#without being a punchy one-liner I Am Shit Man was nice

[highway-stars]

I love that you're so enthusiastic about DS9!!! I am due a complete watch at some point, since I only caught it sporadically while it was airing live.

This is now a space for you to go absolutely bonkers about Garak. Please. He deserves the attention.

YEEEAAAS Watching it while it was live must've been cool.

I thought Garak perfectly encapsulated the series itself despite being a side character - he's mysterious, chaotic, sneaky, deeply troubled, aggressive and ultimately becomes good-ish by using his skills as an evil dude and I think that captures the vibe of DS9 really well. He shows the idealistic characters what they're in for by being on this station.

I love how untrustworthy he is, I love his incessant lying. And I like how his relationship with Bashir DIDN'T make Bashir any less idealistic despite the awful things he had to go thru, and I don't think Bashir's idealism rubbed off on Garak either. They stay opposites in that regard. They LEARN from eachother and can even like and respect those qualities but they don't change their respective outlooks. Man I love themmmm.

But holy balls WHY did they give Garak Ziyal as a girlfriend for like twenty seconds. I get it was a vehicle to raise the tension between him and Gul Dukat but there was just nothinggggg there. If they had developed Ziyal a little bit more beforehand maybe I woulda liked it better but it was just so blatantly out of place.

Idk I think the Garak Vibe that just makes me love him is that he's got a good balance of "hehehe I'm toying with you cause I'm evil" without being overconfident and over-the-top. I don't like an overconfident/self-absorbed villain nearly as much. He's got just enough of an edge to be overtly MEGA SINISTER but never in a way that turns him into a characature. I think THAT'S what makes me really love him. Yeah.