Necessary Evil
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 15 November 1993
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 47282.5
- DIRECTED BY
- James L. Conway
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 428
WRITTEN BYWritten by Peter Allan Fields
When Quark is shot over a mysterious strongbox, Odo reopens the first murder he ever investigated, a case from the Occupation that he never solved and that involved Kira.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
A Bajoran widow, Pallra, hires Quark to retrieve a strongbox hidden in her late husband's shop. Inside is a list of Bajoran names, but Quark is shot and the list taken. The attack leads Odo back to an unsolved case from five years earlier, when the station was Terok Nor under Gul Dukat and Odo was first asked to investigate a crime: the murder of Pallra's husband, Vaatrik, a chemist. In flashbacks we see Odo question Pallra and a young Bajoran named Kira, who claimed she was on the station looking for work. In the present, Odo realises the names belong to Bajorans who collaborated with the Cardassians, and that Pallra has been blackmailing them. After another attempt on a life, Odo confronts Kira. She admits she killed Vaatrik while stealing the list for the resistance, and that she had hidden it from Odo ever since. He cannot say whether he will trust her again.
- 01The first look at the station under Cardassian rule. For the flashbacks the Promenade was given darker lighting and extra security gates.
- 02A scene revealing an affair between Pallra and Dukat was cut. Michael Piller later regretted losing it.
- 03Season five's “Things Past” acts as a companion piece, revisiting Odo's time as security chief during the Occupation.