What makes Maritza even more of a selfless martyr and tragic character was that he intended for no one to know who he really was when he was executed. He wasn’t doing it for recognition, he legit was doing it for the Bajorans he saw murdered and for Bajor itself to heal, and for Cardassia to admit it’s guilt. Kira was right when she said he was a good person
Looking back there were signs that Marritza was always putting on a performance. Subtle little hints like when he refers to himself "and I, Gul Darheel!" when no one speaks of themselves that way. He's reciting lines as if someone was putting on a play glorifying a historical figure, while at the same time purposely making the most inflammatory statements possible to provoke Kira into violence so his fate will be sealed.
Yes it's the beginning of kira's character arc, as she slowly begins to recognize that many good cardassians DO exist. On the fringes, no doubt. That it was once a civilization of free people, artists, and intellectuals. Over the 7 seasons Kira starts to see the nuance in her planet's history, learning that many Bajoran clerics and heroes could be shady. Maybe even, "collaborators" ! Kai winn, kai opaka, and even kira's own MOM!! BANGED GUL DUKAT!! By season 7, Kira's black & white thinking has been chippled away completely. And she slips into a starfleet uniform. She all but completely abandons guerilla/terrorist hypernationalist mindset
"the dead will still be dead!" - You can see the mental slap so very clearly on her face - God, the crew and the writers did damn fine work on that series
Chidi Akara my favorite part is actually how, during the questioning, he turns it around on her, “What about you? How any innocent Cardassians did you kill?” Its always easy to be righteous until you see it from the other person’s side.
@@dkupke I kinda think the subject was dealt with much better in the last season when that one cardassian mentions the death of his family to Kira and she subtly reminds him of cardassia's past actions. Other than that the main point of the episode was absolutely brilliant and surpassed by precious few episodes.
This scene and then a little later the complete 180 degree turn when he breaks down and it becomes clear that he actually was the file clerk after all makes this one of the best trek episodes ever.
You know, when we know the twist of this episode, this part doesn't make much sense anymore. Why would he ask her questions like that? What goal was he trying to accomplish?
He was putting on a performance; he had to convince the Bajoran government without a doubt that he was the monstrous Darhe'el, a larger than life villain straight out of their nightmares. He was performing for himself, too, making sure he never broke character. The real Darhe'el was undoubtably evil, but was probably just a callous administrator who didn't care about the wellbeing of individual laborers since he knew he had an essentially inexauhstible supply, rather than the gleeful sadist that Maritza made him out to be.
@@Lamporre remember it’s the writer/s making a point. If I had to guess, given the subject matter & the motivations of this character, I’d say he was ‘greatly’ disturbed by his beloved homeworld’s ‘uncleanliness’… …because he understood the capacity for bloodthirstiness - the need to survive: the seed - and he knew how to remind someone else (Kira) that anyone can be made to do something they’d rather not: even war crimes against civilians. Never lose yourself, and if you have to: remember where you need to be, by never forgetting the atrocities.
@@Lamporre Kira like Marritza did nothing to prevent the atrocities their sides were committing. Doing so at the time would have been highly inconvenient for both of them. Both took the easy way out. Marritza wanted to help the Bajorans but he didn't. Kira didn't want to attack civilian targets but she did anyway.
yeah that last phrase "what you call genocide i call a days work" reminds me of bison telling chun-li "for you the day your father died was the most important day of your life. for me it was tuesday"
I would call this a ridiculous amount of villainy, but the reveal that all this is actually an act of a man who would rather cast himself as a great monster than feeling the guild in having been part of a genocidal machine of oppression makes this one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek
It seems clear that he thinks his enemies did the same but virtue signalled that they were somehow morally better He even said that the executions of his enemy were certainly not limited to military personel, which was not denied by his enemy He therefore believes that there was no good side in this war, just survival
He's also being deliberately over-the-top to push Kira's buttons. To get her to engage with him emotionally, instead of rationally. Because if she does that, she'll digging into his past and uncover his deception. Later on, when Kira finds out who he really is, all his bluster and deflection don't work on her anymore, because is Kira is thinking rationally about him.
@@rikpien2925 On the surface level, sure, but two scenes later he admits that he was full of shit. It's pretty clear that he felt an unbelievable amount of guilt over the crimes of Cardassia, and in a sense wanted them to prove their virtue so that Cardassia could become better and confront the sins of its past. He didn't see Bajor as his enemy, and actually wanted to help them so that Cardassia could become better than what it was during the occupation, that's why he's acting so much like a mustache twirling man.
On top of that, he intentionally wanted to be sentenced for the crimes, he believed them so heinous, he felt so strongly that *someone* had to pay for them, and if he paid, then it might help ease the Bajoran's grief - even if it was based on a lie.
It's a masterpiece for that reason. Look at Eichmann or Goering at Nuremberg. There's no pantomime, gleeful evil after the fact, and for many of them not even at the time the act were carried out. The terrifying thing about evil is that for most people it's not in your mind, it's in your actions only.
“How convenient of you!” Fantastic line. The reveal towards the end makes it all the better, because it’s a line he probably tortured himself with after the occupation. I miss Star Trek, so very much.
Its not just about Trek tho Genne wrote the Star Trek Universe to entertain with a story, but isent it funny how often the plots point at the flaws in our own society's A file clerk at court tells themself they are doing the right thing, cuz their boss told them to A solider follows orders and tells themself they are doing the right thing, cuz their boss told them to Now, whos checking on the Boss or the Boss's orders? Are they moral, are they right? Are they following the rules and guidelines they lay for themself? When the answer is no, your apart of the problem not saying anything Marizzo was tired of doing nothing, he needed to give Bajore something. And the death of Gull Darheel wont make it better, but those directly affected by the man might feel some closure if they were able to punish that man Marrizzo felt like he died back during the occupation, he died when he started okaying things he would never allow to happen to fellow friends and family. How many Nazi Clerks, and business owners were affected by that occupation And how many tried to stop it? Theres the problem Orders are orders, but a good loyal dog knows when to question a order. And even defy it But a "well trained" or slave dog does what its told without question, the question falls on the master
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat then you don't love you're dog You own property, in the form of a dog 🐕 And you own the papers, there for it's you'res As long as you don't call yourself a dog person, or say you respect animals. Yeah I guess that's the correct attitude for you
@@paulhunter1525 It's not. Turn off the news. It makes its money by manipulating your amygdala. Donald Trump gave Rainbow Push speeches for 30 years, financed Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns, then put RainbowPush HQ on Fifth Avenue to get black men and women into Wall St, he forced integration on Star Island Miami(Maralago) by being such a shit heel they agreed to it, added Transwomen to Miss Universe before gay marriage was the law of the land, and received mountains of criticism for donating so much cash to various Dems over the years. His immigration policies are not remotely controversial, if you read the actual policy instead of tuning into CIA NSA pundits on the "news" Even Bernie Sanders supported most of these immigration restrictions saying Open Borders is a Koch brothers idea.
phuturephunk But he's not a villain here, that's the tragic beauty, he's pretending to be a villain in order to offer himself up as a sacrifice for peace because of the guilt that eats at him every day. Marritza's final speech of the episode, where he admits he's not Darhe'el and breaks down is one of the best acted scenes in all Star Trek.
Matrim42 Amen to that revelation scene. To watch him falter in his villainous persona and collapse into tears really tugs at you. You realize at that moment that not all Cardassians were the smug assholes we'd seen up to that point. You realize that there are real people back on Cardassia Prime - people who were NOT part of the brutal subjugation of Bajor, people were horrified at what their military had done. It really puts war (virtually ANY war) into perspective.
+xaenon Yeah, this episode was a turning point in regards to how both Kira and the audience came to regard Cardassians and that not all of them are evil but rather, they were being manipulated and misled by their leaders. It gave the audience hope that the Cardassians could redeem themselves at some point in the future. It's why I became angry at the Maquis in the 4th and 5th seasons because they failed to realize this and helped to force the Cardassians to join the Dominion. It's also why I got pissed at Torres in "ST: Voyager" for calling all Cardassians cold blooded killers. No good comes from blind hatred and because of it, the Maquis got wiped out by a vengeful enemy and their allies.
I had the opportunity to take a master class with with Harris Yulin when I was taking drama classes at Arizona State University a very, very long time ago. He was there to teach Shakespeare. He was very complimentary of the monologue I did (I believe it was Prospero from THE TEMPEST). Even at the time I was well aware that he was just being kind. It just happened that I was the only person that had the gall to get up in front of him to do a monologue. He's a great actor & a great person & (as a big STAR TREK fan) this is an amazing episode. He will never get the the recognition he deserves. But he's a true character actor. And one of the greats.
Dan Cole: You know some of best character actors in television found their niche in Star Trek series.. I shall never forget a performance by Joel Gray on ST- Voyager.
@@paulhunter1525 Star Trek is such a good stage for actors like that. How do you get around a limited budget? Write some fantastic dialogue and let your actors carry the show. So many incredible speeches across all the shows. Duet in particular is one of my favorite episodes in all of Star Trek.
monokhem Or your comment made no fucking sense! This was a great episode and the original comment basically says he enjoyed it, your comment says it was crap and made no sense.
This was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant episode. The twist of him being a lowly functionary trying to assume the punishment of a war criminal to bring Cardassia's conduct to light was superb, and the regret Kira felt over his death was inspired.
+Sofia Santucci i totally agree! but could add that a series has so much time to evolve feelings, and discuss matters of highest importance, versus a movie that has to give you thrills and a complete storyline in 90 min
+damnyourpasswords Agreed 100%. Abrams Trek can only be fairly compared to the other Star Trek movies, not entire series which had hundreds of hours to tell a story.
@@damnyourpasswords I don't really see how that applies to this episode. It was pretty much standalone and we never saw Marritza before this. Still incredibly powerful and accomplished it in less than 90 min
@@Onigirli we had Kira all the previous episodes, we had the Occupation, the Massacres, the Camps, the Liberation and all. Marritza appeard as the Face of all we already got evolved in our minds.
