The Wounded

Star Trek is a franchise that knows how to take care of it’s own, and how to build up the next incarnation – before the public is even aware that there is one coming. It allows the ideas and basic plot points to simmer just below the surface and they rise up and become a dominant plotline.

Case in Point – this episode establishes the Cardassians, the Border Wars and to a certain extent those that are not happy with the new peace treaty. But I have to ask… if everyone knows of the decade’s long conflict and have these lingering feelings, heck even Picard fought them! Why was there no record before now? (Surely a line of dialogue here and there?) I know, they hadn’t been conceived of yet… but still.

O’Brien comes into his own from this episode and we start to care for our transporter chief. As for Ben Maxwell, I believe that he could be the driving force to rally together the bunch of colonists along the DMZ. It would’ve been a nice little tidbit if Gul Macet (played by Alaimo) was noted as Dukat’s twin brother or something… so that his efforts here could be recognised.