#marritza

The season one episode 'Duet' ?

I just rewatched it and now I remember why it stuck in my brain so much for so long.

Marritzas portrayal of Gul Darhe'el being so much more about his own guilt, about him reconing woth the banality of his evil. With the fact that he was just a cog in a giant murder mashine. Just a file clerk that never murdered a man by his own hand but enabled the murder of thausandths, maybe millions of innocense.

He cannot die as Marritza. He cant.

Because if he dies as Marritza it has no weight. No meaning. It wont mollify the bajorans and it wont calm his own guilt. It wont fprce Cardassia to face its own evil.

Instead he has to die as Darhe'el. Has to get himself executed as Darhe'el. He has to give the Bajorans SOMETHING. He has to force Cardassia to face itself and change and grow.

But it changes nothing. Because Kira cant kill a man that dares to try and become better. So, he gets killed as Marritza. Not even in trial.

By Ames

We’re wrapping up our series of alien species discussions with one of our favorite Star Trek races: the Cardassians! These are a people that are so varied that it’s a relief from more monocultural societies. Instead, we get to see all kinds of individual motivations that make our reptilian friends tick. Whether they’re fascinating villains, redeemed heroes, or (more likely) a little bit of both, these are the best of the best that A Star to Steer Her By has compiled for you!

Cardassians concoct some of the best-laid schemes of the show, even outdoing the best Romulans we discussed previously. Check out our favorite spoon-headed friends below, listen to our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (Cardi chatter at 1:00:08), and pour yourself some kanar as we toast the Cardassian Union!

Thank you, friend.  I appreciate your kind words, though there are certainly many people who have contributed more to the development of Kardasi than I have!

To be honest, I have not watched Duet many times.  In fact, I rewatched it this evening just so I could answer this more accurately.  I know it’s a very important episode, in terms of what the writers were trying to establish for the future of relations between Bajor and Cardassia, as well as the progress that we hoped Cardassia might make and Kira’s personal arc.  However, I’ve always had a little difficulty with the episode - and this is very much just a personal issue and no reflection on the quality of the writing and the performances - because the gentleman who played Marritza also played the judge in Ghostbusters II.  So every time I see him, especially when he starts shouting, I’m like, “Hey, it’s the judge from Ghostbusters II.”  He similarly yelled about burning people at the stake in that movie.  I don’t mean to detract from the poignancy of the episode.  As I said, it’s just something that I found to be distracting personally.

So, with that in mind, I do think it’s a very important episode and really sets the tone for a lot of what we see in DS9 in general.  I think it was a fascinating character study, and a reminder that not all Cardassians are uber-militarized one-dimensional antagonists.  But is Marritza really innocent?  I’m reminded of a post I’ve seen floating around about ‘what did we call people who stood back in Germany and did nothing during WWII - we called them Nazis.’  I am paraphrasing, of course, but the point is it’s not so clear cut to say he was blameless.  As Kira says at the end of the episode, yes, he was only one man, but he also did nothing.  Was there anything he could have done?  I don’t know.  Maybe.  I do think he was right in saying that his trial would force Cardassia to confront what it had done and that was the only way for it to repent and move in a more positive direction (fortunately, I think Damar came to a similar conclusion, though it took the occupation of his own homeworld for that to happen).  I also think that Cardassia could have used more people like him, so it’s unfortunate that he died.  I don’t know.  I really have mixed feelings about it.  But I don’t think he deserved what happened to him and he really could have been useful to the dissident movement and later the Rebellion.

So far all we’ve seen is Garak’s evasiveness and some guile, and Gul Dukat’s self-important posturing. We see Cardassians as arrogant and ruthless monsters. 

And there were those. There are those. But Duet gave us a chance to see that reconciliation and forgiveness aren’t impossible. And that not all Cardassians wanted what happened. We got to see the file clerk, the desk job man who was exposed to the harsh realities of the other side and couldn’t handle it.

Favorite One-time Character and/or Guest Star:

Harris Yulin as Aamin Marritza

In the role of Aamin Marritza, a Cardassian file clerk posing as an infamous war criminal in hiding, Yulin gives a dynamic performance, first as a sadistic orator and then making a hundred-eighty degree turn as a cowardly and remorseful confessor. The actor was apparently exhausted from the make-up and filming schedule for the show, but, whether the weariness fed into the representation of a stressed and sickly individual or whether Yulin’s abilities simply overcame it, the result is the same: a sympathetic, desperate, and honorable man using what little resources he has to make the greatest sacrifice he can to help his homeland and address his own complicity. 

This is the first time we see humanity among the Cardassians in Deep Space Nine. It’s only fitting that we experience it through Kira, who herself has seen the worst Cardassia can offer and has, until now, made hating Cardassians a necessary part of her survival. Marritza gives Kira and the audience hope for Cardassia’s future and our first occurrence of the Cardassian Rebellion’s battle cry: “For Cardassia!”