"How many Cardassians did you kill?" It's worth noting, she never does answer him. As in, with a number, not even a guess or a vague general answer. I love that touch.
She is asked this MANY times in the series, and she never does. Its a defining part of her character, and it causes her to sort of mirror the Cardassians themselves. The show is just the best
@@Ellimist000 As I said in another comment, this whole episode is really the trial of Kira herself, and her punishment is that Marritza is killed at the end, and she is forced to WATCH him die.
Well, "Emmy". But yeah. I think he and Nana Visitor both deserved Emmys for that episode. Unfortunately, regular cast members are judged by their overall performances, but this episode should have put Nana in the running.
The best thing about this line is it kills both of them. Kira because nothing she does to punish him changes what happened. And him because of what he didn't do and punishes himself every day for. This is very next level writing.
I used to hold the belief that no race could be as unscrupulous and deceptive as the Romulans, but the Cardies showed me that there exists no absolutes. A Tier 2 race with inferior technology but with superior capacity to deceive and circumvent can literraly be the proximate cause for billions of deaths and a scar across galactic quadrants that will take centuries to heal, and again, as always that Herculean task falls on Humnity's shoulders. One of the many reasons why Deep Space Nine is a masterwork of multi-faceted fiction, Still managing to deliver us episodes replete with moral quandries, while still holding true to a rock-solid code of ethics. Keep you Star Wars Baby Yoda bullshit. I'll gladly take this profound and impactful allegory to our Human condition.
A theory on acting I remember reading from no less than Ricardo Montaban (Khan himself!) was that the villain has to view himself as being in the right; no matter how horrible and repellent their actions may be to the audience, in their own head its all justified. I think this actor did a tremendous job capturing that, pointing out how all the atrocities were for the "greater good" of an empire-almost sounds patriotic. And especially how he turns that around by pointing out Kira is guilty of killing innocent civilians herself-yet somehow she's managed to justify it to herself in her own head.
Daniel Ryan Actually a villain is a Point of view. Were the Yanks willains when the drop the Atomic bombs on Japan, or putting people in Manzanar, did the British act badly with the concentration camps in South Africa?
VulpisFoxfire Case in point-the amount of support many Americans gave to the IRA in the 70's and 80's versus how they view the likes Hamas or Hezbollah
+Daniel Ryan As it turns out, there's more to it than that in this particular story. ...but your words are also entirely true. It's an extraordinary episode.
If what he says about Cardassia's survival depending upon his death is true, then Bajor will win in the end, when Cardassia crumbles to a balkanized ruin.
Cardassia was going to fail because of the politics Sound familiar to our societys 😂😂🤦♂️ Politics, or any unified bureaucracy, is just a way to round about cover up stuff. Rules, law, and morality exist without "order" Order is the code by which people are expected to guide themself, but with any system. It fails with corruption. Sure it keeps going, but are you doing what you need to. Or what you want? And often people disguise their wants behind "needs" and call it order
This episode is a trial. It's not a trial for Cardassians or what they did, it's not a trial of Darhe'el, it's not a trial of Marritza, it's not a trial for anyone but one...Kira herself. Marritza might be the one imprisoned, but Kira herself is the one giving testimony. Notice that in every conversation, he's the one asking primarily questions, and she just keeps answering. He tries to get her to admit to her wrongdoing, and she deflects or tries to turn it back about what the Cardassians did. He doesn't give her that by saying, "I admit EVERYTHING!", he doesn't deny an iota of what happened, thus leaving Kira without her deflection tactic, and only giving her indignation and anger instead. Thus she has to come back later when she's calmed down. Her feelings are cooled, but she still refuses to admit how many Cardassians she killed. Throughout all of this, Marritza intentionally angers her, with lines like the "War crimes? How can there be war crimes when there hasn't been a war?" The theatrics he's employing are made (and as an aside, Marritza should've been in theater with acting skills like that) to intentionally inflame her emotions since it's playing into exactly how she feels, dare I say, she WANTED to be made mad by him, and he gives her all she wants. After all... "Nothing justifies genocide!" But in the end, both of them are declared guilty, yet there is only one punishment: Marritza is killed for the crime of 'being a Cardassian', and Kira's punishment, is to watch him die.
Just to add, Alex Kurtzman is just as guilty, he has control of the ST franchise and could not give a flying F about the last 50 years so long as the crap currently produced makes a dollar. The directing on 1 particular episode during season 2 of STD actually made me nauseous which has never happened to me before in my near 40 years on this earth of media watching. Even VR didn't make me so.
You can tell hes not the man tho 😂 and it shows I thought he was over acting till the revile. But the over acting makes sense to sell a lie and use emotion to overpower reason 😂🤦♂️👍🏻 No "evil" or horrible person thinks they are evil A trucker accidentally crashes and kills someone, no intended act but the innocent party dies. Are they evil? Thats killing But no, its not evil Your government/kingdom/city or community claims another entity is a problem, and declares war. People die and are imprisoned Are the soldiers and minor officers at fault? Are they evil? No but their boss is, but he stil thinks hes just following orders
If you liked this video, I STRONGLY recommend watching the whole episode. It was very good. Not only is the male actor here very good in his role, but I also loved seeing Kira's face crumple in this vid as he openly boasted of his viciousness and cruelty. It drives home how vindictive the cardassians were and how, even years later, even as a major, Kira can be reduced back to a helpless girl remembering those times. It shows how deep that pain is, how it's part of her very core... and by extension the core of the bajoran people. A powerful episode, very well done by both actors.
When I watched this for the first time the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Darheel was the epitome of evil...it was visceral. Great acting. I loved the way Kira backed away in horror at one point when confronted by such evil. However I don't understand how Maritza could effectively channel Darheel if he was in fact a timid filing clerk. That was a bit hard to swallow.
George Parigian Jr. You had spoilers, but oh well. Bear in mind that he went there to die. He WANTED to be caught and punished and killed for the crimes of the Cardassian people. Just as Kira was initially weak but eventually found the strength to oppose the Occupation, so too did he eventually find his own strength. He was too weak to do anything at the time, but it ate at him, and ate at him and ATE at him... until he came up with a way to "atone" for his cowardice, and with his sacrifice, to finally be brave. It was too late to save those who died, but perhaps he could bring them justice. In finding the strength to die, one can do much.
Agreed. The plot was well written but the actor pulled the role too well, more then enough so that the end result was 'huh?' instead of the shock it was meant to be. Honestly, in hind-sight, the director should have called cut after that scene and called in the writers for a quick ending update. That first scene was so well delivered it that it would now require complete suspension of belief to conclude he was anything but 'Hitler.' The option of re-shooting it to make it less believable, but still enough to sway the audience when reveled, would have been a disservice. By not changing anything it has weakened the impact the ending was meant to deliver. Thus the Imagine this re-write, and it is only a minor change that would have killed one scene at most: That one critical piece of evidence, a dues-ex-machina really, doesn't appear at the point it did... DS9 ships this war-criminal out, so convinced they have the correct person because of that brilliant acting... Transport is destroyed, exploded by a terrorist group taking full responsibility for bringing justice to this war criminal... Now the evidence comes forth.... Would that not lead to a better ending? Left to our own questions on who just exploded? Pondering if this is a form of justice, after all? Wondering what ripples this will cause.... well, would have if it didn't occur in a universe with a reset button.
Jinx Dragon I disagree. I really don't want to spoil the plot for lurkers who haven't seen it, so my response will be... vague. The way it ended was to show that Kira could grow. To show that all of us can grow. That even after all that had happened, even after a holocaust, we still have the potential in us to forgive. In order to reach that point, Kira has to know everything before the ship blows up. Knowing it after... it's too late. This show is about revealing that things aren't black and white, that reality isn't good and evil. There are always exceptions, always grey, and that suffering occurs on both sides in war. Even the good can do evil, and the evil good.
Aeroldoth3 A fair point but I never liked the fatal way it ended for multiple reasons.... What if, instead of the transport exploding in my alternative, it makes it through but Bajor questions the authenticity of the Machina and goes forth with a tribunal?
+Croí Saor Just DS9 or the whole franchise? Because I assure you that Patrick Stewart has some incredible scenes all through out TNG. Watch the TNG episode "Darmok and Jalad". That one always made me think.
It's only for DS9, they're the ones who dared to break the ceiling. TNG, and TOS didn't really want to be that philosophical. and Voy was........well.........staying the course of TOS,
Not really. The Bajorans were fighting for their planet and home. Cardsassians invaded it and oppressed them. They had to do whatever it took to get rid of them.
It's because you know you're wrong. You're just picking sides, they both killed civilians for different reasons. The committed act was the same for both.
There's no goreporn or glorifying of violence or action scenes, and the production value is low. And yet these scenes are absolutely spine-chilling through outstanding dialogue and sheer acting performance. It tackles heavy themes; war crimes and morality, with its roots in the real world. It is top quality Trek. Sadly ST:Discovery isn't in the same ballpark. It's not even in the same league, instead opting to go the JJ Abrams wannabe Star Wars route. What a shame.
Weird Fuel: I think current producers of Star Trek series more interested in making profits. Roddenberry believe in great story telling at least first two seasons.
Hear hear! This is what any intelligent person wants; stimulating philosophic explorations and deep thematic writing. Random action scenes and explosions every 2 seconds without something half-intelligent to back up the reason for it is just wasted screen time. Some of the best action movies/tv in history have a fairly limited amount of action in it compared to modern productions.
Deep Space Nine was, in my humble opinion, the best of the Star Trek series. The episode from which this clip is taken shows just how good the writers, actors and directors on this show where. Very powerful episode from season one.
Yeah, DS9 was easily the best written Star Trek show. TNG was great, too, but DS9 ate its lunch in that regard. The writers did a fantastic job with it.
