Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 28: Necessary Evil [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This episode had a spectacular film noir feel to it, with Odo serving as the PI figure and Kira and Pallra as mysterious femme fatales that could lead to Odo's untimely demise if he trusts the wrong one. It's a great story of murder, blackmail, and lies set against a dark, spaceborne version of a Nazi concentration camp.

Without question Necessary Evil is one of the best hours of Trek that you'll ever see. Once again Peter Allan Fields shows his enormous tallent and one wonders what seasons 3 and 4 would have been like had he added a few of his masterpieces. Kira and Odo are the stars here, yet it's the intricate plot that forces you to look into the minds and modivations of these characters - tearing apart your assumptions about who they are and replacing it with the cold, hard, yet believable truth. This will always remain a Top 5 episode for me.

"Nessacary Evil" is, after all of DS9's 7 year-run, still one of the most popular episodes of the series. The show is done in both present DS9 time, and marvelous flashback scenes to when the station was under Cardassian occupation. The direction is wonderful, making this a truly compelling show. But, standout characterizations are the key here, and they shine. The basic's of Odo's persona are revealed in the episode, as well as a dark chapter from Kira's past. Wonderful performances all across the board (as usual). The show is a very effective look into the Cardassian occupation, Major Kira's past, and Chief of Security Odo. A must see.

Pallra (Katherine Moffat), a Bajoran widow, hires a greedy, unsuspecting Quark to break into an unused store front on DS9 and to remove a strongbox from a hidden panel. How does she know it's there? What's inside? Quark will be paid well to just give her the box, but he can't resist opening it once he finds it and it nearly gets him killed. Rom demonstrates that he's not really stupid - just that he has a low self-esteem because his brother treats him like a moron.

Quark & Rom open the strongbox and find only a piece of paper with Bajoran names written on it. Not reading Bajoran on a daily basis, it's a chore for them to read it at a glance, so Rom goes to get an imager to take a picture of the document before they reseal the box and give it back to the widow.

An intruder shoots Quark at point blank range with a phaser and he is close to death - and the list is gone. Odo does investigating while Rom now celebrates that the bar is finally his. When Odo discovers that they stole the strongbox from what was once the old chemist's shop, Odo has mental flashbacks of the past - when he was strong-armed by Gul Dukat into investigating a murder of the chemist. He first met Kira and was obviously touched by her in some way and felt the need to protect her, even though he felt she really did have something to do with it, he defended her to Gul Dukat and it was the only crime on the station he was never able to solve.

Rom can only remember a few of the letters of the first name on the list and when he puts together a name and confronts the chemists' widow on Bajor with this name, she feigns ignorance - but the next day the man with that name is found drowned on his own property. Only now does Odo put security on Quark in the infirmary - you'd think that someone had already tried to murder him once would be enough of a reason to already have security watching him, but that's just me.

The retrospective flashbacks are of a time that the now liberated station inhabitants long to forget. Bajorans were forced to mine and work for the Cardies under horrendous conditions. As part of the underground, Kira had to fight and terrorize just to protect the lives of her fellow Bajorans and she did whatever she had to do to carry out her plans.

Odo was the man trapped in the middle. Both the Cardassians and Bajorans trusted him because he wasn't one of them, yet they distrusted him as well. Odo had to watch as the Cardassians brutalized Bajorans and was forced to obey Dukat's whims to save as many Bajorans as he could.

The ending is so elegant - you don't have it ending in a tight little bow. Both Odo and Kira face the past and each other and both confront each other with the raw truth. Will it ruin their friendship or embolden it? We don't know as the intimate silence between them speaks volumes and yet says nothing. An awesome episode.

This is still one of DS9's most highly regarded episodes, and for good reason. The story embraces a rather film noir style both with its murder mystery plot and its dark, unsettling atmosphere. The plot, told mostly in flashbacks, deals with the sordid past of several characters, including Major Kira, Odo, Gul Dukat and Quark. The opportunity taken to portray these characters during the time of the Cardassian Occupation is not wasted, and Odo and Dukat are memorably portrayed in this different environment. The story is engrossing and well-paced, with just enough sensation, humor and mystery to add breadth to the story. The ending is also a bit of a surprise, but an appropriate one. What makes 'Necessary Evil' a standout episode also encapsulates what was great about DS9 in general - the eagerness to be different and daring, to be unafraid of taking chances with its characters and telling stories more disturbing than its sister shows, but more compelling and rewarding in the end.