But it really is DS9 that used them to their fullest potential. No other Trek series dug into political issues the way DS9 did. When TNG did "The High Ground" they tried to show the separatists as somewhat sympathetic, but in the end they were still the "bad guys". DS9's separatists are not only sympathetic but at times they are almost the protagonists. By season 5 you almost have to root for them, against Sisko. The serialized format of the station-based series allows them to really build some storylines that could never be told in TNG or Voyager.

 

[DevilEyes]

Well, the Maquis certainly worked much better on DS9 and ironically ended up playing a much bigger role there than on VOY... Yes, of course a few of regulars on VOY used to be Maquis, but the show itself seems to quickly forget about it.

MY 3 favorite episodes of season 2 are Necessary Evil, The Maquis and The Wire. But The Jem'Hadar, Whispers, and the Circle trilogy are quite close.

 

[DS9 Gal AZ]

The problem w/ The Maquis on Voyager is that they got integrated into the crew too quickly and too smoothly. It seemed liked after the series opener there was barely a hint of dissention. I'm not saying Maquis/Starfleet should have been at each other's throats all seven years but they should have drawn the tension out at least the rest of the season. Maybe even had the Maquis refusing to wear Starfleet uniforms for a while, things like that. Like in DS9, at first Kira was quite hostile towards Sisko and the other Starfleeters but by the end of the year she'd grown to consider them friends and it didn't seemed forced or contrived to me. And the bonds only strengthened as the seasons went on. I liked Voyager okay, but I think they missed a lot of opportunities for organic storytelling. That's why I'll always like DS9 better than Voyager.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Yes, and not only that, but we mainly saw only Chakotay and BElana as the face of the Maquis, didn't we..

Tom Paris seemed to have identified with being Starfleet and dropped any Maquis association....the other Maquis crew members just disappeared into the crew..

I remember the episode where Tuvok created a holodeck program showing Chakotay and the Maquis leading a mutiny on the ship and acting very cold bloodedly.

Rather than stir up bitter feelings about it or feel insulted, Chakotay seems very easy going and forgiving about it.

Based on how the Maqui were first portrayed, I thought he would have reacted with hostility and bitterness that Tuvok (and possibly Janeway) didn't trust them..

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

My point about the Maquis is that on Voyager, all they ever amounted to was more disobedient "non-Sttarfleet" crew-members with alternative (and often more effective but riskier) ways of solving problems.

This just felt so unrelated to what the Maquis was about. They were a group of people that were unhappy with a treaty, a group of people that refused to leave their homes simply because the lines of a map had suddenly been redrawn. With them crammed about a starship that was far away from those homes and those maplines, they were, again, reduced to absolutely no more than "non-starfleet" troublemakers. No meaty stories could be told about their true political misgivings, or how they had to make do with hasty settlements. No scenes in Voyager ever really talked about their plight as much as the teaser of DS9's For the Uniform did.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

2x22
"The Wire"

"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
-Bashir and Garak

Riveting. Deep Space Nine probes deeply into one of its most popular, and certainly one of its most enigmatic, characters in a gripping study that gives us plenty of depth and even some foreshadowing. "The Wire" continues the often-held belief that the second season's back string of episodes is strong, and it might very well crush the three episodes that preceded it in overall quality.

I've come to expect good things from Bashir/Garak scenes. They're delightful in every way. There's a zip between them; Robinson is the ever-wonderful Garak and El Fadil does things with frontier doctor (I told you I'd never get tired of that) Julian Bashir which he simply cannot do with anyone else. So naturally, when the episode opened with one, I was excited. Their dialogue here is top-notch. The discussion on the Cardassian classic novel "The Never-Ending Sacrifice", memorable as it is to the point that a recent DS9 relaunch novel took the title as its own, is a nice spotlight on Garak's perspective on life. In many ways he advertises himself the ideal Cardassian -- loyalty to the state at any cost. The 'repetitive epic' being a staple of Cardassian literature seems entirely believable, too.

Garak, however, seems a bit uncharacteristically crude in his lines, but this is no complaint at all -- it soon becomes apparent why. Clearly suffering from a form of massive headache, Bashir wishes to give him a full examination at once, but the tailor adamantly refuses, storming off. Kira's convenient arrival to give the teaser a customary 'what was that all about?' to end on is slightly jarring, but only if you're looking for something to complain about.

Up next is a scene between Julian and Jadzia with plenty of heart; transitional as it may be, it gives us another 'I'm a doctor, not a...' line, some always-nifty 'lives of Dax' backstory, and above all else, Bashir diagnosing and treating a plant.

