S06.E11: Waltz

[John Potts]

Quote

Sisko and former Cardassian leader Gul Dukat, who is a prisoner and awaiting trial for war crimes, are marooned together on a deserted planet, and Sisko must rely on the increasingly unstable Dukat for his survival.

OK, the "trapped alone with the psycho" is scarcely an original plot, but the fact that THIS psycho is one we already know (and even have had some insight into his character) makes it more interesting. It is entirely consistent with his character to have him keep Sisko alive - "The true victory is to make your enemies realise they were wrong to oppose you in the first place" (Dukat, Sacrifice of Angels) - so it fits that he'd want to hear Sisko acknowledge that fact before killing him. I did think Ben could have done a better job of keeping Dukat calm through talking, but until I get marooned with a broken arm at the mercy of a psychopath, I guess I'm not really in a position to judge!

I did think that the scenes on the Defiant were rather weak (gotta give the rest of the cast something to do - except Odo, who was too busy directing). We know they ARE going to recover Ben in the end, so the false tension (will the crew defy orders?) didn't work even the first time. It might have been better had we learnt that while the Defiant was looking for Sisko, half the convoy got wiped out by the Jem'Hadar, so there actually WERE consequences of deciding to keep looking when they'd been ordered elsewhere.

[Incidentally, does anyone actually KNOW when this episode first aired? I've gone with the one that at least puts it on a Monday like most other episodes, but every website I've visited has given it a different date!]

[readster]

The main problem with this episode was how they were just going to escort Dukat away like that. It was just stupid that something wouldn't happen. However, the true history of everything come out about Dukat. Why the Bajorians hated him so much, even how the Dominion saw what he did as more merciful instead of saying: "You are all going to die!" Which was the Founders outlook when you opposed them. After this episode, I saw just how crazy Dukat was (not that I didn't before). However, at the end when you see him getting away and then where he went with the Pai Wraiths later on. I mean, this guy was sick. 

[The Crazed Spruce]

On 2017-06-23 at 7:04 AM, John Potts said:

[Incidentally, does anyone actually KNOW when this episode first aired? I've gone with the one that at least puts it on a Monday like most other episodes, but every website I've visited has given it a different date!]

TVDB puts it at January 8th, and that's the source we usually go by.

[John Potts]

10 hours ago, The Crazed Spruce said:

TVDB puts it at January 8th, and that's the source we usually go by.

Except that would be a Thursday, and I'm pretty sure DS9 was broadcast on Mondays. OK, it doesn't really matter, but I did check IMDB, Wikipedia, Memory Alpha and the AV Club's recaps and NONE of them agreed - I chose 5/1/98 (British format) because it seemed about the right date given when previous episodes were shown. The only other date that was close was 12/1/98, which would also be a Monday, so I guessed one of those were correct.

[Maverick]

DS9 was syndicated so it could air any night of the week depending on the local market.   Episodes were released on Mondays for brocade any time that week. 

[readster]

23 hours ago, Maverick said:

DS9 was syndicated so it could air any night of the week depending on the local market.   Episodes were released on Mondays for brocade any time that week. 

Yep, mine was on Monday nights almost always due to living in the midwest. 

[iMonrey]

I honestly had to go back and read the synopsis for Sacrifice of Angels because I did not remember Ziyal dying and I did not remember what happened to Dukat after Sisko et. al. took back DS9. Goes to show how much attention I was paying, I guess. Never really warmed up to Ziyal anyway - it didn't seem like they put much investment into that character before bumping her off. 

[rmontro]

On 6/23/2017 at 6:04 AM, John Potts said:

It is entirely consistent with his character to have him keep Sisko alive - "The true victory is to make your enemies realise they were wrong to oppose you in the first place" (Dukat, Sacrifice of Angels) - so it fits that he'd want to hear Sisko acknowledge that fact before killing him.

I don't know, my impression is that Dukat's character has been written somewhat inconsistently - in regard to just how evil he is.  In some episodes he has been portrayed in a pretty sympathetic light.  In this one, to listen to Sisko especially, he ranks up there with the worst of all war criminals.  I see why Dukat wanted to have his little conversation with Sisko before killing him, but he was intending on killing him.  With that in mind, I'm not sure why he contacted the Defiant to have Sisko rescued.  Maybe he wanted to have him in his debt, or maybe he wanted to convince him he wasn't such a bad guy after all.  Plus his mind wasn't functioning normally, but I still find the character to be kind of inconsistent.  

Edited May 12, 2018 by rmontro

[readster]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

I don't know, my impression is that Dukat's character has been written somewhat inconsistently - in regard to just how evil he is.  In some episodes he has been portrayed in a pretty sympathetic light.  In this one, to listen to Sisko especially, he ranks up there with the worst of all war criminals.  I see what Dukat wanted to have his little conversation with Sisko before killing him, but he was intending on killing him.  With that in mind, I'm not sure why he contacted the Defiant to have Sisko rescued.  Maybe he wanted to have him in his debt, or maybe he wanted to convince him he wasn't such a bad guy after all.  Plus his mind wasn't functioning normally, but I still find the character to be kind of inconsistent.  

Reminded me of Sloan on Alias, the guy kept himself alive and convincing others to let him live no matter what evil he did. Also, he ended the same way, trapped for eternity suffering. 

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, readster said:

Reminded me of Sloan on Alias, the guy kept himself alive and convincing others to let him live no matter what evil he did. Also, he ended the same way, trapped for eternity suffering. 

I haven't watched the final season of DS9 yet, so I'm not sure exactly what becomes of Dukat.  Don't feel bad if you think you've said too much though, spoilers don't bother me.