An emotional story of war orphans is tied up, as it often does, in espionage and intrigue.
I found this episode nearly flawless. The only downfall was the slightly arch ‘drawing room reveal’ with Bashir at the end, but that’s a minor quibble at best. The story of the Cardassian orphan confused over their identity would have been enough to carry an episode alone, combining it with “plain and simple” Garak’s intrigues made for a great story.
Garak is a wonderful character – his line at the end was a good summary of him: “I never tell the truth because I don’t believe there is such a thing”. He made a good initial showing in Season One and then disappeared. It’s a good thing he’s going to be back a little more often now,
290 down, 447 to go.