Quodo in Every Episode discussion: "Duet"

[chacusha]

This week we're discussing... episode 1x19 "Duet"!

Episode synopsis: A Cardassian comes to the station with a medical condition that places him at one of the most brutal concentration camps in operation during the Bajoran occupation. Kira has to determine whether the man they have in custody is Aamin Marritza, a lowly file clerk at Gallitep, or the Butcher of Gallitep himself: Gul Darhe'el.

What The Boys are up to in this episode: Odo appears throughout the episode, first arresting and then doing a background check on Marritza. He has a few longer scenes where he comforts Kira and then discovers an oddity in how much Marritza knows about Kira; where he talks to Dukat about accessing records confirming the circumstances of Gul Darhe'el's death; and finally briefing Kira and Sisko on the evidence he's collected that give indications of Marritza's true identity. Quark appears very briefly in one scene where he and Odo observe the gathered survivors of Gallitep and Quark wonders aloud if they might be interested in gambling.

One screencap from this episode:


Transcript: http://chakoteya.net/DS9/419.htm

Quodo fics tagged with this episode: None (https://archiveofourown.org/works?work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=Episode%3A+s01e19+Duet+%28Star+Trek%3A+Deep+Space+Nine%29&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&commit=Sort+and+Filter&tag_id=Star+Trek%3A+Deep+Space+Nine)

Tell us:
- What did you think about this episode?
- Have you written a fic set during/after this episode?
- Do you know of any other fics set in or that build off this episode that weren't linked above?
- What do you see as the Quodo potential for this episode?

Anonymous comments are on, so feel free to chime in even if you don't have a Dreamwidth account! If you prefer, we are also available on Discord:
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Event info & rules
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Comments

[chacusha]

Random thoughts:

- Huh, some of the commercial break cuts in this episode are a bit strange.

- Also, I don't remember there being so much pressure on Sisko from both the Bajoran and Cardassian governments over the fate of Marritza in this one. Watching this again, it's not really clear to me why a filing clerk at a place at Gallitep would be released rather than tried/forced to give testimony by default? Maybe an indication of how politically weak Bajor is at this point in the series -- they are unable to prosecute war crimes related to the occupation, unless it's something egregious enough to cause a scandal?

- I love Nana Visitor's acting in this one. The way her voice breaks and she turns away when talking about the horrors she saw at Gallitep -- so good.

- I also love Kira's horrified, "This man is crazy" look when Marritza is in his full rant. One thing that makes this episode so good is the guest actor and how well he captures the vibe of an arrogant unrepentant racist, and the push and pull between him and Kira in their scenes together.

- I also like the gratuitous scene between Quark and Odo in this one. I do like how Quark is a very lighthearted/jokey person, and he adds a bit of levity to an otherwise heavy episode. Quark's role as an outsider but close observer of the Bajoran occupation is always an interesting aspect of his character to me.

- It's always fascinating to me what causes Kira's change of heart here, because Marritza being just a file clerk would not be sufficient for her to forgive him. She might not derive as much satisfaction in his punishment than if he were someone bigger and more important, but it was already established earlier in the episode she would still consider "file clerk at Gallitep" a form of culpability. But specifically, it's because Marritza is sacrificing his own life for the (frankly longshot) attempt to bring about justice -- obviously, that cause bears quite a lot of similarity to Kira's own freedom fighter background. But it's also because Marritza is specifically a coward, and a weakling. Earlier in the episode, Kira begs Sisko to be allowed to interrogate Marritza on behalf of "all the Bajorans who can't ask." There is consistently this aspect of Kira that she fights for those who can't fight. So not only is Marritza also someone willing to give his life for a righteous cause like Kira, but he's also a coward and weakling, traumatized and ground down by the Cardassian occupation, which makes him at the same time like a lot of the helpless Bajorans who Kira fought for. I absolutely love the moment in this episode when Kira goes into Marritza's holding cell and he flinches away from her, their dynamic completely reversed, and you can see Kira has finally understood who Marritza is/what's going on with him. Just *chef's kiss*.

- Overall, this episode is dark -- one of the episodes that draws the clearest parallel between Bajorans/the occupation and Jews/the Holocaust so a very grim episode -- but it's one of my favorite DS9 episodes. Just so many feelings! Kira really goes through the wringer in the first season.


Thoughts on Quodo potential:

- I'm not sure on what basis, but I always just assumed that when Odo brings a drink (Maraltian seev-ale) from Quark's private stock to calm Kira down, it's because it's a present/thoughtful gesture from Quark that Odo is passing along, kind of another hint that he and Quark (and Kira) are on closer terms than they let on (specifically from their Terok Nor days) and regularly talk to each other offscreen. But I guess it could very well be that Odo snuck into Quark's private stock and stole it lol. In any case, I feel like there's a story to be told here about how Odo got his hands on this drink.

- You could probably extend the brief scene between Quark and Odo here -- just add a bit more dialogue between them or give a bit more pre-canon backstory or something.