‘EMPOK NOR’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is a pretty tension-filled episode in Season 5 of the ‘DS9’ series. It makes good use of the haunted house aboard a space station concept well. I found it compelling whilst watching this throughout.
In ‘Empok Nor’, Chief O’Brien needs to replace a failing component of DS9’s machinery. The only way to obtain a replacement is salvaging it from an abandoned Cardassian space station similar to DS9. 😐
The space station itself is of course called Empok Nor. O’Brien has Andrew J. Robinson as former Cardassian spy Garak along for the ride to bypass any booby-traps. Garak is essential in this episode!
There’s also Aron Eisenberg as cadet Nog; engineers Tom Hodges as Pechetti and Andy Milder as Boq’ta (a Bolian male); and security officers Marjean Holden as Stolzoff and Jeffrey King as Amaro. 🙂
The makings of a good team here! Pretty soon, the team make their way to Empok Nor, which is very similar to DS9 except it seems to be on the horizontal angle compared to how we usually see DS9. 😐
On the abandoned station, the team discovers two empty and recently deactivated stasis tubes. There’s also a third one containing a dead Cardassian. They assume two Cardassians are on the run.
Apparently the uniform on the dead Cardassian soldier makes him as a member of an elite and ruthless battalion. It isn’t long till the team’s runabout detaches from the station, exploding in space.
O’Brien and the others are stranded on Empok Nor, with no means of calling for help and under threat from two lately-awoken Cardassians. The team splits up into groups, continuing their salvage.
They also try to establish communications using an SOS-styled call. It isn’t easy when the Cardassian soldiers methodically ambush and eliminate our heroes one by one. Pechetti and Stolzoff are first. 😦
Garak goes on the offensive and tracks down the Cardassians himself. After killing one of them, he finds out that the soldiers have been subjected to psychotropic drugs to amplify their xenophobia. 😐
Once he’s shared this with O’Brien, Garak goes after the second soldier who ambushes Boq’ta. He stops him in time from killing Amaro, before he in turns stabs Amaro himself. That was quite a shock.
This episode is filled with so much tension and atmosphere that you could almost be led to believe that O’Brien and Nog may not survive this nightmare they’re in. Garak may even be killed by the end.
It helps that the station Empok Nor is darkly-lit all the way throughout. O’Brien and his team didn’t think to turn the lights on. Or perhaps the lights aren’t working and the team can’t switch them on.
O’Brien and Nog learn from the dying Amaro that Garak stabbed him. They conclude that Garak has been affected by the same drug as the soldiers and he has now become their enemy in this episode.
They set out to stop him with Garak taunting them on the way as they make for the station’s ops. Garak soon captures Nog and uses him as a hostage to draw O’Brien out. It’s frustrating for O’Brien.
Throughout the episode, Garak keeps reminding O’Brien of his ‘glory days’ fighting Cardassians long ago. O’Brien doesn’t wish to be reminded of that but Garak keeps taunting him when he’s affected.
Soon, O’Brien consents to lay down his weapons and he fights Garak in hand-to-hand combat on the station’s promenade. He manages to disable him with his own trap, rigging his phaser to explode. 😮
O’Brien, Nog and Garak are rescued…somehow…it’s never shown…and they return to DS9 having collected the parts they need. O’Brien visits Garak in the infirmary where he’s cured of the infection.
Garak regrets the actions he made during their visit to Empok Nor. O’Brien assures him it’ll be made clear that Garak wasn’t responsible for what he did during the inquest, which should be interesting.
Remarking on how lucky he was that the phaser blast didn’t kill him, O’Brien tells Garak that that was the intention. I do wonder what would’ve occurred if this happened to be Garak’s final episode.
‘Empok Nor’ is a very good, tension-filled episode in the ‘DS9’ series. I like how O’Brien and Nog survived the ordeal with Garak going ‘kill-crazy’. The story’s atmosphere and setting worked well too.
‘Empok Nor’ (DS9) rating – 9/10
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