Rene Ferrer The TOS was made before star trek was a thing. So in comparison is seems less, but it was a marvel of its time. Of course, it was not well funded unfortunately. This did not damage it to much, but it could have been better. Now with TNG. it kinda dropped the ball on all the characters except worf data and picard. But luckily their input was so MIND BLOWINGLY FANTASTIC, that it made up for a slow boring and insufficient series. DS9 was the pinnacle of star trek. Its cast was well set and diverse, with garak, worf again, and quark, being absolutely fantastic characters that come along once in a decade. As well as taking up some darker, and more meaningfull, less.... Noble look on things, that the previous series had tried to pass off as philosophy. It wasn't real enough, it didn't impact the people who watched it as much. Its virtues were to bold. DS9 had a good cast, good writing. And that twinge of realism that was SO accurately displayed by garak and bashier. Also by Quark. And even though the grim-dark stories with odo and kira were... meh... decent. They illuminated a section of racism and war that better fitted the times, even if it wasn't something star trek was experienced at writing. I think it came out OK. As for Voyager. Holyfuckingshitthatshitwasnotdopegtfo. The ONLY, ONNLLYY redeeming value to that show was the best doctor of star trek. Bones was funny. *TNG DOCTOR CONTENT DELETED* Bashier was to dippy even though he was interesting. But "The Doctor" Or... Joe, as his chosen name was in the end. He fking nailed it. NNAAAIILLLED IT!!!! But other then that voyager DUN GOOFED. And im.. im not even going to start with Enterprise. Thats when they really started milking the cow. Star trek was over by Enterprise. They could have just let it go.
Completely agree; a combination of great writing, acting and direction make this series stand head and shoulders above other contemporary series of the time.
Scott Amsterdam What amazed me was the way they handled the recurring characters. That, I think, is the mark of a truly well written show. To be able to treat your main cast fairly while at the same time weaving such a large cast of recurring characters in and out of their lives. And memorable characters, too! Martok, Weyoun, Damar, Gul Dukat, the Female Changeling, Rom, Nog, Admiral Ross, Garak, Kai Wynn, Kasidy Yates and, to a lesser extent, Ziyal, Shakaar, Joseph Sisko, Sloan, Gowron, and Eddington. How amazing was their handling of all those characters? Just compare that to Voyager. The writers on Voyager didn't even do the entire main cast justice. They certainly weren't capable of juggling a large cast of recurring characters.
Gene Roddenberry would have hated DS9. He wanted to show a utopia for people to strive towards. And yet, this was one of Star Trek's finest moments. So many good episodes in this series.
You can have a Utopia, but you must be ready to defend it. The Federation was not ready to defend it. Otherwise they woulda had a fleet of warships ready by the time the borg came around.
They did show utopia. Earth, as frequently stated throughout the series, is paradise. Humanity has defeated want, deprivation, and all its faults to become founding members of a state composed of hundreds of worlds who have all done the same. The only reason the events of this episode get to happen is because that United Federation of Planets was willing and able to spend significant resources helping to mend a shattered world which wasn't even a member yet, and willing to spill blood in its defense. That's what paradise looks like. That's something to strive for.
DS9 has some of the highest highs specifically because it is a subversion of typical Star Trek. Unfortunately, the show never recovered back to its normal state. I would love to see an updated TNG, but we're not getting that.
These are both great episodes, but nothing compares to "Far Beyond the Stars", when Avery Brooks breaks down in front of the office I cry every time, that combined with "The Measure of a Man" from ST:TNG, they are some of greatest science fiction writing and acting I've ever seen.
This character was a true patriot believing that cardassia had to stand before Bajor and admit to what they had done even at the cost of his own life. He wasn't Gul Dar'Heel. He was actually Aman Maritza, a filing Clerk. But he still believed that what his people did was wrong and had to admit to that wrongdoing. He was actually a hero although he would never admit to being one. He did what he did because you do anything else was totally unthinkable.
I love Duet. It's a fantastic episode, with an amazing story. I think my favorite line of the episode is "How convenient of you!" after Kira says she regrets a lot of what she did. It's just so perfectly done.
@@VuotoPneumaNN Oh, they totally did!! Not every Trek is created equal. Some are *FAR* better than others. But... I propose that STD and PIC are not actually Star Trek. They're gritty, violent, action-sci-fi that takes place in space. But they missed *THE POINT* of why Star Trek was good and why the Trekkies loved it. The vision of a noble future is gone, only to be replaced by violent hard-ons. And I don't approve of this change.
3:51 "How conveniant of you" Its episodes like this that put perspective on things normally just taken at face value that made ST as great as Rhodenberry envisioned it^^
Ironically enough, it's the aspects of Trek that break *away* from him that most honor his show. The creator himself hated the very idea of DS9 and where the show went. He wanted everything hyper-idealized. An Earth that was perfect, a Federation that was infallible. If it was up to Rhodenberry Star trek would never go anywhere near the depth that Deep Space Nine approached on a regular basis. We certainly would never have gotten to see the Cardassian/Bajoran occupation story or the Dominion War.
Indeed, but i can feel with him, he wanted to show us a humanitiy thats worth aspiring to, in this regard i can feel with ihim, as its not easy to lower ideals to make them more apealing^^
Too bad nowadays we have people politicizing it to the point where they act as if the show was only meant for conservatives. I had an argument with someone who calls episodes like these "liberal fan service for easily manipulated idiots" because in the 24th century, "we were supposed to have moved past these issues." Even when reminded that TOS also tried to address 20th century issues, he obfuscated with complaints about the lack of talent, originality or brilliance, while still condemning the mentioning of these issues. So while Roddenberry might've given DS9 his blessing, many TOS and TNG fans disagree with a passion.
If I remember my Trek lore correctly. It was Majel Roddenberry who found the treatment script for DS9 written by Roddenberry. Had it not been for Majel pushing the production of the show after Gene's death, I doubt it would have happened. Also the pilot episode of TOS - THE CAGE is a very heady episode filled with intriguing dialogue, mixed with lots of techno babble. Way a head of its time in sci fi story telling. The powers that be at the time thought it was too technical for audiences to grasp. Roddenberry was forced to dumb down his scripts as a result.
Maybe, but Roddenberry NEVER would have allowed a female lead like Kira. Yes, he did create "Number One," but we'll never know if his idea to make her an equal to Pike would have been what he said it would be. In Roddenberry's eyes, the female were supporting actors to the males, period.
@@tjames9698 Roddenberry was a complete feminist and liberal. I know that now, retroactively, he's not liberal enought for you anymore, but he was one of your champions.
I'm surprised you didn't show the scene all this was leading up to. I mean, this is excellent villainy, but it's so powerful when it's revealed he's being purposely over the top and purposely antagonistic because he actually ISN'T guilty for any of it but feels he needs to be executed and punished for watching it all and doing nothing as a lowly file clerk. That he should be executed as Gul Darheel so that Gul Darheel can in some way stand accountable for his crimes.
I don't think he Gul Darheel to stand accountable as much as he wants Cardassia to be accountable. Gul Darheel was a creation of Cardassia ... but sadly so was Aman Meritza.
Vydio in that way he’s sort of the opposite side of the coin to Garak another cardasian that knew his empire was sick and broken but had actually committed the atrocities that made it so but desperately wanted it to be better.
This. He's deliberately being over-the-top to distract. To keep people wound-up emotionally, so they won't dig too deep into his past and figure out he's not really Gul Darheel.
Meant to parallel the French pursuing Nazi war criminals. The irony is that now since they got all of the major offenders or they died off, they would be trying to prosecute the file clerk.
I also love that Kira comes full circle in her attitude towards Cardassians by the end of the episode. At the beginning, she judges Maritza guilty the moment she lays eyes on him just because he's a Cardassian. At the end of the episode when the you-know-what-spoiler thingy happens, someone else uses that same justification and she basically says, "no. That's not a good enough reason."
He is an insanely good actor. Nana Visitor did superb beside him! This is why I love DS9. It honestly opened up so much more to the universe other than STNG's perfect humans in a perfect world that always does the right thing in the end. Voyager was dark, but there wasn't as much emotion to it's issues like this. The Bajoran occupation existed from TNG and you can't help but Feel for what they have gone through. I just do not understand why this series isn't loved as it should be.
"they came back covered in blood, but they felt clean. why did they feel that way? Because why were clean." That's gotta be the most cold blooded line ever uttered on television.
While I don't consider DS9 the best of the spin-offs, I can't deny that this episode is one of the best written and best performed episodes on television. The performances from Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin as Kira and Darheel were magnificent. Harris Yulin gave 150% for this episode and it's a shame he was looked over at the time for any awards because totally deserved the Emmy for that role.
@@pablofreeman8808 False lol. DS9 is da king. And I am surely in the minority, but I think I find Enterprise more interesting than Voyager. Please hold the pitchforks
@@Ellimist000 yea voyager had AWSOME potential but the writers took a nap for 5 years n woke up like ....wtf? lol serz i think i remember reading they all quit or where fired or something . then they took fan fiction and combined/re-wrote em.....made for inconsistent non-sensical science AND dialog . i think there was actually an episode where their sensors werent working right because of ....interferametric radiation ....WHAT!?! lol awful
Well if you recall the final revelation from this character, he was a long way from a villain. Frankly, he turned out to be one of the bravest characters in sci-fi history.
The way his eyes and brow shifted when he said "I call a days work." just injected that sense of absolute sincerity. "I have absolutely no remorse for what I've done." Superb acting.
+Willaev all in the details. one of my favorite episodes in the entire franchise. i loved the un-redeemable Darheel persona, and the tortured soul Maritza who wants to die for his sins.
People forget that he was also doing his best to dig under Kira's skin. War IS ugly. There is no such thing as a clean war. Even the most just causes will see innocents die. And that's not a reason not to fight, when it's necessary. Just because the enemy trying to destroy you uses their own people as living shields... doesn't mean you must stop. "How convenient." No. Not convenient. Reality. But it is convenient that the phrase can literally be said for everything. And how convenient it stops discourse in its tracks. What a wonderful weapon.
