Duet (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Duet"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 19
Directed by	James L. Conway
Teleplay by	Peter Allan Fields
Story by	Lisa Rich Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci
Featured music	Dennis McCarthy
Production code	419
Original air date	June 13, 1993 (1993-06-13)
Guest stars
Harris Yulin - Marritza Marc Alaimo - Gul Dukat Ted Sorel - Kaval Tony Rizzoli - Kainon Norman Large - Captain Robin Christopher - Neela
Episode chronology
← Previous "Dramatis Personae" Next → "In the Hands of the Prophets"
List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes

"Duet" is the 19^th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Overview

Major Kira finds herself compelled to confront an apparent war criminal, the brutally efficient head of the Gallitep slave-labor camp.

Plot

A Kobheerian freighter requests permission to dock at Deep Space 9, stating that one of its passengers requires treatment for a condition known as Kalla-Nohra. Dr. Bashir is not familiar with the condition, but Major Kira recognizes it and informs Sisko that the only place to contract Kalla-Nohra was a mining accident at a particularly brutal labor camp called Gallitep. As Kira helped liberate the camp at the end of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, she asks to greet the passenger personally.

Upon arriving in Sickbay, Kira discovers that Bashir's new patient is not Bajoran but Cardassian. She has the man arrested as a war criminal, only to find his name, Aamin Marritza, is not listed for any crimes. Sisko sees no option but to let Marritza go, yet Kira is adamant—Marritza is Cardassian who was present at Gallitep, she insists, which is reason enough—and details the condition of the labor camp when she liberated it. Sisko decides to investigate further.

Further suspicions arise when Marritza claims he has never been to Bajor, an obvious lie as Bashir's medical test confirms that the man has Kalla-Nohra. Citing a conflict of interest, Sisko asks Kira to remove herself from the case, but her emotional plea convinces him to let her stay on it. When she interrogates Marritza, he claims that, while he did serve at Gallitep, he was only a file clerk. He maintains the atrocities the Bajorans believe occurred at Gallitep were an illusion meant to keep other Bajorans in fear of the Cardassians.

An investigation corroborates Marritza's story, forcing Kira to cope with the possibility he may go free. A photograph from Gallitep, however, reveals that the man being held is not Aamin Marritza but rather Gul Darhe'el, the "Butcher of Gallitep" who reportedly murdered thousands of innocent Bajorans. The prisoner responds arrogantly when confronted with this information; not only does he admit he is Darhe'el, but he boasts that "My word, my every glance was law! And the verdict was always the same: guilty." Kira is visibly shaken.

As the episode progresses, Darhe'el lets slip the name of Kira's resistance cell during the occupation—information far too obscure for him to know. Other inconsistencies in his story begin to stand out, and the crew learns that "Darhe'el" has been disguising himself via cosmetic surgery - leading Kira to realize that the prisoner wanted not only to be caught but to be recognized as Darhe'el. Security chief Odo discovers that the real Darhe'el died six years prior and realizes the man he is holding is in fact Marritza, Darhe'el's clerk. Kira confronts the prisoner, whose guise begins to falter:

“

I am alive. I will always be alive! It's Marritza who's dead! Marritza, who was good for nothing but cowering under his bunk and weeping like a woman. Who every night covered his ears because he couldn't bear to hear the screaming... for mercy... of the Bajorans...

”

Marritza breaks down as he speaks, branding himself a coward. He begs Kira to prosecute him, insisting that Cardassia must be forced to admit its wrongdoings and that he is as guilty for remaining silent as Darhe'el was for committing the atrocities. Kira releases him, insisting that another murder is not the answer, but as Marritza is about to depart from the station, he is stabbed and killed by a drunken Bajoran. When Kira demands to know why, the Bajoran echoes her own earlier sentiment: being a Cardassian is reason enough. "No," Kira realizes, "it's not."