Convinced he must play the spy to unravel the mystery behind Garak's recent behavior and medical state, Bashir spots Quark finishing up a cryptic conversation with Garak and presses him for details. For a bit thereafter, we watch the doctor continue his quest amidst his day-to-day goings-on, including an amusing cameo by Commander Sisko to keep things flavorful while we, the audience, await some answers. "The Wire" knows how to keep us glued; barely a line seems superfluous in its intricately-woven tale.

As Bashir treads lightly, however, Garak is soon to seen to tread loudly. Quark demands the doctor come to his bar at once, and once there, he finds his Cardassian lunch mate heavily intoxicated. It is here in this scene that the first sign of Andrew J. Robinson's performance proving even stronger than usual, rising to the occasion to meet with a plot surrounding his character, is to be found. Robinson brings the acting of a man in a drunken stupor, yet so cunning as to keep his wits about him even in a petty outrage, to a level rarely seen on television. I try to avoid hyperbole in my reviews, but this is no hyperbole. I think the majority of DS9 fans can agree with me that Robinson nails his role in this episode.

Garak lies unconscious in sickbay, rendered so by a recent bout of pain. Julian discusses the implications of a strange, foreign object in his brain with Odo, but nothing concrete presents itself. Odo invites the doctor to join him in monitoring Quark's upcoming subspace communications at 0200 hours for further clues, leading to a brilliant exchange in which the constable admits the practice is not entirely legal, but in the station's best interest. It's exactly this kind of dynamic that I love about the series. Had Worf ever done this sort of thing, he'd have been court-martialed. Odo does it without a second thought to the matter.

The impressive script and strong acting performances move at good pacing as the duo espy Quark speaking with Glinn Boheeka, a mid-ranking Cardassian military officer with a particularly memorable performance. Quark is bribing the man in the hopes of obtaining what Garak had sought -- a piece of biotechnology. Matters get immediately out-of-hand when it is revealed that said biotechnology is highly classified, and the series' first mention of the 'Obsidian Order' is awarded to a now-frightened Boheeka. Quark reacts in a similar manner upon mention of the shadowy organization, cutting the transmission at once.

The next part is for the audience's benefit as well as Bashir's, but it is handled adeptly and succeeds in filling us all in on the basics of the Obsidian Order. The 'ever-vigilant eyes and ears of the Cardassian Empire', Odo notes that their ruthlessness and efficiency tops even the Romulan Tal Shiar, and that one cannot sit down to a meal on Cardassia without the Order taking notice. This is the kind of dialogue that sends shivers down the backs of all those who watch, and probably a lot more than that for conspiracy theorists. Bravo, Robert Hewitt Wolfe; you've introduced the Order menacingly well.

Puzzled by all the implications, thoughts on if the Order put the foreign object in Garak's mind and why he would want another, Bashir returns to sickbay to discover that his patient has checked himself out. Immediately storming to the Cardassian's quarters, the doctor races in, discovering Garak injecting himself with a drug. Julian informs his drugged-up friend that Quark was unable to procure what he wanted, and the tailor requests the hypospray be returned to him. Again he breaks down, and at last he reveals the true nature of the implant -- it was given to him by the Order to release endorphins in the event of torture, making him impervious to much of anything. But upon his exile from Cardassia, he created a device that would allow him to trigger the implant. Life on Deep Space Nine was hell for him; he was far from the world he so loved, surrounded by the scornful survivors of his people's conquest. And so he became addicted, and for the past two years, he'd left it on completely. Thus the ever-cheerful, enigmatic Garak. Far from plain or simple. This is terrific television.

It would be impossible to fully detail my thoughts on the proceeding events between Bashir and Garak -- the heart of the episode in the eyes of many viewers -- without extending this review into the thirty-plus paragraph territory, somewhere I'd rather never go if I can avoid it. Garak, his life all but finished as his condition worsens, 'confides' in Bashir with several different stories, changing the reasoning behind his exile numerous times. Each time is heartfelt; each time is strong. Each time he has a friend or aide or what-have-you by the name of Elim, and each time he works for a man named Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order. Yet the story itself changes entirely. Garak is a murderer; Garak is then a man who lets five Bajoran children escape. Telling is Garak's insinuation that the latter is worse than the former. In the latter, Andrew J. Robinson stuns all those who dare watch the scene with a performance so visceral, so full of frustrated life. Not to be dismissed as a simple aside is Siddig El Fadil's turn as Julian Bashir, whose character plumbs the depths of hell as he searches for the vigor to remain standing in the face of such an adversarial Garak, let alone treat him and still call him friend.