This episode genuinely impressed me. I wasn't fully on board with the concept of DS9 for the majority of the first season. Taking a show about exploration and sticking it on one station?? But man, I am SO glad I stuck with it. This episode revealed the potential behind the entire concept to me. Instead of finding a new civilization and saving/destroying/whatever in a single episode, the relationship between the Cardassians and the Bajorans was able to be fleshed out in ways that the other entries would have been incapable of.
Joint best episode of DS9 ever in my opinion with "In The Pale Moonlight" being the other. The acting from start to finish is superb, the script brilliant and the final twist perfectly done. I can not think of one even tiny nit to pick with this magnificent piece of television that shows just how sc-fi can and should be written to make us think about contemporary, real world issues that we face today.
I always loved the comparisons between Bajoran Resitance vs Maquis. Bajor = good, Maquis = bad... or is it? Yes, yes it is. Or is it? Yes, stop questioning.
I love this scene and how maritza is both subtly and overtly trying to ensure he is guilty in the war crimes trial. There is the obvious stuff of course, but when Kira says ‘you’re insane’ he is more subtle, making it clear that he was perfectly sane, since insanity is a defense in some court institutions.
This whole episode is lightning in a bottle. It is absolutely fantastic. I showed this clip along with the clip called "A superb case of villainy" to a friend of mine who has never seen a single episode of Star Trek and now he's hooked. DS9 is the best Trek series. No other Trek series pushed the boundaries like DS9 did. It dared to be different and I am glad to see that it is FINALLY getting the praise and recognition it so rightfully deserves.
This episode aired in June, 1993. That definitely predates Raul Julia's unhinged M. Bison from Street Fighter by over a year. I'm currently making my way through DS9 on Netflix and this was one of the very best episodes thus far.
The alien characters on Trek and Babylon 5 in the 90s have got to be some of the most underrated performances in the modern acting profession's history.
This was always my favorite episode. Mainly because he did this to force his people to take responsibility for what they did to Bajor. A true patriot, Aman Meritza, believing his people needed to stand before Bajor and admit their wrongdoing. Even at the cost of his own life. Thanks so much for sharing.
2:36 - "Can you say the same?" In hindsight there's a sad undertone in this line, because Maritza knows she can't; he knows she's remorseful of the unnecessary civilian deaths, because he knows Gul Darhe'el wasn't, and that his brutality precipitated the Bajoran response. That to the Bajorans, it morally justified their actions.
The acting and dialogue was SO. GOD. DAMN. GOOD. And having an episode like this in the FIRST season is really something special. That's why DS9 is the best Trek series. This episode in particular was great in German because he had a very tough and angry voice actor.
This is like watching a completely morally secure Auschwitz guard fully admit to everything at a Nuremberg trial. When he said, “because they were clean.” it gave me chills. The utter contempt he had for the enemy was breathtaking. They were beneath him. They were beneath living.
But you've also got to respect the turn later in the episode when the truth is revealed. You really believe that he knew Darheel so well that he could intuit his real feelings and put on a convincing show of being the man. And then seeing the poor frightened person who he was in reality finally come through - masterful performance by the actor
This scene makes it feel like you were really there. Two people talking in a dark little room completely transported the audience back to those labor camps and by the end of it, you felt the whole thing. DS9 started after the fact - as the dust was clearing from so much tragedy. The magic of this scene is that it fills that gap by making you imagine it all yourself.
"I LOVED my homeland! That is what justified my actions, that is what gave me strength!" This is the glory of DS9. They always managed to find someway to make you sympathise with everyone. There weren't any "true" heros and villains.
This was a truly excellent episode and the plot twist at the end with Harris Yulin's heart-wrenching performance after all the earlier psychopathic bluster... brilliant.
What makes Maritza even more of a selfless martyr and tragic character was that he intended for no one to know who he really was when he was executed. He wasn’t doing it for recognition, he legit was doing it for the Bajorans he saw murdered and for Bajor itself to heal, and for Cardassia to admit it’s guilt. Kira was right when she said he was a good person
He was a Cardassian Christ-figure, willing to sacrifice himself for the sins of his people . . .
@@obi-juan2926lol, yeah I saw that band back in the nineties Jesus Lizard
What selflessness. Takes incredible strength
Looking back there were signs that Marritza was always putting on a performance. Subtle little hints like when he refers to himself "and I, Gul Darheel!" when no one speaks of themselves that way. He's reciting lines as if someone was putting on a play glorifying a historical figure, while at the same time purposely making the most inflammatory statements possible to provoke Kira into violence so his fate will be sealed.
Yes it's the beginning of kira's character arc, as she slowly begins to recognize that many good cardassians DO exist. On the fringes, no doubt. That it was once a civilization of free people, artists, and intellectuals. Over the 7 seasons Kira starts to see the nuance in her planet's history, learning that many Bajoran clerics and heroes could be shady. Maybe even, "collaborators" ! Kai winn, kai opaka, and even kira's own MOM!! BANGED GUL DUKAT!!
By season 7, Kira's black & white thinking has been chippled away completely. And she slips into a starfleet uniform. She all but completely abandons guerilla/terrorist hypernationalist mindset
"the dead will still be dead!" - You can see the mental slap so very clearly on her face - God, the crew and the writers did damn fine work on that series
Simon Frederiksen DS9 was probably the most dramatic of all the Star Trek series.
Simon Frederiksen Yes, and bravo
Chidi Akara my favorite part is actually how, during the questioning, he turns it around on her, “What about you? How any innocent Cardassians did you kill?” Its always easy to be righteous until you see it from the other person’s side.
@@dkupke I kinda think the subject was dealt with much better in the last season when that one cardassian mentions the death of his family to Kira and she subtly reminds him of cardassia's past actions. Other than that the main point of the episode was absolutely brilliant and surpassed by precious few episodes.
olstar18 Duma even tells Kira he has come to understand the Bajorans. That is kind of storytelling you can’t replicate.
This scene and then a little later the complete 180 degree turn when he breaks down and it becomes clear that he actually was the file clerk after all makes this one of the best trek episodes ever.
I thought you were trolling with this comment because it didn't make sense but I was intrigued enough to watch the episode and WOW what a great twist.
The best part is how Star Trek the twist is. There are no true villians.
***** *SPOILER!!*
I'm glad I watched that episode before I read your comment.........
That... ruins the scene for me.
_That... ruins the scene for me._
Welcome to star trek. Its liberal propaganda.
"And the verdict was always the same. Guilty." Great line in a scene that has like 47 great lines.
Of course! After all, he did sentence the Scullery Brothers to death…
Cardassian courts have no other verdict, after all.
Excellent number choice sir. LLAP
Every line is brilliant
"I regret a lot of what I had to do!"
"How convenient of you."
Damn
You know, when we know the twist of this episode, this part doesn't make much sense anymore. Why would he ask her questions like that? What goal was he trying to accomplish?
He was putting on a performance; he had to convince the Bajoran government without a doubt that he was the monstrous Darhe'el, a larger than life villain straight out of their nightmares. He was performing for himself, too, making sure he never broke character. The real Darhe'el was undoubtably evil, but was probably just a callous administrator who didn't care about the wellbeing of individual laborers since he knew he had an essentially inexauhstible supply, rather than the gleeful sadist that Maritza made him out to be.
@@Lamporre remember it’s the writer/s making a point.
If I had to guess, given the subject matter & the motivations of this character, I’d say he was ‘greatly’ disturbed by his beloved homeworld’s ‘uncleanliness’…
…because he understood the capacity for bloodthirstiness - the need to survive: the seed - and he knew how to remind someone else (Kira) that anyone can be made to do something they’d rather not: even war crimes against civilians.
Never lose yourself, and if you have to: remember where you need to be, by never forgetting the atrocities.
@@LamporreHe was actually hoping she would assassinate him if he pushed her enough
@@Lamporre Kira like Marritza did nothing to prevent the atrocities their sides were committing. Doing so at the time would have been highly inconvenient for both of them. Both took the easy way out. Marritza wanted to help the Bajorans but he didn't. Kira didn't want to attack civilian targets but she did anyway.
"What you call genocide I call a day's work" holy crap that's a good line.
A deep line, too...
Bison would call it Tuesday.
@ShripkiN are you quite finished... nobody´s buying what you´re selling anymore
***** Just block the little skidmark - don't give him a platform and therefore a voice. Life is too short to deal with stupid people, neh?
ANAAL NATHRAKH!!!
That guy played that scene amazingly
yeah that last phrase "what you call genocide i call a days work"
reminds me of bison telling chun-li "for you the day your father died was the most important day of your life. for me it was tuesday"
sabin97
Ah yes, one of Bison's best lines.
fiskefyren WHAT???
fiskefyren
depends...did he order the cardassians under his command to save the virgins for themselves?
sabin97 That sounds like more of a Dukat sort of idea.
I would call this a ridiculous amount of villainy, but the reveal that all this is actually an act of a man who would rather cast himself as a great monster than feeling the guild in having been part of a genocidal machine of oppression makes this one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek
It seems clear that he thinks his enemies did the same but virtue signalled that they were somehow morally better
He even said that the executions of his enemy were certainly not limited to military personel, which was not denied by his enemy
He therefore believes that there was no good side in this war, just survival
He's also being deliberately over-the-top to push Kira's buttons. To get her to engage with him emotionally, instead of rationally. Because if she does that, she'll digging into his past and uncover his deception. Later on, when Kira finds out who he really is, all his bluster and deflection don't work on her anymore, because is Kira is thinking rationally about him.
@@rikpien2925 On the surface level, sure, but two scenes later he admits that he was full of shit. It's pretty clear that he felt an unbelievable amount of guilt over the crimes of Cardassia, and in a sense wanted them to prove their virtue so that Cardassia could become better and confront the sins of its past.
He didn't see Bajor as his enemy, and actually wanted to help them so that Cardassia could become better than what it was during the occupation, that's why he's acting so much like a mustache twirling man.
