Although we are done with DS9 and have travelled back to the past with Enterprise, that doesn’t mean you can’t go back and catch up on the episodes you missed. You can find the rest here!
Revelation, deception, and infiltration. Originally airing on February 10, 1997, this is In Purgatory’s Shadow.
The Episode:
Station Log Stardate undetermined: In Purgatory’s Shadow
After recovering a message that indicates that Enabran Tain is still alive, Worf and Garak investigate a planet where they find not only Tain but other surprises as well.
The Breakdown:
Now a changeling again, Odo and Kira move Odo’s belongings back into his quarters. Discussing his change back to changling form they are summoned to ops where it appears that they have picked up strange coded Cardassian transmissions. Asking Garak to decode the transmissions they are dissapointed to discover that the transmissions are nothing but planetary survey reports.
Returning to his meal with Julian and Tora Ziyal, Garak apologizes for the interruption but must rush off to take care of his customers. Soon Julian catches Garak Sneaking off of the station, where is soon becomes apparent that the transmissions were more than just surveys.
Garak admits that the transmission was a call for help from Enabran Tain and Garak is determined to find and rescue his old mentor. Julian however has other ideas and escorts Garak to Captain Sisko’s office. There Garak begs Sisko to allow him to take a ship despite Julian’s insistence that he remain on the station. Sisko assigns Worf the mission which upsets Jadzia as the Klingon Warrior has failed to inform her of his assignment. Holding his Klingon Opera collection hostage, Jadzia tells him to hurry back if he wants to see them remain intact. On the replimat, Garak says goodbye to Tora Ziyal only to incur the wrath of her father, Gul Dukat.
Soon, Worf and Garak get underway where Worf begins to learn that Garak is a practiced liar who only serves to get on the Klingon’s nerves. They soon come to an impasse where they discover that the signal is coming from deep within Dominion Space. Following orders, Worf indicates that they must turn around much to Garak’s dismay. Garak pleads with his Klingon companion indicating that they have a chance to rescue people who might be with Tain. Doing the honorable thing, Worf disobey’s orders and heads into a nearby nebula only to come face to face with a Dominion Fleet.
Back on the station, Dukat pleads with Kira to keep Tora Ziyal away from Garak. Kira refuses and Dukat indicates that he believes she set his daughter up with his sworn enemy on purpose. He tells her that he feels betrayed and that he will not forget her betrayal. Soon he informs Ziyal that he is moving her back to Cardassia.
With their runabout being pursued by a Jem’Hadar fleet, Worf tries to transmit a warning to Deep Space Nine only to be boarded by Jem’Hadar warriors and are captured. The signal gets through to DS9 and soon Sisko realizes that there is an invasion imminent. Sending Kira and the defiant to find Worf and Garak, Sisko makes it clear that they need to prepare for the inevitable as multiple listening posts begin going out along the border.
Garak and Worf find themselves in an internment camp where they discover that there is no way to escape. The guards indicate that they have been waiting for another Klingon and soon Worf finds out why. It seems that General Martok has been detained here since his replacement by a changeling. Watching the General fight in a ring with a Jem’Hadar it is clear the old Klingon has been fighting for a while. After the fight, Martok takes Worf and Garak to Tain who is disgusted that Garak has allowed himself to be taken prisoner. It is apparent that Tain is ill and he claims that all Garak has done is doom them both.
On the station, Sisko holds a meeting to plan for the incoming invasion. Sisko indicates that he will need to seal the wormhole despite Kira’s plea’s to the contrary. Knowing that this will not only sever Bajor from the prophets but also strand Worf and Garak, Sisko indicates that they have only 36 hours to return home before they are forced to seal the wormhole.
Martok begins to share their escape plans with Garak and Worf indicating that they had hoped their signal would bring help. Soon Worf and Garak are shocked when Julian Bashir is released from isolation, wearing the previous style uniform and looking quite disheveled.
Proving he is not a changeling through a blood screening, Julian indicates that he has been trapped in the internment camp for over a month. He wonders what his replacement is up to.
In ops, Changling-Julian brings food to O’Brien and Dax as they work through the night to find a way to seal the wormhole. At the same time Ziyal makes it clear to her father that she has no plans to depart from Deep Space Nine. She informs her father that she will not return to Cardassia as she will never be welcome there. Dukat is furious when he learns that she is waiting for Garak and informs his daughter that Garak will never return. Knowing he can not change her mind, he leaves her on the station, indicating she is now alone.
