Yay, intrigue! I think the Section 31 plot would have worked better if it hadn't been set up so late in the series, but as is it is a little hard to take them seriously. Also I am honestly not sure what they wanted us to take from the results of the Romulan mind probe. Did they somehow implant false memories into him deeply enough that he believed them, and if so how could he carry out his mission properly? Also this seems like a long way to go to remove a Senator who was clearly within the grasp of the Tal Shiar.
We begin with a weekly meeting between Starfleet, the Klingons and Romulan Senator Cretak. For some reason the Klingons get represented by Worf who as a starfleet officer also has to take orders from Sisko which seems pretty unfair for them. Cretak manages to get Starfleet to put their ships higher in the repair schedule in exchange for not taking shore leave while the Klingons are in town. That night, after a talk with Garek, Bashir gets a visit from Sloan who tells him he has a mission at the upcoming conference with the Romulans before leaving without a trace. Bashir takes this to Sisko who, just like he did last time but I guess they don't trust us to remember, wants Julian to play along with Section 31.
At the conference Bashir is surprised to see Sloan is also attending. Sloan pulls him aside and tells him there is a PADD with the info in Julians quarters. After he has had time to read it they meet in a holodeck to go over the various members of the Romulan delegation and Bashir quickly figures out he is there to determine if the head of the Tal Shiar has Tuvan syndrome. Julian figures it is a plot to get Koval off the continuing committee to prevent him from negotiating a separate peace with the Dominion. The next day at the conference Bashir is approached by Koval. He is interested in the bio weapon Bashir is there to talk about called the Quickening. He seems more interested in reproducing it rather than curing it though which disturbs Bashir. Afterward Bashir tells Sloan that he things Koval does in fact have Tuvan's syndrome and then realizes Sloan means to use it to kill Koval now.
Bashir rushs to Admiral Ross and tells him what happened, but the next day Ross has suffered an aneurysm. He meets with Sloan again and this time says he isn't sure about the Tuvan's so Sloan gets him to put some adhesive on his hand to get a skin sample from Koval. Bashir doesn't want an assassination though so he goes to Kretak, the only person he trusts even a little and asks for her help. He is sure there is a Section 31 operative in the Romulan government and somehow thinks if she can get him the Tal Shiar records it will help him find the traitor. But this all falls apart the next day when he shakes Koval's hand, and is taken directly to an interrogation chamber. Luckily the thought probes don't work on his enhanced brain, but he also is willing to tell them what they want to know so I guess they didn't need mind probes to start with.
We cut to the hearing on the matter where Cretak is being accused of spying for Starfleet for trying to get the files Bashir wanted. He tells his side of the story which is fine, but then they bring in Sloan. The probes apparently worked on him and they found that Section 31 is a ruse and he is actually just Starfleet intelligence. Rather than be held prisoner though Sloan goes for a gun to shoot Koval and is vaporized by a guard. Cretak is removed from her senate seat for betraying the Empire and Koval, an open sufferer of Tuvan Syndrome is only more powerful afterwards. Back in Starfleet hands Bashir is debriefed by Admiral Ross who he correctly figures is also kinda working for Section 31. Then by Sloan who of course was beamed away rather than vaporized and is happy that Bashir did exactly what they needed him to in order to removed Cretak from power.
Review: I love some good espionage and this episode gets it right. Enough twists that you aren't sure who is the actually terrible side, and even more so it isn't clear what Bashir should do. I still find Section 31 a bit unbelievable, but this is probably their best episode.
7 out of 10
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