"The Die Is Cast"
Great episode. Not only can I see how Deep Space Nine has made Garak soft, I can see Enabran Tain seeing it too, and the Founder posing as a Romulan. Tain was suspicious of Garak again as soon as he said Odo wouldn't have an any information, he couldn't be broken, and later on when he said Odo should be kept alive. When Garak was pleading with Odo to tell him anything and to make up something if he had to, I have mixed thoughts: 1) I hope this is him changing and he wasn't this soft in the Old Days or I'd be disappointed, and 2) The writers were probably determined to make him seem likable and really Our Side, despite his past. I think if Tain hadn't been captured, he would've tried to have Garak killed again.
On a brighter note: Sisko disobeying Admiral Todman's orders. No surprise he'd do that. And no surprise that Eddington would tattle-tail and do whatever Todman said. In my head-canon, Admiral Todman is the great-grandson of the top Admiral in TUC. Todman mentions that if Sisko disobeys his orders again, he'll either court-martial or promote him, but he'll be in a lot of trouble. My takeaway: this is the third time this season they've planted the idea of Sisko being a Captain. Yes, I'm keeping track.
I wonder if at this stage, the writers knew that Eddington was really a Maquis? Sisko says he makes it a policy to trust anyone who wears a Starfleet Uniform and tells Eddington not to make him change that policy. And later on, we'll clearly see Eddington was someone not to be trusted after all, just not for the reason Sisko would've thought here.
When the Obsidian Order and the Tal'Shiar are ambushed by the Jem'Hadar, and a great big space-battle breaks out, it's the first Large Scale DS9 Battle of the type I associate with Late-DS9. Nice to finally be up to the point where I'm seeing these! Because I've been doing this re-watch on my projector, this is the first time -- outside of What We Left Behind -- that I'm getting to see these DS9 Space Battles on the "Big Screen". Really my entire living room wall. Same difference. I'm here for it!
The Generations music fits the Space Battle and I think this encouraged the composers to go bigger with the DS9 soundtrack from here on out. From here on out, when there's an important episode, I remember noticing the music more going forward.
I love the shot when Garak is back in his blown-up tailor shot, looking at the wreckage, then he sees a reflection of Odo, from a distance, in the mirror. Great shot. I love when they go artsy like that. Added depth that Garak sees a reflection because he's already reflecting. About his situation, about his life. Odo says he can appreciate Garak's desire to want to go home. It's the one thing they do have in common.
The only other thing I have that's immediately coming to mind is: What was Bashir thinking, talking about literature with O'Brien? He's the common man. He's the everyman. He's not going to be able to keep up with Bashir, talking about Shakespear. It was funny, though. "So, what do you think?" Sounds like me when I'm trying to talk to a normie about something.
I know I'm leaving a ton of stuff out, but I'll stop for now. Overall, I give this episode a 10.
NEXT UP: Getting caught up with Babylon 5. It's been a while.
But before I do that, I'll be doing something a little bit different. I'll be re-watching "Chain of Command" (not reviewing it!) but syncing it up so that I can watch Jen Murray's reaction and Target Audience's reaction side-by-side, so I can see both of them reacting at the same time while I have the episode on. That'll be interesting! It'll be the first time I've ever tried to do something like this.
