Necessary Evil

DVD, DS9 S2 (Necessary Evil)

This is considered to be one of the best episodes, and it certainly shines as a standout of the season. Odo as investigator has been done before, but never to this extent, and this is far more than a 'Crime Scene: DS9', even if the constable makes some Sherlock Holmes-style observations! On a side note, I made observations of my own: in 'Melora' the reason she can't use her standard anti-grav chair is because Cardassian systems aren't compatible with that technology, yet here we see Quark moved to sickbay on an anti-grav platform and named in the episode. (Presumably an emergency site-to-site transport would be dangerous because of the way he fell). Either this was a massive oversight (okay, an obsessive oversight for those that care), or the station has since upgraded to allow for these devices (forgetting that they were used in Season One, before 'Melora').

The standout feature is the flashing back to the station's past, and not just that, but several characters of that past. Although it's only five years ago, it feels like much longer because the atmosphere is so different. Uneducated viewers may moan the station is always too dark and dreary, but after experiencing Odo's memories, returning to the present feels like stepping into the multi-coloured world of the Original Series! It really is that much of a jolt. Yet the look of station past is certainly not dreary, but has a dream-like visual mood as if moonlight is the source of all illumination. The visuals work as metaphor for the darkness of the occupation and the lack of perception possible to see what all these people get up to on any dark part of the station.

There is added enjoyment for the episode when you feel you know these earlier versions of Dukat, Odo, Kira and Quark, if you've read the rather good 'Terok Nor' trilogy of books. Who'd have guessed Odo's career in which he has proved a force for good, would be instigated by Dukat - that his security office came about because the Prefect decided off-hand it would be his space. Or that Kira and Odo, Quark and Odo ('we haven't got off to the best start'), Dukat and Kira, etc, would meet in these ways. Both recurring characters of Dukat and Rom have probably their most substantial roles here, separated by five years. Much humour comes from Rom's stupidity, but also for the first time we get the sense there's more to him than we know, and that other's suspect that too. Similarly with Dukat, although we learn he put Odo on the case to keep in with his Bajoran contacts, for the first time you realise there're more levels to this Cardassian than we see when he doesn't want murder to go unresolved. The wheels of the series have definitely turned, have expanded again, and have moved the characters along.

The most surprising moment is reserved for the end - a main character gets away with murder, unpunished - but for Odo it's more about his friendship, and that Kira lied and never told him the truth, than the deed itself. We know she's committed acts she's not proud of as a terrorist, and it seems likely she would have killed in a struggle rather than cold blood, and how often did Kirk kill aliens... whatever justification we need is pretty easy to find, but it doesn't hide the depth to which her character has gone. A theory that holds up about why Odo was so lenient to her, comes with the revelations in Season Five of his own dark deeds of the time. Perhaps he thinks of those and finds it easier to forgive Kira's act, although still hard to accept her lying to him. I thought this was the one where she touches his hand and is the big first moment for the unrequited stuff, but no.

One thing that is dropped in again is Odo referring to his people. Last episode he was wondering about having a brother (and talking to Rom, a good dynamic fully exploited this time), and here he believes his innate sense of justice comes from his own people. We also learn he left Bajor to leave his scientist observers and ironically becomes an observer of others, judging people generally quite accurately, a skill that has served him well. We hear of the fabled Cardassian Neck Trick (sadly never seen except in the imagination), and his standing among the Bajorans, and it's all just dropped in quietly without fanfare. Another less common mention is when Rom mentions last week's episode - how he broke into Quark's vault when he was away in the Gamma Quadrant. This kind of continuity would become the norm on DS9, though shunned on the other series'.

Directorially the visuals are as impressive as we've become accustomed to, the cuts between past and present smoothly achieved. Perhaps the only criticism is that past Odo looks like his face from this season rather than the more lined version of Season One, but with a shapeshifter anything's possible! And some characters are sidelined again as usually happens. O'Brien doesn't appear, and last episode he only had one line, so maybe he was off making a film as he did the previous season? That said the way people do appear (such as Dax and Sisko sharing a drink in the bar) is logical and believable - so the writers managed to craft such a story and still include the majority of the characters in a realistic way, nobody seeming shoehorned in.

A landmark episode, as 'Duet' was, giving us new character info, a great story, full of great lines, atmosphere, ideas, humour, flashbacks. Go and clean your teeth before they spoil on all this tasty good stuff!

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