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* BigWhat: Sisko's reaction to the payment of bio-mimetic gel required for the data rod.
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* {{Foreshadowing}}: Vreenak having a replicated Romulan drink, noting how while very good, he was still not fooled in that it's only an approximation and not the real thing. It foreshadows his reaction to the recording.
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* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Vreenak meeting Sisko:
--> '''Vreenak:''' So you're the commander of Deep Space Nine. And the Emissary of the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh, yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow I thought you'd be taller.\\
'''Sisko:''' Sorry to disappoint you.\\
'''Vreenak:''' To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me.
--> '''Vreenak:''' So you're the commander of Deep Space Nine. And the Emissary of the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh, yes, the man who started the war with the Dominion. Somehow I thought you'd be taller.\\
'''Sisko:''' Sorry to disappoint you.\\
'''Vreenak:''' To be honest, my opinion of Starfleet officers is so low, you'd have to work very hard indeed to disappoint me.
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* DarkerAndEdgier
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* DarkerAndEdgierDarkerAndEdgier: Boy is it ever.
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** Vreenak as well. [[MemeticMutation It's a Faaaake!]]
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** Vreenak as well. [[MemeticMutation It's One need only see his "It's a Faaaake!]]Faaaake!" line.
Deleted line(s) 26 (click to see context) :
* MagnificentBastard: Garak's finest moment of magnificent bastardry.
Deleted line(s) 42 (click to see context) :
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: When the writers decided to have the Dominion conquer a Federation planet, they wanted it to be an established world. They kicked around some ideas before narrowing it down to two choices. Betazed was what made it to screen, but the writers seriously considered Vulcan instead before deciding that would be too serious.
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* WhamLine:
--> "Computer, [[ShaggyDogStory erase that entire personal log]]."
--> "Computer, [[ShaggyDogStory erase that entire personal log]]."
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Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
* KansasCityShuffle: Elim Garak knew the Romulan senator would realize the recording was a fake, and planted a bomb on the senator's ship ahead of time. When the senator departs Deep Space 9 to expose the con, Garak blows up the ship. So, when the recording is found in the wreckage, the imperfections in the forgery appear to be a result of the explosion. With a seemingly legitimate rod in one hand, and a dead senator in the other, the Romulans promptly join the war against the Dominion, as Garak and Sisko wanted.
to:
* KansasCityShuffle: Elim Garak knew guessed the Romulan senator would realize the recording was a fake, and planted a bomb on the senator's ship ahead of time. When After the senator departs Deep Space 9 from a meeting with the Dominion to return to Romulus to expose the con, Garak blows up the ship. So, when the recording is found in the wreckage, the imperfections in the forgery appear to be a result of the explosion. With a seemingly legitimate rod in one hand, and a dead senator coming from a meeting with the Dominion in the other, the Romulans promptly join the war against the Dominion, as Garak and Sisko wanted.
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* LargeHam: Sisko at times during his personal log monologues. And it is ''glorious.''
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* LargeHam: LargeHam:
** Sisko at times during his personal log monologues. And it is ''glorious.''
** Sisko at times during his personal log monologues. And it is ''glorious.''
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--> '''Garak:''' And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire 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.
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* MagnificentBastard: Garak's finest moment of magnificent bastardry.
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* TheNeedsOfTheMany: How Garak justifies killing Vreenak. In the end, Sisko is forced to accept it.
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Misuse. A Moral Event Horizon can only be crossed once by a character, and Sisko never embraces his actions as evil, instead justifying them as I Did What I Had To Do.
Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
As the death toll mounts, Captain Sisko realizes that the only way to turn the tide of the war is to enlist the help of the Federation's oldest enemy: The Romulans. However, the Romulan Star Empire has declared neutrality. What reason could the Romulans possibly have to dirty their hands in the bloodiest war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant? Sisko's search for that reason forces him to cross one MoralEventHorizon after another.
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As the death toll mounts, Captain Sisko realizes that the only way to turn the tide of the war is to enlist the help of the Federation's oldest enemy: The Romulans. However, the Romulan Star Empire has declared neutrality. What reason could the Romulans possibly have to dirty their hands in the bloodiest war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant? Sisko's search for that reason forces him to cross one MoralEventHorizon moral line after another.
