Did Kira cheat on Bareil with Tom Riker?

[marsh8472]

In episode "Defiant"

DAX: Who's in there?
KIRA: What?
DAX: Who's in with Benjamin?
KIRA: Oh, it's Will. Commander Will Riker from the Enterprise.
DAX: Will Riker.
KIRA: You know him?
DAX: Yeah, I met him a year ago at Quark's. He's quite a dabo player. Do you know him?
KIRA: Yes, a little. I met him at Quark's last night.
DAX: You met him last night and?
KIRA: And we talked.
DAX: And then?
KIRA: And then we talked. For three hours. No, we just talked. And yes, he's a warm, charming man, but I'm involved with someone.
DAX: Of course. So why do you keep glancing back at Sisko's office?


They had a 3 hour dinner together and they kiss at the end although Tom was the one that initiated that. Do you think that counts as cheating on Bareil?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'll say no only because it's never clear how Bajorans view infidelity.

And a three hour dinner and a forced kiss don't make for cheating.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Thomas does seem to have been somewhat less demanding of his women than Will. Still in all, getting with Kira would've made him seem a bit desperate. I'm glad things worked out the way they did ... or didn't, I guess I should say.

 

[Kor]

How committed was the Kira/Bareil relationship?

Kor

 

[Pondwater]

Nope.

 

[marsh8472]

I'll say no only because it's never clear how Bajorans view infidelity.

And a three hour dinner and a forced kiss don't make for cheating.

We get an idea in that Risa episode where Bashir and Lita break up. Lita wanted to be with Rom but couldn't say it until they had the separation ceremony.

 

[kkt]

There are cultures where having dinner with someone else would constitute cheating, but I don't think Bajor is one.

 

[Jayson1]

One question though is Riker cheating on Troi? I mean when we last saw them I think he was hoping she would eventually want to be with him. Maybe they aren't technically cheating but what about cheating in your heart? Makes me think of those old "Is Cyber sex, cheating?" questions from back in the day.

Jason

 

[kkt]

Person A hoping to eventually be with Person B doesn't mean Person B is cheating if he's having a fling with Person C.
Cheating would imply a commitment.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

We get an idea in that Risa episode where Bashir and Lita break up. Lita wanted to be with Rom but couldn't say it until they had the separation ceremony.

Fair point, but the episode does not make clear whether or not it is necessary, only that it is a ways to move beyond their relationship.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I've had dinners with people in long-term relationships and would never consider that cheating. At the end it was Riker who kissed Kira, yes she may not have forced him off but she knows that he's going to a Cardassian prison which won't be pleasant, so she may have given him one for the road. She does call him charming and they do definitely get along, so had she not been with Bareil at the time she would've tapped that, but she was and was very happy at the time.

Applying the same reasoning then Bareil and Kira both cheated on one another in the episode where Lwaxana Troi was suffering from zanthi fever.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

At the end it was Riker who kissed Kira, yes she may not have forced him off but she knows that he's going to a Cardassian prison which won't be pleasant, so she may have given him one for the road.

Thankfully, something like this wouldn't fly anymore on a television show.

 

[DonIago]

I think we'd have to ask Kira and Bareil what the parameters of their relationship were. Sadly not an option.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Short answer is no. Longer answer is my own view of relationships in Star Trek, which generally seem to be much more....let's say fluid and open. The only person I recall getting really jealous is Worf and that's because it's Worf. In my head canon, Riker and Troi were always in an open relationship, for example.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Not even by reasonable modern human standards is a flirty dinner with a friend cheating. Maybe the kiss would, but only a guy who has no trust for his girlfriend would consider it so.

 

[Tosk]

Even if dinner and an unrequested kiss counted as cheating (which I don't believe they do), it was only really cheating if we know that Kira and Bareil were in an exclusive relationship, which I don't recall them ever saying. And even if they were at one time, maybe the events of Fascination set them on a different path. (It may be a silly comedy ep, and everyone was influenced by Troi, but it all still happened to them.) Life Support shows that Kira still loves Bareil, but that doesn't mean they were still in the same "relationship place" they were in previous eps.

 

[johnnybear]

Question is, is Tom Riker still a prisoner in a Cardassian cell? I'd heard years back that they were going to do a follow up to Defiant and Tom's fate, but alas it was not to be!
JB

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Question is, is Tom Riker still a prisoner in a Cardassian cell? I'd heard years back that they were going to do a follow up to Defiant and Tom's fate, but alas it was not to be!
JB

Some independent writers wanted to ( and apparently Frakes wanted to return), but the producers officially rejected such stories out of hand.

 

[Solariabsg25]

And given to how The Dominion dealt with The Maquis, it's probable that Thomas Riker, along with any other Maquis prisoners, were simply taken out and shot when The Founders started "advising" Cardassia.

 

[johnnybear]

So technically he's still a prisoner on Cardassia?
JB