‘HONOR AMONG THIEVES’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
I honestly forgot about this episode when I saw it again. I don’t think it’s a great ‘DS9’ episode, even though there are connections to the Dominion in this one and it does have a decent O’Brien story. 🙂
In the episode, O’Brien is sent to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate on an out-of-the-way planet called Farius Prime. Starfleet Intelligence has given him a cover to be a ‘fix-it man’ who is down on his luck.
This gives O’Brien an advantage as the Syndicate is keen to recruit people with such skills. He spends his days in a bar and he meets a local Syndicate operator who happens to be Nick Tate as Liam Bilby.
Nick Tate is a familiar name to me. His father John Tate has done some voice work for the ‘Thunderbirds’ series by Gerry Anderson. Nick is also well-known for being in ‘Space 1999’. Interesting to find him in ‘Star Trek’!
This isn’t the first time Nick Tate’s done a ‘Star Trek’ as he was in the ‘TNG’ episode called ‘Final Mission’. O’Brien makes most of an opportunity in order to gain Bilby’s trust in meeting him at a bar.
This is when Carlos Carrasco as Krole, one of Bilby’s men, attempts to hack into a computer belonging to a local restaurant. O’Brien sabotages the computer to damage Krole’s hacking device. 😐
O’Brien manages to save Krole from injury and he introduces himself as ‘Connolly’ to Bilby, volunteering to fix the equipment. Bilby gradually accepts O’Brien in his services when meeting him.
Meanwhile on DS9, it was funny when Odo, Quark, Bashir, Worf and Dax make requests to Kira about fixing engineering problems whilst O’Brien’s away. Apparently DS9 can’t work without O’Brien.
Bashir asks Sisko in his office about the whereabouts of O’Brien and whether he’s alright. Sisko can’t reveal any details to Bashir as O’Brien’s mission is top secret. There’s no knowing when he’ll be back.
Back with O’Brien, he repairs three broken Klingon-made disruptor weapons for Bilby. Bilby trusts O’Brien from then on. He gradually considers him as a friend once they conduct Syndicate activities.
O’Brien soon meets Bilby’s boss – Joseph Culp as Raimus. Bilby becomes a ‘witness’ for O’Brien and agrees to take responsibility should things go awry with O’Brien’s involvement within the Syndicate.
In the process of meeting Raimus, O’Brien also sees him accompanied by a Vorta – Leland Crooke as Vorta Gelnon. Leland Crooke previously played a Vorta in ‘One Little Ship’. It must be the same one!
This confirms to O’Brien that the Orion Syndicate is working with the Dominion. O’Brien soon learns the identity of a Starfleet officer secretly working for the Syndicate. This fulfils his mission objective.
However, O’Brien’s Starfleet Intelligence contact, Michael Harney as Chadwick, asks him to remain undercover to learn more about the Dominion’s involvement. Sadly, there aren’t any Jem’Hadar in this. 🙁
Vorta Glenon orders Bilby to use the Klingon disruptors to assassinate the local Klingon ambassador. The ambassador is an opponent to the Klingon-Federation alliance that are fighting the Dominion. 😐
Sadly, we don’t get to see any Klingons be assassinated in this story. With the ambassador killed, it would make out that the assassination was ordered by Chancellor Gowron and it’d weaken the alliance.
Once O’Brien informs Chadwick about what’s happening, Chadwick opts for the Klingons to be alerted and to have Bilby and his men captured and executed rather than be arrested by Starfleet. 😐
O’Brien is upset by the idea of being responsible for the death of Bilby as he’s gotten close to him. Deciding to tell Bilby the truth, he punches Chadwick in the face as he goes off to meet up with Bilby.
Bilby is clearly broken by the news and soon opts to head into the trap as there’s no running from the Syndicate. He asks O’Brien to take care of his cat Chester. I guessed his name before seeing this.
I’m not kidding! I called the cat ‘Chester’ before it was eventually revealed that he was ‘Chester’. I couldn’t believe it! It was nice to see that last scene between O’Brien and Bashir back on DS9 itself. 🙂
So, the O’Briens have a new pet cat called Chester. That’s nice! Overall, ‘Honor Among Thieves’ is a decent episode in the ‘DS9’ series, but it’s not worth talking about since I forgot about it years later.
‘Honor Among Thieves’ (DS9) rating – 7/10
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