The Darkness and the Light DS9 Season 5, Episode 11

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5 Episode 9 "The Darkness and the Light" explained. Join me as I review and recap the murder mystery episode where Kira's old resistance cell is being killed off one by one. And we come to find out it was some random Cardassian guy we've never heard of who apparently had his face scarred in an bombing executed by Kira during the Occupation. I guess this guy has never heard of a dermal regenerator, and he probably hasn't so the show can do it's obvious "Phantom of the Opera" homage. But some innocent civilians were also killed in the bombing so the show is trying to make some complex grey statement on Kira's past as a terrorist, but the show fails. Because The Cardassians were occupying another planet and committing a holocaust, which completely changes the context, making it incomparable with modern day terrorism as most don't have that context, and further most specifically target civilians, where Kira targeted a Gul who indiscriminately executed 50 Bajorans for no reason, who quite frankly is a legitimate target. So the more apt real life comparison would be to movements that resisted the Nazis during World War II who are now seen as totally justified. And place this guy murdered Kira's friends in cold blood using complex assassin skills (which I doubt he could have) so that makes him lose any moral high ground, so the question is not as grey and complex as the show wants it to be and instead it's pretty black and white: Kira's in the right and he's in the wrong, and thus the whole episode falls apart and is just about a cliché and weak murder mystery with a conclusion that is a giant letdown. If they wanted to have an interesting complex look at Kira's past, they could have done so by having a legitimate Cardassian civilian make a LEGAL claim that Kira was involved in killing civilians, make it a legal battle, and then it could have been a complex look at the moral greyness of the occupation. This is just some A hole murdering people, and refusing to acknowledge that he supported a genocide. Come see my first reaction as I breakdown the episode and attempt to give my in depth analysis

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0:00 Intro / Synopsis

2:54 Why this episode is Boring

12:11 Comparisons to Modern Day Terrorism

18:32 This Fails to explore Kira's checkered past

26:43 This episode's pretentious and cliché

31:21 Exploring Kira's Past

36:00 Nitpicks

42:31 Patreon Comments

55:24 Rating

57:09 Outro