Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 3x05 — Second Skin
Synopsis
Kira is kidnapped by the Cardassians, who try to prove to her that she is really one of their people.
Filler rating: not filler
Kira's Cardassian "father" will become a more important character later and Garak's role in this episode is also important to his ongoing character arc.
Remarkable scenes
- Kira meeting people who remember her who she's never met.
- Kira a Cardassian.
- Kira chatting with "her father."
- Sisko and Odo extorting Garak to help them.
- Kira seeing her own dead Bajoran body.
- Garak bluffing(?) his way past the Galor class warships.
- Kira uncovering the plot to ruin the Legate.
- Garak killing his old nemesis.
- The Legate telling Kira never to trust Garak despite how he helped them.
- Kira's expression of respect to the Legate in the end.
Review
This is a nicely constructed episode. The mystery plot is enticing all the way up to the end. All through the episode, the mystery just gets more and more confusing; personally, I enjoy an episode I can't immediately figure out which surprises me in the end. I like how the climax involved a minimal amount of senseless violence. Garak's pointed murder of his old nemesis being the exception, but this is Garak we're talking about. He's forgiven! It annoys me once again that the Defiant is being used as Sisko's personal taxi, but we're given a better reason this time, the ship almost came to blows with Cardassian warships. Finally, I enjoyed the ending, especially the final scenes. Usually in stories like this, the victim (in this case Kira) is left with a profoundly traumatic experience. But Kira has developed a new respect for Cardassians, similar to what we saw of her in DS9: Duet. This episode could have been much better though if so much time wasn't wasted on the mystery. I'm not sure what they could have replaced it with, but if you watch this episode and compare it to DS9: Duet, something about DS9: Duet just feels like stronger storytelling. A fairly average episode.