Best of DS9---Improbable Cause & The Die is Cast

The first part of this two-parter was written by Rene Echevarria,  Robert Lederman, and David R. Long and directed by Avery Brooks.

Here, we find an assassination attempt on Garak. But through investigation, Odo figures out Garak set the bomb that destroyed his shop himself in order to draw attention to the fact that there is in fact an assassin on the space station. All of his previous targets were close associations of Enabran Tain, Garak's mentor when both worked in the Obsidian Order.

Odo and Garak take a runabout to find Tain and warn him about the assassinations. Tain reveals a plan to destroy the Dominion in the Gamma Quadrant, with the help of the Romulan Tal Shiar, and had his associates killed in order to consolidate his power in the Obsidian Order.  Tain offers Garak a place back in Cardassian society if he agrees to join them.

In part two, The Die is Cast, written by Ronald D. Moore, Tain wants Garak to prove his loyalty by getting Odo to give him all information about his people---the Changeling founders. Scientists in the Order have invented a device, a prototype, that inhibits a Changeling from changing shape. Garak agrees to do the interrogation, but only to keep the Romulans from doing it.

As Odo is prevented from going through his reveujanating cycle, he suffers and reveals the founders live in a lake and Odo desires to join them.

Having compassion for Odo, Garak turns off the device and allows Odo to return to his liquid state. He then tells Tain he got nothing new for information out of Odo.

What I liked about this episode were the plot twists that added to the excitement. For one, I found the Romulan Commander Lovok a little too much like a Vulcan---logical and even compassionate. He agrees with Garak to allow Odo to live because otherwise his death would create more conflict with the Federation. Lovok offers to take Odo back to Romulus for further study.

It was at this point that I suspected that Lovok wasn't what he claimed to be. Sure enough, he reveals to Odo that he's a Changeling and helps him and Garak escape to a runabout.

In the meantime, the Defiant sets off to the Gamma Quadrant to find Odo and engages the Jem'Hadar ships, as does Tain's ship, which is destroyed in the battle. Tain and his crew realize they've been had when they fire upon the founder's home planet and there's no change in life signs. Then out comes the Jem'Hadar brigade. It was a trap! Brilliant! The Changeling, as Lovok, helped set the plan in motion to trap and destroy Tain's ships and prevent the destruction of the Dominion.

The episode also developed a new friendship and trust between Odo and Garak, and were both brilliantly played by Rene Auberjonois and Andrew Robinson respectively.