Garak collapses into shock, and Bashir and his nurse come to the realization that the man is most definitely dying. Turning the implant back on will buy him another week or two, but it would take much longer than that to synthesize what is needed to save his life. Garak will not have it; he never wants it turned on again. He even tells a now-skeptical Julian a third tale, citing that 'patience has its rewards'. In this, he and Elim are closer than he insinuated in previous stories, the 'sons of Tain'. Both the added closeness and the use of the word 'son' have special meanings we don't see just yet, and the latter reference won't show itself as such for another three seasons. Garak now explains that he and Elim were both suspected in the matter of the Bajoran prisoners who were freed, and that Tain had retired and could not protect them. Both implicated the other, and yet Elim beat him to the punch, placing Garak in the exiled position he now holds. He seeks forgiveness for any and wrong-doings, and Bashir gives it to him. Garak falls asleep in peace, but Bashir won't sit and watch him die. He makes for the home of Enabran Tain. This is most assuredly Bashir's best vehicle yet.

Paul Dooley nails the role of Enabran Tain and the retired head of the Order has a lengthy scene with Bashir, who seeks what is needed to save Garak's life, that were it in almost any other episode would have won it top billing in fan discussions. But "The Wire" is dauntless. Every scene is delicious. So delicious that one wonders if the Obsidian Order might come down and kill you for watching it. Toward the end of their encounter, Tain explains that Elim is Garak's first name, and suddenly all three of the man's stories take on a hidden, ever-enigmatic relevance. Superb.

Lunch at the Replimat. Bashir sits alone, but Garak soon arrives to join him. All the tailor wants to discuss is the taste of the spice pudding today, and Julian is absolutely floored by such a thing. In a very memorable fit of foreshadowing, Garak offers his friend a data rod containing another Cardassian literary classic -- "Meditations on a Crimson Shadow", this one on a future war between the Cardassians and the Klingons. Cardassians and Klingons at war, you say? Shadows, you say? I know it wasn't planned, but wow. Just... wow. And as the duo share a timeless exchange that in an episode with more quotes than anything before it beats everything else, "The Wire" closes. A Cardassian literary classic in and of itself, I leave a certain influential someone to close things out here at the review, with a statement I almost wanted to use as the quote:

"I wish there was more writing like that for television. I think we'd have a much healthier industry."
-Andrew J. Robinson

Rating: 10/10

 

[Nightdiamond]

Garak is a classic. His speech, look, all say enigma. I've never seen it played so perfectly- you don't just see an actor portraying it, you see a genuinely conniving and mysterious character..


The funny thing is, to this day I still don't know exactly how or why Garak was exiled from Cardassia.

Garak told so many stories, and the episode was so ambiguous, that I don't think they ever revealed why it happened.

Voyager (at times) seemed more like a crew of Starfleet officers finding their way back to the Alpha Quandrant than an uncomfortable aliance between the two groups...

I saw the review for Blood Oath..that was another overlooked favorite of mine...

 

[InklingStar]

Spoiler: Speaking of foreshadowing...

"They called us the sons of Tain...

One of my favorite episodes of the series. ("Improbable Cause" is another - see a pattern?) The meeting of Bashir and Tain is incredible, how the retired Tain seems to know so much about Bashir without even blinking. Bashir likes spy novels, and playing a spy on the holosuite, but this is his first real taste of espionage. Interesting to compare him at this point in his life to his actions later in "Inquisition" and "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges".

Back to Tain, it's both awesome and creepy how Paul Dooley plays the character as a kind old grandfather, yet with the subtext that he could have you killed anywhere at any time if it suited his purposes.

I also like how this episode brings up more questions than it answers about Elim Garak himself. I think if this were a TNG or Voyager episode, we would have learned the true backstory all at once here. Not so in DS9. I think it's awesome that we never learn the reason for Garak's exile. It leaves so much to the imagination.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The funny thing is, to this day I still don't know exactly how or why Garak was exiled from Cardassia.

Garak told so many stories, and the episode was so ambiguous, that I don't think they ever revealed why it happened.

Voyager (at times) seemed more like a crew of Starfleet officers finding their way back to the Alpha Quadrant than an uncomfortable aliance between the two groups...

I saw the review for Blood Oath..that was another overlooked favorite of mine...

The handling of Garak's character never faltered. At least, not at any point I can think of. I know some hated the Garak/Ziyal angle, but I don't remember disliking it.

