Avery Brooks helms this episode which highlights Andrew J Robinson as "Mister Elim Garak."
Garak's daily discussion with Bashir is about Literary Works: Some of the finer concepts of Cardassian Writing are looked at, primarily that in a Cardassian Mystery Novel "All of the Characters are Guilty, but the Mystery is, which Character is guilty of what, and when." Bashir counters with the Bard of Star Trek, William Shakespeare. Garak is unimpressed that Caesar did not guess that his best friend Brutus would betray him.
This episode and the next are reflections of both of these Shakespearian and Cardassian concepts. A Bomb goes off in Garak's shop and The Sisko assigns Constable Odo to find out why/how/who.
Odo does indeed find out why and how, but the "who" is another matter: After a suspect is blown into microscopic kibbles and bits by the Rihannsu (aka, Romulan) intelligence organization the "Tal-Shi'Ar," It becomes evident to Odo that Garak blew up his own shop. Odo meets with his secret Cardassian "source" who tells him that Garak's assassination attempt is part of a larger picture that involves Romulans somehow: And several Obsidian Order agents that Garak knew were also killed, or, rather, they suffered unfortunate natural deaths or accidents all on the same day.
Garak had actually known this, which was why he "blew himself up." It certainly appeared as if somebody was targeting members of The Obsidian Order, and Garak is worried about his "Mentor" Enaubrin Tain (Paul Dooley). Tain's housekeeper/confidant Mila (Julianna McCarthy) confirms this: Tain had left suddenly and she charges Garak to find him.
And so what promises to be an "interesting trip" begins: Odo gets a Runabout and with Garak in tow they set out to find Tain.
But when they get to the planet where they may find Tain, a Romulan Warbird De-cloaks and tractors in their Runabout. And they are greeted by none other than Tain himself, who was the one responsible for cleaning up all of his own "loose ends," one of which was Garak.
Tain is actually pleased that Garak has survived, and offers Garak the opportunity to join him: The Cardassian Obsidian Order along with the Romulan Tal-Shi'Ar have secretly created an invasion fleet, to go into the Alpha Quadrant and wipe out The Founders.
As Tain says, "The Federation has shared the location of The Founders home-world with The Romulans, and they have shared it with me."
Odo immediately becomes a prisoner, and Tain assigns Garak to interrogate Odo: And so we know what it going to happen, but we will have to wait until the next episode to find out.
This episode clears up some hints that were dropped: In the episode "Defiant" Thomas Riker in the stolen Defiant attempted to destroy the Omekla III Shipyards in the Orias system: We now know what they were building. But it is the interaction between Odo and Garak and then Garak with Tain that keeps us glued to this: If the goal of a series is to make us care about the characters, then this Deep Space Nine episode was a smashing success: In fact, the characters of Odo and Garak were so well-conceived that we had no choice but to become involved in their stories. And I myself was intrigued by this Enaubrin Tain fellow, and why was he so important to Garak? We begin to find here in this episode which is planted at the exact center of the series Timeline.
The noted Character actor Leland Orser is Lovok: An interesting Romulan Commander- And a Romulan with even more secrets. And so, we already begin to see the connotations of Bashir's and Garak's discussion about literary works: The Cardassian reference was this episode, coming up is the Shakespearian reference.
Garak's daily discussion with Bashir is about Literary Works: Some of the finer concepts of Cardassian Writing are looked at, primarily that in a Cardassian Mystery Novel "All of the Characters are Guilty, but the Mystery is, which Character is guilty of what, and when." Bashir counters with the Bard of Star Trek, William Shakespeare. Garak is unimpressed that Caesar did not guess that his best friend Brutus would betray him.
This episode and the next are reflections of both of these Shakespearian and Cardassian concepts. A Bomb goes off in Garak's shop and The Sisko assigns Constable Odo to find out why/how/who.
Odo does indeed find out why and how, but the "who" is another matter: After a suspect is blown into microscopic kibbles and bits by the Rihannsu (aka, Romulan) intelligence organization the "Tal-Shi'Ar," It becomes evident to Odo that Garak blew up his own shop. Odo meets with his secret Cardassian "source" who tells him that Garak's assassination attempt is part of a larger picture that involves Romulans somehow: And several Obsidian Order agents that Garak knew were also killed, or, rather, they suffered unfortunate natural deaths or accidents all on the same day.
Garak had actually known this, which was why he "blew himself up." It certainly appeared as if somebody was targeting members of The Obsidian Order, and Garak is worried about his "Mentor" Enaubrin Tain (Paul Dooley). Tain's housekeeper/confidant Mila (Julianna McCarthy) confirms this: Tain had left suddenly and she charges Garak to find him.
And so what promises to be an "interesting trip" begins: Odo gets a Runabout and with Garak in tow they set out to find Tain.
But when they get to the planet where they may find Tain, a Romulan Warbird De-cloaks and tractors in their Runabout. And they are greeted by none other than Tain himself, who was the one responsible for cleaning up all of his own "loose ends," one of which was Garak.
Tain is actually pleased that Garak has survived, and offers Garak the opportunity to join him: The Cardassian Obsidian Order along with the Romulan Tal-Shi'Ar have secretly created an invasion fleet, to go into the Alpha Quadrant and wipe out The Founders.
As Tain says, "The Federation has shared the location of The Founders home-world with The Romulans, and they have shared it with me."
Odo immediately becomes a prisoner, and Tain assigns Garak to interrogate Odo: And so we know what it going to happen, but we will have to wait until the next episode to find out.
This episode clears up some hints that were dropped: In the episode "Defiant" Thomas Riker in the stolen Defiant attempted to destroy the Omekla III Shipyards in the Orias system: We now know what they were building. But it is the interaction between Odo and Garak and then Garak with Tain that keeps us glued to this: If the goal of a series is to make us care about the characters, then this Deep Space Nine episode was a smashing success: In fact, the characters of Odo and Garak were so well-conceived that we had no choice but to become involved in their stories. And I myself was intrigued by this Enaubrin Tain fellow, and why was he so important to Garak? We begin to find here in this episode which is planted at the exact center of the series Timeline.
The noted Character actor Leland Orser is Lovok: An interesting Romulan Commander- And a Romulan with even more secrets. And so, we already begin to see the connotations of Bashir's and Garak's discussion about literary works: The Cardassian reference was this episode, coming up is the Shakespearian reference.
