"The Maquis," or "Nobody Speak, Nobody Gets Choked"
First of all, how is Quark not the patron saint of every reformed incel on Earth? For a guy who looks like a pork dumpling with teeth, Quark has more game than a Steam Summer Sale. I feel like I should be rolling my eyes every time Quark hits on the first female humanoid that walks into his bar in any given episode, but I'm not. There's something hideously endearing about that opportunistic little Ferengi.
Quark doesn't have a lot to do with "The Maquis," but he is critically (and inevitably?) involved with the inciting event. An attractive, ice-cold Vulcan visitor to DS9 saunters into Quark's bar and makes a few unsubtle requests at a business venture. And by "business venture," I mean a ridiculously illegal weapons deal consisting of several hundred photon torpedos, phasers, shields, and enough of an arsenal to arm a small army.
The Vulcan--Sakonna--belongs to a group of violent anti-Cardassian rebels unsubtly calling themselves the Maquis. The Maquis are somewhere between a guerilla terrorist group and a renegade resistance government operating illegally in the demilitarized zone. Sakonna is arming the Maquis, and the Maquis are attacking and destroying Cardassian transport ships smuggling weapons--also illegally--into the demilitarized zone. DS9 becomes the unwitting accomplice in a Maquis plot when Sakonna arranges for a Cardassian transport ship to be sabotaged and destroyed, killing everyone on board.
The entire concept of a demilitarized zone feels hopelessly ineffective. Bajoran settlers and Cardassian settlers share a tenuous colonial space protected by the Federation and its Cardassian allies. The Cardassian settlers are arming themselves against the Bajoran settlers, and the Bajoran settlers are arming themselves against the Cardassian settlers. Cardassians smuggle weapons in transport ships, so Bajorans blow them up. The Bajorans blow up Cardassian transport ships, so Cardassians retaliate.
The demilitarized zone is peaceful in name only. Cardassian settlers and Maquis rebels stab each other and then hide their daggers behind their backs whenever the Federation glances their way. Everyone knows there's violence, but no one wants to admit complicity, because that would mean war.
Sisko finds himself dragged into the conflict after a surprise visit from an old friend, Commander "Cal" Hudson--the diplomatic attache assigned to the demilitarized zone. Cal and Sisko are more than old friends. They're practically mirrors of each other: foils, similar in all respects but for one crucial difference. Proud, honorable men with a strong sense of duty, Cal and Sisko differ only in the object of their loyalty. Sisko is absolutely loyal to Starfleet and the continued peace--tenuous and threadbare as it may be--between the Federation and Cardassia. Cal, on the other hand, has gone native. Years of exposure to Cardassian violence and brutality has stripped away any lingering loyalties to Federation law, and replaced it with a deep and abiding sympathy toward the Maquis.
I loved the chemistry in this episode. This is an episode about conflicts between friends and agreements between enemies. Cal and Sisko could have been the closest of friends, but the problem of the Demilitarized Zone becomes an impossible rift between the two of them. Sisko and Gul Dukat are diametrically opposed to one another. It's tempting to say they set aside their differences for a common cause, but really, they don't. They hold on to their differences. Sisko and Dukat are at each other's throats even as they pursue the same goal: peace between Cardassia and the Federation.
What I love about "The Maquis" is how effortlessly the episode pivots from a terrorist plot to a story about individual characters. We're never going to see the Cardassian-Bajoran conflict resolved by the end of the episode. (Frankly I'll be surprised if we see it resolved by the end of the series.) The episode is not about stopping a terrorist plot, or defeating a villain, or discovering some elaborate Cardassian scheme to foment a war between two factions; this episode is about conflicting loyalties.
As a Federation officer, Sisko must be loyal to his own commanding officers. He is honorbound to protect and defend the Federation's treaties. But unlike Patrick Stewart's Hornblower-esque Picard, Avery Brooks plays Sisko with seething contempt and barely controlled rage. His uniform is a harness, and underneath his brass buckles and Starfleet badge, Sisko bristles and churns against the sheer stupidity of Starfleet command, the intransigence of Maquis rebels, the sneering and supercilious condescension of Gul Dukat. He's putting up with everyone's nonsense, and watching him march steel-jawed through this episode, barking orders and staring people right in the eye, is an absolute delight.
I loved everything about Sisko in "The Maquis," and in a two-part episode filled with outstanding lines, he delivers one of the most impassioned and profound speeches I've heard in any episode of Star Trek, and that includes TNG. His line about "the problem with Starfleet is Earth" is some of the best writing I've seen in Star Trek. This is the kind of deep insight I love seeing from Sisko. Earth is a paradise, and in paradise, it's easy to be a saint. The demilitarized zone is anything but paradise; reduced to living under abject conditions, the settlers are driven to acts of violence and brutality. What an outstanding speech.
As much as I loved Sisko, two other characters came very close to stealing the show for me. Gul Dukat is a hard-bitten, ruthless, imperialistic, iron-fisted tyrant, and I kind of love him. I love that he has a sense of humor. I love that he has a sense of honor. Even if he is ruthless, it's impossible not to admire his sense of loyalty toward Cardassia, toward his family, and even toward the post he once occupied. I love watching Gul Dukat hover around Sisko like an apparition. He's like some sort of helicopter parent; he can't let go of DS9. He can't let go of his old office. Sisko is, for better or worse, Dukat's successor, and he has a kind of strange, perverse camaraderie with him. The relationship between Dukat and Sisko is the perfect illustration of the relationship between the Federation and the Cardassians: covered in contempt, expressed through terse barbs, never friendly--but somehow, suspiciously strong. Sisko and Dukat understand each other more than either of them want to admit.
I want to close by mentioning Quark again. He has a scene at the latter half of episode 2 that stands out to me as the finest moment Quark has ever had in this show. Granted, I'm just about two full seasons in, so I don't have much in the way of perspective, but anyone who has seen this episode knows what I'm talking about.
I should hate Quark, but I don't. How can I hate someone who successfully explains the concept of pacifism to a Vulcan using capitalism as a metaphor? Quark's speech on "the price of peace" is maddeningly brilliant; it's so simple it ought to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but it makes a startling amount of sense. With the Cardassians caught smuggling weapons to their own settlers, and the Maquis giving the Federation a massive headache, both sides have a strong incentive to sit down and work something out. The longer they wait, the more expensive peace will become in the long run. Right now, at this moment, YOU can get peace at bargain bin prices!
And you thought I was kidding when I said Quark had more game than a Steam Summer Sale.
Excellent episode.
5/5
Underrated Character: Sakonna, because I have a terrible weakness for ice-cold Vulcan women who can down a glass of chardonnay and justify terrorism with zen-like patience. Also, in an episode (indeed, a series) steeped in Bajoran/Cardassian conflict, it's nice to see a Vulcan now and then.
Underrated Moment: Odo complaining about the lack of iron-fisted security regulations aboard DS9. The man wants to do his job, but can't, because no one wants to let him impose a curfew, hire fifty deputies, and mandate searches on every incoming ship. Poor guy.
Subreddit I Could Totally See Become A Thing: /r/notlikeothervulcans
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