On top of that, he intentionally wanted to be sentenced for the crimes, he believed them so heinous, he felt so strongly that *someone* had to pay for them, and if he paid, then it might help ease the Bajoran's grief - even if it was based on a lie.
It's a masterpiece for that reason. Look at Eichmann or Goering at Nuremberg. There's no pantomime, gleeful evil after the fact, and for many of them not even at the time the act were carried out. The terrifying thing about evil is that for most people it's not in your mind, it's in your actions only.
Kira: Nothing justifies genocide!
Section 31: Hold my root beer.
Why was it the root beer that made me burst out laughing?
@@ztunelover It's so bubbly and cloying... and happy.
GrandmasterDevo Just like The Federation.
Yeah, she would not love having to follow the PD one bit.
Worf: Hold my Tribble
"I regret a lot of what I had to do."
"How convenient of you!"
Lol.
The delivery really sells it.
Take THAT, Kira's beliefs!
“How convenient of you!”
Fantastic line. The reveal towards the end makes it all the better, because it’s a line he probably tortured himself with after the occupation.
I miss Star Trek, so very much.
Its not just about Trek tho
Genne wrote the Star Trek Universe to entertain with a story, but isent it funny how often the plots point at the flaws in our own society's
A file clerk at court tells themself they are doing the right thing, cuz their boss told them to
A solider follows orders and tells themself they are doing the right thing, cuz their boss told them to
Now, whos checking on the Boss or the Boss's orders? Are they moral, are they right? Are they following the rules and guidelines they lay for themself?
When the answer is no, your apart of the problem not saying anything
Marizzo was tired of doing nothing, he needed to give Bajore something. And the death of Gull Darheel wont make it better, but those directly affected by the man might feel some closure if they were able to punish that man
Marrizzo felt like he died back during the occupation, he died when he started okaying things he would never allow to happen to fellow friends and family. How many Nazi Clerks, and business owners were affected by that occupation And how many tried to stop it? Theres the problem
Orders are orders, but a good loyal dog knows when to question a order. And even defy it
But a "well trained" or slave dog does what its told without question, the question falls on the master
@@donovanulrich348I’d be very annoyed and rightly confused if my dog asked me why
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat then you don't love you're dog
You own property, in the form of a dog 🐕
And you own the papers, there for it's you'res
As long as you don't call yourself a dog person, or say you respect animals. Yeah I guess that's the correct attitude for you
I do too. I miss the 80/90's lol. The writing was just so good.
This how you Lawful Evil.
Lord Watcher: If we're not careful America could find itself very similar political situation. It may already be happening
@@paulhunter1525 It's not. Turn off the news. It makes its money by manipulating your amygdala. Donald Trump gave Rainbow Push speeches for 30 years, financed Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns, then put RainbowPush HQ on Fifth Avenue to get black men and women into Wall St, he forced integration on Star Island Miami(Maralago) by being such a shit heel they agreed to it, added Transwomen to Miss Universe before gay marriage was the law of the land, and received mountains of criticism for donating so much cash to various Dems over the years. His immigration policies are not remotely controversial, if you read the actual policy instead of tuning into CIA NSA pundits on the "news" Even Bernie Sanders supported most of these immigration restrictions saying Open Borders is a Koch brothers idea.
Yeah, but orange man bad tho...
He rolled a Nat 20 on Intimidation, and later Nat 20 on Charisma, and finally a Nat 20 on Deception.
@@timandshannon03 But then failed his saving throw when someone shot him in the back.
Harris Yulin is simply incredible in this episode.
Yeah, he's great. He always made a good villain.
phuturephunk But he's not a villain here, that's the tragic beauty, he's pretending to be a villain in order to offer himself up as a sacrifice for peace because of the guilt that eats at him every day. Marritza's final speech of the episode, where he admits he's not Darhe'el and breaks down is one of the best acted scenes in all Star Trek.
Matrim42 Amen to that revelation scene. To watch him falter in his villainous persona and collapse into tears really tugs at you. You realize at that moment that not all Cardassians were the smug assholes we'd seen up to that point. You realize that there are real people back on Cardassia Prime - people who were NOT part of the brutal subjugation of Bajor, people were horrified at what their military had done. It really puts war (virtually ANY war) into perspective.
Matrim42 Damn straight. I still get a little teary eyed myself watching it. A truly fantastic performance in any TV show.
+xaenon Yeah, this episode was a turning point in regards to how both Kira and the audience came to regard Cardassians and that not all of them are evil but rather, they were being manipulated and misled by their leaders. It gave the audience hope that the Cardassians could redeem themselves at some point in the future.
It's why I became angry at the Maquis in the 4th and 5th seasons because they failed to realize this and helped to force the Cardassians to join the Dominion. It's also why I got pissed at Torres in "ST: Voyager" for calling all Cardassians cold blooded killers. No good comes from blind hatred and because of it, the Maquis got wiped out by a vengeful enemy and their allies.
I had the opportunity to take a master class with with Harris Yulin when I was taking drama classes at Arizona State University a very, very long time ago. He was there to teach Shakespeare. He was very complimentary of the monologue I did (I believe it was Prospero from THE TEMPEST). Even at the time I was well aware that he was just being kind. It just happened that I was the only person that had the gall to get up in front of him to do a monologue.
He's a great actor & a great person & (as a big STAR TREK fan) this is an amazing episode.
He will never get the the recognition he deserves. But he's a true character actor. And one of the greats.
Dan Cole: You know some of best character actors in television found their niche in Star Trek series.. I shall never forget a performance by Joel Gray on ST- Voyager.
His character was so well acted its a shame that they didn't carry him forward into other episodes.
Your giving him it here. Good job
@@paulhunter1525 Star Trek is such a good stage for actors like that. How do you get around a limited budget? Write some fantastic dialogue and let your actors carry the show. So many incredible speeches across all the shows. Duet in particular is one of my favorite episodes in all of Star Trek.
@@rhettorical DITTO!
"You can never undo what I've accomplished, the dead will still be dead." That was such a powerful line, and you can see how it broke Kira.
This episode is truly modern Shakespeare.
monokhem Really the plot to this episode was hard for you to understand? OK maybe you should stick to Cat in the hat!
monokhem Actually it's right there "the plot made no sense!" it seems to be exactly what you said!
monokhem Or your comment made no fucking sense! This was a great episode and the original comment basically says he enjoyed it, your comment says it was crap and made no sense.
@monokhem would you please give us evidences of why the plot didn't make sense?
monokhem You’re a tool. You don’t get it and you hide your idiocy behind bravado and bluster. But you’re still a docile tool.
This was a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant episode. The twist of him being a lowly functionary trying to assume the punishment of a war criminal to bring Cardassia's conduct to light was superb, and the regret Kira felt over his death was inspired.
+Sofia Santucci i totally agree!
but could add that a series has so much time to evolve feelings, and discuss matters of highest importance, versus a movie that has to give you thrills and a complete storyline in 90 min
+damnyourpasswords
Agreed 100%. Abrams Trek can only be fairly compared to the other Star Trek movies, not entire series which had hundreds of hours to tell a story.
@@damnyourpasswords I don't really see how that applies to this episode. It was pretty much standalone and we never saw Marritza before this. Still incredibly powerful and accomplished it in less than 90 min
@@Onigirli we had Kira all the previous episodes, we had the Occupation, the Massacres, the Camps, the Liberation and all. Marritza appeard as the Face of all we already got evolved in our minds.
If you want a comparison try The in the glass booth 1975 film.
"My word, my very glance was law. And the verdict was always the same..GUILTY!"
WOW!
I just love the smirky delivery of that line "Guilty!" :D
"How many Cardassians did you kill?"
It's worth noting, she never does answer him. As in, with a number, not even a guess or a vague general answer. I love that touch.
She is asked this MANY times in the series, and she never does. Its a defining part of her character, and it causes her to sort of mirror the Cardassians themselves. The show is just the best
@@Ellimist000 As I said in another comment, this whole episode is really the trial of Kira herself, and her punishment is that Marritza is killed at the end, and she is forced to WATCH him die.
That was Oscar worthy acting from Harris Yulin. He was great in this episode.
He didn't have sex with a fish, though. Unsubscribed.
This episode should have won an Emmy.
Well, "Emmy". But yeah. I think he and Nana Visitor both deserved Emmys for that episode. Unfortunately, regular cast members are judged by their overall performances, but this episode should have put Nana in the running.
"You can never undo what I've accomplished. The dead will still be dead."
The best thing about this line is it kills both of them. Kira because nothing she does to punish him changes what happened. And him because of what he didn't do and punishes himself every day for. This is very next level writing.
I used to hold the belief that no race could be as unscrupulous and deceptive as the Romulans, but the Cardies showed me that there exists no absolutes. A Tier 2 race with inferior technology but with superior capacity to deceive and circumvent can literraly be the proximate cause for billions of deaths and a scar across galactic quadrants that will take centuries to heal, and again, as always that Herculean task falls on Humnity's shoulders. One of the many reasons why Deep Space Nine is a masterwork of multi-faceted fiction, Still managing to deliver us episodes replete with moral quandries, while still holding true to a rock-solid code of ethics. Keep you Star Wars Baby Yoda bullshit. I'll gladly take this profound and impactful allegory to our Human condition.
A theory on acting I remember reading from no less than Ricardo Montaban (Khan himself!) was that the villain has to view himself as being in the right; no matter how horrible and repellent their actions may be to the audience, in their own head its all justified. I think this actor did a tremendous job capturing that, pointing out how all the atrocities were for the "greater good" of an empire-almost sounds patriotic. And especially how he turns that around by pointing out Kira is guilty of killing innocent civilians herself-yet somehow she's managed to justify it to herself in her own head.
Daniel Ryan Actually a villain is a Point of view. Were the Yanks willains when the drop the Atomic bombs on Japan, or putting people in Manzanar, did the British act badly with the concentration camps in South Africa?
Krister Andersson One side's terrorists are another side's freedom fighters, indeed.