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was still quite a lot of failure conditions. Garaks plan always required senator to discover believe he was being conned and try to stop it. Only then would a damaged rod be found in blown up ship.
Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
* KickTheDog: Sisko punches Garak [[spoiler:after he realizes the Cardassian planted a bomb in Senator Vreenak's shuttle. Garak immediately calls him out on his hypocrisy.]]
to:
* KansasCityShuffle: Elim Garak knew the Romulan senator would realize the recording was a fake, and planted a bomb on the senator's ship ahead of time. When the senator departs Deep Space 9 to expose the con, Garak blows up the ship. So, when the recording is found in the wreckage, the imperfections in the forgery appear to be a result of the explosion. With a seemingly legitimate rod in one hand, and a dead senator in the other, the Romulans promptly join the war against the Dominion, as Garak and Sisko wanted.
* KickTheDog: Sisko punches Garak[[spoiler:after after he realizes the Cardassian planted a bomb in Senator Vreenak's shuttle. Garak immediately calls him out on his hypocrisy.]]
* KickTheDog: Sisko punches Garak
Changed line(s) 39,40 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Sisko:''' So I will learn to live with it. Because I ''can'' live with it. I '''can''' live with it... Computer, erase that entire personal log.
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''
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-->'''Sisko:''' So I will learn to live with it. Because I ''can'' live with it. I '''can''' live with it... Computer, erase that entire personal log.
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''log.
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''
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* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Both aspects are played straight. The plan that Sisko and Garak discuss step-by-step backfires miserably, while the plan that Garak keeps secret from Sisko (and, by extension, the audience) works perfectly. The latter part is [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as Garak knew that Sisko would've never gone along with it.
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* HowWeGotHere: Sisko starts out saying things have gone wrong, we find out how very wrong indeed during the course of the show.
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** The point of the whole episode. Sisko does many evil things, and he will do them again, if he had to. The concluding monologue comes very close to HeelRealization.
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* {{Unobtanium}}: Both the genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod Sisko and Garak require for their scheme, which is usually only manufactured by the Cardassian government on an as-needed basis and therefore requires "a small miracle" to purchase anywhere else, and the highly-controlled biomemetic gel they end up having to trade for it, which can be used for illegal genetic experiments and building biogenic weapons of mass destruction and is therefore not legally available at ''any'' price.
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* {{Unobtanium}}: Both the {{Unobtanium}}:
** The genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod Sisko and Garak require for theirscheme, which scheme is usually only manufactured by the Cardassian government on an as-needed basis and therefore basis. Obtaining it anywhere else requires "a small miracle" to purchase anywhere else, and the miracle".
** The highly-controlledbiomemetic bio-mimetic gel they end up having to trade for it, which the rod can be used for illegal genetic experiments and building biogenic weapons of mass destruction and destruction. It is therefore not legally available at ''any'' price.
** The genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod Sisko and Garak require for their
** The highly-controlled
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
* WhatYouAreInTheDark
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* WhatYouAreInTheDarkWhatYouAreInTheDark: Sisko's delivery makes it clear that his real reason for recording the log entry is to convince ''himself'' that his actions were justified.
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** Computer, delete that entire log entry.
*** Although the delivery makes it clear that Sisko is as much trying to convince ''himself'' of this as he is the log.
*** Although the delivery makes it clear that Sisko is as much trying to convince ''himself'' of this as he is the log.
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** It's not at all clear that he succeeds.
-->'''Sisko:''' So I will learn to live with it. Because I ''can'' live with it. I '''can''' live with it... Computer,delete erase that entire log entry.
*** Although the delivery makes it clear that Sisko is as much trying to convince ''himself'' of this as he is thepersonal log.
-->'''Sisko:''' So I will learn to live with it. Because I ''can'' live with it. I '''can''' live with it... Computer,
*** Although the delivery makes it clear that Sisko is as much trying to convince ''himself'' of this as he is the
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This is perhaps one of the most controversial episodes of Star Trek ever produced. For some, it's one of the finest episodes in canon, showing how war is a very complex thing, and that sometimes, you must be willing to sacrifice your own morals for the sake of the greater good. For others, it's a complete slap in the face of Roddenberry's vision of the future, and an abandonment of the ideals that the Federation was built on. It's very polarizing, to say the least.
