Or Tailor? I Hardly Know Her!
*"Past Prologue" and "A Man Alone" originally aired in reverse order, but Netflix has them in the order I had reviewed them.
"It was so much easier when I knew who the enemy was."
-Major Kira
Regardless of whether it is the second or third episode in season one, "Past Prologue" is the first Kira-centric episode and introduces her character's initial reservations about serving Bajor through construction instead of destruction. The Kira character is probably the one that shows the most growth through the course of the series, and "Past Prologue" does a serviceable job setting a baseline for Kira's development.
Both DS9 and TNG were written and run under the backdrop of the fall of the Soviet Union and revolutions in former Bloc states. Even today, shifts in many Arab states have many parallels in the story of Bajor that DS9 focuses on in its early seasons. The question of freedom fighter vs. terrorist is explored several times in both series, and the personal connection Kira has to Tahna Los is a classic Star Trek tactic to bring some perspective to otherwise faceless violence.
"Past Prologue" also introduces Garak, the suspected Cardassian spy-turned-simple tailor. The character is expertly portrayed by Andrew Robinson with equal parts of playful vagueness and knowing confidence; he could have been a stand-in for Lost's Ben Linus.
However, as we see in this episode, Garak tends to serve too beneficial a role in crucial points of several plots. In many ways, he is like a token black friend white people turn to to ask painfully obtuse questions about black culture. Sisko and Co. always seem just a little too willing to act on Garak's word, and Garak always seems to be positioned just right to help them. Garak, to my recollection, is too frequently a deus ex machina to otherwise overwhelming problems.
Speaking of God from the machine, the episode continues the streak of the writers' use of Odo's shapeshifting as its own improbable weapon. Odo poses as a rat (symbolism?) and eavesdrops on Tahna's conversation with the Klingon twins. As happens in many DS9 episodes, the entire sinister plot the main arc is built around would never have been thwarted if not for Odo incognito. This conjures more recent examples like Elliott in Leverage or, most recently, Reese in Person of Interest. In both characters' cases, they are able to overcome significant obstacles without fail because of their superior combat training. The problem is, this begs the question: Why not rely on their fighting skills as a primary tactic, rather than one of last resort. In the same way, we can wonder why Odo doesn't go on regular patrols as a rolling tumbleweed?
Beyond the main story arc, two other thoughts came to mind:
- Lursa and B'Etor are confusing, both as characters and sex symbols. For one, their aggressive cleavage is somewhere between provocative and revolting; yes, they're boobs, but they're attached to two members of a snarling warrior species with crooked fangs and forehead ridges. It would be like crossing Baywatch-era Pamela Anderson with a rhinoceros.
Secondly, I always had a hard time understanding how they were supposed to be getting along around the universe. They attempted to start a civil war in a TNG arc, eventually being defeated. If I know my Klingons, they should have been killed at any number of points after that. Instead, they sneak around and pop up when various rogue agents are plotting mischief. They would be furious to hear it, but they are basically Ferengi. Their introduction to this episode was unnecessary (the later used Maquis would have worked just fine), and it clearly showed the writers leaning on the TNG-training wheels early on. - This could have been mentioned in earlier posts, but I'm torn as to whether the evolving intro credit sequence being doctored to reflect the plot is cool. You may have noticed that in "Emissary," the Wormhole does not appear at the very end. This, of course, would have spoiled the surprise in the second hour of that episode. Without giving away too much more, I'll just say keep an eye out for the gradual changes in what you see on and around the station as new story elements are added.
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