The Changing Face of Evil (episode)

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"The Changing Face of Evil"
DS9, Episode 7x20 Production number: 40510-570 First aired: 28 April 1999
←	168th of 173 produced in DS9	→
←	168th of 173 released in DS9	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered
←	569th of 727 released in all	→

Written By Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler Directed By Mike Vejar
Unknown (2375)
←	Arc: The Final Chapter (4 of 9)	→
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The Breen ally with the Dominion and attack Earth, the Federation Alliance loses its foothold in Cardassian space, and Kai Winn begins to read forbidden texts about the Pah-wraiths. (Part 4 of 9)

[edit] Summary

Worf and Ezri Dax return to Deep Space 9 after their imprisonment by the Breen and Dominion. They are greeted by Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir, who express their happiness that Worf and Dax are safe. Captain Sisko arrives, and is willing to overlook Dax disobeying orders and losing a runabout as he'd like to know as much as possible about the Dominion's new alliance with the Breen, just as Kira notifies Sisko of a priority one message from Starfleet: the Breen have attacked Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Earth.

Starfleet Headquarters lies in ruins following the Breen attack

The relationship between Damar and Weyoun is deteriorating, with Damar feeling that the Dominion is squeezing too much out of the Cardassians. He warns the Breen that they may one day meet the same fate, once the Dominion has no further need of them. Damar has now realized that Cardassia is a conquered planet; he begins covertly plotting the rebellion against the Dominion with Gul Rusot.

Benjamin returns to his quarters to find his wife Kasidy trying (but failing) to cook dinner; she has ruined his prized bell peppers, which took Sisko three months to grow. With the war turning for the worse because of the Breen, Sisko asks Kasidy to cut back on her freighter-captaining duties; she declines. Later, an angry Yates confronts Sisko about him scheduling a paid vacation for her, against her wishes. Odo and Quark observe the two arguing, and Quark notes that soon it may be Odo's turn next for marriage, with Kira.

On Bajor, Kai Winn Adami withdraws from her regular schedule, cancelling an appearance before the Vedek assembly, and asking her aide Solbor to send condolences to the Vedeks. Dukat, still masquerading as Anjohl Tennan, continues to exert pressure on the Kai to release the Pah-wraiths from the Fire Caves. In order to do this, they consult the forbidden book, the Book of the Kosst Amojan, as well as other religious volumes.

While O'Brien and Bashir work on strategies for their Alamo holosuite program in Quark's, Worf and Dax look on from high above in the Promenade. Worf questions his newly-found friend Dax about her feelings, especially regarding Bashir.

Weyoun notices a change in Damar, namely that he has stopped his heavy drinking of kanar. Weyoun mistakenly believes Damar's sobriety is because of a resurgent optimism about the war; Damar plays along.

When Solbor delivers the Kosst Amojan to the Kai, he warns her about reading its forbidden passages, "He who studies evil is studied by evil." He also begins to openly question Dukat, mentioning his mysterious origins on Deep Space 9. The Kai rebukes Solbor, however, and he retreats – for the moment – to allow the Kai access to the book. The book, to the shock of Dukat and the Kai, appears totally empty, without writing of any kind on its pages.

Sisko apologizes to Yates and they reconcile, only to hear more bad news, this time from Admiral Ross, who says that the Breen have broken through the Federation lines at Chin'toka. Sisko, Kira, Worf, Dax, O'Brien, Bashir, and Nog all prepare the Defiant for battle, and head off to join a huge Starfleet strike-force. Aboard a Jem'Hadar attack ship, the Female Changeling and Weyoun streak toward the same battle.