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* BlackAndWhiteMorality: very much subverted.
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* GoodIsNotNice
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* GoodIsNotNiceGoodIsNotNice: Sisko, especially when the Federation is backed into a corner and his forger Tolar hasn't behaved himself very well on parole. At one point, he threatens to send Tolar back to the Klingons and [[ColdBloodedTorture "tell Gowron to take his time"]] while executing him.
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* ShoutOut: The episode's title comes from the Joker's CatchPhrase in 1989's ''{{Film/Batman}}'': "Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?" As Garak's actor Andrew Robinson noted, the lesson Sisko learns from Garak in this episode, figuratively speaking, is "You can't go to bed with the Devil without having sex."
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* {{Unobtanium}}: Both the genuine Cardassian optolythic data rod Sisko and Garak require for their scheme, which is usually only manufactured by the Cardassian government on an as-needed basis and therefore requires "a small miracle" to purchase anywhere else, and the highly-controlled biomemetic gel they end up having to trade for it, which can be used for illegal genetic experiments and building biogenic weapons of mass destruction and is therefore not legally available at ''any'' price.
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Deleted line(s) 8 (click to see context) :
* BaseBreaker: ''Holy shit.'' Because of the moral lines crisscrossed throughout this episode, fans will cite it as either one of the finest episodes in Trek canon (for realistically portraying wartime actions) or one of the worst (for being one of the biggest deviations from Roddenberry's utopia).
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* IDidWhatIHadToDo
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* IDidWhatIHadToDoIDidWhatIHadToDo: A point Sisko makes in his log, and which momentarily causes him to lose his composure and start ranting.
-->'''Sisko:''' That was my first moment of real doubt, when I started to wonder if the whole thing was a mistake. So I went back to my office; and there was a new casualty list waiting for me... People are ''dying'' out there... ''every day''! Entire worlds are struggling for their freedom! And here I am still worrying about the finer points of morality! No! I had to keep my eye on the ball! Winning the war, stopping the bloodshed, ''those'' were the priorities! So I pushed on. And every time another doubt appeared before me, I just found another way to shove it aside.
-->'''Sisko:''' That was my first moment of real doubt, when I started to wonder if the whole thing was a mistake. So I went back to my office; and there was a new casualty list waiting for me... People are ''dying'' out there... ''every day''! Entire worlds are struggling for their freedom! And here I am still worrying about the finer points of morality! No! I had to keep my eye on the ball! Winning the war, stopping the bloodshed, ''those'' were the priorities! So I pushed on. And every time another doubt appeared before me, I just found another way to shove it aside.
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: When the writers decided to have the Dominion conquer a Federation planet, they wanted it to be an established world. They kicked around some ideas before narrowing it down to two choices. Betazed was what made it to screen, but the writers seriously considered Vulcan instead before deciding that would be too serious.
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*** Although the delivery makes it clear that Sisko is as much trying to convince ''himself'' of this as he is the log.
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** Computer, delete that entire log entry.
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* SarcasmMode: Sisko's announcement of the Romulans' entry into the war, alluding to a BlackAndWhiteMorality that he knows for a fact does not exist:
-->'''Sisko:''' So this is a huge victory for the good guys!
-->'''Sisko:''' So this is a huge victory for the good guys!
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* ThisMeansWar: The Romulans declare war on the Dominion. They very nearly ended up at war with the Federation instead.
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* AntiHero: At the end of the episode, Sisko lists the numerous ways he's violated the law and his own integrity for the sake of the Federation.
** Vreenak as well. [[MemeticMutation It's a Faaaake!]]
* ListOfTransgressions: Sisko does this for himself. It's a short list as the trope goes, but some of them are real doozies for a Starfleet Officer.
-->'''Sisko:''' I lied; I cheated; I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men; I am an accessory to murder.
-->'''Sisko:''' I lied; I cheated; I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men; I am an accessory to murder.
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* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight
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* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRightScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: But that doesn't mean it feels very right.
