Great Material Continuum

Story: Treachery, Faith and the Great River
Written By: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Year: 1998

The show starts to get back on track, now that the Ezri introductions are done. This is the first episode that really deals with the War and the Dominion since the season started, and it is a good one. Odo receives a message from a former Cardassian contact of his, who had previously been cited as being killed when the Dominion took over. When Odo arrives at the rendezvous he finds Weyoun, who claims he wants to defect. Odo takes him prisoner and is soon contacted by Damar…and Weyoun. It turns out that the Weyoun with Odo is Weyoun 6, seemingly a defective clone, and the one with Damar is Weyoun 7. The one we all know from seasons 5 and 6 is actually Weyoun 5, who was killed in a transporter accident (something that is suspected to have been planned by Damar).
So now Weyoun 7 is put in a predicament of needing to capture Weyoun 6, but not wanting to harm Odo, his God. It is a really solid premise, and when Weyoun 6 eventually sacrifices his own life in order to help Odo survive, it is actually a really touching moment, and has some top-notch acting from Combs. It is also revealed in this episode that the Founders are infected with some kind of disease…and are dying. Odo is now stuck between allying himself his friends in the Federation (who he does believe to be in the right) and his own dying people, whom he cannot help. As he says himself, no matter who wins…he loses. It is really tragic.

In the b-plot we get Nog helping the Chief by making a series of trades using the Chief’s authorization code to get materials needed for the station and the Defiant. Nog explains to O’Brien that in Ferengi beliefs, there is “Great Material Continuum”, and that binds the universe together in way that everything can balance out in terms of material and products. It is essentially a story in which the Chief finds himself in deeper and deeper trouble until the final moments when everything is better than we he started. Trust in the Great River. I love it.

NEXT TIME: Martok vs. Kor