"For the Cause" (season four, episode twenty-two; 6 May 1996): Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Love! Loyalty! Betrayal! Deep Space Nine handled the Maquis way better than Voyager ever did, even though the Maquis were created for the latter series.
Constable Odo & Lieutenant Commander Eddington, the Starfleet head of station security, reluctantly approach Captain Sisko with Starfleet's suspicions that Sisko's girlfriend, freighter captain Kasidy Yates, is smuggling for the Maquis. Sisko dismisses the suspicions, but authorizes the Defiant to trail Yates's ship, the Xhosa, under cloak & observe its activities. The Defiant, with Lieutenant Worf in command, observes the Xhosa rendezvous with a Maquis raider & beam over biological matter, likely food &/or medical supplies.
Sisko tries to hide his anger & distress from Kasidy, but she knows something is wrong, even though he won't say what. When Yates is ordered to make another cargo run for the Maquis, Sisko tries to save her, asking her to run off with him to Risa for an impulsive vacation. She wants to accept but doesn't, bound by her duty to the Maquis, just as he is bound by his duty to Starfleet.
The Defiant again trails the Xhosa, this time with Sisko in command, to catch them red-handed, but it's a double cross. The Maquis set up Kasidy to keep Sisko distracted & in emotional turmoil, while back on the station Eddington stuns Major Kira with a phaser & manipulates the Starfleet security personnel into helping him steal some very valuable cargo on behalf of the Maquis. The Defiant races back to Starbase Deep Space 9, but it is too late: Eddington & the cargo are long gone. Eddington contacts Sisko by subspace & asks Sisko to leave the Maquis alone, but Sisko vows to hunt Eddington down for Eddington's betrayal of Starfleet & Sisko himself. ("For the Cause" is the first installment of a trilogy, continuing with "For the Uniform" & concluding with "Blaze of Glory.")
Yates returns to Deep Space 9 alone, having dropped off her crew. She knows she will be arrested, but couldn't bear for her last interaction with Sisko to be his boarding of the Xhosa's bridge & the discovery of Edington's treachery. Benjamin & Kasidy share a tender embrace before she is lead away by security officers.
No comments:
Post a Comment