Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Indiscretion"
Air date: 10/23/1995
Teleplay by Nicholas Corea
Story by Toni Marberry & Jack Trevino
Directed by LeVar Burton
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Captain Sisko is right ... you are in love with the sound of your own voice." — Kira to Dukat
Nutshell: So-so. The early scenes are outstanding, but then the episode turns a bit trite. Some horrendous attempts at comic relief really hurt, too.
There are some very relevant moments in "Indiscretion," but this episode, alas, does not live up to what it easily could have been. It could've been another great installment, but it falls a little bit short because of its predictable conclusion and lapses of incredulity.
When Kira gets a reliable lead on the whereabouts of the Ravenock, a Cardassian ship with Bajoran prisoners lost since the Occupation, she sets out on a mission to search for it, hoping to find a friend who was on board. Since it was a Cardassian ship, the Cardassians also want to find it, so they send an official to assist Kira in her search. Surprise! The Cardassian official is Gul Dukat.
The most compelling moments in this episode come in the early scenes where Kira and Dukat begin their journey in the Runabout. Kira would be content sitting in silence. Dukat, however, decides to initiate a conversation, and pretty soon the two find themselves debating the Occupation.
This scene rings true all the way. Here are two characters who were on the different sides of a Holocaust-type situation. They're trying to accept each other now that the peace treaty is in place, but it's not that simple. Dukat used to command a slave mining station. How can Kira separate yesteryear's image of a Cardassian slave driver from that of today's newfound "ally"? At the same time, how can Dukat possibly apologize for a genocide that his people don't even want to admit? He tries, nonetheless, in his own way, but not without insulting Bajor at the same time. A lot of this discussion seems like the realistic views people in such a situation would take, and I liked the way the material in this scene was presented: without the dramatic cheats of instant mutual understanding.
Unfortunately, this scene has little to do with the rest as the story. Once they locate the crash site of the Ravenock, the plot thickens when we learn that Dukat is also looking for somebody—a Bajoran lover with whom he had a daughter. He finds that his lover has long since perished, but the daughter may still be alive, marooned on the planet. But since his daughter is half Bajoran, he informs Kira that he has to kill her—or risk having his career destroyed when his peers find out about his affair.
This is where the story slips up. It becomes a predictable tale of the Man who Reluctantly Heeds his Conscience. Will Dukat change his mind at the last second and realize that killing his daughter to save his career and reputation is wrong? Or will he shoot her with his phaser set on vaporize? Can we vote more than once?
Sarcasm aside, this might have worked, but the story ends with his choice played out in overly dramatic terms, and the issues from earlier in the episode fade into background conversation. The writers seem to have sincere intentions here, but the final result is just not that inspired.
Something else this episode does—and more successfully—is show the many faces of Gul Dukat. It makes Dukat into a more fully developed character that we can understand (although there were a few scenes where Alaimo's performance could've been a little bit better).
The big problem with "Indiscretion," however, is some filler which just doesn't sit right. A scene where Dukat sits on a spike and impales it in his rear is all-too-obviously played for laughs. Dukat starts yelping in pain and then shoves his rear into the camera while bending over to run a medical device over the wound. This makes Kira laugh hysterically. But the scene isn't funny. It's just a dumb contrivance to make Kira and Dukat a little more friendly toward each other. It's basically saying "We've had a good laugh, right? Now we're buddies." Thanks, but no thanks. This "comic" scene just feels way too forced and hokey, and doesn't balance very well against the serious tone in the Runabout. Aside from this scene, most of the Kira/Dukat scenes work well, although, aside from the Runabout scene, there's nothing particularly standout about them. Kira threatening to kill Dukat if he tries to hurt his daughter sounds like something which is supposed to make us gasp, but instead borders on being obvious and obligatory.
