A truly great episode is...

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

"Cardassians."

Seeing a trailer or a reading a description of it doesn't impl;y that this episode would be great Trek.. I mean ... "a Cardassian child bites someone on the hand, leading to a hearing as to his status." Not exactly a high octane Trek adventure. Even fans of DS9 point more to the Dominion War, Necessary Evil and Improbably cause as the the true great episodes of the series, but this quiet episode is so important. The ambiguities, the drama, the political intrigue here are what make those other big episodes truely work. When DS9 first started I was put out that the pilot or subsequent eps never gave a reason for why the Cardassians left, I thought I'd miss something. But then I became fascinated. The Bajoran Resistance says that they won enough victories to drive them out, and Cardie officials say it was a "political decision." I realised as I started watching that I was glad a simple answer was never given. Even in this episode, it's presented. After all, if the writers wanted easy answers, the question would have been "Why did the Cardassians leave Bajor?" but in this epidoe Garak askes (emphasis mine "Why do you think the Cardassians left Bajor?"

That's a far more interesting question.

I really love this episode.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

Another aspect this episode touched on was interracial adoptions. Around the time this episode aired, I remember there was some debate as to whether parents of one race could raise a child of a different race, without that child becoming a self loather.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Another aspect this episode touched on was interracial adoptions. Around the time this episode aired, I remember there was some debate as to whether parents of one race could raise a child of a different race, without that child become a self loather.

In my opinion...any self-loathing is going to be the fault of the adoptive parent. It is not going to automatically occur.

And in my opinion, in this episode the blame rests on one Proka Migdal for that.