DS9: In the Pale Moonlight

         While I totally understand the depths of questionable morality that Sisko is willing to go through in this episode, the stakes are at least high enough to make it make sense. I haven't watched Voyager in a long time, but I remember feeling like Janeway did even more questionable stuff with the sole justification of saving her tiny ship. Sisko is literally working to save the entire alpha quadrant from conquest by the Dominion. Betazed itself has been conquered, what else do you need to say? 
         The episode begins with Sisko making a log entry where he is going to try and make sense of the events of the past two weeks. We flash back to him putting up the casualty list like he does every Friday morning. They all look to see which friends they have lost and casually discuss how much better things would be in the Romulans were to join the war on their side. But as Dax points out, their non-aggression treaty puts them in a pretty good spot and they would need a hell of a reason to move from it. And that is when Sisko realized he had to do whatever it takes to get them into the war. Dax and Sisko have a mock debate where she plays the romulan and he plays himself and they argue to the point that she tells him she will need solid proof to break the current treaty which gives Sisko an idea. 
         He goes straight to Garak and tells him the situation. Garak agrees to help find the solid proof of betrayal needed to get the romulans into the fight, but the next day he tells Sisko that everyone he spoke to about it was dead within the day. Soon after Sisko learns of the fall of Betazed and that it puts the rest of the Federation in a vulnerable position. Garak says tells Sisko that since they can't find the proof they need, they will have to make it. He has a forger in mind and gets Sisko to release him from a klingon prison. He also arranges to have a romulan senator stop by the station while on his way to a conference. The forger arrives but is a lot of trouble, mostly at Quark's. Garak gets the special optical rod they need to write the program onto and with the forgers help they get it working. 
         The senator arrives in a cloaked shuttle and doesn't really want to listen to Sisko, but the evidence presented is too important. Unfortunately he also quickly realizes it is a fake and leaves quickly in his shuttle. But not before Garak can sneak on board and plant a bomb. And since no one else knew he was coming to the station when the debris is searched and the slightly damaged optical rod found it is taken as genuine and the Romulans join the war the next day. Oh, and the forger turns up dead too, no good leaving loose ends. The episode ends with Sisko erasing the log entry that he started with agreeing that while it may have been a deal with the devil, it was also pretty much the only choice.

         Review: A solid episode about the things people are willing to do when there isn't much hope left. A solid performance all around and a well written story.

8 out of 10