more DS9
Sorry to be spammy. I haven't been feeling well for the last few days, so I've been staying at home mainlining DS9. And then I get the urge to talk about it.
I just finished "Improbable Cause"/"The Die Is Cast." On the one hand, there's this terribly dark story about how Garak is a lying liar who lies, how what loyalties he has are with the Obsidian Order (the nastiest, most fascistic organization in Cardassian society), and how he's so desperate to be let back into it that he'll torture poor Odo to prove himself.
On the other hand, there's the gloriously, ridiculously homoerotic story that makes me squeeful. In which Garak and Bashir give each other expensive chocolates, and Bashir frets horribly when Garak is away and tries unsuccessfully to turn O'Brien into a substitute Garak, but meanwhile ol' faithless Garak has abandoned him for the ex-boyfriend he never stopped loving. (Oh, come on. Surely I'm not the only one to whom the Garak/Tain relationship read as something a lot more intense than protégé-and-mentor?) Garak owes Bashir a big damn box of chocolates now, the bastard.
Garak seems to be on the opposite trajectory from Odo. Where Odo keeps rejecting his own people because he disapproves of their behavior, and also because of his ties to his friends, Garak chases desperately after Cardassian acceptance and would willingly give up anything to get it. Or would he? I'm remembering the episode with the Cardassian dissidents ("Profit and Loss"), and how Garak helped them escape because he saw that as part of his duty to and love for Cardassia. That doesn't seem to fit with any kind of loyalty to the Obsidian Order, so maybe what was in play in this storyline really was mostly his personal loyalty to Tain. Ah, the enigmatic Mr. Garak.
I think Garak's torture of Odo was glossed over a little too lightly. I don't quite understand why Odo would have made any special effort to save Garak's life; Odo isn't a particularly forgiving person anyway--he's more interested in justice than in mercy--and he wasn't privy to the possible mitigating factors, such as Garak's remorse or what he did to save Odo's life. I guess I would have found it all more plausible if Odo had seemed a little more distressed or angry or something. Of course Odo hides his feelings as much as he can, but even so.
I loved their conversation at the end, though. Garak's line, "Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I'm a very good tailor," encapsulates so much about him. That light self-mocking irony with the deep, deep bitterness under the surface, and a wistfulness too. And I'm still mulling over the final lines:Odo: Garak, I was thinking that you and I should have breakfast together some time.
Garak: Why, constable, I thought you didn't eat.
Odo: I don't.
And then he walks away.
I'm not sure what to make of it. Odo's first line echoes Garak's lunches with Bashir, the only bond of any strength at all that Garak has formed on DS9. But then when Odo says "I don't [eat]" that sense of resemblance dissolves. What I think Odo may ultimately be saying is, "We almost have enough in common to be friends. But not quite."
I wonder what lies Garak's going to tell Bashir about the whole business.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.
I just finished "Improbable Cause"/"The Die Is Cast." On the one hand, there's this terribly dark story about how Garak is a lying liar who lies, how what loyalties he has are with the Obsidian Order (the nastiest, most fascistic organization in Cardassian society), and how he's so desperate to be let back into it that he'll torture poor Odo to prove himself.
On the other hand, there's the gloriously, ridiculously homoerotic story that makes me squeeful. In which Garak and Bashir give each other expensive chocolates, and Bashir frets horribly when Garak is away and tries unsuccessfully to turn O'Brien into a substitute Garak, but meanwhile ol' faithless Garak has abandoned him for the ex-boyfriend he never stopped loving. (Oh, come on. Surely I'm not the only one to whom the Garak/Tain relationship read as something a lot more intense than protégé-and-mentor?) Garak owes Bashir a big damn box of chocolates now, the bastard.
Garak seems to be on the opposite trajectory from Odo. Where Odo keeps rejecting his own people because he disapproves of their behavior, and also because of his ties to his friends, Garak chases desperately after Cardassian acceptance and would willingly give up anything to get it. Or would he? I'm remembering the episode with the Cardassian dissidents ("Profit and Loss"), and how Garak helped them escape because he saw that as part of his duty to and love for Cardassia. That doesn't seem to fit with any kind of loyalty to the Obsidian Order, so maybe what was in play in this storyline really was mostly his personal loyalty to Tain. Ah, the enigmatic Mr. Garak.
I think Garak's torture of Odo was glossed over a little too lightly. I don't quite understand why Odo would have made any special effort to save Garak's life; Odo isn't a particularly forgiving person anyway--he's more interested in justice than in mercy--and he wasn't privy to the possible mitigating factors, such as Garak's remorse or what he did to save Odo's life. I guess I would have found it all more plausible if Odo had seemed a little more distressed or angry or something. Of course Odo hides his feelings as much as he can, but even so.
I loved their conversation at the end, though. Garak's line, "Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I'm a very good tailor," encapsulates so much about him. That light self-mocking irony with the deep, deep bitterness under the surface, and a wistfulness too. And I'm still mulling over the final lines:Odo: Garak, I was thinking that you and I should have breakfast together some time.
Garak: Why, constable, I thought you didn't eat.
Odo: I don't.
And then he walks away.
I'm not sure what to make of it. Odo's first line echoes Garak's lunches with Bashir, the only bond of any strength at all that Garak has formed on DS9. But then when Odo says "I don't [eat]" that sense of resemblance dissolves. What I think Odo may ultimately be saying is, "We almost have enough in common to be friends. But not quite."
I wonder what lies Garak's going to tell Bashir about the whole business.
Crossposted at Dreamwidth (
comments); you can comment here or there.