Certainly I did not. There are a couple of clues.
Will anyone pretend (perhaps truthfully) that they knew what was up?
Will anyone pretend (perhaps truthfully) that they knew what was up?
"Defiant" - Did ANYONE here, on first airing, before it's revealed suspect that it was Thomas Riker?
- Thread starter spinagogue
- Start date
I was surprised.
Dumb but unsurprising.
Not me. I recall being very disappointed when, after a week of anticipation, it wasn't actually "the" Will Riker.
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Here in Australia we were always way behind the US. My brother got this magazine that had a breakdown of a bunch of shows from 94-95 including DS9. I knew the whole season before an episode had even aired. Every plot beat, every plot twist.
Due to incredible stupid policy from a TV station which started to air DS9 in 1997 but quit airing it after the first season, I had to wait many years to see the whole show. It was first in 2016 hen I had sorted out some of my DVD problems I could watch the whole series from start to finish.
Included in all that was another TV channel which started to air the show but which ceased operations when the series had aired the first season 2 episodes and some troubles with malfunctioning DVDs.
During all those years, I did my best to avoid information about the show because I knew that I would be able to watch all of it one day and I wouldn't want to spoil all the excitement.
What I did know was that Worf would join the series, that the Dominion with the Jem'hadar would be a fearful enemy, that Jadzia Dax would be killed off in season 6 and be replaced by Ezri Dax in season 7, that there would be a romace between Jadzia Dax and Worf and that Nog would join Starfleet and be badly injured
But not so much more.
Thanls to that, DS9 would become something very new and exciting for me when I finally got the chance to watch it. I had no idea about the excellent storytelling with all the twists and turns in all of it.
I knew something was really wrong when his behaviour towards O'Brien came out. I chalked it up to Riker being stressed/depressed about losing Enterprise-D (we didn't know as much about PTSD at the time). I figured he was somehow against anything/anyone that would remind him of E-D and it was as simple as that...until he shot Kira. 
I'd forgotten all about the transporter duplicate episode of TNG so didn't even consider it when Defiant came on. Then again, I'd also forgotten about The Pegasus, and we all saw how another Riker/TNG callback worked for the ENT finale...
(but that's for a different board. LOL)
I'd forgotten all about the transporter duplicate episode of TNG so didn't even consider it when Defiant came on. Then again, I'd also forgotten about The Pegasus, and we all saw how another Riker/TNG callback worked for the ENT finale...
(but that's for a different board. LOL)
So what were you suspicious about?
I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I'd say his behavior toward O'Brien was entirely unlike William Riker, and that the two most likely possibilities were that either something was wrong with him (in later seasons I might speculate that he'd been possessed by a Pah Wraith, heh) or that who we were seeing wasn't Will Riker at all.
Yeah, there was the possibility that something had happened off-screen to explain the inexplicable hostility, but Trek isn't really the type of franchise to play things that way.
Yeah, there was the possibility that something had happened off-screen to explain the inexplicable hostility, but Trek isn't really the type of franchise to play things that way.
Rikers rude behavior against O'Brien.
What I know, they were good friends at the Enterprise. At least no conflicts between them.
So why was he so rude to O'Brien? Something must be wrong, I thought.
And then it was all revealed somewhat later.
However, I didn't suspect that it was Tom Riker and that he had become a Maquis. It was just the behavior against O'Brien I found a bit odd.
It was odd, but after all this time, my understanding of it is basically just Tom trying to throw off O'Brian. When he sees O'Brian, Tom knows he is the only one on the station who could potentially out him... and so Tom throws him off, makes him uncomfortable so Miles will go away.
O'Brian is just as confused as we are about the situation. That was the point.
He likely goes back to this quarters like "What the hell did I do?", leaving him far away from Tom, ensuring that Tom won't have to deal with that. Miles knew Riker well, so a conversation could be disastrous. Miles would be able to know something was wrong.
That's exactly what Tom had to do.
As you write in your post, Tom wanted to get rid of Miles as soon as possible because Miles was the only one who could notice that something was wrong.
But poor Miles must have been terribly confused. "What have I done?" was probably what he thought.
As a kid, I really struggled to understand that part. I had me incredibly confused.
As an adult, I get it now. It was supposed to be confusing.
Why Tom addresses Riker as he does here remains a perennial topic, though perhaps not as perennial as it used to be. I've never understood the confusion; once you know it's Tom and not Will, it seems obvious to me that he'd want O'Brien as far away from him as quickly as possible.
Panic response to throw off O'Brien. Nothing more.
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