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It’s Major Kira week on Trekabout! In “Crossfire”, the head of the Bajoran government woos Kira while Odo mopes around. Then, in “Return to Grace”, Kira helps Gul Dukat, for some reason.
Trekabout Episode 190: Crossfire/Return to Grace
Mindy
-I think Richard has the right idea. It isn’t that Dukat is a good guy. It is that the show tries to humanize him by showing that sometimes his goals align with the goals of our main characters. Our characters can work with him if they are working towards the same purpose.
But Eric is right in that this still doesn’t make Dukat a good person. The motivations driving his goals are very different than the motivations of our main characters.
I actually think this was very good character writing by the staff. It feels like a sort of sleight of hand. Kind of make the audience semi root for Dukat, as long as they don’t think about it too hard. Reminds me of when Dukat helped Sisko in “The Maquis”. It can help to confuse our main characters when they find themselves able to work successfully with Dukat to achieve a goal. It is clear that Dukat actively tries to achieve this by manipulating people around him. He WANTS them to think he’s helpful, think he’s smart, think he’s powerful. I actually think that’s one of the reasons he keeps Ziyal around. Since she didn’t know him before, he can create the persona he wants her to see. He’s looking for respect and some kind of adulation from her.
I really like what DS9 did with Dukat in seasons 4-5. Very interesting character writing. I’ll try to talk more about this after you guys cover episode 6×06.
Eric Brasure
-I like this interpretation of Dukat! I really do think he’s a sociopath, but the show plays a lot with our expectations. Of course, sociopaths are often very good at getting people on their side…
Kat
-This was worth it for Eric saying that Bareil is dead and in hell. At least, that’s what it sounded like when I listened to it.