VulpisFoxfire Case in point-the amount of support many Americans gave to the IRA in the 70's and 80's versus how they view the likes Hamas or Hezbollah
+Daniel Ryan As it turns out, there's more to it than that in this particular story.
...but your words are also entirely true. It's an extraordinary episode.
+Andrew Mihovich That twist ending was part of what made it such a fantastic episode. For the first time you saw that it ran on both sides.
“You’ve already lost major”....... what a punch to the gut.
If what he says about Cardassia's survival depending upon his death is true, then Bajor will win in the end, when Cardassia crumbles to a balkanized ruin.
@@davecrupel2817 Funnily enough, Garak's final words after the Battle of Cardassia is done echo what Marritza says here.
Cardassia was going to fail because of the politics
Sound familiar to our societys 😂😂🤦♂️
Politics, or any unified bureaucracy, is just a way to round about cover up stuff.
Rules, law, and morality exist without "order"
Order is the code by which people are expected to guide themself, but with any system. It fails with corruption.
Sure it keeps going, but are you doing what you need to. Or what you want? And often people disguise their wants behind "needs" and call it order
This episode is a trial. It's not a trial for Cardassians or what they did, it's not a trial of Darhe'el, it's not a trial of Marritza, it's not a trial for anyone but one...Kira herself.
Marritza might be the one imprisoned, but Kira herself is the one giving testimony. Notice that in every conversation, he's the one asking primarily questions, and she just keeps answering. He tries to get her to admit to her wrongdoing, and she deflects or tries to turn it back about what the Cardassians did. He doesn't give her that by saying, "I admit EVERYTHING!", he doesn't deny an iota of what happened, thus leaving Kira without her deflection tactic, and only giving her indignation and anger instead.
Thus she has to come back later when she's calmed down. Her feelings are cooled, but she still refuses to admit how many Cardassians she killed. Throughout all of this, Marritza intentionally angers her, with lines like the "War crimes? How can there be war crimes when there hasn't been a war?" The theatrics he's employing are made (and as an aside, Marritza should've been in theater with acting skills like that) to intentionally inflame her emotions since it's playing into exactly how she feels, dare I say, she WANTED to be made mad by him, and he gives her all she wants. After all...
"Nothing justifies genocide!"
But in the end, both of them are declared guilty, yet there is only one punishment: Marritza is killed for the crime of 'being a Cardassian', and Kira's punishment, is to watch him die.
JJ Abrams sees this and snorts "Pheh, there wasn't one CGI effect or explosion in any of those scenes..." ;-)
Also not a single LENS FLARE.
Why the wink? I could completely see him saying that... This episode would have gone clear over his mystery boxhead.
dont forget the blinding screen flairs
Just to add, Alex Kurtzman is just as guilty, he has control of the ST franchise and could not give a flying F about the last 50 years so long as the crap currently produced makes a dollar.
The directing on 1 particular episode during season 2 of STD actually made me nauseous which has never happened to me before in my near 40 years on this earth of media watching. Even VR didn't make me so.
As do all the "fans" of his movies and STD.
"What you call genocide I call a day's work." What a great line from a great villain.
Real shades of Eichmann in that line.
You can tell hes not the man tho 😂 and it shows
I thought he was over acting till the revile.
But the over acting makes sense to sell a lie and use emotion to overpower reason 😂🤦♂️👍🏻
No "evil" or horrible person thinks they are evil
A trucker accidentally crashes and kills someone, no intended act but the innocent party dies. Are they evil? Thats killing But no, its not evil
Your government/kingdom/city or community claims another entity is a problem, and declares war. People die and are imprisoned
Are the soldiers and minor officers at fault? Are they evil?
No but their boss is, but he stil thinks hes just following orders
@@donovanulrich348belive me. There is a distinction to be drawn between villainy and evil. Evil knows no vanity.
If you liked this video, I STRONGLY recommend watching the whole episode. It was very good. Not only is the male actor here very good in his role, but I also loved seeing Kira's face crumple in this vid as he openly boasted of his viciousness and cruelty. It drives home how vindictive the cardassians were and how, even years later, even as a major, Kira can be reduced back to a helpless girl remembering those times. It shows how deep that pain is, how it's part of her very core... and by extension the core of the bajoran people.
A powerful episode, very well done by both actors.
When I watched this for the first time the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Darheel was the epitome of evil...it was visceral. Great acting. I loved the way Kira backed away in horror at one point when confronted by such evil. However I don't understand how Maritza could effectively channel Darheel if he was in fact a timid filing clerk. That was a bit hard to swallow.
George Parigian Jr.
You had spoilers, but oh well.
Bear in mind that he went there to die. He WANTED to be caught and punished and killed for the crimes of the Cardassian people. Just as Kira was initially weak but eventually found the strength to oppose the Occupation, so too did he eventually find his own strength. He was too weak to do anything at the time, but it ate at him, and ate at him and ATE at him... until he came up with a way to "atone" for his cowardice, and with his sacrifice, to finally be brave.
It was too late to save those who died, but perhaps he could bring them justice. In finding the strength to die, one can do much.
Agreed.
The plot was well written but the actor pulled the role too well, more then enough so that the end result was 'huh?' instead of the shock it was meant to be.
Honestly, in hind-sight, the director should have called cut after that scene and called in the writers for a quick ending update. That first scene was so well delivered it that it would now require complete suspension of belief to conclude he was anything but 'Hitler.' The option of re-shooting it to make it less believable, but still enough to sway the audience when reveled, would have been a disservice. By not changing anything it has weakened the impact the ending was meant to deliver. Thus the
Imagine this re-write, and it is only a minor change that would have killed one scene at most:
That one critical piece of evidence, a dues-ex-machina really, doesn't appear at the point it did...
DS9 ships this war-criminal out, so convinced they have the correct person because of that brilliant acting...
Transport is destroyed, exploded by a terrorist group taking full responsibility for bringing justice to this war criminal...
Now the evidence comes forth....
Would that not lead to a better ending?
Left to our own questions on who just exploded?
Pondering if this is a form of justice, after all?
Wondering what ripples this will cause.... well, would have if it didn't occur in a universe with a reset button.
Jinx Dragon
I disagree. I really don't want to spoil the plot for lurkers who haven't seen it, so my response will be... vague.
The way it ended was to show that Kira could grow. To show that all of us can grow. That even after all that had happened, even after a holocaust, we still have the potential in us to forgive.
In order to reach that point, Kira has to know everything before the ship blows up. Knowing it after... it's too late.
This show is about revealing that things aren't black and white, that reality isn't good and evil. There are always exceptions, always grey, and that suffering occurs on both sides in war. Even the good can do evil, and the evil good.
Aeroldoth3
A fair point but I never liked the fatal way it ended for multiple reasons....
What if, instead of the transport exploding in my alternative, it makes it through but Bajor questions the authenticity of the Machina and goes forth with a tribunal?
This one video has completely changed my view on Star Trek. I never realised it was this kind of show.
+Croí Saor Just DS9 or the whole franchise? Because I assure you that Patrick Stewart has some incredible scenes all through out TNG. Watch the TNG episode "Darmok and Jalad". That one always made me think.
+Croí Saor How can you not know this is what its about... All of the ST shows have been like this...
DS9 touches another soul
It's only for DS9, they're the ones who dared to break the ceiling.
TNG, and TOS didn't really want to be that philosophical. and Voy was........well.........staying the course of TOS,
"Free heart." What a beautiful Irish name! An bhfuil gaeilge agat?
"How many Cardassian civilians did you kill?!"
"Look, I regret a lot of what I had to do!"
"How convenient of you."
Villainy cuts both ways.
Not really. The Bajorans were fighting for their planet and home. Cardsassians invaded it and oppressed them. They had to do whatever it took to get rid of them.
How convenient
hermyt86
Hahahhaah. I'm not going to run through the dialogue with you!
It's because you know you're wrong. You're just picking sides, they both killed civilians for different reasons. The committed act was the same for both.
Phoenix Franks
not really. self-defence is not the same as unprovoked violence.
There's no goreporn or glorifying of violence or action scenes, and the production value is low. And yet these scenes are absolutely spine-chilling through outstanding dialogue and sheer acting performance. It tackles heavy themes; war crimes and morality, with its roots in the real world.
It is top quality Trek.
Sadly ST:Discovery isn't in the same ballpark. It's not even in the same league, instead opting to go the JJ Abrams wannabe Star Wars route. What a shame.
Weird Fuel: I think current producers of Star Trek series more interested in making profits. Roddenberry believe in great story telling at least first two seasons.
Hear hear! This is what any intelligent person wants; stimulating philosophic explorations and deep thematic writing. Random action scenes and explosions every 2 seconds without something half-intelligent to back up the reason for it is just wasted screen time. Some of the best action movies/tv in history have a fairly limited amount of action in it compared to modern productions.
Also, Discovery has some terrible depiction of mental illness.
Antonio SCENDRATE GATTICO the fuck? Explain?
Antonio SCENDRATE GATTICO I don’t remember them ever doing something about mental illness
Such a beautiful scene. He tells her everything she wants to hear.
That was the point.....
And manages to grind her gears at the same time.
"Kill me! Torture me! It doesn't matter, you've already lost Major!"
Deep Space Nine was, in my humble opinion, the best of the Star Trek series. The episode from which this clip is taken shows just how good the writers, actors and directors on this show where. Very powerful episode from season one.
Yeah, DS9 was easily the best written Star Trek show. TNG was great, too, but DS9 ate its lunch in that regard. The writers did a fantastic job with it.
Rene Ferrer The TOS was made before star trek was a thing. So in comparison is seems less, but it was a marvel of its time.
Of course, it was not well funded unfortunately. This did not damage it to much, but it could have been better.
Now with TNG. it kinda dropped the ball on all the characters except worf data and picard.
But luckily their input was so MIND BLOWINGLY FANTASTIC, that it made up for a slow boring and insufficient series.
DS9 was the pinnacle of star trek. Its cast was well set and diverse, with garak, worf again, and quark, being absolutely fantastic characters that come along once in a decade.
