Is Garek really a good tailor? Looking at his outfits in the first season Deep Space Nine episode, "Past Prologue", I'm not sure. The one he wears always looked sort of Mork & Mindy to me. The ones on the rack in his shop were pilfered from various episodes of The Next Generation and have that general quality of garish yet also dull that too often distinguished Next Generation wardrobe.
The episode is, of course, far more interesting for its conversation on terrorism. Deep Space Nine usually is and the older it gets, and the more disconnected it gets from contemporary culture, the better it is because any biases on the part of the writers become less and less relevant and the bare ideas show through. The episode centres on Kira's (Nana Visiter) moral dilemma as a former comrade returns to Bajoran space pursued by Cardassians, the former occupiers of Bajor.
What would seem to be cut and dried at another time--a Cardassian warship attacking a small Bajoran transport--is complicated by the pilot being linked to a terrorist organisation, still committing acts of violence long after the Cardassian withdrawal and the formal cessation of conflict. But the question over whether Bajor acquired independence is complicated by the Federation presence so this Bajoran terrorist group is still in operation. Tahna Los (Jeffrey Nordling), the terrorist in question, accuses Kira of being a mere politician now that she's trying to use official channels to get him exonerated, as though he's now rebelling against the very mechanisms of government rather than oppressive occupiers.
One of the high points of the episode is Kira's conversation with Odo (Rene Auberjonois) where she mentions nightmares about attacks she took part in as part of the Bajoran resistance. It's a brief moment but I thought about the maturity and emotional courage it must take for someone like Kira even to admit to herself that her actions were horrific. I felt this particularly watching the episode at a time when political factions in the west are routinely trying to impose definitions on groups trying to spread terror with violence, labouring to define them as not terrorist.
Andrew Robinson as Garek is always a delight. I love how everything he says sounds like it has a double meaning, even a simple hello--he behaves in a broadly suspicious way that is exactly how a spy shouldn't behave. Either he's deliberately flouting the suspicion everyone harbours for the only Cardassian on the station as a comment on life's irony, or it's a double blind and he really is a spy. Even the obvious truth may be a cunning ploy. Which to him, of course, may be an even more darkly amusing irony.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available on NetFlix and Amazon Prime.
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