“In The Pale Moonlight” is often hailed as one of the finest episodes of Star Trek ever produced. And in many ways, it’s easy to see why. It’s a gripping, plausible personal character deconstruction amidst the backdrop of war. The story is filled with intrigue and deep moral conflicts. The performances are noteworthy. The final scenes of confession — of admitting then ignoring — the events of the story are revealing and, in many ways, shocking. This is an episode which changes the entire course of Deep Space Nine. And the grim story challenges the very preconceptions fans have about the Trek franchise.

How much more could a viewer want from a single episode?

In truth, viewers can legitimately want a few things (and I’ll get these minor criticisms out of the way in order to focus on the real strengths of the episode). For starters, the pacing is a bit unbalanced. There’s a great deal of buildup taking place. And while many of the scenes are individually interesting or thoughtful, the episode takes too long to get into the heart of its central conflicts. Stylistically, Sisko talking to the camera (as though he’s talking to his “Captain’s Log” recorder) is jarring enough to pull some viewers out of the story. And, finally, while Sisko’s performance is often riveting, he steps perilously close to melodrama. I suspect most fans of the episode will look past these criticisms, but they can pull viewers out of the story.

There is, of course, “the great Trek controversy” about just how dark the episode is, but I’ll get to that later.

These points are exceedingly minor for an episode which gets so many things right. Sisko, tired of watching casualty reports pile up, realizes that something needs to be done to turn the tide of war against from the Dominion. He realizes that the Federation and the Klingons need the assistance of the Romulans, who up until now, have been quietly observing the war behind their non-aggression treaty with the Dominion. Considering how high the stakes are, Sisko is willing to go to great lengths to convince the Romulans that they *must* go to war against the Dominion.

But Sisko has a problem. Why on Bajor would Romulus leave a non-aggression pact to ally themselves with the losing side of a war? Sisko needs evidence that the Dominion will simply turn on the Romulans once it wipes out the Federation and the Klingons. But how to get such evidence? How far is he willing to go to convince the Romulans that they must stand with the other Alpha Quadrant powers in defiance of the Dominion?

Enter Garak.

Sisko realizes, from very early on, that turning to Garak for help is a bit like making a deal with the devil (the title, in fact, references the Batman line, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”). Garak (who wants the Dominion defeated as much as Sisko) pledges to help, but wants Sisko to understand that matters will become “messy” and “bloody” before their objective is achieved. Sisko, who knows how high the stakes are, makes the first of his moral concessions by accepting Garak’s less-than-noble methods.

Their first plan is to try and smuggle secret war plans out of Cardassia that would prove that the Dominion was planning to invade Romulan space. But when all of Garak’s contacts end up dead, Garak offers another plan: simply forge the evidence. Sisko, again realizing the necessity of evidence, as well as the dangers of maintaining the status quo, makes another concession and agrees to this new plan.

And from here, the pattern is obvious. With each step along the plan, Sisko is forced to confront a new moral dilemma. Help a convict get out of a Klingon prison? Bribe Quark? Procure dangerous biological material? Manipulate a Romulan senator? All for what is, already, a falsehood? Sisko goes along with all of those.

What makes the episode so damned good is how well it portrays Sisko’s “slippery slope.” As he says in the beginning, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Sisko certainly has the best of intentions: finding allies to help bring the war to a close in favor of his people — with as few casualties as possible. But the lengths he must go to achieve such a goal?

It’s an episode which turns the axiom “The ends do not justify the means” on its head. By all accounts, Sisko is a good and decent person. But he has his flaws like the rest of us. And, like Quark says, “Every man has his price.” Sisko is willing to sell his soul … for the price of victory over the Dominion. Sisko’s conflicted emotions and thoughts are on full display here, thanks to his captain’s log recording. Despite the odd choice of having him talk directly to the camera, other shots (especially the ones in profile) do a fantastic job of conveying a man who thoroughly understood the implications of his choices, but was entirely unable to turn away from them.

In the end, Sisko is able to convince a Romulan Senator, Vreenak, to visit DS9 to see this “evidence.” It sets up the episode’s best tension as Sisko nervously waits for Vreenak’s decision on the authenticity of a faked holographic meeting of Weyoun and Cardassian leaders. There’s even a fantastic scene in which Vreenak comments on the “imitation Romulan ale” that Sisko serves. The subtext, of course, is obvious: Sisko is serving an imitation as evidence. And, like the Romulan ale, Vreenak realizes it’s a fake and leaves DS9, intent on exposing Sisko’s duplicity. But he never gets the chance. On his way back to Romulus, Vreenak’s shuttle explodes — an event that looks suspiciously like Dominion sabotage.

Re-enter Garak.

What’s remarkable is that Garak orchestrated the entire affair. He figured that Vreenak would see through the fake evidence. And realized that a Dominion attack on a Romulan Senator would be much more persuasive to the Romulans than the voice of just one man.

Sisko, furious at Garak’s manipulations and murder, confronts him. But Garak pointedly says, “You may have just saved the Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan Senator, one criminal … and the self respect of one Starfleet officer. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a bargain.”

Sisko is left to confront his actions — his own lies, rationalizations and moral missteps — with the knowledge that the Romulans have, after all, joined the war … against the Dominion.

This then is the most powerful (and most controversial — for Trek fans) aspect of the show. Sisko, ostensibly the “hero” of the series, has just spent an entire episode using the ends to justify means that are categorically immoral. There’s no question that each of Sisko’s actions, taken on their own, are wrong. And yet Sisko got what he wanted. The Federation gets a new ally at a time when one was desperately needed. It’s a dark, complex story which is a long, long way from near idyllic (by comparison) tone of TNG. It’s easy to see why, for some Trek fans, this is a step too far.

Even so, this is a brilliant episode in terms of pure drama and character. And in that sense, it almost perfectly epitomizes what Deep Space Nine is all about. There are some minor flaws with the episode, but confronting a deeply complex and multifaceted story is not one of them.

“In The Pale Moonlight” is, without question, a triumph of television storytelling. I’m not so sure I’d list it as my favorite episode of the series … but even so, I cannot deny just how powerful the story is. Like it or hate it, this is about as influential a DS9 episode as you’ll ever see.

Filed under: Deep Space Nine