Spoiler: Speaking of foreshadowing...

"They called us the sons of Tain...

One of my favorite episodes of the series. ("Improbable Cause" is another - see a pattern?) The meeting of Bashir and Tain is incredible, how the retired Tain seems to know so much about Bashir without even blinking. Bashir likes spy novels, and playing a spy on the holosuite, but this is his first real taste of espionage. Interesting to compare him at this point in his life to his actions later in "Inquisition" and "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges".

Back to Tain, it's both awesome and creepy how Paul Dooley plays the character as a kind old grandfather, yet with the subtext that he could have you killed anywhere at any time if it suited his purposes.

I also like how this episode brings up more questions than it answers about Elim Garak himself. I think if this were a TNG or Voyager episode, we would have learned the true backstory all at once here. Not so in DS9. I think it's awesome that we never learn the reason for Garak's exile. It leaves so much to the imagination.

I love Bashir's character here, beyond everything else because he's really starting to show his spy games here. He does it because he has to, but with things like his delivery of the tennis joke and given his initial characterization, you can tell he's definitely enjoying himself. "Our Man Bashir" is definitely set up well, not to mention such big pieces like "Inquisition".

Totally in agreement about the TNG/VOY v. DS9 thing. In TNG, it would have been solved all at once, with little ambiguity. Early Voyager may have kept it up for a couple of episodes, but it still would have been answered, and probably with even less ambiguity.

 

[DS9 Gal AZ]

The Wire is one of my favorite episodes, and the foreshadowing, intentional or not, is brilliant. It really cements the bond between Bashir and Garak. Andrew J. Robinson is brilliant.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The Wire is one of my favorite episodes, and the foreshadowing, intentional or not, is brilliant. It really cements the bond between Bashir and Garak. Andrew J. Robinson is brilliant.

I've seen the first two seasons now ("Crossover" review sometime tomorrow, methinks) and without spoiling my thoughts on 2x23-2x26, I think "The Wire" may very well be my favorite episode so far.

At very least it gives "Duet" and "Necessary Evil" competition and likely beats out everything else.

Man, these episodes with lots of Cardassians sure are something.

 

[DS9Continuing]

2x20
"The Maquis, Part I"

There's also a blatant continuity error in the script here, where Sisko states that not long ago, the Cardassians were secretly shipping weapons to a Bajoran extremist group via a third party, the Yridians. He is, of course, referring to the events of the season opener, but it wasn't the Yridians the Cardassians were working with. Funnier still is Hudson's response: "That sounds about right." No, it doesn't!

In an attempt to rationalize what is clearly a mistake, I've occasionally wondered if Sisko didn't already suspect something of Hudson, and was testing him by deliberately saying the wrong name. That Hudson refused to rise to the bait just frustrated him more.

Of course, that's a pretty sizable rationalization.

2x22
"The Wire"

...Glinn Boheeka, a mid-ranking Cardassian military officer with a particularly memorable performance...

Isn't it? For such a minor character, I can't help worrying what happened to him after that call ended. I'd had a line in my head for days - "No! Don't tell me. I don't... want to know." I could even hear the exact inflection in my head. But I couldn't quite place where it was from - it was from him.

Toward the end of their encounter, Tain explains that Elim is Garak's first name, and suddenly all three of the man's stories take on a hidden, ever-enigmatic relevance. Superb.

It's as if Garak was saying that Elim was his other half. That Elim was always with him whatever he did, the more intimate, personal, first-name-terms part of himself... his conscience, perhaps? The part that he would never admit to having? And at the end, when he says Elim beat him to the planting of evidence, he's saying... that he betrayed himself. It's all his own fault.

A Cardassian literary classic in and of itself.

This episode itself is a repetitive epic. It tells the same story over and over again - the story of how Garak was exiled from his home and his life. All in selfless service to the state.

Even more beautifully, the novel which Andrew Robinson himself wrote, based on his character - A Stitch in Time - is also a repetitive epic, the most elegant form in Cardassian literature.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

All great things, lvsky. Leave it to Star Trek fans to find rationalizations of anything -- but like you said, this is a sizeable one. I like it, though, for what that's worth.

Boheeka's characterization was just so good for a single-scene character. I cheated and looked him up afterward to see if he'd be back and lo and behold, he isn't. I guess the Order got to him. Poor guy.

"I don't... want... to know..!"

I fully intend to read Robinson's novel after finishing the series. I may even review it.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Concerning Booheeka;

That was one of the things or scenes-- that made Cardassians seem all the more threatening, creepy, and powerful.

