"I'm not going to let him destroy Bajor. From now on, it's him or me."

6x11 - "Waltz"


Notable Dialogue:

DUKAT: From the moment we arrived on Bajor it was clear that we were the superior race, but they couldn't accept that. They wanted to be treated as equals, when they most certainly were not. Militarily, technologically, culturally-- we were almost a century ahead of them in every way. We did not choose to be the superior race. Fate handed us that role and it would have been so much easier on everyone if the Bajorans had simply accepted their role. But no... day after day they clustered in their temples and prayed for deliverance and night after night they planted bombs outside of our homes. Pride.. stubborn, unyielding pride. From the servant girl that cleaned my quarters, to the condemned man toiling in a labor camp, to the terrorist skulking through the hills of Dahkur Province... they all wore their pride like some... twisted badge of honor.

SISKO: And you hated them for it.

DUKAT: Of course I hated them! I hated everything about them! Their superstitions and their cries for sympathy, their treachery and their lies, their smug superiority and their stiff-necked obstinacy, their earrings, and their broken, wrinkled noses!

SISKO: You should have killed them all, hm?

DUKAT: Yes! Yes!! That's right, isn't it?! I knew it. I've always known it. I should've killed every last one of them! I should've turned their planet into a graveyard the likes of which the galaxy had never seen! I should've killed them all.

SISKO: And that is why you're not an evil man.




"Waltz" presents something of a quandary to a fan such as myself.  On the one hand, it is an extremely compelling hour of television, in which we see raw, basic emotion played out between two amazing actors.  On the other hand, Dukat has always been a very dynamic and multi-layered character, and having him "come out" as a truly evil person could have had disastrous consequences to the Deep Space Nine series as a whole.  However, I think the issue is well-handled and is executed very competently by the writers, the director, and of course, the actors.


In the case of Dukat, I believe he has always felt this way, but always found ways to justify his actions.  "The Bajorans are like my children," he'd say to himself.  "I love them, but sometimes they must be punished."  Here we see all of the pretense and showiness of Dukat stripped away, revealing his true self.  Sure, Dukat is a product of the society in which he was raised, but that does not excuse his actions or his beliefs.  He truly believes that Cardassians are superior to all other forms of life, and that the lives of Bajorans are less important that the goals of the Cardassian Union.  "Evil" is a word that I very much try to refrain from using in my daily life.  I don't know whether a person can be called "truly evil," but I do know that actions can be truly evil, however you wish to define that particular word.  Regardless of where his beliefs and motives came from, Dukat's actions during the occupation (and, in microcosm, during this episode) were evil.  He may be unbalanced, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous nor does it excuse his actions in the past or in the future.  If anything, the fact that he now believes he can act without consideration to "keeping up appearances" makes him far more dangerous.


I also really enjoyed the scene on the Defiant's bridge with Bashir and Worf.  In particular, I admired Worf's handling of Bashir's clear insubordination.  An officer does not say what Bashir said get away with it.  Any complaints made to the commanding officer should be made behind closed doors, and only after asking permission to speak freely.  Bashir did neither of these things, and should have been reprimanded.  Worf's "you may leave the bridge, Doctor" was very well-timed and appropriate.  I enjoy when moments like these serve to make the viewer believe that this is a real-life situation between real people.

Now, from a purely technical standpoint, wasn't that a beautiful CGI model of the Nebula-class starship, the USS Honshu?  Gorgeous.










Next episode: