Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Die Is Cast (1995)
Season 3, Episode 21
10/10
"I've never been Psychoanalyzed by a Romulan Before"
29 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The Obsidian Order of Cardassia and the Romulan Tal-Shi'Ar have built a fleet of ships with which to attack The Founder's Home Planet. The ships De-cloak as they pass Deep Space Nine and enter The Celestial Temple.

The governments of Cardassia and Romulus promise The Federation that "something will be done about this" but The Sisko knows, that both of those governments will do absolutely nothing to stop this fleet. And neither will The Federation, as they secretly hope that it will be successful. The Sisko is ordered by Starfleet to sit around at The Station and twiddle his thumbs: But Odo is with that fleet, and The Sisko is not about to sit on his own hands. So he orders everyone to The Defiant. With them goes Lt. Cmd. Eddington, Starfleets "Non-Odo" Security Officer.

Odo and Garak had been involved with "A Simple Investigation" to find Enaubrin Tain: They have found him, or rather he has found Odo and Garak, and now Odo is Tain's prisoner.

The Moment Odo's runabout was Tractored in to the Warbird we knew he would be imprisoned, but what we did not know was that Tain has charged Garak with his interrogation.

Garak tries to get Odo to cooperate willingly, but even Garak knows, "Fat Chance." Garak even tries to tell Tain that Odo knows nothing, but it is either Garak interrogates Odo, or someone else does.

It is up to Garak. Tain gives him a machine, which Odo initially scoffs at: But what Odo does not know is that this machine will prevent him from changing shape, even to his liquid state.

So Garak begins to ask Odo questions. Meanwhile, on The Defiant, the cloaking device suddenly shorts out, leaving them exposed to The Jem Ha'Dar: It was Eddington. Since we never liked Eddington that much, because he was "The Quisling." When The Founders and The Vorta had the crew of The Defiant in the Device during "The Search part II," Eddington was the only crew-member who was actually co-operating with The Founders and The Vorta. This was not explained then, but it becomes apparent now that there is something not quite right with this guy: Why would he uphold The Dominion's interests during the simulated reality interrogation? In this episode, he reveals himself to be a legalistic bean-counter, which makes his upcoming role in the DS9 story a strange reversal, from legalistic to anarchistic in one easy step.

Odo absolutely refuses to cooperate in any way, but Tain's machine is keeping him from reverting to jelly. Odo is degenerating into a rag doll, and it is apparent that Garak is revolted by having to torture him, he hates doing it. Eventually Garak gives Odo a way out: "Tell me anything, any fact I don't know, lie if you have to" and this is where Odo finally decides he can trust Garak, he knows, Garak will never repeat anything he says to Tain or anyone else. I was expecting him to tell Garak about his attraction to Kira but instead he admits to Garak that he wants to go home: To The Great Link.

The Romulan Commander Lovok (Leland Orser) tries to press Garak for why he was protecting Odo, this is Garak's famous line: "I've never been psychoanalyzed by a Romulan before, this is a fascinating experience" and Lovok tells Garak: "You are a practiced Liar but I am a practiced Observer." This immediately shows that Lovok is more than he appears.

The Romulo-Cardassian Fleet reaches Odo's Home Planet and they begin to bombard the place, but it was a Trap: The Dominion knew all about it, all along, because Lovok was a Founder and he even encouraged Tain. 150 Jem Ha'Dar ships attack the fleet and blow them to bits. Garak quotes Shakespeare to Tain, "The Fault was not in our Stars, but Ourselves." The Cardassian and Romulan intelligence forces were efficient organizations and a definitive threat to The Dominion, now disposed of.

The Defiant arrives just in time to save Odo and Garak's runabout - Lovok had allowed Odo to leave. Because No Founder has ever harmed another.

So Ends a pair of episodes which set the tone for the next three and a half seasons of Deep Space Nine. World War Two has commenced, but the Federation, like the United States, needs to be persuaded to Join the fight: What is it gonna take?
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