In Purgatory's Shadow

DVD, DS9 S5 (In Purgatory's Shadow)

Where to begin when there is so much to dwell on? Dukat's as good a place as any, and he actually represents the turning point that this episode heralds. We haven't quite got war in the Alpha Quadrant, we haven't quite got a new Cardassia, but in Dukat's manner and demeanour you can see the future: he's different to when we last saw him at the beginning of the season when he was still able to have a laugh about Sisko and the others made up as Klingons, and there was something laid-back about his attitude then, that is absent now. It could be the months battling Klingon forces in his private little war (an unintentional reference to a 'TOS' episode, I expect), as people might think if they don't know what's about to happen, or, and this is my view, he has already made the transition into the new man of Cardassia. There isn't a closure of his previous role of space pirate that he's had for about one and a half seasons, but then the Klingons hadn't been kicked off the colonies they snatched from his people so the job isn't finished (although we've not really heard about the Klingon problem in a while, so the ceasefire between them and Starfleet must have held).

He's put aside the oozing charm of personality and become much more of a driven soldier in the way he attacks Garak in front of his daughter, partly because of his temper, and partly to show off in front of his her - he probably thinks, in his misguided way, that she'll be impressed by her Father's violence and will see Garak for the snivelling coward that Dukat sees him as, but he doesn't realise how long the seeds of friendship have had to grow between them. There's also evidence of this new Dukat in the way he never once shows any pleasantry to Kira, as if he's got bigger things on his mind, his career about to change again - instead he angrily berates her for allowing Ziyal to make friends with Garak, and in that same self-deluded way, intimates that she has betrayed him, as if she ever wanted to do anything for him in the first place! Still, the mask hasn't slipped yet, he's just being 'soldier Dukat,' rather than 'friend of the station Dukat,' and even at this juncture he doesn't forget to keep up appearances by presenting his ship and crew as an ally for Sisko against the coming Dominion fleet. He is still to be trusted, but can you ever really trust a Cardassian?

Tora Ziyal is in the midst of the personal drama on DS9, even though it's been a while since we last saw her partaking of station life. Again, and this is something I've kept pointing out about various characters this season, it would have been nice if she'd been worked into the background of other episodes a little bit, as you'd be forgiven for forgetting her, it's been so long. But I have to remind myself that the series was not a serial, nor would I have wanted it to be, so of course there are going to be aspects of station life that aren't referred to for periods at a time. We should just be grateful that so many recurring characters have returned over the course of this season, Ziyal another to add to the growing list. Amazingly for Trek, this was the third actress to play Ziyal, and while there wasn't anything particularly wrong with the previous two, I would say Melanie Smith nailed the part and proved a warmer variation. Her portrayal in Season 4, coming so soon after an entire life as a Breen prisoner, showed her as a more uncertain, distant young girl, and with the gap between appearances it has allowed her time to 'warm up,' grow up, and settle into a new life on DS9, so it makes sense that she should be played that way from here on.

I don't think it could have been purposeful, but it is a strange coincidence that the first time we saw the Breen was in 'Indiscretion,' also the first time we met Ziyal, and now she's back and we see a Breen for the second time! It was probably more to do with the fact that they'd been mentioned in the last episode, 'For The Uniform,' and so the race was on the writers' minds, and they were looking for a diverse group of aliens to be held in the Dominion prison asteroid, so why not make one a Breen? Although, for all the movement we see from this particular example of his/her/its race, it could just as easily have been dead, since it remains lying on a bunk the whole time - they don't even wake it to do the trusty blood-screening test, since we're told the Breen don't have blood! Yes, that's right, the blood-screening test which was proved to be so reliable that a shapeshifter could pose as Dr. Bashir in the Season 3 finale 'The Adversary'! And what do you know, this episode shows Bashir to have been replaced again, though this time for a much longer period, all for a specific purpose, the moment of invasion.

That's the thing with the Founders, they always plan longterm, so it really shouldn't have been a surprise that Bashir had been replaced. It was a threat that had been solidified (if you pardon the word), ever since Season 4's paranoid two-parter, 'Home Front' and 'Paradise Lost,' where we saw a changeling in action. Here though, their plans have come to fruition and the fake Bashir is just part of a diabolical plan: a fleet of Jem'Hadar ships prepares to enter the Alpha Quadrant - the locusts are finally upon us! They'd sent ripples of disquiet throughout Season 3, culminating in their destruction of a joint Cardassian/Romulan secret police force, on its mission to find and obliterate the Founders' homeworld. This had then provided a respite in a small way, for Cardassia, as a civilian government came into power, but at the cost of war with the savage Klingons, egged on by the false zeal of General Martok, leading to Klingon and Federation enmity and destabilisation of the quadrant as a whole! We can see the huge and disparate pieces of grand plan locking together after years of patient work, and it is impressive, both for the Dominion and the writing of the TV series: now is the time for force to come into play, so now is the time for the fleet to arrive.

The Founders are such a cautious people, even with such a dedicated-unto-death army of cloned soldiers they don't resort to enveloping their enemies' space and risking the races uniting against them. They go to great lengths to plant seeds of doubt and fear and let that do the work for them. You could suggest that it's a rather big coincidence that the main pieces of a large and far-flung puzzle would all meet at one prison, but while watching you're too busy enjoying everything to worry about that: it's General Martok! The real one! And Tain! The real, live man! And Bashir! The real one! Okay, so he was wearing the old style uniform (unless he wears that one as pyjamas - he did say he was sleeping when captured!), so that means it was before 'Rapture' that he was replaced, meaning the changeling did surgery on Sisko to save his life, and looked after Kira through the end of her pregnancy, but if it could impersonate a doctor it would have had to train for the role and know what Bashir knew. It helps, looking back, that Bashir hadn't been at the forefront of any episodes for a while, just a supporting role, making it so believable that he could have been replaced. And with O'Brien tied up with his family and newborn baby there wasn't the chance for false Bashir to be suspected. Even Jadzia spends her time with Worf, and you get the impression that, apart from his work, Bashir's become a bit of a loner on the station.

