S3E5 - Second Skin

[dnaphil]

I selected this episode because it introduces Tekeny Ghemor.

This episode is a good example of the insidiousness of the Obsidian Order. This is a very elaborate plot to bring down a Legate, and it borders on the absurd, but we have been told in multiple episodes about the scale of the Obsidian Order, so this sting is not out of their realm.

What I like about this episode is that the premise is very compelling. At one point, Entek, asks Kira, "Is any of this out of the realm of possibility for the Obsidian Order", and she is hard-pressed to disagree.

While the episode spends its time focused on Kira trying to figure out why the Cardassians would do this to her, only to figure out at the last minute that she was never the target. It's a good twist and another example of solid writing for the show.

I think one of the best lines of the episode comes from Garak, after he turns the Cardassian patrol away with a valid security code and orders the captain to delete all his log entries, Sisko complements him and he says, "Oh, it was just something I overheard while I was hemming someone's trousers."

I also liked Ghemor's warning to Kira about Garak at the end of the episode.

[Jared Rascher]

I can't imagine the kind of trauma this would have caused Kira with her background.

Kira's degree of healing seems to be measured by interactions with Cardassians. The fact that she can be friendly with a legate, and empathize with the manipulation the Obsidian Order visited upon him, shows that Kira isn't the same person she was, even at the beginning of the series.

That said, wow, it's kind of painful to see them continually putting Kira in the position to revisit her traumas.