There's a B-story here, involving Captain Yates taking a job on Bajor which will allow her to be closer to Captain Sisko. She even considers moving onto the station. All Sisko can say is "It's a big step." (That was his first mistake.) The amiable results of this thread are amusing, particularly the series' running gag of Jake being the expert on his father's relationship. Lightweight, but likable.
Overall, "Indiscretion" is a decent episode that could have been much better. Pairing Kira and Dukat has so many possibilities and it's too bad the script doesn't realize more of them. This story shows promise early on, but then settles for less.
Previous episode: Hippocratic Oath
Next episode: Rejoined
45 comments on this review
Wed, Mar 4, 2009, 6:36pm (UTC -5)
The scene when Dukat sits on the thorn is a pivotal moment in the episode and in this process of re-evaluation. Of this scene, Ira Steven Behr comments, "There are moments in life when you can be with someone with whom you have nothing in common, who you have nothing but disdain for, and then something happens: a moment of shared experience, or shared laughter, and it just changes the playing field. And it doesn't mean that you become friends afterward, it doesn't mean that you've broken through to a new level of understanding that'll be with you for the rest of your lives. But something has changed. It's a bonding moment. And though it's probable that neither of them would ever discuss it, after this, their relationship will never be quite the same again. They've started to see each other as people."
This really rings true to me. But hey, suit yourself!
Tue, May 5, 2009, 1:24am (UTC -5)
Sun, Jun 14, 2009, 8:42am (UTC -5)
Sun, Jul 12, 2009, 7:59pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Jul 24, 2009, 3:39pm (UTC -5)
There is a scene I never saw in 7 years of DS9 that would have been very satisfying. Dukat, running through DS9 trying to escape from something, then turning a corner, and being face to face with Kira. He would knock her down as he ran over her, but her hand or foot would stick out and trip him, and then she would pounce, and we can imagine the rest.
Sat, Oct 31, 2009, 7:08pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Dec 3, 2009, 12:03am (UTC -5)
As for the episode as a whole, I pretty much agree with Jammer that the rescue/killing part was pretty standard writing (i.e. lame). But still, lots of good points brought up during the episode. Maybe 2.8 stars. (But then Hippocratic Oath has to get 3.2)
Fri, Mar 12, 2010, 3:28pm (UTC -5)
All Dukat had to do was rescue his daughter, take her back to Cardassia and make up any story he wanted regarding her identity and have her killed there. It's not like Kira was going to be visiting Cardassia Prime anytime soon so how would she ever know what happened?
Again, I certainly didn't want to see him become such an overt murderer, but I'll never understand why he confessed his plan to Kira and still expected to get away with it.
Wed, Sep 1, 2010, 9:05am (UTC -5)
I don't know what the problem is with the thorn scene, and comic moments between Kira and Dukat in general. Just because Dukat can be funny or silly occasionally doesn't mean that he isn't a real villain or that we have to sympathize with him. People all have silly moments in real life, I'm sure that every despot and criminal has had some of those. And it's not like Kira was going to be Dukat's friend or forgive him just because they shared a silly moment and laughed about it. It just makes the situation more bizarre, in a way, but also more lifelike - how do you deal with situations when you're forced to work alongside people who have committed terrible crimes and haven't repented for their past? It must be bizarre and uncomfortable looking at them acting like 'normal people' while at the same time thinking about who they are.
Sun, Dec 26, 2010, 12:04am (UTC -5)
Sat, Mar 17, 2012, 12:54pm (UTC -5)
Sun, May 27, 2012, 2:10am (UTC -5)
Wed, Jul 11, 2012, 11:00pm (UTC -5)
Ziyal was an awful addition.
Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 3:26pm (UTC -5)
the first place. To force them to acknowledge your greatness."
It's important to him that everyone -- but especially Kira -- comes to understand him and agree with him. He considers himself a misunderstood hero, and if he can just explain himself properly, people will understand why everything he did was actually for the good, and ultimately learn to love him.
That's why he told Kira about his plans -- he wanted her approval. (And maybe on a subconscious level he wanted her to stop him.) It's not the last time he'll tell her something terrible, so that he can try to explain his reasons and convince her he was in the right.