Notes

• The episode features significant character development on the part of Kira Nerys and is the first episode in which the Cardassian occupation of Bajor was firmly established as a metaphor for the Nazi persecution of the Jews.^[1] From a pitch titled "The Higher Law"^[2] about a dramatization of the Nuremberg Trials, Fields and Ira Steven Behr reshaped the story's focus to resemble Robert Shaw's The Man in the Glass Booth, which tells of a Jewish man who is accused of being a Nazi war criminal.^[3] The interrogation scenes between Kira and Marritza, particularly an exchange wherein Marritza shifts the focus to Kira's personal life and reverses the interrogation process, have been further compared to exchanges between Jodie Foster's character and Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in The Silence of the Lambs.^[4]

• Maritzza's first name, Aamin, is pronounced similarly to the Nazi, Amon Göth's. Göth was the leader of the Płaszów Labour/Concentration Camp in Poland. He gained international infamy from his movie portrayal in Schindler's List.

• Despite being a bottle episode, "Duet" was featured in Museum of Television and Radio's 1994 "Tribute to Excellence"^[3] and became a fan favorite, described by Startrek.com as "one of DS9s — possibly even one of Treks — finest [hours]".^[5] It was included in several editors' choices for a feature there entitled "You're Stranded on a Desert Asteroid ... Our Best of the Best Episodes", described by editor Sandy Stone as "when I knew DS9 really had something going on".^[6] The episode "is all substance, completely engrossing in its conveyance, and it also features a tragic ending" according to Jammer's Reviews, an independent science fiction portal.^[7] "I'm not sure I can write a coherent analysis of this episode," Michelle Erica Green of the popular fan site The Trek Nation began her review in 2004. "I cried just thinking about it for two days after I saw it, and I still cry when I try to discuss it."^[1] It has nonetheless been noted by some fans that certain parts of the exposition appear rushed, while the believability of Marritza's death scene has been questioned.^[8] This can be attributed to the need to contain the episode, as the episode is "hardly [a] story worthy of a multi-episode arc".^[9]

• Cast and crew responded positively to the episode as well. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, Armin Shimerman (Quark) observed that the episode works because of "the writing and the directing and the acting all coalescing perfectly", which Nana Visitor (Kira) believed was because it had "such important things to say".^[10] Notable staff to list it among their favorites are Behr,^[11] Next Generation producer Dave Rossi^[12] and Companion author Terry J. Erdmann.^[10]

• The producers of Star Trek: Voyager attempted to re-create the critical success of "Duet" with their first-season episode "Jetrel". According to DVD commentary accompanying Voyagers second season, "Jetrel" was a conscious effort to use a similar delivery to create a metaphor for the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In that episode, the character Neelix is forced to confront the scientist who developed a weapon which eradicated thousands of his people.

See also

• Holocaust denial
• The Holocaust in art and literature
• The Man in the Glass Booth
• "He's Alive"

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Duet". The Trek Nation. 2004-01-12. http://www.treknation.com/reviews/ds9/duet.shtml. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
2. ^ ""Duet" (fka "The Higher Law")". Twiz TV. http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/ds9/season1/ds9-119.txt. Retrieved 2007-09-17. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Tom Keogh (1997-07-08). "Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 19: Duet (1993)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Deep-Space-Episode/dp/6304489684. 
4. ^ "Top 50 Episodes #05-03". Trekmania. http://www.trekmania.net/conference/episodes/episodes05-03.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-10. 
5. ^ "Great Bajoran Episodes". Specials. STARTREK.COM. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/specials/article/3412.html#ds9-419. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
6. ^ "You're Stranded on a Desert Asteroid ... Our Best of the Best Episodes". Specials. STARTREK.COM. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/specials/article/8798.html?page=3. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
7. ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 1". Jammer's Reviews. http://www.jammersreviews.com/st-ds9/s1/reviews.php#duet. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
8. ^ P. Farrand, Nitpicker's Guide for Deep Space Nine Trekkers New York: Dell (1996): 78 - 81
9. ^ "Gadrin". "DS9 Season 1 Guest Reviews". Ex Astris Scientia. http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/episodes/ds91g.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-10. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion
11. ^ "Ira Steven Behr (Executive Producer)". Transcript Archive. STARTREK.COM. 1997-09-30. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1363.html. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 
12. ^ Star Trek Monthly issue 127

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set, volume 1, disc 5, selection 3.

External links

• Duet at the Internet Movie Database
• "Duet" at TV.com
• Duet at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Duet at StarTrek.com