Top 20 Episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine #3: In the Pale Moonlight

The countdown is getting down to the wire as we cover an episode that often finds itself at the top of other people’s lists. While personally, I believe there are still two episodes that surpass it, I cannot deny that it is one of the greatest episodes of Deep Space Nine and possibly Star Trek as a whole.

Even though Sisko and the federation have retaken Deep Space Nine, the Dominion threat has by no means been diminished. If anything, they’ve gotten more aggressive. It seems that every week, Sisko the list of casualties that Sisko posts to the DS9 bulletin board is getting bigger and bigger. The captain simply cannot ignore the facts any longer, the Federation is losing the war. However, there is one possible salvation for our heroes, the Romulans. The Romulans have managed to remain neutral in the Dominion conflict thus far and after their government has signed a non-aggression pact with the Dominion, they have no reason to get involved. Sisko simply cannot accept that for an answer, but try as he may, he cannot come up with a good enough argument for the Romulans to enter the war on the side of their enemies. But, as the list of casualties continues to grow, so to does Sisko’s desperation.

As Sisko’s conventional efforts prove to be a dead end, he enlists the aid of a man highly skilled in the art of deception, Garak. With the aid of a lowlife criminal forger, Garak puts together a holo-program that Sisko will present to a visiting Romulan senator as an real-life recording of a Dominion plot to betray the Romulans. As this plan is being put together, Sisko becomes more and more uncomfortable with his morals being compromised, but Garak assures him that if successful, he would be saving countless lives. Still unsure of himself, Sisko proceeds. When the time finally comes to present the recording to the senator, the senator realizes the deception right away leading to the infamous “IT’S A FAKE” line, but more importantly, convinces Sisko that instead of convincing the Romulans to join his side, he may have driven them further into the enemy camp.

However, it’s not long after that we learn what Garak was really planning. While Sisko met with the Senator, Garak placed a bomb in his transport that detonated once he left the station. The Romulans, who would likely find the damaged holo-program on his transport, would suspect dominion involvement and would join forces with the federation. Additionally, Garak had the forger killed to cover his tracks. Furious, Sisko confronts and subsequently throttles Garak, but Garak reminds Sisko that what he did was not only necessary but also exactly what Sisko wanted. That's why you came to me, isn't it captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal... and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain.

Upon hearing Garak’s words, Sisko resigns to his fate and with great reluctance, admits that Garak was right. This entire episode is bookended by Sisko making his personal log, trying to justify his actions to himself. On one hand, he is disgusted by the things he did, but every time he feels that feeling on shame in his heart, he remembers the list of casualty’s and reminds himself that this was all worth it. Even so, Sisko has compromised his morals and crossed lines no self-respecting Starfleet captain ever should in the name of saving lies, and worse yet, he thinks he can live with it.

This is a phenomenal episode that gives us fantastic performances from both Avery Brooks as well as Andrew Robinson. While Gene Rodenberry’s vision always showed the heroes to be incorruptible, this episode shows us that everyone, even a man who holds himself to a high moral standard like Ben Sisko, has a price for which they will sell their soul. For that reason, this episode can be very polarizing amongst fans, many seeing it as a bold and powerful episode, while other’s see it as a betrayal of Gene’s vision. Personally, I consider myself to be in the former camp and I believe this episode deserves it’s place among the greatest episodes of the franchise. Be it The Dominion, The Romulans, The Klingons or even his own demons, Sisko has faced no shortage of great obstacles. Next time, we see him take on the greatest one yet: racial prejudice.