Arriving at Chin'toka, the crew prepare to battle the Dominion and Breen ships. The Defiant is able to destroy a couple of Breen ships, but one fires an unusual weapon, which upon hitting the Defiant causes the entire ship to start crackling with blue energy. Suddenly the Defiant starts losing all of its power very quickly. The Defiant then starts to be continually struck by enemy fire, and cannot return fire, raise shields or move causing serious damage. Chief O'Brien is unable to diagnose the trouble, and explosions pepper the bridge, injuring Kira. The air begins to become toxic, and hull breaches (which cannot be sealed by force fields due to the loss of power) are starting to litter the ship. Worf asks Captain Sisko what his orders are and, realizing that both the battle and the Defiant are lost, the captain orders the crew to abandon ship. Bashir carries an unconscious Kira to the escape pods, along with the rest of the crew. Captain Sisko stops at the door to look back at the burning bridge. Chief O'Brien returns, and Sisko comments "She's a fine ship"; the chief won't argue with that, but reminds the captain they have to leave. The escape pods flee the ship just before Defiant is destroyed by enemy fire. The Female Changeling orders that the escape pods not be destroyed, so the survivors will return to Federation space with a frightening, demoralizing outlook, spreading fear about the invincibility of the Dominion (with the Breen at their side).

When Solbor tries to remove the books back to the Archive, he is confronted and punched by Dukat, who takes the books back to the Kai. This prompts Solbor to check the background of "Tennan", only to learn that the real Tennan has been dead for nine years. When Solbor samples Dukat's DNA, he discovers Dukat's true identity. When he learns that the Kai is betraying the Prophets to the Pah-wraiths, he threatens to expose the Kai, who lunges toward him with a knife; Solbor is stabbed to death in the back.

Some of Solbor's blood (on the knife used by the Kai to kill him) drips onto the sacred pages of the Kosst Amojan; a flame briefly appears on the book, after which its text is now plainly visible. While the Kai prepares to continue down the path of serving the Pah-wraiths, Dukat arranges to remove Solbor's dead body.

As Sisko and Admiral Ross discuss the battle and their need to combat the Breen's energy-dissipating weapon, a message from Cardassian space is broadcast to the entire station. Legate Damar, citing a list of complaints against the Dominion, declares his plans for rebellion, calling on all Cardassians to rise up in rebellion. Although this will buy the Federation some time to develop a defense against the Breen, Sisko realizes that everyone's hopes lie in the Federation re-uniting with Damar and the Cardassians, to save the Alpha Quadrant from the Dominion.

[edit] Memorable quotes

"And so two years ago, our government signed a treaty with the Dominion. In it the Dominion promised to extend Cardassia's influence throughout the Alpha Quadrant. In exchange, we pledged ourselves to join the war against the Federation and its allies. Cardassians have never been afraid of war, a fact we've proven time and again over these past two years. Seven million of our brave soldiers have given their lives to fulfill our part of the agreement, and what has the Dominion done in return? Nothing. We've gained no new territories. In fact, our influence throughout the quadrant has diminished. And to make matters worse we are no longer masters in our own home. Travel anywhere on Cardassia and what do you find? Jem'Hadar, Vorta, and now Breen. Instead of the invaders we have become the invaded. Our allies have conquered us without firing a single shot. Well, no longer. This morning detachments of the Cardassian First, Third and Ninth Orders attacked the Dominion outpost on Rondac III. This assault marks the first step towards the liberation of our homeland, from the true oppressors of the Alpha Quadrant. I call upon Cardassians everywhere. Resist. Resist today. Resist tomorrow. Resist till the last Dominion soldier has been driven from our soil!"

- Damar

"Nobody touches my peppers."

- Benjamin Sisko

"He doesn't understand, Adami! He couldn't possibly understand the love of the Pah-wraiths!"
"The love of the Pah-wraiths?! You're trying to release them! That's why you wanted the text of the Kosst Amojan."

- Dukat and Solbor

"You're a good friend, Worf."
"I know."

- Ezri Dax and Worf

"I could be the last Weyoun."

- Weyoun

"There's something different about you today Damar, I can't quite put my finger on it... it's almost as if you're half dressed..."
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't have a bottle in your hand."

- Weyoun and Damar

"Kira to Sisko... The Breen have attacked Earth."

- Kira Nerys

"She was a fine ship."

- Benjamin Sisko

"Poor Captain Sisko. I believe he was quite fond of that ship."