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-->'''Sisko:''' But the most damning thing of all is... I think I can live with it. And if I'd have to do it all over again... I would.
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* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The entire episode takes the form of a captain's log entry, with the audience taking the perspective of the computer.
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Changed line(s) 1 (click to see context) from:
As the death toll mounts, Captain Sisko realizes that the only way to turn the tide of the war is to enlist the help of the Federation's oldest enemy: The Romulans. However, the Romulan Star Empire has declared neutrality. What reason could the Romulans possibly have to dirty their hands in the bloodiest war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant? Sisko's search for that answer, ByAnyMeansNecessary, forces him to cross one MoralEventHorizon after another.
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As the death toll mounts, Captain Sisko realizes that the only way to turn the tide of the war is to enlist the help of the Federation's oldest enemy: The Romulans. However, the Romulan Star Empire has declared neutrality. What reason could the Romulans possibly have to dirty their hands in the bloodiest war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant? Sisko's search for that answer, ByAnyMeansNecessary, reason forces him to cross one MoralEventHorizon after another.
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As the death toll mounts, Captain Sisko realizes that the only way to turn the tide of the war is to enlist the help of the Federation's oldest enemy: The Romulans. However, the Romulan Star Empire has declared neutrality. What reason could the Romulans possibly have to dirty their hands in the bloodiest war in the history of the Alpha Quadrant? Sisko's search for that answer, ByAnyMeansNecessary, forces him to cross one MoralEventHorizon after another.
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Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
* BaseBreaker: ''Holy shit.'' Because of the moral lines crisscrossed throughout this episode, fans will either site it as one of the finest episodes in Trek canon (for realistically portraying wartime actions) or one of the worst (for being one of the biggest deviations from Roddenberry's utopia).
to:
* BaseBreaker: ''Holy shit.'' Because of the moral lines crisscrossed throughout this episode, fans will cite it as either site it as one of the finest episodes in Trek canon (for realistically portraying wartime actions) or one of the worst (for being one of the biggest deviations from Roddenberry's utopia).
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Added line(s) 8 (click to see context) :
* LargeHam: Sisko at times during his personal log monologues. And it is ''glorious.''
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* NotSoAboveItAll: As so gleefully noted by Quark.
to:
* NotSoAboveItAll: As so gleefully noted by Quark.Quark after Sisko bribes him to drop the charges against Tolar.
--> '''Quark:''' Thank you for restoring my faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: "Every man has his price."
--> '''Quark:''' Thank you for restoring my faith in the 98th Rule of Acquisition: "Every man has his price."
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!Tropes in this episode:
* BatmanGambit: Sisko and Garak
* BaseBreaker: ''Holy shit.'' Because of the moral lines crisscrossed throughout this episode, fans will either site it as one of the finest episodes in Trek canon (for realistically portraying wartime actions) or one of the worst (for being one of the biggest deviations from Roddenberry's utopia).
* GoodIsNotNice
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* KickTheDog: Sisko punches Garak [[spoiler:after he realizes the Cardassian planted a bomb in Senator Vreenak's shuttle. Garak immediately calls him out on his hypocrisy.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Sisko's monologue is spoken to the station computer, but most of the time he's staring directly at the camera.
* NotSoAboveItAll: As so gleefully noted by Quark.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight
* WhatYouAreInTheDark
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''
* BatmanGambit: Sisko and Garak
* BaseBreaker: ''Holy shit.'' Because of the moral lines crisscrossed throughout this episode, fans will either site it as one of the finest episodes in Trek canon (for realistically portraying wartime actions) or one of the worst (for being one of the biggest deviations from Roddenberry's utopia).
* GoodIsNotNice
* IDidWhatIHadToDo
* KickTheDog: Sisko punches Garak [[spoiler:after he realizes the Cardassian planted a bomb in Senator Vreenak's shuttle. Garak immediately calls him out on his hypocrisy.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Sisko's monologue is spoken to the station computer, but most of the time he's staring directly at the camera.
* NotSoAboveItAll: As so gleefully noted by Quark.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight
* WhatYouAreInTheDark
* XanatosGambit: Elim Garak in one of his finest moments in all of ''Deep Space Nine.''