The butt-hurt scene was off-key, but in theory, I don't have a problem with the idea that two people who are extremely uncomfortable around each other would go overboard when something funny finally breaks the tension. I think it would have played better, though, if they hadn't seemed so relaxed about it, and if they'd realized what they were doing and cut off the laughter a lot sooner.
Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 12:44pm (UTC -5)
I like Kira and Dukat a lot. Another good episode.
7/10
Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 2:36am (UTC -5)
Sun, Feb 23, 2014, 12:04am (UTC -5)
As for rescuing the prisoners - they don't really need to show how they got the Breen uniforms but obviously they had to have been stolen off of dispatched Breen. If that's the case then that negates the future statements that no one has seen what a Breen really looks like. And I highly doubt that their would be spare uniforms lying about.
The b-story was refreshingly pleasant and had me grinning quite a bit.
High end of 3 stars for me.
Mon, Apr 28, 2014, 7:50pm (UTC -5)
I'd say this is more hovering around 3 stars... Though last outing with the Jem'Hadar may have arguably been slightly better in its premise, I like the potential underlying messages here more, evening the two episodes out in my mind. (as I've said in other comments, this IS my first run of DS9, so there could easily be more to it later on)
Tue, Aug 5, 2014, 11:49am (UTC -5)
Both "sides" find common ground with respect to the dead.
The "thorn" incident was funny, almost as funny as watching Dukat and his skinny ass legs trod through the sand dunes.
But again, Kira & one easily penetrate a compound that is guarded... really?
The first of 3 Ziyal’s was played very nicely by Cyia Batten.
2.5 stars for me.
Sun, Aug 10, 2014, 10:11pm (UTC -5)
The failure for me was the Sisko/Cassidy stuff. It felt...trite. I didn't like anyone's acting in that at all. I also don't understand why all the blame was on Sisko's shoulders. Clearly he wasn't ready for a deeper relationship with Cassidy, and everyone's mad at him for not squealing with glee because she could be around more often. The only thing he did "wrong" was not express himself clearly enough. For that matter, Cassidy could have communicated better.
Fri, Jan 23, 2015, 6:01pm (UTC -5)
Up to that point, the two characters had been strategically adversarial. Going along and tolerating each other for the sake of the mission and the larger spirit of the peace treaty, but the tension and contempt for each other was palpable. Nearly every comment was a pointed jab at the other, even the compliments (or as Garak might say, "*Especially* the compliments"). Their entire conversation was a constant power struggle. Dukat's condescension towards Kira trying to maintain his superiority and justify his actions during the Occupation; Kira wanting to lash back at the former oppressor of her people and looking for any avenue to attack him.
When Dukat sits on the thorn, Kira laughs loudly at him. But Kira's initial laughter wasn't jovial. It was bitter. It was basically schadenfreude. She was enjoying seeing him in a little pain. Here was the man who was the taskmaster, this powerful man who inflicted so much pain and misery on her and her people, who ordered death squads to kill dozens of freedom fighters.....and he's hopping around like mad, howling and begging one of his former enemies to help him, because of a simple thorn. It gave Kira the satisfaction of seeing Dukat knocked him down a peg....and Dukat knew it. And had no defense for it.
At first Dukat was just simply dealing with the momentary reaction of the pain. He quickly turns to anger and frustration over losing control of the situation and seeing his air of superiority and authority stripped away. He invested so much time and energy trying to maintain his power in front of Kira, and now she's just sitting back laughing as he makes a spectacle of himself. It infuriates him and he shouts at her. But then he calms down a bit and has no other choice but to acknowledge the humor of the situation. And for a moment, the bravado and the power struggles and the manipulative game-playing are all set aside and they share a brief but genuine chuckle that helps bring down some of the walls between, even if only slightly.
They still don't like each other much (Kira less so), but for one brief moment, they stopped being bitter rivals or cold allies. I thought it was well-done.
