oh my god ! this episode is so intense ! my heart beating so fast !!
[9.7/10] Justice is a slippery concept. Everyone has an intuitive idea of what it means. Something about fairness and folks getting what they deserve, good or bad. But the bigger the crime, the more people involved, the more victims created, the harder it becomes to figure out what a grand idea like “justice” means in that situation.
It’s a notion Jews have been wrestling with for a long time in the shadow of the Holocaust. “Duet” has particular resonance for me as a Jewish man, one who lost relatives to that atrocity. The episode reckons with how survivors of state-sanctioned, abominable actions feel, how we treat those who were complicit but not active perpetrators, and how those who weren’t directly harmed, but who nonetheless share their people’s righteous indignation, should respond to those who benefited from such suffering.
Those are still live issues now, with no shortage of horrid acts perpetrated across the globe, and were ever more salient then, when the direct analogues “Duet” is referencing were still fresh in the popular consciousness. The heart wrenching tale starts when Deep Space Nine receives a visitor with a rare disease, one suffered only by people at an infamous Cardassian “labor camp.” Kira goes to see this passerby, since the liberation of the camp and the suffering of its prisoners became a moral rallying point for the Bajoran resistance. But she’s aghast when she sees he’s a Cardassian, not a Bajoran, marking him as one of the operators of the camp, not one of its victims.
With that setup, you can basically divide “Duet” into three phases. The first is how do you treat a person who was a small cog in a terrible machine? The second is what do you do with a notorious war criminal? And the third is how do you respond to a former enemy trying desperately to atone?
There’s intrigue and depth in each of them. I’ll confess that I think phase one asks the most interesting question of the three. At first, it seems like Kira has merely tracked down one Aamin Marritza, a dedicated but unremarkable file clerk who worked at the notorious labor camp. His presence aboard the station, the Bajorans’ enthusiasm for extracting him and stringing him up, and Sisko’s insistence on getting to the bottom of the situation before proceeding all establish a thought-provoking dilemma.
It comes down to motivated reasoning. Kira wants vengeance and so do her people. The first section of the episode suggests that, despite her protests to the contrary, this leads her to see Marritza as more than he really is. There were undoubtedly horrors committed at the labor camp, but he seems unlikely to have committed any of them. Kira’s gut-level certainty that he did, that his lies about not having been there mean he’s deep in the shit, compromise the investigation and its ability to achieve justice.
So too does the sense that Kira, the Bajoran minister she alerts, and the station’s equivalent of a town drunk all just want an outlet for their (righteous) anger, someone to hold to account for such grievous crimes committed against their compatriots, whether this particular individual’s specific actions rise to the level of those crimes or not. The episode lays it on a little thick in places, but in short, Kira and her allies want vengeance more than they want justice, and they’ll take it from a file clerk even if they can’t take it from the true butchers they’re after.
And it’s complicated by the question of how much should we hold a complicit file clerk accountable for participating in such a craven venture? How do you punish someone who was a tiny but active part of a genocide? What do you do when someone committed no acts that we would traditionally think of as crimes, but whose work nonetheless supported something generationally awful? Taken in his initial guise, Marritza feels like he deserves to be held responsible to some degree, in some proportion, to what his duties contributed to, but parsing out the how and the what, in the face of a people hungry for moral recompense, while still being just, is nigh-impossible.
I get it. I get the urge to want to nail anyone you can because so many of those responsible slipped through the cracks or escaped being brought to justice through other means. I get the sense of a grievous, epochal wrong having been committed against you and your people, and wanting everyone tainted by participating in it to be given no quarter. Kira’s anger is resonant. Her willingness to elide the usual processes in the face of something so unique and freighted with communal loss is understandable. And the episode’s questions of whether that might also taint the sort of justice that can be achieved is just as palpable.
But the episode takes a turn when, thanks to some CSI-like questionable image enhancement, it’s revealed that the man in Odo’s cells is not, in fact, a humble file clerk, but rather Gul Darhe’el, the man in charge of Gallitep, the forced labor camp that was a site of torture, cruelty, and extermination.
Here is where the questions of how to process a minor figure in a major atrocity go out the window, and the question instead becomes how do you reckon with the chance to come face-to-face with a monster, to finally make someone reprehensible pay for their unfathomable crimes? Here is the science fiction of the capture of Adolf Eichman, one of the architects of the Holocaust, and Kira must reconcile herself to the man’s undaunted reveling in his “accomplishments.”
