#ds9 the garyalmore rewatch

[bagheerita]

So I read A Stitch in Time and one result of that which I was certainly not expecting was that I feel so much sympathy for Enabran Tain. Garak's life is a tragedy, but Tain's is a fucking black comedy.

I mean, he's a terrible person and an absolute shitbag, but can you imagine? You have this kid. You go to all the trouble of arranging for him to be raised in a family situation where he won't be rejected from society for being your bastard. You get him into the nicest indoctrination school where he can hobnob with plenty of uppercrust kids. You get him a job in your Order and all the proper training. And he's actually, like, really good at it. But he has this fatal flaw of being completely incapable of not making stupid, short-sighted, emotional decisions.

A scene I imagine has to have happened just prior to Garak and Tain's confrontation at the end of part II:

Like goddamn. When Tain asked "what's your plan for getting rid of her husband?" and Garak's just like "plan what plan." Dude. I'M disappointed, I can only imagine the guy who's job it is to know and plan for everything isn't at least as disappointed.

I know he didn't actually, but do you think there was ever a time when Tain wanted to be like, You know what. Just go back to Tolan and become a gardener. Join that illegal hippie cult. It's fine.

[bagheerita]

In "Past Prologue" Garak does this weird hand thing and I adore it what is happening

[bagheerita]

I love that Garak has a single enormous glass vase full of cut greenery and flowers in his quarters. This isn't a potted plant or reasonably sized vase or anything, this is the kind of glass vase that literally only exists to be picked up and thrown on the floor for dramatic emphasis.

[bagheerita]

Proclaiming yourself not a botanist and then solving Jadzia's plant problem in under one minute is not a great way to fly under the radar, Julian.

[bagheerita]

You're not going to tell me. But you don't need me to tell you, my friend. Just notice the details. They're scattered like crumbs all over this table we regularly share. Until next time.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Cardassians"

[bagheerita]

Julian, literally in the episode where he first meets Garak: I'm afraid this relationship has gotten a little out of hand.

[bagheerita]

This has to be the biggest fucking lie he's ever told tbh

[bagheerita]

Garak spends this whole conversation with Jomat Luson staring at Julian like a proud teacher. "Did he remember to ask the important question? Yes, yes he did. Very good!"

[bagheerita]

Somehow Dukat started this episode calling Garak an "amiable fellow" with a straight face. Meanwhile Garak's just like "So glad I could ruin your day ❤"

[bagheerita]

Garak is so fucking excited. You actually read my favorite book??!!?@?!?? And I love Julian's trapped look in the second shot. 😂 No, Garak it was not superb.

[bagheerita]

"Ties of Blood and Water" is a story very much about Kira's role as a daughter and navigating the difficult space between a Bajoran and a Cardassian heritage. It also includes Dukat using information about someone's daughter to try to manipulate them. This is an episode that desperately needed some Ziyal in it.

[bagheerita]

Ghemor: Let me give you some advice: never ever trust Garak

Kira: lmao why don't you teach your grandmother how to suck eggs

[bagheerita]

Me, watching "Profit and Loss": uh ma'am 😳 thank you ma'am

[bagheerita]

Rewatching "Cardassians" again because it's really such a good episode. Like, how did that happen lol. After seeing some of the nonsense this show puts out it's really nice to have an episode that addresses a deep topic and deals with it well. I love that there is no easy answer to the overall problem and the episode doesn't try to provide one. Should Rugal stay on Bajor with the family who chose him, or go to Cardassia with his blood-father? I think Sisko makes the best choice that was possible (and which is in line with the show's overall deference to blood-kin, which I think is fine in this instance but overall drives me nuts).

In one of the first scenes Kira says, "We had no choice but to take care of [the Cardassian orphans]." Which isn't entirely true: there are other things you could have done with them. But like... I'm glad that for you those choices were not even worth considering. I love that Rugal and Miles initially bond over their distaste for Cardassian food, and that for some reason Miles O'Brien of all people ends up being Rugal's advocate. In one of the last scenes, Sisko urges Pa'Dar to seek to bring the actual orphans home to Cardassia which Pa'Dar does not seem interested in, which I feel like is a nice mirror to Kira's line at the beginning of the episode.

Anyway, Garak has now grabbed a stranger in the Replimat by the shoulder in 100% of his episodes; I'm surprised he hasn't been bitten sooner if this is his standard modus operandi.

Also, Sisko is so done with Julian in this entire episode and it's fantastic.

[bagheerita]

Bashir is so excited to share his gossip about Garak he can't wait until the turbolift actually arrives at ops.

[bagheerita]

Honestly? No. I don't.

The one thing that's always bugged me about this episode is that I've seen it 4 times now and I still don't buy this dude. I'm still waiting for him to say, oh never mind I'm actually the decoy, the guy you really want is over there. No shade on the actor because I feel like he was told to play it a certain way, but like... the vibe I get is "I wandered in off the street and I know everything because the director gave me his annotated script, not because I actually possess any skills whatsoever." I suppose that's not helped by the "fade to black, pick up a few days later" so we never actually see Julian put any of that information to use.