At least in the earlier episodes of both TNG and DS9. The Cardassians seemed powerful and menacing and looked like a threat to the Federation..

Garak-- what makes him so creepy and intriguing...he can be so eeriely charming that it makes you suspicious and then be equally vicious and yet still be charming and calm about it.

The only time he droppeds slyness was either with Odo in "Improbable Cause" and "The is Cast" or in the last few episodes of DS9, and even that was for a few minutes or so..

Blood Oath- Kor is one my favorite characters..or rather he grew on me- after watching the "Sword of Khalest" and "Unto the Breach" it made me look back further and watched this episode, which I intially ignored.

You can't help but to like Kor, IMO..

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

2x23
"Crossover"

"What do you care about Terrans' freedom?"
"I care about freedom! What I don't understand is why you don't care. Why the only one I've met on this station is a Ferengi toad named Quark!"
-Mirror Sisko and Kira

The show's production staff must have been feeling invincible by the time they got ready to shoot this one. In the past month, there'd been the glorious "Blood Oath", the pulse-pounding "The Maquis" two-parter and the brilliantly-constructed "The Wire". And now this, another TOS nod just weeks after three legendary Klingons stumble aboard Deep Space Nine. And again, a winner. If I didn't have knowledge of the rest of the series and its missteps, I'd think DS9 had suddenly become an unstoppable, never-mediocre juggernaut the likes of which the world has never seen.

Kira and Bashir, in the Rio Grande together, make for a good mix given the former's resistance to the latter's pushy attempts at socialization. What's funniest of all is the off-camera scenario, that they would eventually marry. Bashir seems like he's getting somewhere in a lovely moment full of comedic tension, but when he can't help but go the flirtatious route, Kira advises he sticks with Dax. The fun and games soon conclude, of course; the wormhole transit goes awry and when the runabout emerges, DS9 is orbiting Bajor like in the days of old and a Klingon attack cruiser looms overhead. Boarded, Kira and Bashir are shocked to discover the at-first-confrontational Klingons quickly back down in light of recognizing the Bajoran woman, and take them at once to the station, where they find, among other huge discrepancies, Garak the military officer and another, more... sensually-dressed Kira Nerys.

I certainly liked this episode enough to commit to a continuous play-by-play, but I think doing so would rob this particular review of something I can only hope to convey through jumping around. What deserves to be showcased here is not the progression of events, but an analysis of the characters seen 'through the looking glass'.

It quickly becomes apparent that Kira and Bashir have crossed over into the Mirror Universe, that very same dimension that Kirk had encountered so long ago. Captain Kirk had convinced the Terran Empire, a brutal and ruthless version of the Federation with all the racism of a 'humans-only club', to lay down arms and start toward the path of peace. Unfortunately, with the barbarians at the gate, the Klingons and Cardassians have since successfully decimated the Terrans, working alongside Bajorans and subjugating those who once ruled over them. It's a terrific analogy for Rome; I'd like to direct you all to Robert Hewitt Wolfe's statement on his Mirror Universe off-screen developments between TOS and DS9:

"My analogy was to the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was as brutal and as nasty as it was because all around it, it had very aggressive barbarians that it was afraid of. The Chinese had the same thing, the Mongols were always there. So if you suddenly make the Romans nice guys, or the Chinese nice guys, well that's great and everything, but then the Mongols come across and it's all over. So that was kind of the idea, what was the Mirror Universe like a hundred years after "Mirror, Mirror"? Well, it might not be a very nice place."

I think this is terrific, not only as a storytelling vehicle but as an analogy for Deep Space Nine on the whole. In this series, the past really can catch up with people, and it's usually done organically, too. Sisko can't escape his growing destiny as the Emissary as the show develops. Kira can never put her Bajoran terrorist past firmly behind her. Odo redevelops a bond with the Great Link that puts him through the ringer. Dukat can never fully escape his megalomaniacal tendencies. And for all his good intentions, Kirk can't save the Terran Empire from the apparent reason it was founded: to protect humanity from the warmongering Klingons and Cardassians.

Now let's examine the individuals Kira and Bashir encounter, specifically their relationship with the counterparts we're accustomed to. First up, mainly because it's impossible to go any farther with this review without addressing her, we have the irreverent Intendant Kira. Her malicious, rancorous personality stuns us as much as it does Major Kira, but that's not all there is to her; she's also irresistibly sexy and unabashedly narcissistic, but what defines her more than anything written is Nana Visitor's absolutely unforgettable performance. The woman is a walking fountain of talent, and "Crossover" is what firmly establishes this. We've seen her fiery and standing strong, but in a very Major Kira way, a product of the abuse she endured and rebelled against simply by virtue of being Bajoran. We've never seen her like this.