The twist might not work so well without the virtuoso performance by guest actor Harris Yulin. The sterling script, penned by key series writer Peter Allan Fields, puts a lot on Yulin’s shoulders. The Cardassian prisoner du jour not only has these long, Hannibal-esque monologues peppered into his taunting banter with Kira, but he has to believably capture and convey every different mode of this man. He must be a simple man caught up in something horrible, a gloating villain whose joy in his deeds is as chilling as it is plausible, and a man desperately seeking his own sort of justice.
He succeeds in all three. Part of what makes the central mystery of the episode work -- Who is this guy really? -- is how convincingly Yulin hits all of those marks. He sells each turn, each reveal, each moment when Marritza is supposed to be bragging whilst on top of the world despite his fate, and when his facade is slowly crumbling. The words he offers of his deeds, of how Gul Darhe’el viewed his life’s work, are frightening in how they align with the self-justifications of real life Nazis, and in how Yulin matches the words on the page with an intensity and maximalist delight that nonetheless comes across as distrubingly real.
Not for nothing, this is Nana Visitor’s best episode so far as well. She plays well with Yulin as a scene partner, and gives a layered performance as Kira confronting so many complicated issues from her past and her people’s unfortunate history. The way she is steadfast in her beliefs and in her anger, while also horrified and vulnerable at finally being able to deliver justice to her people while also forcing herself to verify this man’s abominable deeds, comes through with affecting clarity. The emotions, the questions, the mood of this whole episode is big and intense, but with performers like these, the moments never stop feeling grounded and poignant.
“Duet”, however, has one last trick up its sleeve. After a little more digging (and some cajoling of none other than his former employer, Gul Dukat), Odo uncovers that the man in the brig is not, in fact Gul Darhe’el, but rather actually is Marritza, who had cosmetic surgery to make himself look like the infamous butcher of Bajorans. What’s more, he wanted to get caught, wanted to turn himself over to Kira specifically, rather than getting trapped by chance.
It’s the only part of the story that strains credulity, just a little. Dramatic cosmetic surgery is nothing new in Star Trek. But his ability to pull this ploy off, his behavior in some of the earlier interactions, requires more than a few things to go just his way in order for this series of events to play out the way he wants them to. There’s a touch of noticeable contrivance here in the name of a good series of twists, and it’s worth noting, even if I’m apt to forgive it.
I’m willing to forgive it because apart from the logistics, these extraordinary actions feel right and true based on what we see and are told about Marritza. He is not merely some civil servant with the misfortune to risk being turned into a poster boy for genocide, nor the evil man who bears a substantial responsibility for the war crimes committed. He is a human being (so to speak) tortured by what he was complicit in, desperate for some measure of absolution and communal salvation, willing to go to incredible, arguably unhinged lengths to gain and grant it.
He breaks down and, in a roundabout way, admits that while he was, in fact, a file clerk, he was not one oblivious to the horrors that took place at Gallitep. He was someone who heard the screams of those abused and tortured, who covered his ears to try not to hear such terrible acts lest his mind be torn in twain. He is someone still haunted by what he saw and heard and did, or more accurately, didn’t do to stop any of it.
So he chose to act now. One of the hardest pills to swallow about the whole interlude is that while you (or at least, I) uncover a new sympathy for this man, it puts his past boasts in a different light. Maybe he was exaggerating a tad to goad the Bajorans into processing him for Gul Darhe’el’s crimes. But I read it as Marritza imitating the attitudes and comments of his superior officers, his parroting of their self-justiciations and philosophies so they can be inscribed in the record, rather than fabricating them. Marritza revealing his lie is, in a sideways fashion, an unfortunate method of confirming it’s all true.
Marritza isn’t here to dissemble. He isn’t even here to die. He’s here to atone, to pay back the Bajoran people in some small way, and to save his own people in another. He wants to cleanse his soul of those screams, use his complicitness for good, or at least, allow something good to come out of it. He wants to give the Bajorans the justice they deserve, if only symbolically, by throwing himself at their feet to be tied in the deceased Gul Darhe’el’s place. And he believes that only through this truth and accounting, can his people be likewise cleansed of the great sin his countrymen perpetuated, only then can they move forward as a people and not eternally carry the stain of Gallitep and similar travesties.
It’s a little insane, but my god, what a piercing, poetic gesture, delivered in the way only fiction can. Yulin again delivers the pathos of this wounded soul and his futile bid to salvage equitable recompense and karmic realignment from such an unlikely source. And the impact of it is not lost on Kira.
