S05.E15: By Inferno's Light

[John Potts]

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As the station readies for attack, new Alliances are made and old ones rekindled. Worf & Garak meet some unexpected friends in a Dominion Prison camp.

Funny to think that this is a "War" episode - but there's no actual fighting. But it's full of tension, surprises and heroism from some of the most unlikely people. Gul Dukat's Face/Heel turn is a surprise, but entirely in character for somebody who equates "How well is Cardassia doing?" with "How well am I doing?" And we get some great personal stories: the Bromance between O'Brien & Bashir; the surprising romance between Ziyal and Garak (which seems - as far as we can be sure of anything about Garak - to be entirely unfeigned); the strange "Frenemy" relationship between Sisko and Dukat and the introduction of the honourable Klingon Martok (yes, we'd seen his Changeling impostor, but not the real Martok). We even get some nice characterisation of the various races within the Dominion: the Founders are amoral Masterminds, the Vorta are callous managers and the Jem'Hadar are brutal but honourable warriors.

If that's not enough, there are some fantastic lines, too:
 

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Doctor Bashir: And you never even suspected it wasn't me?

Chief O'Brien: No. And the worst part is, the clues were right in front of me.

Doctor Bashir: What clues?

Chief O'Brien: Well, for one thing, he... was a lot easier to get along with.

 

 

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Garak: That won't be necessary. The original one will work; I just have to finish what I started. After all, a verse about the Cardassian who panicked in the face of danger would ruin General Martok's song.

General Martok: That would be unfortunate.

 

 

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Quark: The Jem Hadar don't eat, don't drink, and they don't have sex. And if that wasn't bad enough, the Founders don't eat and don't drink, and they don't have sex either. Which, between you and me, makes my financial future less than promising.

Ziyal: It might not be so bad. For all we know, the Vorta could be gluttonous, alcoholic sex maniacs.

 

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Chief O'Brien: They're still not responding to our hails.

Captain Sisko: I think they're trying to intimidate us.

Chief O'Brien: It's working.

 

All round, a great episode.

[readster]

Yes, really enjoyed this episode. I even loved the Changling/Bashire's face when he realized he was screwed when Kira went to warp in the solar system and flung the runabout to explode on it's own. Also, Quark's face after Ziyal did her idea of how the Vorta might be was fantastic. Always loved Armin Shimmerman.  

[iMonrey]

These are the kinds of episodes that really drive the show. It's too bad they went right from this to "Doctor Bashir, I presume," another silly character study episode that brought the action these past two episodes built up to a screeching halt. I get that DS9 is more interested in character study than world building, but it's a shame given what a fascinating world they've built up around these characters. I'm much more interested in what's going on with this war than I am in the little foibles of the various characters. I find it hard to believe that after the Cardassians join the Dominion and hundreds (?) of Dominion ships come through the wormhole and make their way to Cardassia, the events on DS9 just go back to normal and people are calm and sit around to be interviewed by Dr. Zimmerman so he can make a holographic EMT out of Bashir. Don't these people have anything better to do in the face of these recent events?

That's the overall problem with this show - pacing. We get a couple of really tense, exciting episodes and then all of a sudden the action stops and everyone acts like nothing very special is going on outside. 

[readster]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

These are the kinds of episodes that really drive the show. It's too bad they went right from this to "Doctor Bashir, I presume," another silly character study episode that brought the action these past two episodes built up to a screeching halt. I get that DS9 is more interested in character study than world building, but it's a shame given what a fascinating world they've built up around these characters. I'm much more interested in what's going on with this war than I am in the little foibles of the various characters. I find it hard to believe that after the Cardassians join the Dominion and hundreds (?) of Dominion ships come through the wormhole and make their way to Cardassia, the events on DS9 just go back to normal and people are calm and sit around to be interviewed by Dr. Zimmerman so he can make a holographic EMT out of Bashir. Don't these people have anything better to do in the face of these recent events?

That's the overall problem with this show - pacing. We get a couple of really tense, exciting episodes and then all of a sudden the action stops and everyone acts like nothing very special is going on outside. 

I think they were trying to treat it like war time during WWII. Where soldiers were at bars and night clubs both in Europe and the US and even to an extent Vietnam where soldiers went to parties at local towns. However, in the 24th century, especially given the are of space. Those were parts that were too much at times. 

[Melgaypet]

Also, serialization - on television in general and Star Trek in particular - was a fairly new thing at the time.