In the twenty-fourth episode of the fifth season of Deep Space Nine, of course Bryan Fuller wrote this. OF COURSE HE DID. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
Oh my god OH MY GOD. Leave it up to Bryan Fuller to write an episode of Deep Space Nine that takes the whole “abandoned space station/ship” trope and makes it 100% PURE HORROR FROM BEGINNING TO END. And the brilliance here is that it’s different kinds of horror, from the threat of booby traps to the soldiers stalking the crew like they’re in a slasher film, to the unbelievably frightening transformation of Garak.
THIS EPISODE HURTS.
A Salvage Mission
This was supposed to be nothing more than a salvage mission, y’all. Nothing more! But the tragedy of this episode derives from its innocence, especially since the four new characters we meet are all picked off, one by one, by the Cardassian soldiers laying in wait on Empok Nor. Well… not technically, but we’ll get there. Fuller knew what he was getting into here, and thus, his script exploits our familiarity with this concept. It’s a space station that looks a lot like DS9, yet it’s been abandoned and is likely littered with booby traps. What else do we need, y’all??? That premise alone is built for suspense, and if this had been a story that focused on them trying to get past all these traps, I would most likely have loved that as well. (It’s like a close relative of a heist, so surprise, I would probably love it.)
However, “Empok Nor” escalates and elevates this story beyond anything that simplistic. How so? Initially, the Cardassian soliders, hiding in stasis tubes, are introduced. As I said earlier, that turns the episode into something akin to a slasher movie. Gods all bless the set design and lighting crew for this episode, because HOLY SHIT, did they ever utilize said things perfectly. Shadows are everywhere. You can barely see anything. Not just that, but I instantly distrusted everything I was seeing. When would one of the soldiers loom into vision? Was that glimpse of someone behind O’Brien one of them or another character? After that first attack, this sensation got even worse. Where were they hiding? THEY KNEW THE STATION TOO WELL, THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE!
The Hunt
And then the episode changes yet again. Instead of a pure slasher flick, it felt more like an action film, albeit a very fucked up one. It’s here that Garak’s playful toying of O’Brien means something else. Prior to this, I hadn’t given much thought to Garak making reference to O’Brien’s time as a soldier. But as Garak tracks down the two assassins, he reminds the audience that he was also not who he was in the present time. An engineer, a tailor… both men who saw warfare up close and who found a way to survive and to thrive within it. Initially, I just thought Garak was having a bit too much fun being back in this kind of violent role.
NO. NOPE. Instead, he’s exposed to the same psychotropic drug given to the Cardassian soldiers, and it heights their already natural xenophobia. GREAT. WHICH MEANS THAT GARAK LITERALLY HATES ANYONE AND ANYTHING THAT’S NOT A CARDASSIAN. So yeah, I absolutely did not expect this show to take this twist as far as they did. Yes, I thought that Garak would take out both the soldiers expertly, but then he KILLS AMARO. HE KILLED ONE OF THE CREW. And then the episode transforms once more, turning into Garak’s real-life game of kotra as he hunts down O’Brien and Nog. Oh my god, POOR NOG. THIS WAS HIS FIRST MAJOR MISSION OFF THE STATION ANDÂ THIS IS WHAT HE GETS.
Even though it’s easy to see how the drug changes Garak’s mind and pushes him past the point of control, there’s a contrast here: O’Brien, able to become a soldier, but without killing anyone. Garak, able to become a killer again, but unable to stop. And the victims are all gone, all during an away mission that was supposed to be challenging, but nowhere near as risky as it turned out. Sure, Garak will probably be pardoned for what happened, given that he was affected by a drug that prevented him from stopping. But that’s not going to get rid of the guilt, is it? It’s not gonna bring Amaro back either.
THIS EPISODE WAS SO BRUTAL, Y’ALL.
The video for “Empok Nor” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
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