Star Trek 395: The Darkness and the Light

395. The Darkness and the Light

FORMULA: Phantom of the Opera + Duet + Blood Oath

WHY WE LIKE IT: A creepy villain.

WHY WE DON'T: Furrel and Lupaza... Nooooooooooooooooo!

REVIEW: While I do like the kinder, gentler Kira, the 5th season has been in danger of robbing her of her fighting spirit. On the one hand you have her growing respect for such figures of contempt as Dukat and Winn. On the other, whether because of the pregnancy or Worf's arrival, she's lost a lot of the leadership and hot-headed plots. The murder of her Shakaar resistance friends finally gives her the chance to return to her roots. Those roots are explored, for example, by telling us of her first mission in the resistance, indeed her first kill, and how she earned her earring.

Though her rampage towards a hull breach is a bit much, her stubborn spirit is back. These murders, she cannot forgive, and they are properly horrifying. Silarin Prin turns out to be many things: a master computer hacker, a mad poet, a ghoulish surgeon, and a disfigured monster. Truly, a criminal genius on the Batman scale. It's really too bad Furrel and Lupaza had to die, but it gives the story its impact. With only a couple episodes under their belts, they made a strong impression. Shakaar himself is conspicuously absent for the second episode in a row now, though apparently not part of the attack that drove Silarin insane.

The episode's literal use of light and shadow gives it a creepy atmosphere. The climax is properly horrifying, though it's nice to see how the program makers actually incorporated the baby into the storyline. It saves her life in more than one way, though the herbs telegraph the deus ex machina, it's true. The reveal that the "voice" of the killer is hers is an equally creepy moment, with the use of Nog to ungarble it particularly good. The small Ferengi is quickly carving himself a niche with his lobes. It's all about IDIC, isn't it?

LESSON: From Kira's own lips, "Sometimes innocence is just an excuse for the guilty." Uhm... what?

REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: Some suspension of disbelief required (how a valet becomes a criminal mastermind, the fortuitous herbs, etc.), but the mood is right, and Kira gets to tell the bloody Cardies that they were all guilty. It's like old times.