Should T'Rul have been a recurring character

[Nathan]

I did have a little crush on Martha Hackett and liked it when she was casted as T'Rul (the Romulan assigned to the cloaking device on the Defiant). I would have liked her as a recurring character -- could have brought some depth to the show from a Romulan POV. Just seeing her on Defiant type missions -- or even assigning her to Engineering on the ship. She could have signed some Non-disclosure agreement not to share her new found intel with the Romulans!! LOL

Anyway, I wish T'Rul stuck around.

 

[kkt]

It does stretch suspension of disbelief a bit for the Romulans to allow the cloaking device to remain on the Defiant without a Romulan officer aboard making sure they use it according to the agreement, are sharing information as promised, etc.

 

[Kor]

They should have made constant references to her being aboard, but never actually showed her. It could have been the running joke of the season.

Kor

 

[DonIago]

They could have replaced her with a different Romulan in each appearance... (ducks)

 

[C.E. Evans]

It does stretch suspension of disbelief a bit for the Romulans to allow the cloaking device to remain on the Defiant without a Romulan officer aboard making sure they use it according to the agreement, are sharing information as promised, etc.

They may not have needed a Romulan officer present as time passed. Although it was still effective against the Dominion, the Defiant's cloaking device may have quickly become obsolete and second-rate by Romulan standards. That would make T'Rul unnecessary if the Defiant's cloak really wasn't a threat to them, IMO.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

T'Rul would've been a really interesting character to develop and explore yet another alien culture, she might also have detracted from some of the Klingon episodes

 

[kkt]

What if she was the one to discover Sisko's role in In the Pale Moonlight? It's safe to assume she was reporting anything she saw or suspected to the Tal Shiar and that keeping her eyes open to events on the station was part of her assignment.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

After Visionary, there would be no need for a Romulan overseer.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It was only about a year before "The Search" that Starfleet revealed they had phase cloak technology in "The Pegasus", and old-but-still-useful tech at that. The Romulans, naturally edgy about this, may have demanded oversight on the use of a cloak on another Federation ship so relatively soon after that incident. IMO, further diplomacy (and the simple fact that the Feds don't REALLY need Romulan tech to make a good cloak) probably obviated the need for one of theirs to be on board, especially if they'd get concessions like information sharing (which the Tal Shiar took advantage of) and keeping their own out of the fighting.

Plus, Martha Hackett got a new gig. Not that this should have precluded her from working on both shows (DS9 by that point was getting good at using their own recurring guys in multiple roles), but that's showbiz for you...

Mark

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It's safe to assume she was reporting anything she saw or suspected to the Tal Shiar and that keeping her eyes open to events on the station was part of her assignment.

T'Rul was military, not a Tal Shiar agent. Those groups don't like each other much.

 

[DonIago]

^That's painting with a broad brush, especially if we assume some Tal Shiar agents have been implanted in the military.

 

[Kor]

What if she was the one to discover Sisko's role in In the Pale Moonlight? It's safe to assume she was reporting anything she saw or suspected to the Tal Shiar and that keeping her eyes open to events on the station was part of her assignment.

That would have had quite an impact if she had been a recurring character, and had even developed cordial working relationships or even friendships with some of the regulars.

Kor

 

[kkt]

Implaning intelligence service agents in the military is very common, and this is exactly the sort of assignment where you'd use such an agent.

 

[Sakonna]

One of the biggest missed opportunities in all of DS9. The writers position that "she didn't have any story potential" is baffling to me, there is SO MUCH one could do with a solitary Romulan on the station! She could have had such interesting relationships with Garak, Dax, Quark, Kira, Worf... and Martha Hackett was exceptionally talented at the fairly unique skill of Star Trek Alien Acting. She is Jeffrey Combs or Andrew Robinson level. I would have loved to see what heights she could have taken a recurring antagonist role to (without the significant inhibiting factor of having to channel the work of the Voyager writers room).

I wonder if it was latent writers room sexism that caused them to sail blithely by all this potential. I've also regularly thought what a shame it was that the host following Jadzia HAD to be female, because Kira was their only other regular female character, and they needed more than just the one. It would would have been much more dramatically interesting to follow Jadzia with a male host, and maybe they would have had that option if there was a strong female Romulan already established on the station (and from "In The Pale Moonlight" on, we are really hurting for a continuing Romulan character in the war storytelling).

 

[DonIago]

While off-topic, I totally agree with you on Ezri.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^That's painting with a broad brush

I'm just going by the dynamic established between Commander Toreth and "Major Rakal" (actually Deanna) in TNG's "Face of the Enemy".

especially if we assume some Tal Shiar agents have been implanted in the military.

I'm sure some have. But I don't see any evidence that T'Rul is such an agent.

 

[DonIago]

^That's because she's a good agent.

 

[Tenacity]

T'Rul and Worf's interactions could have been wonderful, with T'Rul having a personal grunge against Klingons just as intense as Worf's against Romulans.

 

[Sakonna]

What if she was the one to discover Sisko's role in In the Pale Moonlight? It's safe to assume she was reporting anything she saw or suspected to the Tal Shiar and that keeping her eyes open to events on the station was part of her assignment.

Or her presence would have just raised the dramatic stakes. In much the same way that it's through Kira that we care about Bajor, or through Garak that we care about Cardassia, we could have started to care more about Romulus through T'Rul. It's one thing for Sisko to meddle in the affairs of antagonist aliens with whom he has almost no dealings -- it's another if he's pulling the homeworld of a trusted member of his crew into the war.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Or her presence would have just raised the dramatic stakes. In much the same way that it's through Kira that we care about Bajor, or through Garak that we care about Cardassia, we could have started to care more about Romulus through T'Rul. It's one thing for Sisko to meddle in the affairs of antagonist aliens with whom he has almost no dealings -- it's another if he's pulling the homeworld of a trusted member of his crew into the war.

True. If she disagrees.

OTOH, it's not that unlikely that T'Rul's more personal involvement in the war might garner her support for pulling the Romulans into the war.