Deep Space Nine 5x19 "Ties of Blood and Water"

rating: ***

the story: Kira reunites with her would-be Cardassian father.

what it's all about: A sequel to "Second Skin, "Ties of Blood and Water" is another example of the producers finally coming back to the momentum of the third season as they used the fifth to reclaim ground lost in creative policies instilled by the studio in the fourth...I think maybe this will be the last time I talk about that...

Like "The Darkness and the Light" earlier in the season, Kira finds herself once again confronted with her complicated past, but this time, and actually the first time in the series, events fans have witnessed for themselves.  "Second Skin" was a classic in vein of "Duet," the first episode Star Trek fans in general really took notice of Deep Space Nine, in which Kira was forced to confront the complexities of Bajoran relations with Cardassians, who had for decades oppressed them.  It introduced a man tricked into believing Kira was his daughter, in much the way Next Generation's classic "The Defector" was about how the state sometimes lies to force individuals to expose themselves. 

This Cardassian's return wasn't strictly necessary, but it's welcome all the same.  This time he and Kira are on much more equal footing, although once again they become pawns in Cardassian politics.  (Strange; in the first two seasons it was always Bajoran politics, but this was another shift seen in the all-important third; it was just as well, because as with any politician Cardassians just love to hear themselves talk.)  The timing, for once, is absolutely perfect in the fifth season, because Dukat has just revealed that he's aligned the Cardassians with the Dominion, and thus made them bad guys again.  This has the effect of making Kira's paternal figure, Tekeny Ghemor, all the more sympathetic, as he now seems, aside from Garak, to be the last of the good guy Cardassians.

Really, "Ties" is a throwback to the storytelling of the early seasons all the way around.  Once more Kira is forced to grapple with her conclusions, as Dukat throws conflicting information at her, and like so many times before (notably, "The Collaborator") she's forced to sift through it.  It's good work, and it's the last time this sort of story happens in the series (successfully, anyway; Kira has another such adventure next season in "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night," which clearly tries way too hard to follow the tradition), another nod to the massive shift about to take place with the advent of war...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is one that will make most sense to Deep Space Nine fans.
• series - See the above.
• character - Kira says goodbye to a dear friend.
• essential - We also see the return of Weyoun and thus another major bridge to the future...

notable guest-stars:
Lawrence Pressman (Ghemor)
Marc Alaimo (Dukat)
Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun)
Thomas Kopache
William Lucking

Deep Space Nine 3x26 "The Adversary"

rating: ****

the story: The crew takes the Defiant into enemy space, only to find the enemy aboard the ship in the form of a Founder who, as a shape-shifter, could be anyone...

what it's all about: Fans tend to forget how awesome "The Adversary" is, because in a lot of ways it was rephrased and blown to even more epic proportions in the fourth season premiere, "The Way of the Warrior," which has the distinctions of not only bringing in the Klingons, but introducing Worf into the series.  By contrast, "Adversary" actually features a one-off alien threat that's not even seen.

But it creates its own history, quite decisively, too.  The first and most obvious way is in Sisko promotion to captain.  It's the culmination of everything the season accomplishes for Sisko, rebuilding him into the strong center of Deep Space Nine in every way possible.  As the only lead character (until Star Trek: Discovery some twenty years later) of a Star Trek series to not be a captain in the pilot episode, Sisko always seemed to be at a disadvantage.  Well, by the end of the third season, not only does he run a station, but his own warship, and so of course he finally gets the big promotion.

But that's really only in the running for most interesting thing about the episode, because this is the one that really ramps up the threat of the Dominion.  Curiously, after the second season ended with "The Jem'Hadar" and this one began with "The Search," the Dominion had all but fallen by the wayside, lost to a number of other intrigues that only sometimes intersected with it.  This was a season of making sure fans understood what the stakes were.  So by the end of it, the threat of the Dominion can be revisited, and vastly intensified, as the nature of the Founders becomes chillingly apparent for the first time.  These are villains who will stop at nothing.  The fourth season's "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" would pick up on the paranoia aspect, but most importantly, Odo is forced to do something that would later have a cataclysmic impact on his life, and all because of this Founder oath: "No changeling has ever harmed another."

Which of course means Odo is forced to kill one.  We've already seen how conflicted he is over the revelation that his long-sought-over people run the Dominion.  To then be forced into a situation where his outsider status is made about as stark as it can be...It's high drama.  It's matched by the first real sustained action-oriented drama of the series, which would of course later feature two final seasons entrenched in the Dominion War, making "The Adversary" the first true preview of what was to come.

That makes it hugely significant, and another chance for more hesitant fans to catch a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.  That makes it a classic.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - To that point , really on "The Best of Both Worlds" had given fans a glimpse of this kind of storytelling in Star Trek.
• series - But it's just a glimpse of what would become Deep Space Nine's hallmark.
• character - Sisko's promotion, Odo's fateful moment...
• essential - It's a classic, okay?

notable guest-stars:
Ken Marshall (Eddington)
Lawrence Pressman

Deep Space Nine 3x5 "Second Skin"

rating: ****

the story: Cardassian agents try to convince Bajoran that she's been one of their own all along.

what it's all about: At first blush "Second Skin" probably looks all too similar to Next Generation's "Face of the Enemy," which was itself a classic episode.  But it's got far more in common with that series' "The Defector," and with Deep Space Nine's own "Duet" and "Necessary Evil."  In short, it's another textbook example of things being far more complicated than they seem.

And let's be honest, no one watching this episode will ever think Kira, a Bajoran if there ever was one, is really Cardassian.  So if that's not the point, what is?  To find out why they want her to think so, and the thing is, it's not even about Kira, but about the father of the woman they want her think she is.  Therein lies material for some truly heartbreaking drama.  One of the episodes of Voyager that fans never had a problem getting behind was "Resistance," in which Janeway is befriended by a man who confuses her for his daughter, which becomes achingly poignant by its conclusion.  That's exactly what "Second Skin" is all about.

It's also about how Cardassian culture works.  Cardassians should have been obvious clear-cut villains in this series; their horrid Occupation was the reason the Bajorans were in such a bad place at the start of it, and even in Next Generation had been fairly consistently portrayed as such ("The Wounded" is an exception, as is the ending of "Lower Decks"), and yet throughout this and the fourth season great pains are made in various ways to try and prove otherwise.  This is arguably the most successful such effort.

(It should also be acknowledged that a second season episode, "Second Sight," has an incredibly similar title, as you can see.  But the two stories couldn't be more different.)

Kira was always such an interesting character, and although she was portrayed as the consummate Bajoran (with all due apologies to Ro Laren) she had a remarkable ability to rethink her conclusions, and when I link "Second Skin" with the earlier "Duet" and "Necessary Evil," this is exactly what I mean.  It's sometimes so easy to focus on the things that create gulfs between us, but it takes real courage to admit it's just never quite that simple. 

"Second Skin" also tries to set up doubt about the character of Garak, because later in the season we seem to see that fulfilled.  You should have doubt about that.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A true Star Trek classic study about prejudice.
• series - A crucial addition to Deep Space Nine's own legacy in that regard.
• character - So of course it features Kira.  They always seem to, don't they?
• essential - Don't let any confusion you might have over a similarly-named episode fool you, this one's as memorable as they come.

notable guest-stars:
Andrew Robinson (Garak)
Lawrence Pressman