So Wikipedia’s episode list (which I based the schedule on) shows this one as following “Emissary”, as does CBS All Access, but Netflix has it as the third episode, following “A Man Alone”. Apparently Netflix has it in filming order, while Wikipedia and CBS All Access have it in airing order? I was watching on CBS while sewing, so it just started automatically after “Emissary”. In conclusion, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- I feel it’s important to paint a fuller picture I was watching this episode in one of my Pride shirts while drinking and piecing together/fitting a dress, which I feel is the best possible way to watch the introduction of…
- GARAK
- GARAK GARAK GARAK GARAK GARAK
- I love Garak so much, so much, I have so many emotions around him and he’s such a fascinating character.
- LMAO Bashir’s complete inability to recognize what is actually going on when Garak tries to pick him up on the Promenade is second in hilarity only to the Ops crew’s utter lack of interest in his secret agent fantasies. Like, you get the sense that it’s bordering on secondhand embarrassment for some of them.
- I make a lot of jokes about the People’s Front of Bajor vs. the People’s Bajoran Front, but the truth is I eat the Bajoran internal politics stuff up like cake. In terms of TV, the Planet of Hats originated with Star Trek, and DS9 remains true to that in general, but the Bajorans are definitely an example of DS9 playing a bit with some of the franchise’s staple tropes.
- g a r a k
- Speaking of, I was sort of nonplussed by Kira’s going over Sisko’s head to Starfleet, since it didn’t really seem like her style, but my mother, who was watching with me, reminded me that the Resistance’s hierarchy was a lot less formal than Starfleet’s, so going over someone’s head likely wasn’t quite as dramatic a course of action as it would be if, say, Dax did it.
- My father also wandered in about halfway through the episode, and after watching for only a few minutes, commented, “you really need to hit that doctor over the head with the point you’re trying to make, don’t you?” and he was not wrong.
- Between “Cardassian rule may have been oppressive, but at least it was simple” and offering to just straight-up throw the Duras sisters in jail and calling the Klingons to collect them, Odo’s occasional tendencies toward fascism really show up pretty early on. BIG YIKES.
- GARAK
Horniness rankings
- Bashir, whose horniness is still being misdirected into trying to be the hero in a genre movie: from a Western in “Emissary” to a spy novel here. Garak, fortunately, will be able to help him channel it more productively. I stand by last week’s GET YOUR LIFE RIGHT BASHIR, though.
- Garak, who’s just trying to get back out there and start dating again and saw this cute twink at breakfast.
G
A
R
A
K
I’ll leave a real comment later I promise but I had to get that out
BIG MOOD, as the kids say!!!
OK, slightly more cogent thoughts.
– Ugh, the Duras sisters? I had forgotten they were a thing, and I had forgotten how much early DS9 seemed to feel a need to pay homage to TNG (between this and the Q/Vash episode coming up). I guess I’d forgotten how risky the whole thing must have seemed, the first Trek spinoff of a spinoff, and with a setting entirely different from the traditional Enterprise exploring the galaxy one, so Paramount was probably pretty concerned that they hit the “TNG nostalgia” button early and often.
– Drawing on later revelations about Bashir (are we allowed to do spoilers for later eps in the comments?), it seems obvious his parents didn’t pay for the “perceptive” upgrades. They should get their money back.
– I’d also forgotten how early they started in with Shades of Gray(tm) in the show. It’s good that they developed that depth to Kira so early on. (I guess this was originally supposed to run after “A Man Alone” but I don’t really enjoy that episode so I’m glad this was second.)
– Garak… yeah. How much direction do we think Andrew J. Robinson was given for the character, this early on? Did they just hand him the script and let him do his thing, or was the approach to Bashir supposed to come off the way it went? I really hope it was just his idea and also I hope that he didn’t warn Alexander Siddig about it at all.
– “Ah, an open mind, the essence of intellect. ”
– “…I’m at your disposal, Doctor.” He’s AT YOUR DISPOSAL, DOCTOR. HE’S -okay, I’m done. Seriously, when you get your kids illegally genetically enhanced, spring for the “picks up on subtext”upgrade, I can’t stress this enough, people.
WHY AM I ONLY JUST NOW GETTING AROUND TO READING THESE???????
Garak’s not a spy! He’s just a lonely lizard man looking for sweet mammalian love, dammit.