Kira, Bright and Dark

"The Darkness and the Light" Plot Summary:

When a terrorist begins to kill the members of her Resistance cell, a very pregnant Kira determines to track him down. She traces the murders to a remote planet where she finds a disfigured, embittered Cardassian determined to punish her for her war crimes.

Analysis:

New Kira, meet Old Kira. Boy this was an interesting episode - producer Ron Moore trying to undo two years of damage to the character, without losing all shreds of continuity! I feel good about it. If I hadn't become completely inured to any affection whatsoever for Kira during the past two seasons, I would probably really have loved it. As it is -knowing that the powers that be can change Kira again when the whim strikes - I am merely pleased to see the return of Major Kira, the way one might greet an old friend who changed greatly during a war.

I wanted to shoot Miles for his little "Right now you're needed here, protecting someone else" speech - once again putting his fetus ahead of Kira's sanity - and I wanted to scream when she agreed with him, so I felt really good when she went on the offensive. I'm sorry they killed off the two most interesting Bajorans we've seen in seasons pastbut it was effective - I rememebered them from "Shakaar" and was very angry to see them needlessly murdered, even though I was blaming the producers rather than a stalker.

Speaking of Shakaar, where in heck has he been? Even if it's over between himself and Nerys, he should have been high on the killer's list: the head of the resistance cell, Kira's past mentor and present lover...I suppose that as First Minister he's harder to kill than some, but anyone who could rig a floating device to pick someone out through a window should have been able to get around Bajoran security. First he blows off the abortive Bajoran induction into the Federation, now he's not around to worry about his old colleagues...some leader.

Back to Kira, who really shouldn't need Shakaar because she's got Odo. There were two great scenes between them in this episode, reminiscent of "Past Prologue" and "Duet" - no romantic overtones on Odo's part, but that intense protectiveness, with Kira treating him like the only person in the galaxy she can trust. Nana Visitor hasn't had a scene as good as her description of Kira's first time since the end of "Necessary Evil." Very moving, and about time we got to hear that story.

The scenes with the Cardassian reminded me of "Duet" as well, superbly portraying Kira's ambivalence about her actions as a terrorist along with her absolute determination to survive and protect the baby entrusted to her. The dialogue was contrived--the murderer spoke like a cheap Hannibal Lechter ripoff, and parts of the plot seemed stolen from the DS9 Pocket novel "Bloodletter." No matter - it was intense, suspenseful, and interesting right up to the end.

There is one thing that interested me. Given that Kira knew everyone who was murdered, that all the murders took place by remote control, and that it was her own voice in the scary recordings, I'd think Kira would have been a suspect. It's not unheard of for a terrorist to feel guilty enough to punish the very people he or she used to work with. It would have been a really interesting episode if Odo, upon learning that Kira had fled the station, revealed that she was on the list of prime candidates...