Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 2x08 — Necessary Evil

Aired 1993-11-14

SpaceOpera.com rating:8

Average reader rating:6

Synopsis

An attack on Quark's life brings Odo face to face with a five-year-old unsolved murder for which Kira was a prime suspect.

Filler rating: partial filler

This episode is not strictly speaking a must-see, but it establishes a lot of nice texture that will become relevant later, such as the conditions of the station while Dukat was in charge, how Odo came to work there, how Kira met Odo, how Quark met Odo, how Dukat met Odo, and how Quark met Kira. It's also the first episode to mention Odo's "Cardassian neck trick."

Remarkable scenes

Odo: "Commence station security log Stardate 47282.5. At the request of commander Sisko, I will hereafter be recording a daily log of law enforcement affairs. The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension. Except perhaps that humans have a compulsion to keep records and lists and files. So many in fact that they have to invent new ways to store them microscopically. Otherwise their records would overrun all known civilization. My own very adequate memory not being good enough for Starfleet I am pleased to put my voice to this official record of this day: Everything's under control. End log."
Rom revealing some of his hidden talents.
Rules of Acquisition: 139. Wives serve. Brothers inherit.
Odo: "You're not as stupid as you look!" Rom: "I am too!"
Odo's first meeting with Dukat.
Odo's first meeting with Kira.
Odo's first meeting with Quark.
Dukat: "You're not afraid of anyone, are you shape shifter? Not even me! I was right about you. You are the man for this job."
Rom saving his brother's life by screaming.
The revelation that Kira was the murderer.
Morn appearances; I've read that Morn appears briefly here, but I couldn't find him in this one.

Review

This episode features a wonderful history lesson; we get to see Terok Nor as it was during the occupation. And it features an old murder investigation which Odo can now solve. The whole plot is wonderfully interesting with multiple turning points and lots of intrigue. The title "Necessary Evil" is symbolic of Kira's deed (or perhaps all of her deeds) as a member of the underground. It may also represent Odo's collaboration with Dukat. Granted, Odo doesn't fit the strict definition of the collaborator. He wasn't gaining anything by working with Dukat, and he wouldn't have lost anything by refusing. Though Odo did walk the line between being for Bajor and being against Bajor, he was essentially in it for justice. All things considered, this is one of the most memorable episodes so far.

13 reader comments

Once again, this episode has very blatant duality between the bajorans and the jews. They are secluded in ghetto-like areas on the stations. Odo refers to bajorans that would sell out their own people to the cardassians, similar to jews that sold out their friends and families to the nazis. I wish they would just come out and admit it.
The ending was abrupt and incomplete. I wanted to see the rest of the flashback
PS- what's up with the obsession with Morn?
by Pete Miller | 05/24/2006 at 2:04 am

Why in the world did some one give this a 1?
This is one of the strongest episodes to this point in DS9. It's a stand-alone, but it does a great deal of work in fleshing out both Kira and Odo's characters and their relationship with each other. It's cool to see the station as it was under the Cardassians, great to see Kira in the underground, and the mystery of the plot works well.
by JRPoole | 12/08/2008 at 4:17 pm

What is with Rom's rogue tooth? It's really distracting.
And, good question: why point out every time Morn appears?
by DJB | 01/12/2009 at 7:34 am

It's like Where's Waldo. Cataloging every Morn appearance is like a weird little game for me.
by Eric Newport | 01/12/2009 at 8:04 pm

Morn (or someone very like him, the focus is unclear) appears at 35:14, passing behind the guy who leter tries to kill quark in the infirmary.
by Jens-Ivar Seland | 08/02/2009 at 8:55 pm

One of the very best episodes of Deep Space Nine. This sort of thing doesn't happen on the other Trek shows and episodes like this helped DS9 establish its own identity. The show got more consistent in later seasons, but it only rarely matched this level of quality. I rate it a 10.
by Chris Baldwin | 03/14/2010 at 7:07 pm

Excellent episode. Wonderful performances by Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois. The further insight into Odo's character is most welcome and the revelation at the end is executed superbly.
by Bernard | 10/13/2010 at 5:24 pm

Pete raises two stupid points.
The first: "this episode has very blatant duality between the bajorans and the jews". I think you mean to say that this episode has very blatant PARALLELS between the Bajorans and the Jews. Duality implies they have opposing, or at least complementary, characteristics. There is a duality between the Cardassians and the Bajorans, for example.
The second: "what's up with the obsession with Morn?" Morn adds a bit a regular levity to the otherwise dark tone of the show. Also, some people just happen to like Morn because he looks like a friendly turtle or something.
by John DC | 09/10/2011 at 2:48 am

I can fault the series for some unfortunate parallels between Jewish stereotypes and Ferengi mannerisms, but the similarities to Bajoran characteristics had not occurred to me.
by Matt Apple | 06/07/2012 at 7:23 am

An excellent episode: love the dark, shadowy noir style, complete with a femme fatale, a complicated mystery, and Odo's voice over. I almost wish they had used some of the angular Cardassian architecture to create a Venetian blind effect in some of the scenes, but that might have been just a little too much.
by Dstyle | 09/09/2013 at 3:07 pm

Great episode for all the reasons you all mentioned so i'll not repeat them but i can't believe the biggest thing you have all missed,
This is a blatant and continuous and excellent homage to Feter Falk as the character Columbo in regards to Odo being an investigator in the modern day parts where he is investigating (he is a master now like Columbo) compared to his first venture investigating, he even drops the famous line (27m53s) "Just one more thing ……." when talking with the widow in modern day and then he begins to question her on seemingly irrelevant details which she points out just like every previous victim of Columbo would whilst slipping a detail he was chasing at the same time dropping her guard taking him for a simpleton, add to this the continuous hand mannerism and the only thing he left out for the perfect Columbo impression was Peter's squint to hide his false eye. This was what made me go 9
by Rob UK | 11/10/2013 at 11:31 pm

I just rewatched this one and really enjoyed it. It was neat to see the station under the Cardassians and get some character backstory, too.
by Abigail Chappell | 06/07/2021 at 6:09 pm

The voice of the female guest star sounds IDENTICAL to that of the Voyager Borg queen, those inflections. However according to IMDB it isn't her. Strange.
by Luke | 08/03/2022 at 8:55 am