DS9 · SEASON 55×11

The Darkness and the Light

NOMADIC PICK · HIDDEN GEMA dark thriller that questions Kira's past.
FIRST SHOWN (US)
6 January 1997
ON
First-run syndication
STARDATE
50416.2
DIRECTED BY
Mike Vejar
PRODUCTION NO.
509

WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Ronald D. Moore; story by Bryan Fuller

IN BRIEF

SPOILER-FREE

Members of Kira's old resistance cell are being murdered one by one, and the taunting messages that follow each death suggest she may be on the list too.

SYNOPSIS

SPOILERS
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSISHIDE SYNOPSIS

Kira, now heavily pregnant with the O'Briens' baby, learns that Latha Mabrin, a member of her old resistance cell, has been murdered. An anonymous message follows, showing his image and a distorted voice counting the first kill. More of her former comrades die, each death followed by another message. Her old friends Furel and Lupaza come to protect her, but an explosion in the O'Briens' quarters kills them both. Against Odo's advice, Kira tracks the killer to a remote location and falls into his hands. He is Silaran Prin, a Cardassian civilian horribly scarred in a resistance bombing carried out by Kira's cell, and he is hunting down everyone responsible. Kira insists that the Cardassians on Bajor were occupiers and fair targets. Prin plans to remove her unborn child before killing her, but Kira only pretends his sedative has worked. She breaks free, seizes a phaser and kills him.

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. 01Bryan Fuller's first Star Trek story. His original pitch was a riff on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
  2. 02Director Mike Vejar's first Star Trek episode since The Next Generation's first season.
  3. 03Ronald D. Moore counted it among his favourite episodes because of its moral ambiguity.
SOURCES WE CHECKED