If she’d followed her instincts, if she’d allowed her justified anger to overtake her, she would have signed this file clerk’s death warrant, or championed him as the Butcher of Gallitep, and never known the truth. She would never have seen that for all the understandable but nevertheless kneejerk hatred she bears for the Cardassian, here is someone to make her rethink her perspective, to realize that they are no more a monolith than her people are. Hers is a chance to realize that some want to recognize the wounds caused in the war and try to heal them, to uncover true justice unclouded by the urge for base retribution.
And yet, it comes anyway. The bitter Bajoran drunk stabbing Marritza in the back is, in some ways, an easy out. It means Deep Space Nine never has to address how the Bajorans or the Cardassians or the Federation deal with the can of worms Marritza’s existence and scheme opens. But again, it has a poetry to it, an irony to it, where the death of a man whose end Kira once hungered for in the beginning of the episode, leads her not only to mourn him, but to recognize the brutal death he receives simply for being Cardassian as an injustice herself. There’s poingance in that as well, which covers up any convenience.
It makes for a powerful, jaw-dropping episodes from beginning to end, and a sign of the thorny moral questions of war and loss and civilization that DS9 would tackle with aplomb as the show matured and evolved. The meaning “Duet” extracts from each of those phases, the tour de force performances from Yulin and Visitor that power it, the intricate script from Fields that deftly wrestles with big issues that are nonetheless deftly captured in forty-four minutes, is all truly extraordinary.
It comes down to that tricky notion of justice, a concept that initially puts Kira and Marritza on opposite battle lines but ultimately unites them. I don’t have the moral authority to decide who deserves damnation and who deserves absolution in the wake of the Holocaust. Good men did terrible things; bad men did worse things, and even more stood by and did nothing. The ethical calculus of parsing out those actions and bringing them to account is beyond me, maybe beyond anyone.
But I also don’t believe in collective guilt. I don’t believe in holding a people responsible for the actions of their ancestors. And I believe in accepting those souls, be they individuals or governments, who seek to make restitution, make up somehow for the harms they’ve perpetuated. If you asked Kira about these ideas at the beginning of “Duet”, I don’t think she’d agree. But if you asked her in the wake of these events, she might sing a different tune, or at least think hard about them. When trying to discern what counts as justice in a fog of horrid acts and fallible human beings, that’s all we can ask.
Another fantastic episode from what has been an absolutely delightful first season. Did not see the Dr Aspen twist coming which made up for the whole "pirates taking over the ship" plot being a bit predictable at first. Definitely excited for the last few episodes, but at the same time I'm absolutely not ready for it to end.
An outstanding episode. The stakes were much higher than in the first two episodes. The scenes with Vader were just breathtaking. Also Obi-Wan seeing Anakin as Vader for the first time was so heartbreaking but what a powerful scene.
Themes this season: Love, redemption and forgiveness. It's been enjoyable, imperfect, of course... but still, quite enjoyable.
As a long time Star Trek fan, I never thought I'd see the day when the Borg would be welcomed into the federation. Wow, just... wow! That's growth and it's great!
Also, they CRUSHED this episode! Lol, good story, good times.
Art is always subjective and it is impossible to please everyone, but if you're lucky your positive impact will outweigh the negatives (like Jurati did for the Borg). ST: Picard is an acceptable TNG sequel I strongly believe all the original creators and cast would (and should) be proud of.
Colonel Carter Count: 14/20 episodes this season. I guess 70% isn't bad, but it's still considerably lower than I'd expect for a star with main-cast billing like Amanda Tapping.
Despite the whole "ECH" shtick in one episode of Star Trek: Voyager, it's still weird to see Robert Picardo in a red uniform. :joy:
This might be the best "clip show" in Stargate history, and that's because the clips are new material. Structurally, though, it's pretty similar: Most of the episode is vignettes tied together with a few low-budget scenes on some redressed corridor sets. Probably the most expensive scene (other than the raid on Michael's compound in the last few minutes, setting up the season-ending cliffhanger) was Sheppard fighting through the sandstorm. I like this style of storytelling, really. I just don't like being fed old footage. :smirk:
Sheppard's quip about it not being his birthday got me thinking… Atlantis never addresses the issue of planetary rotational/orbital periods. Does the planet where Atlantis sits have exactly the same 24-hour day and 365-day year as Earth? Surely not? Surely it's also different from where the city rested at the beginning of the series. There must be some small variation on each world, so what do the Atlantis personnel do about date-keeping? (Probably quartz or atomic timekeeping devices for reference to Earth time, and the city's own systems for local time, or something like that. Still, odd that they never even mention it.)
