In the eleventh episode of the sixth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, this show takes the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enemies trapped together\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trope and uses it to rip my heart out. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For extensive talk of ableism (re: depiction of mental illness), racism\/xenophobia, and genocide.<\/b><\/p>\n
This is absolutely one of the most intense episodes of this show, and I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT IT.<\/p>\n
Waltz<\/b><\/p>\n
Ronald D. Moore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script, expertly directed by Rene Auberjonois, is about the waltz between good and evil; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also about the philosophical waltz between a man who believes he did his best (and was not thanked for it) and a man who wants to the world to be nuanced and layered, and yet realizes how flawed he is in believing this. It is complex, frightening, and ultimately, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most disturbing character study in\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>. AND THERE ARE A LOT OF DISTURBING MOMENTS IN THIS SHOW, OKAY.<\/p>\n
But \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waltz\u00e2\u20ac\u009d got under my skin, partially because it is both morally and physically brutal, an unflinching portrayal of the closest portrayal to evil that I have ever seen. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start off that way, and if anything, I saw the first half of this episode as a story about desperation more than anything. While stuck together on a planet with a harsh existence aboveground, Dukat confines Sisko to a cave and presses him to tell the truth: What does he\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0think of Dukat?<\/p>\n
It seems such a silly concern in the grand scheme of things, but it reveals Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intense desire to gain the respect of a man who he respects a great deal. Sisko has, time and time again, found a way to subvert and trick Dukat, and in their long struggle against one another, Dukat admires Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cunning, strategic mind. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a surprise nor a revelation in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waltz,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so the opening scenes are just a continuation of that idea. As soon as Sisko revealed that he secretly\u00c2\u00a0did<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0admire Dukat, then clearly, Dukat would turn the emergency beacon back on, and all would be fine!<\/p>\n
Hypothesizing about what Dukat\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0have done is weird in hindsight, though, because now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even sure what would have transpired if Sisko just told the man what he wanted to here. First of all, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not who Sisko is, and Dukat rightly pointed that out during one of the scenes here. Sisko makes split-second judgments all the time! So surely, he must have an opinion on Dukat, right?<\/p>\n
Thus, the waltz unfolds, and it is a terrifying thing to witness.<\/p>\n
Delusion<\/b><\/p>\n
I hesitate to offer criticism of the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depiction of Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mental illness because I myself am not disabled in this specific way, so I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t comment on how hallucinations really work in this context. My issue is more general: without much mental illness on this show in general, it becomes harder to not equate mental illness with Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evil nature. My hope is that\u00c2\u00a0anyone<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0could do so, and the story itself does not make excuses for Dukat. He is not evil\u00c2\u00a0because<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hallucinating; he is evil because he willingly admits to desiring genocide, to believing that the Cardassians are a superior race, to dedicating his life to the eradication of the Bajorans.\u00c2\u00a0That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0what makes him evil. He knows what he is doing, he knows the implications of his actions and beliefs, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care.<\/p>\n
Yet Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hallucinations are, canonically at least,\u00c2\u00a0because<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of the trauma of him witnessing Ziyal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. \u00c2\u00a0They manifest here almost like alternate personalities, and the writing isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly clear on this. I read them as specific parts of Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind vocalizing themselves in these people. Damar was his most pure Cardassian side; Kira was his doubt and resentment; Weyoun could easily have represented indifference and violence. That works, sure, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no talk of the logistics of this, so occasionally, it muddled the story itself.<\/p>\n
Just a little bit! Seeing Sisko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to it, though, made me feel better. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exploit the fact that Dukat was imagining people, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that he was working in self-interest, too. Sisko is a survivor, and he knew he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t escalate things right then. Instead, he tried his best to accept that Dukat was talking to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153others,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and he urged Dukat to focus on him alone. And yet, the waltz turns to disaster; Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anger spills over with betrayal, and EVERYTHING BECOMES A MILLION TIMES MORE HORRIFYING THAN I WAS READY FOR.<\/p>\n
Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0has often opted for nuance and complication, for layers and meaning, and thus, it disturbed me to watch Dukat shed all of those layers\u00c2\u00a0on purpose<\/i>. Sisko \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who by the way, broke his arm during the crash, suffered from plasma burns, and then had his arm\u00c2\u00a0re-broken<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0when Dukat attacked him \u00e2\u20ac\u201c manages to distract Dukat, though in doing so, Dukat reveals his true self.<\/p>\n
He is absolutely the monster everyone thought he was. If he ever seemed at all charming, if he ever seemed like a fool or someone desperate for validation, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all gone. He was always a hypocrite; he always knew he was a liar; he always knew he was manipulating others. In the end, the thing he wanted more than everything else was to wipe the Bajorans out of existence. And for what?<\/p>\n
For not appreciating how\u00c2\u00a0gentle<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0he was while oppressing them.<\/p>\n
Dukat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s logic is not new, nor is it a stranger in our modern times. There are people who will soon be in control of my government who truly have themselves convinced that their evilness is moral and good. But even in that case, I still think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difference. With \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waltz,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dukat doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really care if what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing is good or right; he admits he wants to kill all the Bajorans for a petty reason, and\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is what makes him a monster. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no mystery, no misguided morality. He is evil, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0it<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Good lord, I am utterly\u00c2\u00a0terrified<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for how this show is gonna deal with the Sisko\/Dukat rivalry in the future. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M NOT READY.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waltz\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the eleventh episode of the sixth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, this show takes the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enemies trapped together\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trope and uses it to rip my heart out. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,614],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"