*****
As for Sisko-Yates, the part I didn't like is how it's acceptable for her to fly off the handle the way she did. I get that he could have been a little more communicative with her, but Sisko was right....her moving to the station *IS* a big step. Surely she would (or should) have recognized that and understood it.
This is his first real serious relationship since his wife's death. The possibility of her moving to the station was pretty sudden (not something they had talked about at length for months before). It's understandable that he might still have some reservations or hesitation before such a major change in their relationship status. A more compassionate partner would have been more understanding of how big a step this was and how Sisko might need a few days to process this new development and figure out if he was ready for it. Storming out and stonewalling him because he displayed a reserved response is detrimental to a healthy relationship where the feelings of BOTH partners are valued.
If my wife had basically asked to move in with me after only 6 months, I would have hesitated, too. And I probably would have rejected it as being too much too soon, even though I loved her.
Thu, Feb 12, 2015, 5:34am (UTC -5)
Wed, Mar 4, 2015, 9:19am (UTC -5)
Sun, Jun 7, 2015, 7:13pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Sep 22, 2015, 2:18pm (UTC -5)
The rest of the episode was pretty good (except for the thorn scene). Whether or not it was meant to be comedic, it just didn't jive. The laughter seemed disingenuous which is rare for Visitor and Alaimo. Gotta agree with Jammer, though, in that the confrontation between Kira and Dukat wasn't really as powerful as the writers intended it to be.
2.5 stars is probably a fair judgement. But I'll admit Dax's stupid little relationship manipulation was worse than the rest of the issues lol.
Tue, Sep 22, 2015, 3:02pm (UTC -5)
To quote Cal Hudson in "The Maquis, part I"
"HUDSON: That woman knows more about me than any woman ever has. More than my wife, even.
SISKO: Tell me about it."
We've had multiple episodes now where it's been clear that Sisko is having trouble fully moving on from Jennifer. Could it be that wise beyond her years Dax knows that it will work out and that her protégé needs a push?
You COULD just assume she's stirring up trouble for her own amusement and the sake of being an ass... but I prefer my head canon.
Thu, Sep 24, 2015, 3:51pm (UTC -5)
I don't even think she was doing it for the sake of her amusement and I actually agree with your headcanon. That still doesn't change the fact that she, in classic Jadzia Dax fashion, shoves herself into a place she doesn't belong.
Thu, Sep 24, 2015, 5:08pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Oct 7, 2015, 10:56am (UTC -5)
I think it still would've been so great if they'd had made Ziyal Kira's half sister, a missed opportunity to be sure.
And man, Dukat is such a great & complex character. At least for the first 6 seasons he was.
Sun, Oct 25, 2015, 7:35pm (UTC -5)
I don't have any ethical objections to the "sand-spike" thing. Kira and Dukat have been walking through the desert for hours and hours, are tired and resource-depleted, and I think that a person can't keep their guard up all the time; that Kira and Dukat start laughing together over an injury seems to me to be a reasonable idea, which does not mean that Kira suddenly stops viewing Dukat as evil. However, the execution itself was pretty weird; the laughter comes across as very forced in practice, and the slapstick hilarity of "Dukat hurts his butt" feels really out of place. And until Kira said that line at the end to Dax about the sand-spike, I had no idea what he even sat on, which was especially distracting.