I had no idea what this show would be about when I decided to watch it. I was pleasantly surprised by the first episode and think it's been getting ever more interesting as it goes along. It's nice to see some thoughtful programs still being made, and as it's set in the 70s (at least the first episodes were) there still an excuse for the idea that America still has to be pre-eminent. After the last 4 years, I think that may have sunk without a trace but hey, empires never last ...
Should have seen this coming. Romances in Star Wars usually don't go well. Shame, Kanan and Hera felt like they deserved each other. After all the sacrifices they endured Kanan now made the ultimate one and by that showed his feelings.
I am not nearly as attached to those characters as I am to the ones from others shows/movies. Which is partly due to the fact I'am watching this for the first time. But Sabine was actually one I began to like. I am sure she will come back at some point, or the story will come back to her as I am sure this starts another sideplot.
I hope the "he" in "he lives" is not Savage. But who else could it be ? Maul should be aware that Palpatine, his former master, is still there. He could mean Kenobi with he sure has a score to settle. Otherwise I didn't know who "he" could be and Savage would certainly be an ally for Maul.
Pretty cool that the ship and pilot are modeled after the star tours ride at Disneyland. Nice little Easter egg
I love the show’s concept, the set design, the bright color palette, and the cast. The writing, on the other hand, not so much.
[7.3/10] I thought this was an improvement on the first episode of the series. Getting Picard opposite some more great scene partners is helpful, and I especially liked his confrontation with the Starfleet admiral. The clash of ideals point is coming through loud and clear, and Stewart is doing good work. (I also enjoyed his scene with his old physician buddy.)
But man, they're really strapping on the lore here, and it's not working for me. I don't know why we need a double secret Romulan police force, and the details that we get for the major mystery are pretty convoluted. This one is a drag anytime Picard's not on screen, and the build up to the main mystery has been less than inspired. Still hopeful for things to come!
The blush on the cheeks scene was a nod at The Simpsons: I remember Marge's mom telling Marge something like "whores use rouge, ladies pinch" ("ladies leech", in Disenchantment). There were probably more nods at The Simpsons (and Futurama?), but clueless as I am I was already lucky enough to find that one.
The humour is a little bit wonky at times (i.e., not working), but this first episode was mildly enjoyable. Definitely not a breath of fresh air (unfortunately), but I found it to be watchable. Honestly, after watching BoJack Horseman I can hardly find any other cartoon show entertaining, but I'm willing to give Disenchantment a chance.
Admittingly a bit of a constructed story with an in-your-face philosophy, but I`ll take it. Well written and balanced. And a good continuation of an underlying general plot that weaves the episodes together and creates a mythology. And the Dolly Parton stuff really made me smile, that was a good idea.
I am really beginning to dislike Klyden a lot and I see a divorce coming. In any case this has to be adressed moving forward.
And have you noticed the line-up of guest stars in this episode. I was grinning all over when I saw the names listed in the credits.
A flashback episode that was everything but boring! That's not an easy feat.
First season of Future Man was OK (I almost lost interest in watching anything else besides it), but this second season has been totally bonkers!
I hope the PIGS won't prevent them from going to MARS.
And the second season finally starts to pick up the pace! For me, this was the best episode of the season, so far (yes, we still got a few more more to go, I know). Being trapped with the enemy, hiding from a menacing race that overpowers them both was a nice plot device. What followed was a solid episode about hope & forgiveness, love & heartache. They seem to be going for the drama, this season, and they're finally nailing it.
Also, I love that they kept the new head of security for an extra episode, I really like that typical Family Guy kind of character (he's sort of a familiar and comfy cliché). Too bad they'll be ditching him, soon. Probably replacing him with a human. Human show runners are so racist. Meh.
The show has become a bit over-Borged.
Just a different take on the take-over-body scenario. Nothing special.
Um, Tom, why wait until "morning"? If the weather on the planet gets nasty at night, just take the shuttle down to the day side. Unless this orchid species is specific to one region, that is (which wasn't mentioned on screen).
Looks like there's some kind of tape mark on the biobed that Janeway asks Tuvix to sit on. The camera panning makes it hard to tell (motion, especially horizontal motion, tends to blur in TV-sourced video because of interlacing, and DVD encoding doesn't make it any better) but there's something orange on that bed and it isn't present on the other two. Perhaps it's a spacing marker for where Tom Wright should sit so the following effects shot (in which he disappears and is replaced by Ethan Phillips and Tim Russ) will work.
I'd also like to know why Neelix came out of the separation procedure wearing a Starfleet uniform, when he went in wearing one of his trademark patterned jackets. I won't go as far as to call it a goof, because the writers most likely had a reason for not putting him back in his original clothing. But one must wonder why the clothing was merged in the first place, if the orchid's symbiogenetic properties worked on a genetic level. Starfleet uniforms have no DNA, so far as we know, and ditto for Neelix's clothes.