As well as taking up some darker, and more meaningfull, less.... Noble look on things, that the previous series had tried to pass off as philosophy.
It wasn't real enough, it didn't impact the people who watched it as much. Its virtues were to bold.
DS9 had a good cast, good writing. And that twinge of realism that was SO accurately displayed by garak and bashier.
Also by Quark.
And even though the grim-dark stories with odo and kira were... meh... decent. They illuminated a section of racism and war that better fitted the times, even if it wasn't something star trek was experienced at writing. I think it came out OK.
As for Voyager. Holyfuckingshitthatshitwasnotdopegtfo.
The ONLY, ONNLLYY redeeming value to that show was the best doctor of star trek.
Bones was funny.
*TNG DOCTOR CONTENT DELETED*
Bashier was to dippy even though he was interesting.
But "The Doctor" Or... Joe, as his chosen name was in the end.
He fking nailed it.
NNAAAIILLLED IT!!!!
But other then that voyager DUN GOOFED.
And im.. im not even going to start with Enterprise.
Thats when they really started milking the cow. Star trek was over by Enterprise. They could have just let it go.
Completely agree; a combination of great writing, acting and direction make this series stand head and shoulders above other contemporary series of the time.
Scott Amsterdam What amazed me was the way they handled the recurring characters. That, I think, is the mark of a truly well written show. To be able to treat your main cast fairly while at the same time weaving such a large cast of recurring characters in and out of their lives. And memorable characters, too! Martok, Weyoun, Damar, Gul Dukat, the Female Changeling, Rom, Nog, Admiral Ross, Garak, Kai Wynn, Kasidy Yates and, to a lesser extent, Ziyal, Shakaar, Joseph Sisko, Sloan, Gowron, and Eddington. How amazing was their handling of all those characters?
Just compare that to Voyager. The writers on Voyager didn't even do the entire main cast justice. They certainly weren't capable of juggling a large cast of recurring characters.
Rene Ferrer and Morn!!
Duet shows that DS9 nailed it right out of the gate.
Gene Roddenberry would have hated DS9. He wanted to show a utopia for people to strive towards. And yet, this was one of Star Trek's finest moments. So many good episodes in this series.
You can have a Utopia, but you must be ready to defend it. The Federation was not ready to defend it. Otherwise they woulda had a fleet of warships ready by the time the borg came around.
They did show utopia. Earth, as frequently stated throughout the series, is paradise. Humanity has defeated want, deprivation, and all its faults to become founding members of a state composed of hundreds of worlds who have all done the same. The only reason the events of this episode get to happen is because that United Federation of Planets was willing and able to spend significant resources helping to mend a shattered world which wasn't even a member yet, and willing to spill blood in its defense.
That's what paradise looks like. That's something to strive for.
*all it’s faults* is quite an overstatement, but better is fair enough
DS9 has some of the highest highs specifically because it is a subversion of typical Star Trek. Unfortunately, the show never recovered back to its normal state.
I would love to see an updated TNG, but we're not getting that.
@@jeremydale4548 TOS was never a utopia I don't know what tf you people are talking about. It was constant war between races and in the galaxy.
This and the ending scene from In the Pale Moonlight are two of my favorite DS9 scenes
This man saved the Alpha Quadrant from the Dominion...despite dying years before the war began
These are both great episodes, but nothing compares to "Far Beyond the Stars", when Avery Brooks breaks down in front of the office I cry every time, that combined with "The Measure of a Man" from ST:TNG, they are some of greatest science fiction writing and acting I've ever seen.
Waltz also seeing the complete and true insanity of Dukat was amazing too
BTL Y-Wing what about the Quark and Garak root beer scene
@@nateperkins9860 Insidious!
Harris Yurin is such an underrated actor.. an incredibly powerful performance.
Mr. Ontological
yes, another powerful screen from star trek.
His last name is actually 'Yulin'.
This might be the best dialogue in all of Star Trek. Every time he says "The dead will still be dead" sends shivers down my spine.
This is so incredibly well written and acted it's unbelievable. Easily rivals the courtroom scene in A Few Good Men which is high praise.
This character was a true patriot believing that cardassia had to stand before Bajor and admit to what they had done even at the cost of his own life. He wasn't Gul Dar'Heel. He was actually Aman Maritza, a filing Clerk. But he still believed that what his people did was wrong and had to admit to that wrongdoing. He was actually a hero although he would never admit to being one. He did what he did because you do anything else was totally unthinkable.
What star trek always does best - hold up a mirror to the real world.
Art imitating life and the reverse, indeed !!
I don't know, I think this scene could have been improved with a dirt bike chase while a Beastie Boys song is blaring in the background ;-)
gusbaker4u This is one of the funniest comments I’ve read in a long time.
thejcjmguyreturns : I wonder what they have say about Trump's Administration
@@paulhunter1525 Stay Klingon!
Or was that not subtle enough?
I love Duet. It's a fantastic episode, with an amazing story.
I think my favorite line of the episode is "How convenient of you!" after Kira says she regrets a lot of what she did. It's just so perfectly done.
Harris yulin was incredible in this scene. Brutal and matter of fact in his words. Another brilliant episode of DS9 among many.
Christ, I miss real Trek.
Now, all we have is _"I like science."_ and _"Yum yum."_
RIP Star Trek.
@billyboyjennings - You're a fan of Redlettermedia.
@@GoodAvatar Sadly those are real quotes from season 2 of DIS.
@@wdcain1 No, I'm well aware. And I call it STD.
But the Redlettermedia crew made fun of those embarrassing lines several times.
Oh yeah, because Trek did not have any cringey lines, dumb episodes and ridiculous characters before DIS...
@@VuotoPneumaNN Oh, they totally did!!
Not every Trek is created equal.
Some are *FAR* better than others.
But... I propose that STD and PIC are not actually Star Trek.
They're gritty, violent, action-sci-fi that takes place in space.
But they missed *THE POINT* of why Star Trek was good and why the Trekkies loved it. The vision of a noble future is gone, only to be replaced by violent hard-ons.
And I don't approve of this change.
3:51 "How conveniant of you"
Its episodes like this that put perspective on things normally just taken at face value that made ST as great as Rhodenberry envisioned it^^
Ironically enough, it's the aspects of Trek that break *away* from him that most honor his show.
The creator himself hated the very idea of DS9 and where the show went. He wanted everything hyper-idealized. An Earth that was perfect, a Federation that was infallible. If it was up to Rhodenberry Star trek would never go anywhere near the depth that Deep Space Nine approached on a regular basis. We certainly would never have gotten to see the Cardassian/Bajoran occupation story or the Dominion War.
Indeed, but i can feel with him, he wanted to show us a humanitiy thats worth aspiring to, in this regard i can feel with ihim, as its not easy to lower ideals to make them more apealing^^
Lion Keon
Roddenberry never saw DS9, the show was in the planning stages when he died. He gave it his blessing.
Too bad nowadays we have people politicizing it to the point where they act as if the show was only meant for conservatives. I had an argument with someone who calls episodes like these "liberal fan service for easily manipulated idiots" because in the 24th century, "we were supposed to have moved past these issues." Even when reminded that TOS also tried to address 20th century issues, he obfuscated with complaints about the lack of talent, originality or brilliance, while still condemning the mentioning of these issues. So while Roddenberry might've given DS9 his blessing, many TOS and TNG fans disagree with a passion.
"Duet" stands head and shoulders above each and every episode of the first Ds9-Season.
Had Roddenberry lived, we NEVER would have gotten material like this.
I think this would have been done, but the whole Dominion war would def not work
If I remember my Trek lore correctly. It was Majel Roddenberry who found the treatment script for DS9 written by Roddenberry. Had it not been for Majel pushing the production of the show after Gene's death, I doubt it would have happened. Also the pilot episode of TOS - THE CAGE is a very heady episode filled with intriguing dialogue, mixed with lots of techno babble. Way a head of its time in sci fi story telling. The powers that be at the time thought it was too technical for audiences to grasp. Roddenberry was forced to dumb down his scripts as a result.
Maybe, but Roddenberry NEVER would have allowed a female lead like Kira. Yes, he did create "Number One," but we'll never know if his idea to make her an equal to Pike would have been what he said it would be. In Roddenberry's eyes, the female were supporting actors to the males, period.
@@tjames9698 Roddenberry was a complete feminist and liberal. I know that now, retroactively, he's not liberal enought for you anymore, but he was one of your champions.
@@lorefox201 Ask Nichols, Crosby, Sirtis, and McFadden that. They’d laugh.
I'm surprised you didn't show the scene all this was leading up to. I mean, this is excellent villainy, but it's so powerful when it's revealed he's being purposely over the top and purposely antagonistic because he actually ISN'T guilty for any of it but feels he needs to be executed and punished for watching it all and doing nothing as a lowly file clerk. That he should be executed as Gul Darheel so that Gul Darheel can in some way stand accountable for his crimes.
It's just as well. The end of this episode makes me cry lol.
I don't think he Gul Darheel to stand accountable as much as he wants Cardassia to be accountable. Gul Darheel was a creation of Cardassia ... but sadly so was Aman Meritza.
Vydio in that way he’s sort of the opposite side of the coin to Garak another cardasian that knew his empire was sick and broken but had actually committed the atrocities that made it so but desperately wanted it to be better.
This. He's deliberately being over-the-top to distract. To keep people wound-up emotionally, so they won't dig too deep into his past and figure out he's not really Gul Darheel.
Meant to parallel the French pursuing Nazi war criminals. The irony is that now since they got all of the major offenders or they died off, they would be trying to prosecute the file clerk.
For the past 10 years I've rewatched DS9 VOY and TNG nonstop, and this is my all time favorite episode from any star trek
If you add Babylon 5 to the group, you won't be disappointed
I also love that Kira comes full circle in her attitude towards Cardassians by the end of the episode. At the beginning, she judges Maritza guilty the moment she lays eyes on him just because he's a Cardassian. At the end of the episode when the you-know-what-spoiler thingy happens, someone else uses that same justification and she basically says, "no. That's not a good enough reason."