This is probably the first real Kira & Dukat story -- their brief scenes together in "Civil Defense" being the most they have interacted directly up to this point, if I recall correctly. So that is a real pleasure. Given the discussions about whether Kira's character did develop clearly in the show, I think her grudging acceptance of having a Cardassian go with her on the mission reflects a very different attitude than she would have had in season one, and her willingness to acknowledge that Bajor and Cardassia might be friends, but her and Dukat wouldn't, is pretty perfect: from all Cardassians being evil, Kira's view of Cardassians has mostly narrowed to focus on certain individuals as representative of what the race did to her and her planet, and who better to represent this than Dukat, who is *at this moment* saying to her face that Bajor in general (and she in particular) is better for the Cardassian influence? Someone like Garak might say that at some point, but partly with the expectation of getting a rise out of someone (I think something like that is implied at the beginning of "Things Past"), and there is *some* of that with Dukat, but whether or not he expects Kira will accept it, Dukat really seems to think it's fully true. Which is important, because that conversation sets up Dukat's bizarre value system, his absolute prioritzation of strength, his contempt for weakness and the idea of living a "contemplative" life...and his consideration of inflicting pain as some sort of act of love.
The writers have acknowledged the great John Ford western "The Searchers" as a major influence on this, though in that film John Wayne's Ethan Edwards wanted to kill the girl for purely race reasons; that Ethan may be motivated by family shame is very heavily implied, but is at least not the proximate reason. So in some ways having Dukat state the family pride/shame as the primary reason flips the script, and race becomes the subtext. Love Tora Naprem he may have done (or maybe not -- how deeply can someone as narcissistic as Dukat love someone else?), but Tora Ziyal is also a reminder of his weakness, of his losing track of the Cardassian values and bedding with a *Bajoran*. Dukat's need for Bajorans to love and admire him is just starting to become apparent at this stage, though his similar need for Benjamin's approval was already starting to become clear in "The Maquis." Ziyal is the symbol of everything wrong with Dukat, and his love/hate for her encapsulates a lot of issues the character has pretty effectively. Ziyal is not just Bajoran, she's Bajoran contaminated by Cardassian and Cardassian contaminated by Bajoran, the symbol of Dukat's weakness and his obsession and his power plays. I like, also, that this episode makes "Cardassians" retroactively more important, not just for setting up the issue of Cardassian orphans and Cardassian family structures but for underlining that *Dukat* is the type of guy who ruins a kid's life for political gain -- so of course Dukat expects that other people will use Ziyal against him, because that's exactly what Dukat would do if he were them.
That Dukat just lowers his phaser because he can't deal with killing her face-to-face is something I more or less approve of as a story choice. Ziyal's dialogue, though, is not so great; it is really hard to believe that this really is someone who has just been rescued after all these years, that she shifts quickly from mild excitement to mild sadness while she asks Dukat to kill her. I guess this is partly the actress's fault, but it's not great scripting. I also could have done without Kira's presence, which just messes with the real story. The episoe could have played the ambiguity that Dukat decided not to shoot Ziyal partly because Kira threatened him, but he seemed to be mostly ignoring Kira (and anyway, he could have just killed Ziyal right when Kira was not looking), so that Kira's threat is...really *not* the issue. It just confuses the scene. Of course, it is completely valid characterization for Kira to threaten to kill Dukat if he kills his daughter, and it would have been terrible to have Kira stand idly by, but I think this is where it would have been better to find some plot reason to keep Kira out of the way -- have the Breen attack her or, BETTER YET, have Dukat shoot her down (on stun) so that he can take out Ziyal in peace, and only then realize he can't do it.
For Dukat to pull back at the last moment is the sign that his love for Tora Naprem was at least partially genuine, and that he cannot fully turn his back on the connections he formed on Bajor, and further that he actually does care about his daughter more than his marriage and *hcareer. This is admittedly a low bar, but it builds on what we know of Dukat and renders him more complex -- he's a monster, but one capable of gentleness.
