Damn the Cardassians are tricky bastards. But they also really love their families. This episode does a really good job showing that both these things are at the very core of what it means to be Cardassian. It also shows just how strong and smart Kira really is. Even when presented with all the evidence one could possibly want that she isn't who she thinks she is, she never gives in. At the same time she is a also someone who can recognize a good person, even when they are her sworn enemy. The connection she forms with her fake father is deeper than most characters in Trek seem to have with their actual parents.
The episode opens with Dax alone in Quarks. Quark shows up and in classic Quark style asks if she has been stood up since she had a holosuite reserved a half hour earlier. She replies that her date is Kira who then walks in. But before the two of them can get going on their adventure Kira gets a call from Bajor, a researcher wants to ask her about her time in Cardassian detention center, a center she was never held in. While the discussion is going on she is being watched by an alien woman from the upper level of the promenade. She contacts her supposed cell mate from the time in the center and he recognizes her immediately. He remembers her being dragged out of the cell and never saw her again. Kira realizes the only way she is getting to the bottom of this is on Bajor, but when she leaves she is followed by the alien from the opening. Soon after Sisko gets contacted by the Bajoran government, Kira never arrived on the planet.
Kira awakes in a dark room with the alien woman. She is directed to a mirror where she sees she has been altered to appear Cardassian. A Cardassian member of the Obsidian Order enters named Entek. He explains that she was altered years earlier and given false memories to server the Order in breaking the Bajoran resistance. She has been given drugs now to restore her memory. He also gives her a recording she allegedly made before leaving on her mission to her future self. Back on the station Sisko is investigating where Kira has disappeared to. Garak however seems to have an idea and tells Bashir. He tells them that she is being held by the Obsidian Order and there is nothing he can do for her. But that isn't enough for Sisko, he mounts a rescue in the Defiant and brings Garak along despite his protests. Meanwhile on Cardassia Kira meets her father who clearly has missed her a lot. She refuses to believe him, but he is confident her memories will return. Entek comes back and transports in the body of what appears to be Kira dead from when she was supposedly replaced.
The Defiant has masked its energy signature to seem like a freighter and Dax has a holoscreen to make them appear to match their signature. But when they are confronted by two Cardassian warships and the Cardassians demand to board it is Garak who saves the day. He uses an Obsidian Order code to tell them to leave and erase all record of the contact and it works. Meanwhile Kira is starting to be interrogated by Entek for secrets about the Federation presence around Bajor. Her father who is high in the central command tries to protect her, but that doesn't seem to be working. All she wants to is to escape and eventually he gives in. He is secretly in the resistance and contacts another member who shows up to smuggle her off the planet, but when she learns he is in the resistance it suddenly all makes sense to Kira. They are actually trying to get her father to reveal he is resistance and she is right, Entek suddenly appears with two armed soldiers. Luckily Odo, Garak and Sisko show up just in time to save the day. Entek goes for a hidden gun and Garak kills him. Kira returns to the station and her father comes along. There is a really nice scene at the end where he gives her a family heirloom and she tells him how much respect she has for him.
Review: A surprisingly touching episode about Cardassian politics. Also it turns out Dukats talk about how important family is to Cardassians was just idle talk. DS9 has always been at its best when it deals with cultures not traditionally regarded as "good" making them more than just comical villains and this episode is that in spades.
8 out of 10
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