User Reviews

This superior episode of DS9 gives us an insight into the pasts of three main characters. When a Bajoran woman hires Quark to retrieve a box her murdered husband had hidden aboard DS9 when is was still the Cardassian station Terok Nor. When Quark gets his hands on the box he can't resist looking what is inside, he finds a list of Bajoran names. While Rom is sent away to get a camera to copy the list a Bajoran enters the bar and shoots Quark. He is rushed to the infirmary unconscious and seriously injured. When Rom Mentions the list and where it was found to Odo he remembers the time he was first asked to become an investigator by Gul Dukat following the murder of a Bajoran. The man's wife accuses another woman who he'd being seeing; this woman is none other that Kira Nerys. When Odo interviews her she claims to have an alibi but it turns out that was false. She must decide whether to take a chance that Odo will not turn her over to the Cardassians by telling him that she was really involved in an act of sabotage at the time or just hope the lack of concrete evidence will means she can go free. Back in the present Rom has an idea what the first name on the list might be and soon after a man with a similar name is found dead. It could mean the woman is arranging for the people on the list to be killed or if her bank account is to believed she is blackmailing them. if the latter is the case just what is she blackmailing them about and who wants them dead?

This episode gave an interesting into Odo and his sense of justice, he will do what he thinks is right no matter who he is working for. We also learn that Kira has been keeping a secret for quite some time. The overall seriousness of the episode is lightened by Quark's reaction to learning of Rom's skills in breaking and entry and Rom's reaction to learning he could inherit the bar if Quark dies.

When times get tough ---- the tough get blackmailing. Pallra's all out of money but has an ace in the hole in the form of a contact list of bajoran collaborators just waiting to be extorted.

I love a good star trek mystery episode and I particularly love a good mystery episode that is combined with character enrichment.

I enjoyed the time spent on Terok Nor and getting a glimpse at 'Bambi' Odo just free from his shackles yet in possession of a deeply held sense of being the hand of Justice. Odo is not infallible however and he gets fooled by a Kira misdirection. Who can blame Kira? These Cardassians are not exactly known for being soft on 'terrorists'. Ultimately Odo is satisfied with Kira's admission of being a member of the resistance who was tasked with disrupting mining operations on the station and he lets her go.

That damn tenacious Quark just won't die and Pallra hires out a hitman to assassinate Quark to keep the list a secret. This assassin is old school and he opts to go with the classic 'pillow over the face' technique but is thwarted by Rom's brave cowardice and jaw dropping ferengi screams of desperation.

Odo begins putting the pieces together and figures out that Pallra's husband was likely a collaborator and Kira's actual mission was likely to kill him. Kira comes clean (I believe you Kira --- those big moist eyes of yours) and admits that she was after the list of names but only murdered him when he caught her hand in the cookie jar with the list.

The show ends with Kira wondering if her friendship with Odo has been lost. Have no fear Kira --- Odo is a rational and measured man! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other random thoughts:

• We only get a few moments of Dukat but he is as clever as ever. Hiring Odo as a means of protecting his image.
• I had a good belly laugh at Odo's visualization/yoga techniques used on Rom.
• Rom's getting smart! I like smart Rom.
• Odo's observation skills are on full display ---- even just barely out of shapeshifter diapers he has the ability to notice that Pallra had no cried over the murder of her husband.
• Dukat struts around the station like Foghorn Leghorn from Bugs Bunny.

And Rom is the best Five-Alarm Ferengi in DS9. This is the first use of Rom's Screamin' Siren.

Quark is On Bajor, talking to "Pallra", a Bajoran Woman who takes your breath away. But she is as vain and she is beautiful and her past is filled with ugliness. She wants him to do some dirty work which Odo would immediately arrest her for if she tried. And to make sure Quark's nose does not increase in size proportional to his ears, she sends an enforcer secretly.

This all happens in the Teaser, so we know some great stuff is coming up. We are not disappointed.

Rom accompanies Quark in breaking into the old Chemist's Shop. The interesting thing here is that this is the first we see that Rom is not as Stupid as he acts. Rom himself would say: "Yes I am!" - But we know better. So he helps Quark retrieve a box, even though Quark will get five bars of Gold-Pressed Latinum and Rom will get None.

But "Pallra" really does not have 5 bars to give Quark - She just used the threat of Ooomox to get him to do what she wanted- The contents of the Box.