Time for spoiler points: One thing I do love about Dukat's arc up to, uh, say "Waltz," is that Ziyal's introduction puts Dukat in a position where he has to choose between the right thing and his career, and he chooses the right thing...and THIS basically dooms him, and dooms the Alpha Quadrant. Look at it this way: Dukat's giving his career up for Ziyal leads to him needing to make desperate moves to regain his career, which leads to him making the deal with the Dominion. And then Dukat more or less goes insane because his deal with the Dominion leads to his daughter's death. The effective tragedy here is that if Dukat were a complete monster, he would have dispatched Ziyal and then gone back to his insecure but still kind of cushy position in the Cardassian civilian government's military, and he would probably have continued doing what he had been doing. He may have signed with the Dominion there, but I prefer to consider it that he genuinely reached out to the Dominion primarily so that *he* could recover his power and influence. Which means, uh, that Dukat's being *mostly* monstrous means that his willingness to sacrifice himself came around and, once he became crushed by his sacrifice, made him sell his people out (short term gains for long term slavery) and eventually lose that same daughter. It's pretty epic, and this episode is a part of that.
Un-spoiler: I guess the Sisko/Kasidy thing is also a story about love, like Dukat and his mistress & daughter, and the backdrop of Dukat losing Tora because he wanted to protect her makes Sisko's fear of commitment after having lost his first wife maybe make more sense. Or, I guess. I like Penny Johnson and I do think there is some chemistry between Ben and Kasidy, but I could not quite get into this story, particularly since much of it came down to sitcom-ish Dumb Man Says Wrong Thing tropes, has Bashir hanging around making quips for some reason, really plays out the "Jake talked to Nog about this" joke too long, and has Dax *very annoyingly* first suggest Kasidy move onto the station without checking whether either Kasidy or Ben would like that, then criticize Ben's attempt to be honest at dinner, then say to Julian privately that she does not know if it's a good idea for Kasidy to move in which, let's remember, Dax suggested unprompted. The basic idea that Sisko fears commitment makes sense to me, particularly because his wife died, and it makes sense for the episode to run with it as lightish material rather than super-serious. So I guess it's okay, but I found it unengaging.
The episode has some serious limitations, but I'm going to go with a marginal 3 stars because I very much like where this episode took Dukat, and the Dukat/Kira dynamic.
Sun, Oct 25, 2015, 8:09pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 4, 2015, 6:35pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 4, 2015, 6:48pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Dec 4, 2015, 8:40am (UTC -5)
I have assumed this entire season that Yates is a changeling. She's weird and off.
Life hint: Don't completely change the nature of a romantic relationship without first talking with your partner about it. If you just go for it, don't be offended that they're not up to speed.
Dukat's daughter is 19 or 20 at this point. I understand she has been fixating on her father for her years of captivity as a survival mechanism, so I'm marginally okay with her saying that if she can't be with him she wants to die. Hopefully she gets over that quickly and has an actual life, not spent watching tv in her father's basement.
Sat, Dec 19, 2015, 9:25am (UTC -5)
As to the B-story, well it's the kind of thing that has to happen to move their relationship forward but it doesn't really make riveting viewing. Drags the episode overall back to 3 stars.
Tue, Mar 29, 2016, 8:43am (UTC -5)
And I love, as William B said, "he has to choose between the right thing and his career, and he chooses the right thing...and THIS basically dooms him, and dooms the Alpha Quadrant." This episode does more to make Dukat a three-dimensional person than any previous one. What's not to like? Add into the mix that Ziyal herself is a wonderful character in her own right (who will go on to be a pretty important recurring character) and some nice world-building (the introduction of the Breen) and this story is a real winner!
Sadly, it's the B-plot with Sisko and Yates that drags "Indiscretion" down. Really, they went with the ultimate cliche of "male fear of commitment"? Really?! I really could have done without this. It doesn't help that it's also another example of why I don't like Dax. She ignites the whole situation in the first place (essentially just for shits and giggles) by suggesting that Yates move onto the station even though she clearly knows that Sisko isn't ready for that and then later basically tells Bashir "it's a big step, teehee!". Please, stop having her act like such a twit! Oh, and there's a scene where Quark gives the standard male Ferengi view on women, because we haven't made Quark look bad yet this season, apparently. The only thing that salvages this plot-line is the ending where we learn that it actually isn't "male fear of commitment" but Sisko's legitimate fear of repeating what happened to Jennifer. Okay, I'll give them credit, that's a good piece of character work.