Garak and Julian discuss their situation and soon find that Tain is nearing his death. Garak sits by Tains side as his mentor slips into his final fate. Tain begins to go through his list of enemies and Garak assures Tain that he has outlived all of his enemies. Tain asks Garak to escape and live so that he can make the Dominion pay for Tain’s misery. Garak asks Tain to acknowledge him as his son and Tain finally admits the truth. Tain shares a memory of Garak with his son and passes away leaving Garak alone for real. Worf, Julian, Garak and Martok agree that they need to escape and plan to do so as soon as possible.
As the Dominion fleet approaches, Sisko activates the system that will close the wormhole but the emitters fail at the last moment allowing an armada of Jem’Hadar to enter the Alpha Quadrant. The crew look on as ships begin to pour through the wormhole.
To Be Continued…
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
Okay, shit just got real. Not only have the Dominion officially invaded the Alpha Quandrant but we learn that Julian Bashir has been replaced by a changling. Let’s talk about that first.
Remember back when there was an abrupt uniform change in the episode Rapture. There is even a moment where Julian himself makes it clear that the uniforms have changed in a pretty unsubtle way. Remember how I said that this was important? Now you know why. Sometime prior to the uniform change Julian was captured and replaced by a changeling. It would have to have after the events of the episode Things Past where Julian informs Odo that he still has active morphogenic enzymes as any shapeshifter would have kept that secret, so somewhere between The Ascent and Rapture he was taken by the Dominion. Why is this important? Well this means that Shapeshifter Julian did the following things:
- Treated Odo and Quark from their exposure on the planet they crashed on in The Ascent. (possible but not certain)
- Performed brain surgery on Sisko to end his visions in the episode Rapture. Seems a little self serving now huh? Remember that Sisko saw a swarm of Locusts….could that have been the Jem’Hadar invasion?
- Treats Kira for her pregnancy problems and prescribes herbs for her sneezing. (Darkness and Light)
- Helps Odo save the baby changeling yet the Changeling somehow manages to die of radiation poisoning? (The Begotten)
- Is present when Kira gives birth to Yoshi. (The Begotten)
So this changeling has really had some opportunities to do some real damage to the station and it’s crew while collecting who knows how much intelligence on Starfleet and the station itself. This will. of course, come to a head soon but I dont want to ruin part two for you.
The episode itself, man there were so many moving parts here that really pushes the overarching story forward in several ways. First off, we see Odo is getting used to being a shapeshifter once again. While he doesn’t really use his powers, he does indicate that he will miss some things about being a solid.
We get a lot more background about Garak and his relationship with Enabran Tain. Finally, even though it took Tain’s death, we have confirmation that Tain is, in fact, Garak’s father even though Tain refused to acknowledge it for most of Garak’s life. This is now the only real tangible fact we know about Garak in the sea of lies he has created for himself. Even this fact can be called into question as Tain himself was known as a master of deception, but we will take it as gospel.
Martok is back, well, technically Martok never even appeared on the show to begin with seeing that we have never met the REAL Martok. Since the beginning the Martok we have dealt with was a Changeling infiltrator allowing the writers to take this, the real Martok, in a whole new direction. Gone is the spiteful and vengeful warmonger and in his place is an honorable warrior who sees the benefit of others. This Martok proves to be pretty incredible in later episodes so I will just leave it at that.
Finally we get an interesting side of Dukat as he pleads with his daughter to return to Cardassia as things will be changing there soon. I mean, I am all for Pirate Lord Pragmatist Dukat but it seems that he is far to encouraging for the man who once led the occupation of Bajor. Something is up here and I ma sure that is going to be revealed pretty soon.
We also get to see another moment between Dax and Worf but we already know how they feel about each other. It was just cool to see.
All in all, Solid first part to a two part episode. In many ways, I wish this had been the season finale instead of a mid season two parter. Then again, I do enjoy that this was a secret two parter. DS9 does that sometimes…
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- Garak is not fond of Earl Grey tea and makes it VERY clear.
- The events of First Contact are mentioned in passing as a reason why the Fleet can not be there to rebuff the Dominion’s attack.
- This is the last time we see Enabran Tain giving him and Garak a nice bit of closure to their story.
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: By Inferno’s Light
If you would like to read more reviews I have a weekly series called Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday and for more retro TV goodness check out the rest of the Retro TV Reviews here.
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Late To The Game 11/xx/2021 (Originally published 11/6/2019)
Special Thanks to Memory Alpha as they are one of the best sources for details on Star Trek information available. Although I have a pretty deep knowledge on the subject, they have proven invaluable as a regular resource.
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