Which happens to be a list of 8 Bajoran names. Names written down during the Occupation of Bajor. Who are they, and why is it so Important? Important enough for Pallra's enforcer "Trazko" (Robert MacKenzie) to shoot Quark with a "Compressed Terrion Beam" which he had smuggled into the station.

The fact that this involves the old Chemist shop opens a huge worm-can for Odo, this is a case he never solved on Terok Nor when DS9 was Terok Nor and overrun with Spoonheads: His first case as a matter of fact.

For the first time on Deep Space Nine, we get to see a little of how Terok Nor was during the Cardassian Occupation.

Gul Dukat charges Odo to find out why there is a Bajoran body in the Chemists Shop, the body of Pallra's husband. Pallra tells Odo that her husband was in his shop having an affair with a woman - And she points out the Woman on The Promenade. It is a younger Kira Nerys, with long beautiful hair (despite being a wig).

Pallra is not the knockout that was presented to Quark, we get to see how this person really appears. Not as appealing as she was in the Teaser.

Back in the present, Odo manages to get Rom to tell him what had happened, and to get Rom to remember a portion of one name.

But that one clue is all it takes. Odo goes down to Bajor and asks Pallra about the partial name, She feigns ignorance.

This story is told partially in the past, partially in the present. Why did Dukat want Odo to investigate this? It wasn't just that Bajorans would tell Odo things they would not tell the Spoonheads. Odo's involvement was a misdirection.

In the past, Kira has to come clean to Odo about her role in The Resistance. But even she was not telling Odo the real facts. Even so, her confession causes Odo to let her off the hook. And the murder in the chemists shop was never solved... Until now.

But Pallra knows that Quark, who is recovering, can still implicate her... And sends Trazko once again. But this time he has to contend with Rom's Built In Ferengi Siren, which attracts the attention of every Security Guard on the Promenade.

All Pallra can do is deny everything, but since her wiles will not work on Odo, she gets to contemplate what the Provisional Government will do to her and her ilk - Quislings who escaped the Occupation of Bajor with money - From selling out their own kind.

2.08 "Necessary Evil"

An murder attempt on Quark causes Odo to revisit an unsolved and possibly connected case from years earlier when he first started working for the Cardassians. But as he investigates both cases--one new and one old--he begins to realize that much more was going on both then and now then he ever imagined.

Director James Conway returns after the flawless effort he gave previously in season 1's "Duet," and once again puts on a masterclass of directorial talent, cementing himself as one of the absolute best at his job during this time period. This episode is flawlessly arranged, shot, and edited, and the performance he gets out of the cast is pure perfection. Add in a tight and engaging script, meaningful backstory and character development, and some nice musical composition and you have in every technical and artistic way a perfect episode of television.

THE GOOD

-Conway's god-tier directing. The shot arrangements and transitions are masterful--in particular when Odo opens the door and it transitions to the first flashback. Also some of the visual contrasts between DS9 and Terok Nor, such as the children happily playing on the promenade, followed by the sad dirty kids in the next scene on TN. So well done.

-Historic first meetings between Odo and Quark, Odo and Kira, Kira and Dukat, and Odo and Dukat. It's great to see them all before they knew each other. Everyone is very suspicious and on edge. Except Quark, who seems to really thrive in the Cardassian system and has a great relationship with Dukat, interestingly enough.

-All the performances are great. And I mean all of them. Marc Alaimo is amazing, as always, as are Auberjonois, Shimmerman, and (shockingly) even Visitor.

THE BAD

-My only (very minor) complaint is Odo having a sensitive conversation with Sisko about an ongoing criminal investigation in a crowded public place. Aside from that sloppy bit of writing it's flawless.

THE UGLY

-No O'Brien and no B plot. The first is bad usually, but the ep is so good that you don't miss him, and the quality of the story is enhanced by the lack of B plot to distract from it.

-First indication of how clever Rom and Nog both are when it comes to technology.

-Here we see that Kira coins the title "constable" for Odo upon their first meeting

-Quark is shot by a "compressed tetryon beam." Tetryons are mentioned a lot throughout the various Trek series, but as far as I can tell they are a completely fictional ST creation.

-The material Rom uses to burn into the wall panel, magnasite, is also fictional and not to be confused with the real carbonate mineral, magnesite.

-Quark Faces No Consequences watch: should be charged with breaking and entering the former chemist shop. Same with Rom.