+Catzilla I'll bet off-screen the Cardassian government used that Bajoran's actions to keep painting all the Bajorans as crazed killers/savages.
"The dead will still be dead" that explains everything
"My word-- my very glance was law!"
"My men understood that, and they loved me!"
Superb writing ✍
Because they *were* clean.
@@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat "I admit EVERYTHING!"
The best thing is how he delivers the lines a little bit over the top... as if he had learned them by heart. Great acting.
He is an insanely good actor. Nana Visitor did superb beside him!
This is why I love DS9. It honestly opened up so much more to the universe other than STNG's perfect humans in a perfect world that always does the right thing in the end. Voyager was dark, but there wasn't as much emotion to it's issues like this. The Bajoran occupation existed from TNG and you can't help but Feel for what they have gone through.
I just do not understand why this series isn't loved as it should be.
"You've already lost, Major.. the dead will still be *dead* ..."
This is an absolute masterpiece, DS9 should have won an Oscar and every single award out there.
I had forgotten about this episode.
This is the kind of writing/acting I miss from Trek.
Well done.
True.
Now, all we have is....lens flares and explosions with J.J. Abrams. Dumbed down for the masses. So sad.
@@Gunnar001 you didn't didn't have those horrible new trek shows back then
"they came back covered in blood, but they felt clean. why did they feel that way? Because why were clean."
That's gotta be the most cold blooded line ever uttered on television.
And that is what you call acting. Brilliant
While I don't consider DS9 the best of the spin-offs, I can't deny that this episode is one of the best written and best performed episodes on television. The performances from Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin as Kira and Darheel were magnificent. Harris Yulin gave 150% for this episode and it's a shame he was looked over at the time for any awards because totally deserved the Emmy for that role.
KEYSERSOZE1965 it goes TNG DS9 STV
KEYSERSOZE1965 : Yes, they both least deserve nominations
@@pablofreeman8808 False lol. DS9 is da king. And I am surely in the minority, but I think I find Enterprise more interesting than Voyager. Please hold the pitchforks
@@Ellimist000 I'm in that minority but I'm not sure it's a minority. DS9 > TNG > the rest
@@Ellimist000 yea voyager had AWSOME potential but the writers took a nap for 5 years n woke up like ....wtf? lol serz i think i remember reading they all quit or where fired or something . then they took fan fiction and combined/re-wrote em.....made for inconsistent non-sensical science AND dialog . i think there was actually an episode where their sensors werent working right because of ....interferametric radiation ....WHAT!?! lol awful
Well if you recall the final revelation from this character, he was a long way from a villain. Frankly, he turned out to be one of the bravest characters in sci-fi history.
The 'Case of villainy' described all did happen and was done by the actual man this guy was disguised as
The way his eyes and brow shifted when he said "I call a days work." just injected that sense of absolute sincerity. "I have absolutely no remorse for what I've done."
Superb acting.
+Willaev all in the details. one of my favorite episodes in the entire franchise. i loved the un-redeemable Darheel persona, and the tortured soul Maritza who wants to die for his sins.
That last line.
God almighty that's the greatest icing.
It's a perfect pragmatic response to galactic scale politics.
"How convenient of you" is the best line in my opinion. It illustrates how people find ways to justify their actions.
People forget that he was also doing his best to dig under Kira's skin.
War IS ugly. There is no such thing as a clean war. Even the most just causes will see innocents die.
And that's not a reason not to fight, when it's necessary. Just because the enemy trying to destroy you uses their own people as living shields... doesn't mean you must stop.
"How convenient." No. Not convenient. Reality. But it is convenient that the phrase can literally be said for everything. And how convenient it stops discourse in its tracks. What a wonderful weapon.
This episode genuinely impressed me. I wasn't fully on board with the concept of DS9 for the majority of the first season.
Taking a show about exploration and sticking it on one station?? But man, I am SO glad I stuck with it. This episode revealed the potential behind the entire concept to me.
Instead of finding a new civilization and saving/destroying/whatever in a single episode, the relationship between the Cardassians and the Bajorans was able to be fleshed out in ways that the other entries would have been incapable of.
One of the best early episodes of DS9.
Haris Yulin's acting had me shivering with his brilliance.
Just finished DS9 season 1 and this was a high-point episode. Looking forward to 6 more seasons of this awesome show.
Joint best episode of DS9 ever in my opinion with "In The Pale Moonlight" being the other. The acting from start to finish is superb, the script brilliant and the final twist perfectly done. I can not think of one even tiny nit to pick with this magnificent piece of television that shows just how sc-fi can and should be written to make us think about contemporary, real world issues that we face today.
How great TV was. 😢 great actors , deep stories.
I always loved the comparisons between Bajoran Resitance vs Maquis.
Bajor = good, Maquis = bad... or is it? Yes, yes it is. Or is it? Yes, stop questioning.
Bajor = good, Maquis = bad, Gul Dukat = *hero*
This right here was the episode that won me over on DS9. Superb acting and writing!
She poured herself into this Role. Kira is, for the most part, the most understandable and realistic character in the series.
I love this scene and how maritza is both subtly and overtly trying to ensure he is guilty in the war crimes trial. There is the obvious stuff of course, but when Kira says ‘you’re insane’ he is more subtle, making it clear that he was perfectly sane, since insanity is a defense in some court institutions.
This whole episode is lightning in a bottle. It is absolutely fantastic.
I showed this clip along with the clip called "A superb case of villainy" to a friend of mine who has never seen a single episode of Star Trek and now he's hooked. DS9 is the best Trek series. No other Trek series pushed the boundaries like DS9 did. It dared to be different and I am glad to see that it is FINALLY getting the praise and recognition it so rightfully deserves.
What you call genocide...I call a day's work.
Archangel the Stylish "....but for me, it was tuesday"
+Doar Eu For the Emprah!
He reminds me of Raul Julia's Bison.
This episode aired in June, 1993. That definitely predates Raul Julia's unhinged M. Bison from Street Fighter by over a year. I'm currently making my way through DS9 on Netflix and this was one of the very best episodes thus far.
Brian Paige
DS9 was made of pure win. Now all we get is JJ Abrams bs.
Some of the best acting you’ll ever see period
"I would order them to go out and kill Bajoran SCUM." I love the emphasis in that sentence. Epic trolling. Great episode.
The alien characters on Trek and Babylon 5 in the 90s have got to be some of the most underrated performances in the modern acting profession's history.
Harris Yulin was absolutely riveting, powerful, chilling, and disturbing all at once! Actors take note.
This was always my favorite episode. Mainly because he did this to force his people to take responsibility for what they did to Bajor. A true patriot, Aman Meritza, believing his people needed to stand before Bajor and admit their wrongdoing. Even at the cost of his own life. Thanks so much for sharing.
He wasn't the real Meritza. Watch the episode.
I Have. He was aman meritza. He wasn't the real Gul DarHeel.
Petra Meyer wooosh
A great performance...
Absolutely AMAZING performance by Harris Yulin.
2:36 - "Can you say the same?"
In hindsight there's a sad undertone in this line, because Maritza knows she can't; he knows she's remorseful of the unnecessary civilian deaths, because he knows Gul Darhe'el wasn't, and that his brutality precipitated the Bajoran response. That to the Bajorans, it morally justified their actions.
The acting and dialogue was SO. GOD. DAMN. GOOD.
And having an episode like this in the FIRST season is really something special. That's why DS9 is the best Trek series.
This episode in particular was great in German because he had a very tough and angry voice actor.
The writing in this episode was so good. Some of the best in Star Trek
This is like watching a completely morally secure Auschwitz guard fully admit to everything at a Nuremberg trial. When he said, “because they were clean.” it gave me chills. The utter contempt he had for the enemy was breathtaking. They were beneath him. They were beneath living.
But you've also got to respect the turn later in the episode when the truth is revealed.
You really believe that he knew Darheel so well that he could intuit his real feelings and put on a convincing show of being the man.
And then seeing the poor frightened person who he was in reality finally come through - masterful performance by the actor
The actor playing Maritza deserved an Emmy award for his acting in this episode. Outstanding performance!
This is one of the saddest episodes, I cried so much
You're right and it was really well acted too. This was a really good episode, very touching.
It was a damn shame Harris Yulin didn't get an Emmy nomination for this episode.
Damn near my favorite DS9 episode, before the show got muddled by the whole Dominion War arc.
Yea, a bit on the emotional side. Actual Acting here. You don't see this now-a-days.
I think these kinds of dark storylines were exclusive to DS9.
DS9 is my fav Star Trek series.
Amazing scene and episode... and so well played both by Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin. It gives me the chills every time I watch it.
One of the best episodes of any television series ever!
“Bajorans didn’t resist, they surrendered.” The chilling smugness 😮
"How convenient of you" is a fantastic come-back.
This scene makes it feel like you were really there. Two people talking in a dark little room completely transported the audience back to those labor camps and by the end of it, you felt the whole thing. DS9 started after the fact - as the dust was clearing from so much tragedy.
The magic of this scene is that it fills that gap by making you imagine it all yourself.
A superb case of remorse and duplicity
"I LOVED my homeland! That is what justified my actions, that is what gave me strength!"
This is the glory of DS9. They always managed to find someway to make you sympathise with everyone. There weren't any "true" heros and villains.
I wanted to hug this guy’s character. Like damn he’s a broken man.
Such an AWESOME episode! This and “in the pale moonlight” are truly the best of DS9, if not of All Trek.
This was a truly excellent episode and the plot twist at the end with Harris Yulin's heart-wrenching performance after all the earlier psychopathic bluster... brilliant.
For you, the day Armin Maritsa graced to your planet was the most important day of your life. For me, it was Tuesday.
Man i miss this star trek, may not be flashy or high budget but it felt like its own world
gotta appreciate a man who takes pride in his work
Ha ha ha ha.
Harris Yulin should have won an Emmy for his performance in this episode. Simply amazing.