Duet (DS9 episode)
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| Star Trek: DS9 episode | |
| "Duet" | |
 Marritza |
|
| Episode no. | 19 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 419 |
| Airdate | June 13, 1993 |
| Writer(s) | Lisa Rich Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci Peter Allan Fields |
| Director | James L. Conway |
| Guest star(s) | Harris Yulin as Marritza Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat Ted Sorel as Kaval Tony Rizzoli as Kainon Norman Large as Captain Robin Christopher as Neela |
| Year | 2369 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "Dramatis Personae" |
| Next | "In the Hands of the Prophets" |
"Duet" is the penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
A Kobheerian freighter requests permission to dock at the station, stating that one of its passengers requires treatment for a condition known as Kalla-Nohra. Dr. Bashir is not familiar with the condition, but Major Kira recognizes it and informs Sisko that the only place to contract Kalla-Nohra was a labor camp called Gallitepp. As Kira helped liberate the camp at the end of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, she asks to greet the passenger personally.
Upon arriving in Sickbay, Kira discovers that Bashir's new patient is not Bajoran but Cardassian. She calls for Security to arrest the man, claiming he is a war criminal. However, the man's name, Aamin Marritza, is not listed for any war crimes and Sisko sees no option but to let Marritza go. Kira is adamant—Marritza is Cardassian, she says, and that's enough—and details the condition of the labor camp when she liberated it; Sisko decides to investigate further.
Marritza denies that he served at Gallitepp and claims he has never been to Bajor, but Bashir's medical test confirms that he has Kalla-Nohra. Sisko thinks Kira is too close to the case to be objective, but her emotional plea convinces him to let her stay on it. When she interrogates Marritza, he admits to serving at Gallitepp but claims he was only a filing clerk. According to Marritza, the atrocities that Bajorans believe occurred at Gallitep were an illusion meant to keep the Bajorans in fear of the Cardassians.
Odo's investigation confirms that Marritza was a filing clerk and Kira tries to cope with her feelings of anger and the fact that Marritza may go free. A photograph from Gallitepp, however, reveals that the man being held is not Aamin Marritza but rather Gul Darhe'el, the "Butcher of Gallitepp," who reportedly murdered thousands of innocent Bajorans. The prisoner responds arrogantly when confronted with this information. He admits that he is Gul Darhe'el and boasts about slaughtering "Bajoran scum." Kira is visibly shaken.
While being interrogated, Darhe'el lets slip that he knew Kira was a member of the Shakaar resistance cell, which a mere labor camp commander would not be likely to know (as military officers assigned to counter-terrorist operations were generally the only Cardassians who would be privy to the identities of known Bajoran resistance fighters). Further investigation reveals that he specifically requested passage on a freighter scheduled to dock at DS9 - a Bajoran station - which would be foolish in the extreme for a Cardassian war criminal to do. Not only that, Darhe'el was away from Gallitepp on the day of the accident which infected his workers and prisoners - he was back on Cardassia receiving a proficient service medallion from his military. Further, as Dukat tells Sisko, Darhe'el is dead - half of Cardassia attended his funeral and viewed his body in state. Bashir also reports that the man they are holding in the cell had been taking massive doses of a medicine normally prescribed to patients undergoing cosmetic surgery - indicating that not only did the prisoner want to be caught, he wanted to be recognized as Darhe'el. Odo realizes that the man he is holding is in fact Marritza, Darhe'el's clerk.
Kira confronts the prisoner once more but he insists that Marritza is the one who is dead. "It's Marritza who was good for nothing but cowering under his bunk and weeping like a woman! Who every night covered his ears because he couldn't bear to hear the screaming... for mercy... of the Bajoran workers..." Marritza breaks down as he says this. He begs Kira to prosecute him, insisting that all of Cardassia must pay for its war crimes and that he is as guilty for remaining silent as Darhe'el was for committing the atrocities.
Kira tells Marritza that what he is asking for is another murder, and enough good people have died already. She releases him, but as he is leaving he is killed by a drunken Bajoran. When Kira demands to know why, the Bajoran says that the man was Cardassian and that's reason enough. "No," Kira whispers, "it's not."
[edit] Notes
- Despite being a bottle episode, "Duet" is a fan favorite. It features significant character development on the part of Kira Nerys and is the first episode in which the Cardassian occupation of Bajor was firmly established as a metaphor for the Nazi persecution of the Jews. In fact, the episode's plot is borrowed from Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth, a story about a Jewish man who is accused of being a Nazi war criminal.
- Actress Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) has often stated that this episode is her favorite because it has such important things to say.[citation needed]
[edit] Reference
- P. Farrand, Nitpicker's Guide for Deep space Nine Trekkers New York: Dell (1996): 78 - 81
[edit] External links
- "Duet" article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Duet article at StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website
