The Circle
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 4 October 1993
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Corey Allen
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 422
WRITTEN BYWritten by Peter Allan Fields
Recalled to Bajor and replaced on the station, Kira finds refuge in Vedek Bareil's monastery, while the extremist Circle grows bolder and Odo hunts for whoever is arming it.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Kira's friends crowd into her quarters to say goodbye as she leaves the station for Bajor. Vedek Bareil offers her refuge at his monastery, where she experiences an Orb and sees a vision of the two of them as lovers. On the station, Odo pressures Quark for information about weapons reaching the Circle, then stows away disguised as a rat to investigate. General Krim warns Sisko that the Bajoran military cannot be relied on to stop the movement. Masked Circle members abduct Kira, and she is confronted by their secret leader, Minister Jaro, who wants her help. She refuses, and Sisko's team rescues her. Odo returns with proof that the Cardassians are secretly arming the Circle to drive the Federation away from Bajor. Jaro courts Vedek Winn to give his coup religious legitimacy. As communications with Bajor go dead, Starfleet orders an evacuation, but Sisko and his officers decide to stay and fight for the station.
- 01Kira's crowded farewell scene was based on the famous stateroom sequence in the Marx Brothers film “A Night at the Opera”. Corey Allen shot it as one unbroken take.
- 02The Orb Kira consults is the Orb of Prophecy and Change, a name later used for a tenth-anniversary DS9 short story anthology.