“Empok Nor” is an exercise in mood and suspense. On those levels, it works quite well. It also features some strong character interaction, though this is perpetuated into a bit of hyperbole by the episode’s main conceit. As such, it isn’t quite as evocative or valuable as it might otherwise have been. In the end, the episode goes for broke in the hopes that the audience will hang on for the ride. The results? That all depends on how far down the rabbit hole you’re willing to go …

When DS9 begins to significantly break down, O’Brien must lead a team of engineers (and Garak and Nog) to the derelict Cardassian station Empok Nor to salvage replacement parts. As a premise, it’s a bit tenuous. That they *have* to get a replacement part from Cardassians seems … well, it seems too much of a stretch. Did the Federation really think running DS9 would be a viable longterm endeavor knowing they’d have to rely exclusively on Cardassia for some repair parts? Plus, sending a shuttle off into Cardassian space on a salvage mission seems an awfully risky thing to do without a dedicated armed security detail.

Anywho …

The trip to Empok Nor is notable for one thing: Garak’s conversation with O’Brien about O’Brien’s history as the “hero of Setlik III” — a battle in which O’Brien, as a soldier, was responsible for the deaths of a number of Cardassians. It’s just like Garak to go for this kind of psychological “deconstruction” conversation with someone he finds intriguing. That he broaches the subject over a Cardassian board game, which is a simulation of war, only add another layer to his comments. And the scene serves as a backdrop for the episode’s eventual conflict.

Empok Nor is set up as something of a giant booby trap — the Cardassians being renown for their efforts to keep salvagers from ripping off their unwanted junk. As such, the station is presented as dark, gloomy … ominous. Matters get worse when, once the station’s power is activated, two Cardassians, who had been in stasis, are awakened and set out to hunt down O’Brien and his crew. Before long, Nog notices that their shuttle craft has been set adrift and just as he mutters, “that’s not good” the damn thing goes boom. O’Brien and his crew are stranded and at the mercy of the Cardassian hunters.

This brings up another potential weakness in the episode: the Four Redshirts. The episode deserves credit for giving the redshirts distinct personalities and quirks — they really do come to life in the episode — but the fact remains that all four redshirts eventually meet their doom. Initially, the redshirts are disposed of by the hunting Cardassians — a ruthlessly suspenseful series of scenes that inexorable build to the first two murders. Of course, the circumstances set everyone on edge and O’Brien, who just wants to get everyone home, soon has to confront a very agitated Garak.

As it turns out, the Cardassian hunters are victims of a psychotropic drug which makes them little more than zealots. And Garak has been exposed to the same drug. The effect is to turn Garak into a completely psychotic murder who just wants to “play a game” with O’Brien. What follows is fairly standard villain vs. hero fare with the added twist that our usual friend Garak has been turned into the villain. Mostly this is all in very grim, dark, suspenseful fun. After Garak kills the final redshirt, he kidnaps Nog, hangs dead bodies around the station’s promenade and forces O’Brien into hand-to-hand combat.

What works best about the scene is O’Brien’s ingenuity — and his assertion that he is no longer an soldier, he’s an engineer. Garak quickly knocks O’Brien around, but an improvised bomb (a phaser and tricorder — MacGyver would be proud) subdues Garak and, finally, the mission can be completed.

The episode does make an attempt to deal with the killing of the four redshirts. But really, it’s a hollow attempt. In fact, that was never the point of the episode. It just wanted to send the audience on a dark, thrilling ride and, if one is willing to set aside such niceties as consequences and plausibility, the episode works.

“Empok Nor” is an exercise in style over substance. The interactions between Garak and O’Brien were good, as is the explorations of their past (O’Brien as a soldier and Garak as a deadly member of the Obsidian Order). But that’s as far as the episode really gets, unless viewers want to be charitable to a story that starts with a questionable premise and leads its characters into questionable circumstances.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine