Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Section 31: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-2024)

Episode o' the Day
"Second Skin" (season three, episode five; 24 October 1994): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: "Second Skin" subjects Major Kira to psychological torture: not only does she awaken to see a Cardassian face staring back at her in the mirror, but she is presented with many different lines of evidence that seem to prove she is in fact a Cardassian sleeper agent named Iliana Ghemor, who was surgically altered to appear Bajoran & who had her original Cardassian memory erased to forestall the possibility of divulging her true identity under interrogation. The twist is that her Obsidian Order handler, Entak, is using Kira, who does indeed bear an uncanny resemblence to Iliana, to take down Iliana's father, Legate Tekeny Ghemor, a leading figure in the Cardassian dissident movement.

"Second Skin" a fascinating snapshot of a Cardassian Union that is about the undergo significant & irreversible changes. The Cardassian dissident movement, first mentioned in season two's "Profit and Loss," is growing in power, enough to rouse the ire of the Obsidian Order, the secret police. The Obsidian Order is growing in power, chaffing against the reins held by the Central Command, the military that really governs Cardassia. That tripartite imbalance would be comprehensively overturned within a year, as the Obsidian Order will be all but destroyed in an all-or-nothing gambit against the Founders of the Dominion ("Improbably Cause" & "The Die Is Cast") & the civilian Detapa Council will overthrow the Central Command ("The Way of the Warrior").

Legate Ghemor (played by Lawrence Pressman) will return in season five's "Ties of Blood and Water," but the mystery of what ever happened to the real Iliana Ghemor will never be solved. It's a shame that Garak killed his erstwhile Obsidian Order colleague, Entak (played by Gregory Sierra); he was a fun adversary & it might have been interesting to see him return. (I'm greedy when it comes to recurring characters.)

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