Re-Watching DS9

[maneth]

William Forward played Refa, and Turhan Bey played the Emperor.

Fun fact: the Prime Minister and Emperor were later both named as the actors who portrayed them... Prime Minister Malachi and Emperor Turhan.

That happened a few more times, in the season 1 episode "Grail" Aldous Gajic was looking for the Holy Grail. He was named for Mira Furlan's husband, Goran Gajic.

 

[SurfingtheInterweb]

Up until The Die is Cast, Garak's prowess is either legend or propaganda. Certainly, we get confirmation that his views of morality are so flexible, he could do anything. That said, I think we understand he was also ruthless. I think this perspective is solidified in Broken Link and Empok Nor. Where it best shows is in In The Pale Moonlight: the actor playing Grathon Tolar fully sells the dread that comes from being associated with Garak, and it is paid off dramatically with his assassination. The interrogation is an exception, a discontinuity: Garak turns on a machine and waits, acting with desperation when Odo does not heed.

I think the big difference between these incidents is that it's definitely supposed to show Garak going soft in terms of torture. Sabotage of the ship is one thing, being under a pyschotropic drug is another thing as well, but in The Die is Cast, Garak has nothing to gain from torturing Odo, and he likes him to an extent. If there was a legitimate reason other than Tain's approval, he might have gone for it, but there isn't. Garak is not the same man as he was, despite how he likes to project to other people. He takes no joy in torture. He has gone soft. And he doesn't want anyone to know, hence the mystique. This is also exemplified in Empok Nor, with his quiet shame at the end of the episode. Or perhaps embarrassment in his own realisation that he's not who he used to be.

Either way, those episodes you named are some of my favourties because we really see why Garak was Tain's right hand.

 

[Farscape One]

That happened a few more times, in the season 1 episode "Grail" Aldous Gajic was looking for the Holy Grail. He was named for Mira Furlan's husband, Goran Gajic.

He also later ended up directing a season 5 episode.