I can't remember ever complaining about an O'Brien centered episode and I am not about to start here. Colm Meaney is in fine form this episode and the casting of the gangsters is on point. This is also by far the most we have ever seen of the fabled Orion Syndicate and they are living up to their reputation so far. The only miscue in this episode of there is one is the involvement of the Dominion. Maybe it is specifically to set something up later, but if so I don't remember. It kinda felt tacked on to keep us reminded that the Dominion is still out there and a big threat, but the syndicate seems to be plenty of threat on its own.
The episode opens with some gangsters trying to steal some lunch using a neural hacking interface. The hacker gets "spiked" and damages part of the interface. Luckily for the O'Brien is sitting at the bar being undercover guy. He offers to fix the broken part and asks for money, but the head gangster, Liam Bilby, asks if he knows who he is and insists he do it for free. Afterwards O'Brien meets with his Starfleet Intelligence contact and we learn he is trying to find out who the syndicates inside man is in Starfleet. Back on the station we briefly see that pretty much everything is falling apart and Sisko can't talk about where Miles is, and that is pretty much it on the station until the final scene. Miles returns the next morning with the fixed part. Bilby isn't ready to trust him yet and keeps testing, but Miles does well.
Bilby takes Miles back to his place to have some cake and give him some Klingon disruptors to fix. It seems Bilby was instructed to get them for his boss but the ones he bought didn't work. Miles again manages to get back with them, but his aquisisition of the parts raises questions. He tells them he stole the parts though and that makes Bilby happy. The arms dealer shows up and gets killed for selling defective merchandise. That night O'Brien gets Bilby to tell him who the informant is, but they also get a surprise visit from the boss and he brings along a Vorta. Miles reports all this to his contact but since a Vorta showed up he is told to stick with it rather than getting pulled out as they had arranged.
Things are getting serious, it seems the disruptors are for the assassination of a Klingon diplomat and they have to be Klingon weapons so it will look like an inside job. The planning is interrupted by the bosses return. He announces that there is a traitor but luckily it was one of the other gangsters. As soon as that is over Miles goes to his contact but the plan is apparently to warn the Klingons and get Bilby killed. Miles can't stand that though and punches his contact and goes straight to Bilby. He tells him the truth, but that doesn't help. If the syndicate discovers that Bilby knowing vouched for a spy they will kill his family so the only option is to walk into the Klingon trap and get killed. Back on the station Miles and Julian talk about what happened and Julian assures him he was just doing his duty, but it doesn't sit well with Miles.
Review: Not quite as groundbreaking as some have been recently, but still an incredible episode. The tension is great and the moral dilemma is complicated enough that you can really feel for Miles.
8 out of 10
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