“Civil Defense”(season 3, episode 7; originally aired 11/7/1994)
In which the ghost in the machine fights back…
The IMDb lists only two credits for Mike Krohn: the teleplay for the 1995 TV movie Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning, and the script for this episode. I’m not sure why he quit; I don’t know if it was personal reasons, or because his career didn’t pan out the way he wanted. Maybe Lightning was a godawful mess. But “Civil Defense” is a fun, exciting hour of television, and Krohn’s writing is a big part of why it works. It’s well-constructed and beautifully paced, finding ways to escalate the tension and worsen the situation that all stem from the initial premise without ever becoming tiresome. The episode makes good use of the whole cast, and it’s funny as hell; the idea that the Cardassians would not only leave their security system intact when they left DS9, but that said system would have a seemingly infinite number of potentially lethal counter-measures (complete with Gul Dukat video!) for every possible threat is brilliant, and fits in well with everything we know about the station’s former landlords.
The key here is in the escalation. The plot is structured like a comedy sketch: Our heroes are faced with a not-hugely-serious problem, but when they try and solve that problem, they not only fail, they end up making the original problem into a concern, which then becomes a crisis, which then becomes a catastrophe. Here, the setup has O’Brien and Jake working in one of the station’s old ore processing rooms. Sisko comes to visit to see what’s taking so long, just as Jake, who’s been going through the Cardassian computer system and deleting as much of it as he can, comes across a set of files he can’t access. When O’Brien tries to delete these files, it sets in motion the Cardassian security system. A recording of Gul Dukat pops up on the monitors all around the station, addressing Sisko, O’Brien, and Jake as Bajoran rebels, and ordering them to surrender to the authorities immediately. The doors to the room are sealed shut, and when Sisko tries to fool the program by pretending to surrender, the recorded Dukat responds by releasing toxic gas, forcing the three men to escape deeper into the processor. While this saves their lives, it has the unfortunate effect of throwing the station into full lockdown, the security system now being convinced that the “Bajoran rebels” are loose.
Things only get worse from there. In retrospect, this is a very simple, straightforward pattern. Again, like a comedy sketch, the episode introduces a premise—that the Cardassian security program is both extremely efficient and incredibly paranoid—and then takes up the rest of its time exploring that premise as thoroughly as possible. Which means that each section of the story follows the same arc—discovery, discussion, proposed solution, and oh crap, now we’re even more screwed. But this isn’t a bad structure by any means, and it’s one that, when used well, draws excitement out of viewer expectation as much as it does the actual conflict. There’s a reason I keep mentioning comedy: While the security program is consistently threatening, each subsequent reveal becomes more and more hilarious, creating a darkly comic momentum that carries the hour along as much the life-or-death danger. By the time Gul Dukat himself arrives, to gloat over the helplessness of his enemies only to soon find himself trapped as completely as they are, it’s impossible not to laugh.
Dukat’s entrance is particularly smart, too, because in the buildup to his appearance, the one constant in every discussion has always been that the station’s former commander is the only one who could stop the security program. Dukat is in the videos (in his charming, “We’re all friends here, please excuse the knife” way), and Dukat, presumably, would know the necessary codes to shut the system down. But Kira doesn’t want to contact him, for the obvious reason that he’s a creep, and would almost certainly use his power over her and DS9 to negotiate some kind of long-term advantage. This is, in fact, exactly what he does, telling Kira (in private) that he’ll provide the codes only if she’ll agree to allow a small, permanent Cardassian garrison aboard the station. But when Kira refuses the offer, and Dukat tries to leave to give everyone time to think things over, the program reveals it has an additional subroutine designed by one of Dukat’s supervisors, on the assumption that the Gul might try and escape DS9 in the midst of a crisis. So: We spend the first half of the hour being told that Dukat could fix everything, Dukat shows up (which is a total surprise, by the way) operating on the same assumption, and then the institutional cynicism which put him in a position to lord it over Kira and the others ends up hoisting him by his own petard. It’s tremendously satisfying, as well a great way to keep the viewer hooked—with the obvious answer out of the way, what’s left?
In a story like this, character work is usually secondary to the twists and turns of the plot, but while “Civil Defense” never stops too long for serious discussion, Krohn still finds ways to give most of the cast their moments to shine. Sisko, Jake, and O’Brien make a fine team, and it’s great to see Jake getting a chance to prove himself; in the climax of the episode, he first insists to be included on the possibly suicidal run to the reactor, and then disobeys his father in order to save O’Brien’s life. In the command room, Garak makes an appearance, which is always welcome. The third season has already managed to integrate him more fully into the show than the first two seasons did, and for once, his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of Cardassian secrets prove inadequate to the task at hand. Garak first came across as a fascinating, mysterious figure of untouchable guile and brilliance, but now, while he hasn’t lost his flair or his ability, he’s more complex, and more capable of weakness. His open contempt for Dukat is both highly entertaining and unsettling; Dukat is an imminently hiss-worthy villain, but Garak’s self-control keeps slipping bit by bit, which makes you wonder what’s lurking underneath.
Kira also gets to be, well, Kira, much as Bashir is Bashir and Dax is, er, wounded. There’s a funny moment when Dukat seems to be flirting with Kira, and Garak calls him on it, but apart from that, everyone behaves as you’d expect, with Kira holding everything together as best she can, and Bashir hanging out in the background until someone needs doctoring. The most pure character scenes in the episode come from Odo and Quark, trapped together in security. The two spar a bit, as Quark complains and rolls his eyes, but once again, the show finds the balance of two adversaries who’ve been at each other for so long they’re basically best friends. Quark insists on staying with Odo because he knows that’s the safest place on the station to be; Odo tells Quark he’s the most “devious Ferengi” he’s ever met; Quark complains that Odo’s always reliable integrity is going to get them killed; and then Quark learns that Odo was lying about the “devious” stuff, which gives us a perfect conversation on which to the end the episode.
All told, this is a fine hour of television, an example of how to put together a thrilling, intelligent story which satisfies genre expectations while still working to confirm and expand our notions of the show’s “world.” It’s a pity the writer never returned to DS9; if this script is any indication, he would’ve made a good fit.