The Intendant is intoxicating in all her devilish ways, but the magic is Visitor. While she could have come off as nothing more than a one-track, two-bit sex fiend, especially with that over-the-top outfit the likes of which I'd sooner expect to see on Star Trek: Enterprise, Nana Visitor delves deeply into the psyche of this egotist with every delivery, every movement of the hips, every powerful and cunning utterance masked with seductive speech. And she must have had a good time with the role, because there's a certain zest in her performance. Intendant Kira is what happens when you take Kira's specific kind of ego and twist, reverse it. Paraphrasing Nana Visitor herself, our Kira finds justification for life through helping others, whereas the Mirror Universe's has found it through helping herself.

Then there's Odo, who I find believable given the context. He, too, is brutal, but what really sells me on him are his 'Rules of Obedience'. Not only do they effectively take the dark place of the Rules of Acquisition in the station residents' minds, I'm sure, but they're just so order-centric. It makes sense that a cruel, twisted version of our constable would still cling to the very nature of his people, as we'll soon discover is the case. I love the continuity here, not only with Odo's love of order triumphing over chaos but with the Changeling race as a whole. And Mirror Odo's constant snooping around for leads on who dares defy his edict is a sick yet perfect bend.

Garak is ever-witty; the man is just too much of a wordsmith to let any dimension stop him from speaking sweetly; here he is savoring his position rather than making the best of it. Mirror Garak is in a place of power, and as a Cardassian in a universe with so little subtlety, his ambitions are straightforward: securing and increasing that power. There is a classic line here, thanks primarily to Robinson's delivery, that I came very close to using as the episode's quote:

"In a few weeks, you will step down as Intendant to embark on some spiritual journey to explore your pagh or... whatever... and I will take your place as Intendant."

The beauty is in the word 'whatever'; Robinson nails it with all the sneaking, snaking sass of a scheming Cardassian, member of a race who probably doesn't much for Bajorans in any reality.

Sisko and O'Brien are equally fascinating, and at the very heart of this episode. The man who would command Deep Space Nine in our universe is a collaborator here, who has lost his aim in life. Yet even from the start this clownish figure is clearly deluding himself to escape the pain of his predicament, and he's certainly no slouch in any dimension. Through plenty of displays of intelligence and skill, as well as some 'entertainment' for the Intendant, he's worked his way out of the slave mines and commands his own tiny ship with a crew of his very own, collecting 'duties' for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Yet when Major Kira, flabbergasted by Mirror Sisko's subservience and playfulness in light of total submission of his people, breaks down his barriers he emerges as a revolutionary. Their dialogue really gets to the center of "Crossover", and what it's about -- how the most minute changes in a person's history can warp them so, and what it's like to look in a mirror, darkly, at such possible outcomes. Kira is fascinating as she grows resentful of this Sisko, expressing the trust and reverence she's come to hold for her Sisko, and watching this one do the unthinkable instead of the necessary in the midst of an occupation.

And O'Brien is a winner, too; Mirror O'Brien is battered and beaten, but Julian Bashir has to get through his barrier, speaking of what the slave still thinks may be 'fairy tales' by the end of the episode, but they inspire him nonetheless. In a speech that gets to the point more directly than anything, Miles (nicknamed 'Smiley' by Sisko) defies the Intendant and the rest of his conquerors by discussing how he's come to think of how had history might have been just a little different, things could have turned out so radically separate from what he's known, and he wants to go there, to that better place.

Let's not forget Quark, who is stunningly noble and begins the Mirror Universe tradition of a Ferengi dying every time DS9 interacts with it.

I'm a little disappointed in the quick resolution of the episode. I know there are multiple further installations of the Mirror Universe arc throughout Deep Space Nine, so in retrospect it's more than fine, and stylistically it works pretty well because it's about the speech and the revolutionary stance of the Terrans more than anything. Yet as much as I'm not a huge 'blow something up in the finale or the episode sucks' kind of guy by any means, I feel like without more bang, the resolution seems a little simple and forced. I try to review episodes individually, without taking anything from the future into account, so I have to dock a point for the easy exit. That's not to take away from the raw power of "Crossover"; don't mistake a 9 for a 5, because this episode deserves the outstanding, albeit not perfect, score I'll award it. Highly recommended.

Rating: 9/10