Gul Dukat - S2x08 "Necessary Evil"
"Necessary Evil" is among my favorite episodes from the early DS9 seasons. Every actor is at their best, and Marc Alaimo's scenes, especially, stole the show for me. The cinematography/lighting, as well as the editing, are also superb - a visual delight for the eyes.
His voice tickles my ears in the best possible ASMR way, especially in this episode, where he speaks in a more low, almost growling end to his lines. A true aural treat!
These screens are from his first appearance during the episode, when he has called Odo to see him in the Chemist's Shop. Dukat sits on a chair behind a desk, his feet raised and resting on the desk's edge.
I've been skimming the scripts for some of these episodes during my watch this time, and interestingly, his pose was not described as such in the script. This was also confirmed when I listened to "The Delta Flyers" podcast for this episode, where they also noted as such.
I believe they also had the director for this episode (James L. Conway) as a guest for their podcast, and he couldn't recall whether it was him or Alaimo who thought up having Dukat positioned this way.
I sort of suspect it might have been Alaimo's idea, as he seems like a very physical actor to me - he seems to love incorporating objects in scenes in his performance (Sisko's baseball being the most immediate example), and he also tends to take up a lot of space with his actions and movements (probably owing to his lanky, broad-shouldered build, as well as his experience with theater acting).
The way he uncrosses his leg to stand felt very much like an "actor's decision" to me, if this makes sense - in my very uneducated opinion as a non-actor, of course.
Anyway, that is my ramble for this scene from this episode. :) One of my favorites, and I hope someone enjoys these screenshots of the character!