-Rule of Acquisition quoted: 139 - "Wives serve; brothers inherit" (said by Odo, surprisingly).

-Following the mediocre three-parter to open the season, the show has been on quite a tear, with only the horrible "Melora" to break up a run of good-to-great eps (including the only two 10/10 ratings so far), but I am eager to have episodes involving Sisko and/or O'Brien again. These recent eps have had a TON of Quark, with a good amount of Odo, Bashir, Kira, and Dax sprinkled in, but the aforementioned two men have been ignored of late and I hope we get some good eps with them soon. Quark needs to take a back seat for a while because it's turning into The Quark Show recently.

** may possibly be considered to be spoilers**. After giving a 3 star & a 2 star for 2 episodes in Season 2. This episode just came out of the blue. By far a cut above the rest.

A well thought out script, the acting seemed better, I noticed the camera work was better, quite creative camera work. It had all I wanted from an episode.

More of a whodunnit over all, with a twist at the end. I wonder if this particular episode was one that won an award. It certainly deserves it. Yea very surprising, not the usual run of the mill episode.

Sisko/Sesco was in it but did not play a prominent part, maybe that made it better, not the same old format of the main authority being in the thrust of an episode. Great acting from René Auberjonois, he played his part as you would expect a shape shifter to be. Fitted right in to that part.

This was a real unusual episode that somehow was just a step above what I'd seen before. Extra effort was put into it, I enjoyed it a lot.

So more of a 8 & 1/2 stars for this one, not going too crazy about it giving it an 8 star rating. An enjoyable series over all especially in AI enhanced almost HD quality that it was viewed in.

Without that I'd have hardly bothered to view a blurry 480p video. Someone took the effort to AI the entire series up and not having seen even 40% of the entire series gave it a spin.

This episode deserves an award. Maybe it was the efforts of Peter Allan Fields the Writer and James L. Conway the Director that I found so good about it. Well written & well directed & well acted. OK then I'll go to a 9 stars.

By far one of the best episodes of season two. This story allows us to delve into life onboard 'Terok Nor' during the Cardassian Occupation and whatever we may say or think about the Cardassian's, we all have to admit, they knew how to keep the lights on.

This story could be accused of getting a little bit 'Murder She Wrote' at times but to be fair, the story and the development of several characters really needed this.

Gul Dukat: I always felt that history hasn't been as kind to Dukat as it could have been. It cannot be an easy job running a space station, especially in the Cardassian world where signs of weakness are not to be tolerated and at every turn, someone is looking to dob you in so they can steal your job. Sure, the Bajoran's complained during the occupation, but since the Cardassian's left can the Provisional Government really claim to have done much better? That world has been spiralling towards revolution and civil war every since our lizard like friends left. We should also give Gul Dukat credit as it was he that personally chose Odo for the security job he still holds on the station.

Rom: One of my favourite characters and I believe this episode marked the beginning of Rom's meteoric rise within the DS9 canon. Here we see him interacting with one or two of the main characters. Prior to this, I don't remember Rom in any scenes with anyone else but Quark.

Kira: Further development of her character and we learn that she can be spicy when she needs to be.

Very good episode on a character, performance and dialog level, but one of a number in early DS9 where the writing is too neat and the writer's hand too evident on a plot level. The entire plot rests on the MacGuffin of a list of 8 names written on a piece of paper hidden in a wall by a collaborator, and the other characters' actions are driven by trying to get this list of names - Kira so that the resistance can track down and kill the collaborators listed, and Pallra so she can blackmail them for money now that she's fallen on hard times. But why would Vaatrik even need to write down a list of just 8 names instead of simply memorizing them, let alone on a piece of paper?

The direction and set design are great, but the episode is a little too much of a stylistic exercise - the 40s-inspired noir homage complete with femme fatale and Odo as hard-boiled private detective actually overshadows the nuts-and-bolts reality of the situation. Kira lying to Odo on their first meeting also shouldn't be the big deal the episode thinks it is because it was the only thing she could do in order to survive: it was either lie or be executed, and Odo was working directly for Dukat. Present-day Odo already knows that Kira was a resistance member, so should already know that she had to make moral compromises and get her hands dirty in the fight to free her people. It's not like she was living in a free society and freely chose to lie about something bad she did - she was a soldier operating under great constraints (the threat of discovery and death).