Most people who watch this episode probably have a similar reaction: The premise is creepy, but the ethical dilemma that it creates is interesting. I find myself agreeing with @LeftHandedGuitarist once more regarding the actor chosen to play Tuvix: Tom Wright didn't feel like the best possible fit for the role, somehow, despite solid acting work that he clearly put in time with both Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips to develop around some of their characters' mannerisms.
As much as I disliked the setup, I'm honestly not sure how it could have been done better, except for maybe changing which two crew members were fused. No doubt Tuvok and Neelix were chosen because the show has spent two seasons up to this point building on how much Neelix annoys Tuvok, but they didn't make use of any of that. Tuvix is perfectly happy as the fusion of two men who didn't exactly get along. Janeway can't be fused, unless we want to give the moral dilemma to Chakotay (boring), but that still leaves over a dozen other possibilities to consider. I really don't know which of them would have been better, but I suspect the writers also really liked having that girls' chat between Kes and Janeway.
Ultimately I can't be too hard on this episode. It might have been interesting only in the latter half, but I think this was a defining episode for Janeway. Unlike @FinFan, I don't think this finished her as a character. Rather, it illustrates exactly the kind of person she is, and what lengths she'll go to when the people she cares about are threatened.
Beat episode of the season. Need more like this!
Hmmmm... I believed the hype, I was all pumped for this show, but now I feel a bit cheated. Things look cool and futuristic, but the story and characters felt weak, it lacked charisma and spark. It's all a bit clunky. It's like Blade Runner with blood and violence (and, consequently, a bit more action), minus the whole sci-fi appeal...
Oh, and I think this was the first time we witnessed the future of adblockers. Today, we install them in our devices; in the future, we install the adblocker in ourselves. Interesting (and I'm so not looking forward to it).
Also, two actors from Dollhouse in the same episode? Pure coincidence or is Joss Wheldon somehow involved with this?
Anyway, this first episode was just barely interesting enough to keep me curious, but definitely not good enough to make me a fan. Let's see how the rest of the season unfolds.
"The Star Trek Without the Star Trek Within". Yes, silly title, it made as much sense as the episode itself (but, to be honest, Discovery does often feel like Star Trek without the Star Trek within). Well, at least they're gearing up for what it seems to be a fun (though most likely ludicrous) season finale.
Evil Stamets is dead! Lorca is dead! They just won't stop with the twists! Every time I think that I know where they're going with this, a twist comes along and shakes things up. The unpredictability of this show is definitely one of its more attractive features. But now I feel a bit disappointed because it seems that we're back again at Klingons vs. Humans... I gotta say, for me, the best part of the show was spent in the Mirror Universe.
All the rush and adrenaline of this episode made it feel like a season finale, but we still got two episodes left. Let's see where they're taking this baby, now...
But what upsets me the most is that we will no longer be able to have Lorca saying the cute catchphrase "Make the Empire great again!".
Though most people seem to have disliked this episode, I loved every second of it. THE HERO'S JORNEY, MAN! The hero has to fall back on her journey and then raise back again, thinking of his friends etc. And omg! Even though I've read here some understanding of Star Wars references, I totally saw Magneto hero. El is both Magneto and Professor Xavier xD And her sista also plays an Xavier act, the invisible stuff! Loved every second of it!
[9.2/10] Such a classic. The opening spoof of The Shiny is filled to brim with great moment, especially Willie saying “shh, you want to get sued?” and Homer’s “no tv and no beer make Homer something something” escapade. “Time and Punishment” may be the best of the three, with awesome time-skipping adventures and even an appearance from Peabody and Sherman! And the third segment, featuring Skinner and the rest of the teachers eating the students, is a dark-minded farce with plenty of laughs. (“You might even say, we just ate Uter and he’s in our stomachs right now!” is hilarious non-joke joke.) All-in-all, this is the Treehouse of Horror sub-franchise at its finest.
Finally some good action, although I didn't like when they killed that old couple. And Elizabeth probably didn't either, that's why she wants to quit.
The narrative seems to be all over the place. Small incremental gains in the storyline. I would dearly love to see as to how all of this will culminate. The pastor Tim angle/narrative is boring, of course it's a subjective opinion. In a nutshell, can they get on with the action please?
Watch TNG S07E12 and then watch this one. Its a great experience!
Ugh. Bashir's acting in this is atrocious. Even more so that usual.