- Weyoun

"Eminence, that man is not Anjohl Tennan!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Anjohl Tennan died nine years ago in the labor camp at Batahl. I warned you not to trust him. I had a sample of his DNA sequenced. He's not even a Bajoran. He's a Cardassian!"

- Solbor and Winn, referring to Dukat

"Don't listen to him! Look at him! Don't you recognize the face of your enemy? It's Gul Dukat."

- Solbor

[edit] Background information

[edit] The Final Chapter

The first four episodes of The Final Chapter ("Penumbra", "'Til Death Do Us Part", "Strange Bedfellows" and "The Changing Face of Evil") had all been written concurrently, and as such, this episode represented the finale of the first 'block' of the arc. This is evidenced in the episode itself insofar as the story reaches a number of critical junctures, and serves to introduce several new plotlines. As René Echevarria explains, "It was the culmination of the first four episodes. Damar launches his Rebellion, Winn is completely on board with Dukat, Ezri and Worf have decided not to be together, and Sisko and Yates are together." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

[edit] "The Changing Face of Evil"

This episode features the Second Battle of Chin'toka, which sees the Federation Alliance defeated by the combined forces of the Dominion and the Breen Confederacy, and thus Starfleet's loss of the Chin'toka system, which they had won from the Dominion in the sixth season finale "Tears of the Prophets". Presumably, at some stage during or after the battle, AR-558 is either evacuated or taken by force.
Ira Steven Behr was a big fan of how this episode mixes the larger War stories with the trivial domestic stories; "We liked the idea of showing the domestic life. in the midst of all the pressures that Sisko is under, he still has issues at home. He's still a human being. Kasidy burns his peppers. That hurts! Life is hard, but you should not have to have your peppers burned!" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Of the ongoing Winn and Dukat plot in this episode, Behr comments, "She experiences self-loathing and loss, and you wonder, 'Okay, does she get it now?' No, she doesn't. As soon as Dukat explains to her that she can cover the murder up, it's clear that she's the only thing she's worried about. But when the smoke clears, she's still less tainted than Dukat. Dukat is still the master, the manipulator, the liar. They're quite a team." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
In keeping with the redefinition of the character of Damar that was taking place, the character of Gul Rusot was created specifically to help sell the idea that Damar could handle the volatile situation he was getting himself into. As Behr explains, "We needed someone who would highlight Damar's strength, by putting Damar in a position where he’d have to hold this tiger by the tail and keep him in line." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
Although referenced in dialog and on computer displays on-screen as having taken part in previous Dominion War battles, the Nebula-class starship is finally seen on screen as involved in a Federation Alliance and Dominion battle. Both of the two unnamed vessels are destroyed at the end of the fight along with all of the other ships. No previous Dominion War battle had ever featured a Nebula-class vessel, even though the Nebula-class was a favorite of the fans and producers alike, and had been a regularly-shown Starfleet vessel on TNG, DS9 and VOY. It was felt that the Nebula-class was too similar to the Galaxy-class, which was shown on-screen in every other major Dominion battle during Seasons 6 and 7. Interestingly, this is the only major Dominion battle that takes place during those seasons which does not feature a single Galaxy-class vessel.
This episode marks the destruction of the USS Defiant. The decision to destroy the Defiant was not one that was taken lightly. As Behr explains, "The ship had become a character that had caught on in people's hearts and minds." The producers however felt that something was needed to give the Breen an impactful introduction, and it was agreed that nothing could achieve this quite as well as the destruction of the Defiant. As Behr says, "We wanted to kill the Defiant as a statement on how tough the Breen were. We thought that would rock the characters and the audience." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) This is similar to why the writers destroyed the Galaxy-class USS Odyssey in the Second season finale "The Jem'Hadar" - to instantly communicate to viewers how dangerous the Jem'Hadar were.
O'Brien finds the figurine of William B. Travis lost in this episode by Bashir in the series finale "What You Leave Behind".
Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode.
A script for this episode was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1]

[edit] Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 7.10, catalogue number VHR 4820, 4 October 1999.
As part of the DS9 Season 7 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Guest stars

Previous episode:
"Strange Bedfellows"

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 7

Next episode:
"When It Rains..."

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