DS9: “The Collaborator” and “Tribunal”

Date: June 26, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 24 and 25

Musical Accompaniment: Celtic Music

Interstellar News: I met with 15 students today and got a ton of other things done as well, what a week!

Favorite Quote from “The Collaborator”:

Kira: A good man does not betray his own people.

Odo: The one thing I’ve learned about humanoids is that in extreme situations even the best of you are capable of doing terrible things.

Odo hitting Kira right where it hurts, as she had done terrible things during the occupation.

So what had happened in “The Collaborator” was…: Vedek Bareil visits the orb three times and has some strange visions each time, but he’s also now dating Kira and there is a lot of kissing. The Kai choosing is upcoming so of course Bareil and Winn do some verbal sparring but Kubus Oak comes aboard DS9 to ruin everyone’s lives. He was part of the Bajoran government during the Cardassian occupation and has been living on Cardassia since they pulled out, but he’s old and he just wants to go home… except he’s a traitor and is to live in exile. Vedek Winn believes Kubus has information pointing out that Bareil was the cause of a massacre. Kira goes looking for answers and it does not look good for Bareil as first the files are sealed and then they were deleted, but O’Brien is able to establish it was Bareil that did both. Bareil pulls out of the choosing and Winn is elected the new Kai, but Kira digs deeper and realizes Bareil was covering for Kai Opaka who sacrificed her own son to save over 1,000 Bajorans.

…”Welcome back. You’re under arrest.”: While I love that Kira and Bareil have each other and it’s clear they are very much in love, Bareil gets stiffer (no pun intended, promise) with each episode I see him in. He just doesn’t hit certain notes correctly and it bothers me a bit. He also needs to stop looking at the orb so damn much. I wanted to know more about Kubus and what happened to him, he seems to just disappear. I mean why would he even want to live on Bajor, he would never be safe if what happened on the station is any indication. He should have just retired elsewhere and called it a day. I do have to say I was compelled by the story but just knew it couldn’t be Bareil, he’s not that type of man. I also thought it was interesting that when Kira and Odo were talking, and she admits she’s in love with Bareil, Odo is like super shocked and then is like “oh yeah I knew all along and you humans are the worst at love”. COME ON DUDE, you’re totally in love with Kira! I like Odo but he is totally smitten with Kira and either is super weirded out about it or really just doesn’t know what to do with those feelings. Sigh. It was also interesting that Kira goes to Quark because she knows as awful as he can be, he’ll get the job done. It’s even more interesting when Quark calls her out on it. I was pissed, however, at Winn being elected to Kai because she is the absolute worst… she’s right up there with Umbridge. 6 educational decrees for this episode.

Favorite Quote from “Tribunal”:

Kovat: This would be a good time for you to advise the offender.

Odo: Advise him to do what?

Kovat: To confess. To throw himself on the mercy of the court, of course.

Odo: I never heard of a Cardassian court showing mercy.

Kovat trying to be a good Cardassian defense attorney, by their standards, and Odo being incredibly confused and sassy.

So what had happened in “Tribunal” was…: The O’Briens are going on vacation but first O’Brien must act like I do when I leave my cats with someone else for longer than one day and, on his way out, he runs into Boone from his time on the Rutledge. O’Brien and Keiko are on a runabout and O’Brien remembers the perks of having a wife and leaving your kid with neighbors, but then a Cardassian ship approaches and Gul Evek beams aboard, searched the ship, and arrests O’Brien. Keiko is taken back to DS9 where she and Sisko are contacted by the judge who will be prosecuting the trial, though in Cardassia things are different and they already know he’s guilty and will be executed next week. Odo and Keiko are able to head to Cardassia for the trial and the rest of the team tries to find out what happened. Just like in the last episode we watched, things are looking like O’Brien is guilty until Dax realizes the voice was recorded and they find their way to Boone. The trial commences and sentence is about to be handed down when Sisko pops in with Boone and the archon dismisses everything and everyone gets to go home… well, except for the O’Briens who still get to go on their vacation.

…”And if that sounds like a threat, it is.”: So my husband calls this an “O’Brien must suffer” episode and I totally understand why. We’re all so confused the entire time about what O’Brien did and we know for sure he didn’t do it, even though he’s prejudice against the Cardassians. I do love a good courtroom drama but this left me with more questions than answers and feeling a little unsatisfied. Why was Sisko allowed in the courtroom, wouldn’t they have stopped him ahead of time? It was the bit of evidence we all knew was coming, but not how I thought it would arrive. Also, they way they got their evidence was super leaps of logic. Bashir gets to examine someone purely on the whispered words of a shadowy figure? And another thing, why is the weapons depot so poorly secured that there’s no visuals or guards or secondary and tertiary ways to get to the warheads? The trial part was super interesting as Odo was hell on wheels and Kovat reminded me a lot of Christopher Lloyd. While it was a happy ending it was also a hell of a way for us to get there. 6 years in the Cardassian labor camps for this episode.

TA Out!