We haven't heard much of Dax and Worf, but there's palpable concern on her part about Worf going into the Gamma Quadrant with only Garak for company. It did strike me as odd that the Defiant wasn't taken, but then I saw that a Runabout would be more inconspicuous (why, it doesn't even seem to have a name these days, so how much more discreet can you get!). It was the way Dax was taking Worf's Klingon operas from the Defiant that made me think they were going to go in that. On a side note, why couldn't the files just be copied over to the station computer or duplicated onto another optronic data rod? I guess Worf's recordings are so personal to him that he keeps them 'offline,' and you need the actual stick of data to use them. Worf and Garak are a good pairing, especially when you think that the last time we saw them together was having a fight aboard the Defiant when Garak tried to torpedo the Founder planet. It's great fun when you realise that all Garak's flow of talk is actually exercise, just as Worf's into physical exercise, Garak builds up his lying power, skilfully practicing on a new mark! When Worf says they can go no further, I thought it was because he'd had enough of Garak's constant chatter, until he adds that he's been ordered to avoid risks.

When Garak was told by the Female Changeling there were no survivors of the Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar fleet, she was actually lying, and it isn't often you can get one past Garak like that - he was impressed when fake Bashir shows up at the Runabout to prevent him heading off alone, and I can imagine the real Bashir also knew Garak well enough to guess his thinking, though in actuality this Bashir knew about the fleet to come, so he probably just wanted to prevent chance of an early warning (a reason why he was against Garak going when they discuss it in Sisko's office - it would have been unfortunate if Bashir had been ordered to go as he needed to stay and 'take care' of the station). I assume fake Bashir broke into the doctor's personal logs and was fully informed on all his opinions - as they've said, to become a thing is to know a thing, so it's more than just getting the surface details right, they would know everything. Sounds just like the Obsidian Order, who also seemed to know personal details about everyone, and who was the Order, but Enabran Tain. I thought they were wrong to give away Tain's appearance in the credits, but it was immediately followed by Garak admitting it a second later, so it didn't matter (and was very good timing!).

How the mighty have fallen. When we last saw Tain he was a babbling madman, unable to accept that the Dominion had been cleverer than him, unable to accept defeat, but incarceration, or weakness of the body has calmed him. He still has one secret to reveal, though he almost doesn't give Garak the acknowledgement he wanted: Garak is his son. That explains a lot about the way Garak is, that he had such a twisted upbringing and was so deeply in the confidence of Tain, then so utterly cast out from what he loved that he would be a liar who doesn't believe in truth and honesty. A harsh life has moulded him to be who he is, and even though he can be a 'despicable tailor' (in the words of Dukat), and Tain is a monstrous old man, both full of guile and evil ways, the death scene still resonates, still upsets, and we still feel sorry for Garak. Once he's got that over with, his duty fulfilled, a small token of pride restored, he stands up and says he's ready to leave, as if that was the only thing keeping him in the prison, and not the Jem'Hadar guards or the lack of anywhere to escape to outside of the dome, and Worf and Martok agree!

Worf and Martok. One of the great friendships of the series was to come between these two, but for now this appears to be the first they've known of each other. This makes it likely that the first time we saw Martok, in Season 4's 'The Way of The Warrior,' he was a changeling, as this Martok doesn't appear to know Worf's dishonouring of his son. The first we see of Martok he's taking a beating by a Jem'Hadar, and is shown with that unique missing eye socket that was to be his most defining feature. You can't really get to know someone in the space of one episode, so his reappearance is more of an Easter egg than a far-reaching plot point, unless you know how important he becomes to the series. As well as Klingons, Cardassians and Breen, we also see Romulan survivors, so it's a real multicultural prison these Jem'Hadar preside over. James Horan provides his recognisable vocal cords to the lead Jem'Hadar - you can't say he provides his face as it's so covered by prosthetics, but he was a good choice for the role, another of the Trek repertory of recurring actors, having been in all the modern Trek series', including 'TNG,' and going on to be Future Guy in 'Enterprise.' The only thing I didn't like so much, and which I may not have noticed before (this being the first time I'd seen the episode in the clarity of DVD), was that the Jem'Hadar arm skin looked like the glove that it was, so that when Worf grabs it to stop him choking Garak it looks too loose.

It's a minor complaint (I could also add that we get another 'Star Trek II' nebula!), in an episode which features notably strong cinematography, with the cold, sparse prison contrasting with the bright, busy visuals of the station, and for doing a lot of good setting up, working in so many of the little moments, references and joys that you expect in a quality episode: the evil Bashir's self-satisfied smirk in the Turbolift (a bit like Cypher in 'The Matrix'); Kira and Dax talking about Kirayoshi, the first time baby O'Brien's name has been spoken; the conversation between Kira and Odo as he moves some things back into his quarters, and other 'solid' furniture out, while she still doesn't know what he thinks about her; Martok's return, as the real one; Ziyal's return, but as a different actress; Dukat's return, preparing the way for his future; Garak's return, closing an old chapter of his life; and Bashir's return, though we didn't know he'd been away; one of the best ever cliffhangers, almost on a par with 'The Best of Both Worlds'… Most of all, for being the turning point where we finally come to what we'd been waiting for ever since the end of Season 2, and the words 'you don't know what's begun here,' echoed in our minds. The season, indeed the series itself, begins its end here. This far. But a little further yet…

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