8/10
Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 3:29pm (UTC -5)
But loved the Dukat and Kira scenes. Especially the butt-hurt scene. :)
Wed, Nov 30, 2016, 6:14am (UTC -5)
I'm also now convinced that Nana Visitor is just an awful actress.
Wed, Nov 30, 2016, 9:50am (UTC -5)
Why's that?
Sat, Jan 21, 2017, 1:27am (UTC -5)
I believe on some level Dukat felt attracted to Major Kira, and once his first secret was out, he was emotionally more open.
The way he laughed about the thorn in his ass, he would have done, when he was alone with his Bajoran lover.
I would have expected a scene where after Dukat's announcement to kill his daughter Kira would have been angry that he first sleeps with a Bajoran and then wants to kill their common child. That should be a total relapse from the playful thorn scene, something like being betrayed.
Thu, Jan 26, 2017, 8:45am (UTC -5)
When you think of it that way, maybe it's not so far-fetched that Kira and Ducat, with the element of surprise on their side, could cut through them like a hot knife through butter. Certainly enough that the willing suspension of disbelief can be reasonably applied.
Thu, Jan 26, 2017, 10:03pm (UTC -5)
@Carson
Good points, in my humble opinion. I have thought something along those lines since it first aired, but you put pen to paper and set them out for me to agree with.
Now please get out of my head... :)
RT
Sun, Aug 6, 2017, 10:30pm (UTC -5)
These B plots are annoying--a whole thread about Kasidy moving to the station and Ben's reaction. These material is so ho hum and could easily take place on a plain ol' tv program Seems like a waste of time shoehorning so many of these on Ds9--sisko meets Kasidy, Worf fumbles Odo's security operation, kasidy moving to the station, will Bashir win an award, Worf finds the station uncomfortable and moves onto Defiant, Obrien vs the Vulcan at darts, Obrien wants his dart board and breaks into Quark, Zimmerman wants Leeta and she wants to make Rom jealous, garak and Ziyal in a sauna etc etc. this does absolutely nothing for me
The main plot was a little better but far from great. The mystery of what happened to the Ravanok was initially intriguing but then to find out it was merely shot down by the Breen and the survivors become slave labor. Pretty uninspired
DUkat having an illegitimate child left me cold. There were one or two decent scenes between Kira and Dukat but overall not very impressive
Sat, Sep 16, 2017, 11:34am (UTC -5)
I had issues with the ending: Dukat/Kira easily overcome the guards and then there's the lame standoff with Ziyal. Dukat was pretty certain that he was going to kill her and then he doesn't -- that's good but what about all his posturing earlier? So I'd put this fault more on the writer(s) than Alaimo's acting, which never lets the viewer down.
As for Dukat sitting on the thorn, this silly comedic moment was not needed in the episode. That Kira laughs hysterically while Dukat points a medical device at his ass is probably the kind of thing you'd find in, say, "The Orville" but it doesn't belong in DS9. The writers could have tried another way to make the 2 somewhat closer.
As for the B-plot, I found this to be uninteresting and a distraction. So Jake seems to know better about women than his dad. Highly doubtful to me. And Yates is just annoying and gives the impression of being shady. This B-plot was a detractor to the episode.
2.5 stars for "Indiscretion" -- stick Dukat and Kira together and you won't be disappointed although the episode could have been 3 stars but for other parts that fell flat. We're really starting to see that there's quite a lot of material from the Cardassian/Bajor conflict that can lead to interesting situations and consequences playing out. Now Dukat has a halfbreed daughter to deal with.
Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 10:33pm (UTC -5)
-------
Exactly. As for what the writer wrote regarding the choice of scene.... lmao. Just utter garbage. Kira and Dukat aren't just enemies and Kira wouldn't be going on a mission with this guy anyway. She'd point blank refuse to do so. Dukat is directly responsible for numerous murders of her people.
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