2.24 — “The Collaborator”

2.24 — “The Collaborator”

Plot: The selection of the new Kai approaches on Bajor. Vedek Bareil is the leading candidate, but he doesn’t let that keep him from visiting DS9 to continue his romance with Maj. Kira Nerys. Also on the scene is Vedek Winn, and she makes an explosive accusation against Bareil that threatens to throw the election into turmoil. Soon Kira is forced to investigate: did Bareil collaborate with the Cardassians in the massacre of 42 Bajoran militants?

Thoughts: This is a heavy episode to follow “Crossover,” and I can’t pretend it’s as much fun. In the context of the series, however, it’s a important episode, rich with callbacks and texture that creates the tapestry of the constructed world of the series.

I appreciate the callbacks to Sisko as the Emissary, the Orb of the Prophets, and Kai Opaka, proving that Deep Space Nine has a memory. I’m genuinely pleased to see Opaka again. It effectively creates the illusion that the producers have a plan, and care about the developing continuity.

It’s an illusion, of course; the producers are mostly improvising. The story grew out of a very different pitch. Memory Alpha quotes Ira Steven Behr, “We had talked all year about Bareil becoming the next kai. All year! And during this conversation we started talking about a collaborator, and I suddenly realized, “We don’t want Bareil as the kai. What the hell good is that going to do us?”

It’s a bit different from Babylon 5’s novel-written-for-television approach, but it does the trick. Louise Fletcher is great as Winn. I definitely want to see where they go with her in future installments, even if the writers themselves didn’t know at the time the episode was produced.

I like that the quandary of sacrificing 43 to save 1,200 is used to contrast with the absolutism expressed early in the episode by Kira and the other Bajoran. It’s a problem you see today, where complex matters in politics are reduced to syllogisms, and too many prefer the purity of appealing fiction to the murkiness of honest appraisal. A similar crime that lead to the exile of Kubus Oak is laid at the feet of Kai Opaka, and it is implied that Kira finds forgiveness for Bareil for his complicity in concealment.

It doesn’t hurt that this is another Kira-centered episode. The orb flashbacks add production value, and just barely tip this to 4 out 5 hangman’s nooses.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Collaborator_(episode)